Dash Cam on OBD power

[Hervé]

Hi,
I've just bought and installed a Garmin Dash Cam 57 on OBD Constant Power Cable
It works fine except the camera is recording full time 24h/24.
I don't understand the usage of the switch on the OBD box.
The Manual says
The Constant Power Cable is an always-on ...

Time Switch​

The time switch sets the length of time the device continues to supply power after you exit the vehicle.
you can choose 10 minutes, 24 hours or always
I don't understand once that time has elapsed if the camera goes on Parking Mode (records if an incident is detected) or if it does not records anything untill I enter the vehicle.

Thanks a lot for your help, sorry for my bad english, I'm frensh spoken

 

[zip]

If you set the switch to 10 minutes, the power completely turns off 10 minutes after you leave the vehicle. If you want the camera to stay powered on when you are away from the vehicle, then you need the 24 hour or infinity setting. The infinity setting is useful if you expect to be away from the vehicle for more than 24 hours and you are not worried about battery drain. The cable does have a low voltage protection circuit.

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum Herve.

I am not familiar with this brand of dashcams, but i think it is like zip say, the timer is for how long parking guard is engaged after you turn off your car.
It could also be a delay ( change from regular recording to parking mode ) some cameras have this, but then it is just a few minutes at the most and as your timer have up to 24 hours then it is probably the timer for when parking guard is active after you turn off the car.
I am a bit amazed you dont have other options to choose from, in my cameras i have like 30 min - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 12 -18 - 24 - 48 hours ( i think it is, it is the A139 from viofo i use parking guard on at the moment )
Another camera i have tested parking guard on lately only have up to 24 hours, but also in many 1 hour increment jumps.
But this is probably CUZ in your camera t he timer are on a switch, where as in the 2 i have tested the timer is in the camera itself and so you can however many options you like really.

I just use 1 hour on my other brand dashcacm, i do this as at home i have CCTV on my parked car ( which have really good AI motion detect and give me notifications on my phone and tablet i keep on my bedside table )
And the 1 hour cover all my shopping.
At any time i can always up this timer ( in the camera itself on this brand ) and as i have the low voltage set to 12.2 volts and the battery is 1 year old, i should easy get 24 hours if need be.
My car and so also battery is small, just 50 Ah so it have its limitations, but i mainly just use parking guard as i test dashcams for some brands, personally i do not feel that big of a need for it, even if in Denmark when you buy a car,,,,,, well you pay for 2 cars due to the tax level here.

Always play around with your system, see how long parking guard is on, see how little motion detect can sense ( if you use that ) see how little of a jolt to the car it take for G sensor to set off a event recording.
This will help you better understand the capabilities of your system, and make you a more informed user.

PS: personally i use always record low bitrate, i do not trust motion detect or G sensor that much in dashcams, but i do have G sensor on while parked just in case there is a actual event, but overall i rely on plenty large memory card so things dont really have to be locked in read only state cuz it will be days before a file will be deleted.

 

[Hervé]

Thanks, that's what I understood.
The Parking Mode Cable has 2 connections : constant power and accessory so that the Dash Cam "knows" that the car is parked then records only if there is a shock.
The disadvantage is that you must find a constant power and an accessory power connections.
The advantage of the constant power cable is that you only need to connect it to the OBD connector.
I expected it was possible to record continuously when the car is running, and only in case of shock when it is parked : is it not ?
It is what I understand here https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=rJt0ztbFlp0yNIP28utgC8 :
The Constant Power Cable has a time switch to set the length of time the cable continues to supply power after you exit the vehicle.
This timer restarts whenever outside motion is detected
Examples include: someone bumps the vehicle, opening/closing the vehicle door, vehicle is being driven, strong winds

 

[zip]

The constant power cable is simply supplying power to the camera, just like a 12V port that stays on when the vehicle is parked (which is common in many US vehicles but not so common outside of US vehicles). The difference with the new dash cams is that they can decide to start parking mode on their own and do not require the Garmin parking mode cable to provide a special signal. The amount of time that the camera operates in parking mode can be configured on the camera device, itself. Once the camera reaches the end of the parking mode time, the cam turns off. The constant power cable timer simply guarantees that the dash cam cannot pull any more power from the vehicle while it is parked after the constant power cable timer expires.

 

[Hervé]

Fine !
Can you tell me if I have understood ?

• on the cam itself you can set
  • how long the car must be stopped to enter parking mode
  • how long the parking mode works
• on the OBD power module you can set how long the cam is powered after I leave the car
  when this time has elapsed the cam is not powered anymore so parking mode no longer works either
  except if you set the cam to work on its internal battery if it doesn't receives power

Right ?

 

[zip]

Yes, that all seems right.

 

[Hervé]

Hi,
My Garmin Dash Cam 57 on OBD works fine but something strange :
the screen turns on when I turn the car on and I'm sure it turned off after a while.
Since some time it stays always on.
An idea ?