Dash Camera Heat Test

[SafeDriveSolutions]

It wasn't very sunny or hot here today and my car reached 114F inside at 1:24PM. It was only 69F outside.

Sounds about right

 

[Dashmellow]

It wasn't very sunny or hot here today and my car reached 114F inside at 1:24PM. It was only 69F outside.

Sounds like what happened when my A119 Mini 2 shut down the other day, only it was a bit warmer than that out but not especially a hot day and it was overcast.

 

[Dashmellow]

Let me try and re explain the oven used

No other setting would start at the 145 setting. They were all like 200 degrees or higher.

Which operating temperature of all the units were up to approx 140 or higher.

We could not start at 200. Limitation of equipment we used.

Also other settings were going to make it harder to mount equipment in there as there would be burners turned on above or below. Which in turn we might as well used a normal oven. Which we were not prepared to do.

We did the best we could do with the equipment we got.

Thanks for explaining the oven settings further. That was basically the answer to the question I was getting in the first place when I said, "I'm curious to know the logic of your reasoning for selecting "dehydrate" rather than say, "bake" or some other setting.

Meanwhile, I did a little research and learned more about the oven you used. Ninja describes it as an "Air Fryer Toaster Oven", so it is more or less a convection oven. Ninja claims it has " ‘up to ten times the convection power of a traditional full-size convection oven" and it has one of the most powerful fan systems on the market for this category of oven, so no matter how you use it regardless of setting the fan system will be moving at lot of air. The reviews say this thing cooks foods faster than other models.

Here are the temperature parameters for each setting. Now I understand why "dehydrate" was chosen for the tests rather than any other setting as it is the most logical setting for this purpose.

• Air Fry (250°F–450°F)
• Whole Roast (250°F–450°F)
• Air Roast (250°F–450°F)
• Bake (180°F–450°F)
• Dehydrate (85°F–200°F)
• Pizza (180°F–450°F)
• Bagel (level 1-7, 1-9 slices)
• Toast (level 1-7, 1-9 slices)
• Broil (HI or LO)
• Reheat (100°F–450°F)

Obviously, a $300.00 Air Fryer Convection Oven can't quite compete with an industrial thermal test chamber that costs thousands of dollars but this was a remarkable accomplishment that comes pretty close even with it's limitations. Much appreciated!

​

 

[lufa6977]

Interesting results, albeit a bit semi-scientific. 🙂 Still it was an excellent effort at estimating heat tolerances. The circulating air situation could have been avoided by using
a K-type temperature probe, the type with a small bulb on the end, and inserting that into the dash cam case. However, that poses possible electrical issues of its own and one would need to be cautious about possible electrical shorts. However, it would have given a rather accurate inside case temperature at shutdown.

 

[mentadent]

I put one of my temperature sensors on my dashcam (on the inside, not the outside facing the windshield), and another temperature sensor under the passenger seat where my powerbanks are. The dashcam was turned off.

At 12:55 the dashcam was 43 C and under the passenger seat was 21.7 C.

If a dashcam manufacturer wants true endurance through heat, they'll have to do the main unit under the seat with wired cameras going into it idea that many have suggested over the years.

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

I put one of my temperature sensors on my dashcam (on the inside, not the outside facing the windshield), and another temperature sensor under the passenger seat where my powerbanks are. The dashcam was turned off.

At 12:55 the dashcam was 43 C and under the passenger seat was 21.7 C.

If a dashcam manufacturer wants true endurance through heat, they'll have to do the main unit under the seat with wired cameras going into it idea that many have suggested over the years.

You mean like the box style units from Blackvue and soon to be many others.

 

[mentadent]

@viofo You should make one, you already have a range of external cameras.

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

@viofo You should make one, you already have a range of external cameras.

They would definitely get rid of those heat challenges.

However i have had the opportunity to test some prototype units like this and I have to say you really need feedback from installation technicians who install everyday to perfect this produxt

 

[Dashmellow]

If a dashcam manufacturer wants true endurance through heat, they'll have to do the main unit under the seat with wired cameras going into it idea that many have suggested over the years.

Yes, this is indeed old news as it was first proposed years ago. Having been on the forum for a very long time now, I recall how the first attempts to do this didn't work so well as the technology wasn't quite up to the task, even for a single channel but now it should be quite doable.

There were a few generic Chinese "first to market" models that were basically junk. Then one of the first name brand models was the SG663DR from Street Guardian that spent two and a half years in development was introduced back in 2020. As far as I know it never really sold well, partly because by the time it came to the market the sensor and processor technology had started to become somewhat obsolete. Also the two camera modules were not quite as discreet as some had been hoping for. I think you can still buy this cam.

Still, the basic idea is what we're looking for but the installation can be a bear because it was complicated and there were so many cables.

Images courtesy of @TonyM

 

[SafeDriveSolutions]

Yes, this is indeed old news as it was first proposed years ago. Having been on the forum for a very long time now, I recall how the first attempts to do this didn't work so well as the technology wasn't quite up to the task, even for a single channel but now it should be quite doable.

There were a few generic Chinese "first to market" models that were basically junk. Then one of the first name brand models was the SG663DR from Street Guardian that spent two and a half years in development was introduced back in 2020. As far as I know it never really sold well, partly because by the time it came to the market the sensor and processor technology had moved on somewhat. I think you can still buy one.

Still, the basic idea is what we're looking for but the installation can be a bear because it was complicated and there were so many cables. Also the two camera models were not as discreet as some had been hoping for.


View attachment 73615

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GROSS

 

[kamkar]

I still have my SG9663DR system.

The one major flaw Street guardian and other too did with systems like this, was to make a micro main unit, they should have been 8 X larger

True it was a little bit more painful to install, but personally i would not mention that, and surely not if i could have gotten the actual benefits i still think are with a system like this if done right.

 

[Dashmellow]

The one major flaw Street guardian and other too did with systems like this, was to make a micro main unit, they should have been 8 X larger

I basically agree, but I'm not so sure I would want it 8 X larger though. I think the original idea was to make something that would fit easily in a glove box, hence the size. I think I would want something that I could mount on the dashboard or maybe down lower on the console somewhere. Under the seat would be good too, but for the most part as long as you can get the base unit out of direct sunshine on the upper part of the windshield it would probably be OK. Plus you could probably have a fan inside a base unit as long as the microphones are placed in the camera modules. A dedicated under the seat design wouldn't even need a screen if it had Wifi.

 

[kamkar]

Well i am not sure 8 X is needed either, but at least so large it can house a proper cooling solution, so you theoretically gain the better parking guard endurance.
The way i see it once installed you would not need readily access to the thing, like if it was in the glove box.
Also as i found out, putting it in a place like that, well G-force events have a hard time reaching the not firmly installed unit, also why i asked for a remote G-sensor you could boldt to something rigid in the car.

In regard to storage like NVME, you can get those drives in very small sizes and still have a decent amount of storage, so it should not be a size defining aspect.

The SG9663DR had the microphone placed in the wired event button.

 

[Dashmellow]

Well i am not sure 8 X is needed either, but at least so large it can house a proper cooling solution,

I get what you are saying, but what about the fan idea? You don't necessarily need a huge housing for a fan and some good beefy heat sinks.

 

[kamkar]

Indeed.
Even the best of coolers only go so far in passive mode, but also even active coolers i recon will hit a wall if ambient temperatures are very high.

It work fine in computers cooling some pretty hefty chips, but some people also hit a wall there when the ambient temperature go up.
Though i can not say i tried that in all those years where i took my computers to the ragged edge overclocking them, and back then i lived in a house on the first floor, and of course like all Danish houses no AC

 

[Dashmellow]

Indeed.
Even the best of coolers only go so far in passive mode, but also even active coolers i recon will hit a wall if ambient temperatures are very high.

It work fine in computers cooling some pretty hefty chips, but some people also hit a wall there when the ambient temperature go up.
Though i can not say i tried that in all those years where i took my computers to the ragged edge overclocking them, and back then i lived in a house on the first floor, and of course like all Danish houses no AC

I've always wondered if it might be possible to use solid state thermoelectric cooling using Peltier chips in dash cams. While it would likely not be practical in a typical dash cam, it might be possible to incorporate the technology into a larger base unit that could go under a seat. The big hurdle would probably be condensation but that might be addressable with fans, heat sinks and proper ventilation. These chips usually operate on 5V.

 

[Nigel]

It work fine in computers cooling some pretty hefty chips, but some people also hit a wall there when the ambient temperature go up.

Heat pipes completely stop working once the temperature gets too warm for the gas to condense back into liquid, which is why we can't use heat pipes in dashcams.

Peltier chips in dash cams.

They consume far too much power for parking mode. They work for drinks coolers because you can stop any new heat getting in, but if you are generating heat inside continuously, then you need a lot of power for your cooler.

 

[Dashmellow]

Heat pipes completely stop working once the temperature gets too warm for the gas to condense back into liquid, which is why we can't use heat pipes in dashcams.


They consume far too much power for parking mode. They work for drinks coolers because you can stop any new heat getting in, but if you are generating heat inside continuously, then you need a lot of power for your cooler.

Do you have any hands on experience with these things? I doubt it.

I'm no expert but I do have some experience with them. I had a small Peltier effect dehumidifier that died after a several years and before disposing of it I dismantled it and removed the Peltier chips, heat sinks and circuit board that were inside and have been tinkering with them. Dehumidifiers are not enclosed devices like portable coolers BTW. These chips usually run on 5V and can operate at between 1 amp and 6 amps. Probably 5V @ 3 amps or less plus a small fan and a heat sink would create enough of a cooling effect to work inside a small under-the-seat remote camera dash cam housing to be viable. Remember, we are not trying to create a refrigerator like a portable food and drink cooler. We only want to cool the air around the processor and circuit board somewhat. These chips come in different sizes and I assume a small one would be used inside a remote camera dash cam.

I can't say for certain but I think there might be some potentional here for this application and perhaps an actual dash cam engineer may decide to explore this someday. Of course, as our long time DCT resident expert on literally every subject on earth, you dimiss something like this out of hand which is the response we've all come to expect from you.

 

[Nigel]

Probably 5V @ 3 amps or less plus a small fan and a heat sink would create enough of a cooling effect to work inside a small under-the-seat remote camera dash cam housing to be viable. Remember

That would take the dashcam power consumption from 1A to 4A, so a quarter of the battery life in parking mode… roughly. Of course it would only need to use the extra power in warm conditions, but yes, that is around what it would need to use, and when not powered, it would act as insulation, so would need to be powered much of the time.

 

[Dashmellow]

That would take the dashcam power consumption from 1A to 4A, so a quarter of the battery life in parking mode… roughly. Of course it would only need to use the extra power in warm conditions, but yes, that is around what it would need to use, and when not powered, it would act as insulation, so would need to be powered much of the time.

If you used a Peltier device similar to the photo I provided it wouldn't even be on top of the processor, it would be blowing colder air over the processor. How would this "act as insulation"? And who said you need to run this off your car's battery?