Dashcam for desert living

kamkar1 said:
I would have to look at some form of active ventilation too if i lived in a climate like that, and also a car with aircon which my current cheapo car don't have.
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I don't think any car they sell here now doesn't have AC, reflection of our climate I guess
 
AND high taxes ( i read your climate )
The 27550 AUD i paid for my little Suzuki in 2012 would most likely buy me a much nicer car with AC in Australia / most other places.
It is rare you find leather seating / higher specs in a ordinary Danes ordinary car, or for that matter automatic transmission as its all a extra that just add to the mess that is buying a car here.
I assume all cars sold here are most often the cheapest version, some maybe so cut back from the factory they don't sell them elsewhere.


OMG :censored:

I don't dare to enter 25000 - 30000 AUD prices, which is what i could afford on my pension with a 8 year loan, im plenty depresses as it is.

Down the listings there is a 2019 Suzuki Vitara Auto 2WD @ 22555 AUD - A 2019 used with 2000 KM on it and with a 5 door / 1.0 boostjet motor ( 1.6 L don't sell here ) in what i think are the bottom "active" trim level will cost me 45885 AUD
 
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kamkar1 said:
AND high taxes ( i read your climate )
The 27550 AUD i paid for my little Suzuki in 2012 would most likely buy me a much nicer car with AC in Australia / most other places.
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it also would have been less than half that price here, the entry level model was around 11k
 
You can buy solar-powered ventilation fans designed to be fitted in a nearly-closed car window but I don't know how well they actually work. I'd imagine that if they were of great benefit we'd see plenty of them in use around us as the ones I've seen are relatively inexpensive, yet I've never seen even one in use. A closed car can get hot enough to melt many plastics including some dashcam housings so it would clearly exceed what the electronics could handle. And even forced-air cooling cannot lower heat to a level below the ambient still-air temperature. Overheating is a long and well-known issue for dashcams, especially battery-equipped ones. Luckily we have a few dashcam manufacturers who design for use in high heats as best can be done.

I guess I'm old but I remember the days when air conditioned cars were scarce here, being almost exclusively luxury models. It was something you just learned to live with. I've had few vehicles with A/C through my life, and even in the ones which had or have it I used it only on the hottest days. Much the same for me in most of the houses I've lived in too, where fan-cooling was usually all I needed except on the worst of days. Being that much of my work is done exposed to the elements I'm more conditioned to the environment than most folks are, but as I'm getting older I notice that temperature extremes aren't as easy on me as they once were, hot or cold. All of today's cars and newer-built houses have A/C. Like electric windows, power steering, and automatic transmissions it's something which nearly every buyer demands these days at every price level, so that's all that is offered here anymore. It's no more necessary to life than before but if that's all being offered then that's what you get to choose from.

My old workvan often sits in full sun, fully closed and locked up for security reasons, and of the many cams I've used about half either freeze up recording or completely quit on the hotter days in those conditions. Also for seciurity reasons as well as preference I record continuously which is the mode generating the highest in-cam heats. Every cam I've tried at best has some focus-shift on the worst days but it's not much with Mobius and B1W and they keep on recording reliably through it all. I've never had a SG cam but I've never heard one single report of them having heat-related issues that would not have done the same or worse to any other cam. They're not cheap, only well worth their price if you can afford one. And I have to wonder about the cam manufacturers who include automatic overheat shutdown- if the $60 B1W doesn't need it then why can't they make their cam which costs from 2X to 8X more work that well? There's no point in having anything which does not work the way you want it to when that is possible. No dashcam is warrantied for the kind of abuse I put mine to, but I'll chance that, and it's really not chancing much when a cam is designed and built so well that it takes my abuse without a problem. Now if I could only find everything I use done so well...

Phil
 
jokiin said:
tinting can slow the rate at which the car heats up, it will still reach the same temp eventually though, can still be a worthwhile option
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That's the point, it'll prolong the life of recording before it reaches thermal shutdown. There's going to be zero cameras out there that will run in a desert climate without eventually getting to hot. But Tinting will aid the camera to maximize record time before it eventually shuts down.
 
kamkar1 said:
You do not want to "sandwich" a dashcam between the windscreen and some kind of block for the sun, we have seen that almost melt dashcams that otherwise do well in heat.
But i do think those was the reflective kind of deal.

Tint on windscreen might not be legal in AZ, you cant do that on a windscreen in Denmark for sure.
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TINT LAWS

Arizona allows 33% tint on front window. That's pretty damn dark. I have 80% on my front, meaning 20% light is blocked. 33% blocks out 67% of the light! I'd never throw that on a front window, it'll be hard as hell to see at night.
 
My Suzuki gran vitara was black,,,,, i was very happy it did have aircon. :)
 
jokiin said:
we've measured 70°C internal temps on a day that was 21°C outside, they get a lot hotter than ambient temp, particularly on darker coloured vehicles
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Hmmmm....LiveScience did a test: https://www.livescience.com/62651-how-hot-cars-get.html

To investigate the matter, researchers studied how long it takes different types of cars to heat up on hot days. The findings were sobering: Within 1 hour, the temperature inside of a car parked in the sun on a day that reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) or hotter, hit an average of 116 degrees F (47 degrees C). [Why Does Being in the Heat Make Us Feel Tired?]

The cars' dashboards got even hotter, reaching 157 degrees F (69 degrees C), on average; the steering wheels climbed to a temperature of 127 degrees F (53 degrees C), on average; and the temperature of the seats hit 123 degrees F (51 degrees C), on average.

Though you're right, there's a lot of variables. Sun in direct sunlight or shade. Car Color. Ambient temperature outside. Which is why tinting definitely helps is hot climates! Even if to prolong but not avoid thermal shutdown.
 
I think you will have to curb your expectations by a little bit. There is NO camera that will work reliably in a desert heat, battery or capacitor powered.
Some may tell you otherwise but today's dash cams are not designed and assembled from automotive grade components (huge temperature swings) You can take any camera apart and see for yourself.
I measured almost 200F on a sunny summer day (in Pennsylvania) which is far from a desert. There is no manufacturer that will send you a replacement or honor the warranty when you send them partially melted dashcam.
 
jokiin said:
we've measured 70°C internal temps on a day that was 21°C outside, they get a lot hotter than ambient temp, particularly on darker coloured vehicles
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Happens all around the world. Parents of the "year" leave their kids in the car to find they died from heat. FYI 70C vs 72.5C...Doubt that extra 2.5C would make a whole lot of difference! :p
 
I
HonestReview said:
Happens all around the world. Parents of the "year" leave their kids in the car to find they died from heat. FYI 70C vs 72.5C...Doubt that extra 2.5C would make a whole lot of difference! :p
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I've had temps over 90°C in my own car, we get up in the high 40's during summer though
 
Leave a kid in a hot car here and you'll find your window broken, your kid taken into custody till they can find a competent family member to take care of them, and you'll be meeting a new friend in a bail-bondsman after the Cops take your sorry a$$ to jail :eek: Almost that bad if you leave a pet in a hot car even with the windows slightly opened. It's one thing that the Cops get right around here- they have zero tolerance for this kind of stupidity (y)

Amazing that any cam can function in that kind of heat, and it's not something I'd bet heavily on even with the very best ones because this far exceeds the specified limits of all the components being used. Anything you can do to mitigate any amount of the heat should be done; even a small drop in temps matters when you're at the very limit of things. And remember that SD cards also have heat limits (which you're also exceeding) so keep a close eye on them too.

So how hot can we go? I never measured it, but my best conservative guess is that my Mobius worked fine at an estimated 140F-150F degrees and my B1W did so at slightly less. Not the hottest place by far so above this level you should be listening to others who have more experience and/or better documentation than me, though you'll likely find them recommending these same cams.

Phil
 
Hey, y'all. Back after a bit of a hiatus. Sontata's going away in a week and I'm definitely taking the Chrysler T&C van. Be more handy for schlepping the grandbabies, that's for sure! :) So, some more info I've gathered. We just put some ceramic tint on the wife's Genesis Coupe and in talking with them, a =lot= (like everyone at the shop) run a 10% ceramic tint on their windshields. Even the 10% tint significantly cuts inside temps. So light that it's almost impossible to tell you have it.

Someone mentioned sandwiching the cam between a shade and the glass. Not what I'm looking at doing, rather slipping the shade between the glass and the camera, even if it means modding the shade to do so. With the van, it's got 6 windows that can be cracked for ventilation, so that should help, but I don't have a sun roof. Still looking at solar fan options. I also plan on putting 80% tint on all the windows, as we did with the Genesis. (Black car with near-blackout windows; looks badass, for sure! :-) Just need to get the rims black powdered, now.)

Now that I've got the vehicle situation settled, any suggestions or tips for installing cams in a mini-van?

Lyle
 
SawMaster said:
Leave a kid in a hot car here and you'll find your window broken, your kid taken into custody till they can find a competent family member to take care of them, and you'll be meeting a new friend in a bail-bondsman after the Cops take your sorry a$$ to jail :eek: Almost that bad if you leave a pet in a hot car even with the windows slightly opened. It's one thing that the Cops get right around here- they have zero tolerance for this kind of stupidity (y)

Amazing that any cam can function in that kind of heat, and it's not something I'd bet heavily on even with the very best ones because this far exceeds the specified limits of all the components being used. Anything you can do to mitigate any amount of the heat should be done; even a small drop in temps matters when you're at the very limit of things. And remember that SD cards also have heat limits (which you're also exceeding) so keep a close eye on them too.

So how hot can we go? I never measured it, but my best conservative guess is that my Mobius worked fine at an estimated 140F-150F degrees and my B1W did so at slightly less. Not the hottest place by far so above this level you should be listening to others who have more experience and/or better documentation than me, though you'll likely find them recommending these same cams.

Phil
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I hear ya! Sad thing is that when a child is left in a car, not only can you lose it, but more often than not, the marriage/relationship is wrecked and a lot of suicides happen, too.

Lyle
 
I wonder if this work with kids then ?
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