Dashcam Parking Mode Without Hardwire

[paulstarling]

Just joined here wondering if anyone can help with an issue. I only want a front dashcam and picking one isn’t an issue as there is a lot of option. The issue I have is. I have a Motability car and they do not allow for it to be hardwired. Wanting parking mode or something similar so it will only record when there is contact if the vehicle is off. Is there a way to get around that or worst case scenario I just get a dashcam which will record when driving which is better than nothing…

 

[DAP]

Do you have a source of always on power in your car? If not, forget about parking mode. If you do, you can get a camera that allows motion detection to trigger recording. If you have a source of switched power and always on power, you can use a hard wire kit without hard wiring it to the fuse box or battery.
Only other way to do it would be to get a large 12V battery to power the camera when the car is off. Charge it using the cigarette lighter when the car is running, and hard wire the camera to this additional battery.

 

[paulstarling]

Do you have a source of always on power in your car? If not, forget about parking mode. If you do, you can get a camera that allows motion detection to trigger recording. If you have a source of switched power and always on power, you can use a hard wire kit without hard wiring it to the fuse box or battery.
Only other way to do it would be to get a large 12V battery to power the camera when the car is off. Charge it using the cigarette lighter when the car is running, and hard wire the camera to this additional battery.

Thanks for the info. I’ve not got the car yet. It is an electric Hyundai Ioniq 6. To preserve battery as well if there was a way to turn on and off easily if that is better

 

[Panzer Platform]

I have a Motability car and they do not allow for it to be hardwired.

Welcome to the club.

Plug & Play Example (no hardwiring into fusebox)
1.) Dash cam
2.) Hardwire kit connected to dash cam battery pack
3.) Dash cam battery pack plugged into switched CLA power port
4.) When you turn vehicle on, dash cam will record in normal driving mode, and dash cam battery pack will be charged.
5.) When you turn vehicle off, dash cam will record in parking mode running of dash cam battery pack.
-Chuck

 

[Dimitris1976]

I have an EQA and run a Vantrue E3 on parking mode with their OBD2 adapter.
Yes! EVs have an OBD connector too!

 

[DAP]

It is an electric Hyundai Ioniq 6

That car IS a battery. A dash cam is such a small draw, and that battery is so huge, I don't think you need to worry about the dash cam draining the cars battery. It is only ICE cars that need to worry about that because their batteries are tiny in comparison. One could drain an ICE car battery in a few days with a dash cam.
I have three A129 pro cameras running in my Tesla. I do not worry at all about draining the 75 kWh battery with the dash cams.

 

[rcg530]

That car IS a battery. A dash cam is such a small draw, and that battery is so huge, I don't think you need to worry about the dash cam draining the cars battery. It is only ICE cars that need to worry about that because their batteries are tiny in comparison. One could drain an ICE car battery in a few days with a dash cam.
I have three A129 pro cameras running in my Tesla. I do not worry at all about draining the 75 kWh battery with the dash cams.

Electric vehicles do have large capacity high voltage batteries for the main operations of the vehicle. EVs also contain a somewhat small 12V battery to power the 12V accessories in the vehicle and many times the modules that are used to bootstrap the EV operations of the vehicle. Depletion of the smaller 12V battery is still a concern for ICE powered, ICE hybrids and battery electric vehicles.

EVs will have some sort of 12V battery maintenance logic in place so it knows when to charge / maintain the 12V battery. That can occur while the vehicle is driving and/or during the charging mode of the EV high voltage batteries.

 

[DAP]

I'm running my cameras on the switched power that turns off when the car sleeps. When sentry mode is on, the other dash cams are also on. Since the car is awake in sentry mode, the main battery will charge the low voltage battery as needed. I would expect the same behavior on other EVs.

 

[Dimitris1976]

I had my EV (EQA250) parked for a couple of weeks with 3ch cameras recording in motion detection mode, without noticable loss of range.

 

[paulstarling]

Welcome to the club.

Plug & Play Example (no hardwiring into fusebox)
1.) Dash cam
2.) Hardwire kit connected to dash cam battery pack
3.) Dash cam battery pack plugged into switched CLA power port
4.) When you turn vehicle on, dash cam will record in normal driving mode, and dash cam battery pack will be charged.
5.) When you turn vehicle off, dash cam will record in parking mode running of dash cam battery pack.
-Chuck

Really useful info as I was searching for a while and couldn’t get the answer to it. What have I got to buy and I assume any dashcam should work

 

[paulstarling]

That car IS a battery. A dash cam is such a small draw, and that battery is so huge, I don't think you need to worry about the dash cam draining the cars battery. It is only ICE cars that need to worry about that because their batteries are tiny in comparison. One could drain an ICE car battery in a few days with a dash cam.
I have three A129 pro cameras running in my Tesla. I do not worry at all about draining the 75 kWh battery with the dash cams.

Thanks for the continued help. So it’s figuring out now what to buy

 

[Panzer Platform]

What have I got to buy and I assume any dashcam should work

Start researching dash cam battery packs.
Yes, any dash cam will work.

@BlackboxMyCar
Do you ship PowerCell 8's to the UK?
If not, what do you recommend for the UK market?

 

[Dimitris1976]

Really useful info as I was searching for a while and couldn’t get the answer to it. What have I got to buy and I assume any dashcam should work

 

[Dimitris1976]

Just joined here wondering if anyone can help with an issue. I only want a front dashcam and picking one isn’t an issue as there is a lot of option. The issue I have is. I have a Motability car and they do not allow for it to be hardwired. Wanting parking mode or something similar so it will only record when there is contact if the vehicle is off. Is there a way to get around that or worst case scenario I just get a dashcam which will record when driving which is better than nothing…

For God's sake don't listen to all this!
You don't need any external battery pack for your dash cam. You are leasing an EV.

Ioniq 6 has a very easily accessible OBD port which provides Switched, Unswitched voltages and Ground. It's on the lower dash, right next to your left knee (see attached photos).

Just plug in the OBD adapter (see attached photo and link: https://www.vantrue.net/product/obd_cable_for_x4S_n4_n2S_e1 )
route the cable to your camera and you are all set for many days of continuous recording in parking mode!

 

[paulstarling]

Very useful info from everyone thanks for helping

 

[paulstarling]

For God's sake don't listen to all this!
You don't need any external battery pack for your dash cam. You are leasing an EV.

Ioniq 6 has a very easily accessible OBD port which provides Switched, Unswitched voltages and Ground. It's on the lower dash, right next to your left knee (see attached photos).

Just plug in the OBD adapter (see attached photo and link: https://www.vantrue.net/product/obd_cable_for_x4S_n4_n2S_e1 )
route the cable to your camera and you are all set for many days of continuous recording in parking mode!

So I assume I could get any dashcam and get the cable you have linked. Install and that will be all?

 

[Dimitris1976]

So I assume I could get any dashcam and get the cable you have linked. Install and that will be all?

Any Vantrue camera compatible with this OBD cable.

 

[paulstarling]

For God's sake don't listen to all this!
You don't need any external battery pack for your dash cam. You are leasing an EV.

Ioniq 6 has a very easily accessible OBD port which provides Switched, Unswitched voltages and Ground. It's on the lower dash, right next to your left knee (see attached photos).

Just plug in the OBD adapter (see attached photo and link: https://www.vantrue.net/product/obd_cable_for_x4S_n4_n2S_e1 )
route the cable to your camera and you are all set for many days of continuous recording in parking mode!

Probably daft asking but not an expert with cars haha. So it’s one wire? Was getting confused thinking there is 2 wires but not sure… Going to get someone to install it but would assume anyone with knowledge would know what to do

 

[DAP]

Probably daft asking but not an expert with cars haha. So it’s one wire? Was getting confused thinking there is 2 wires but not sure… Going to get someone to install it but would assume anyone with knowledge would know what to do

It is 3 wires for a hard wired mode, and 2 wires for normal mode. For normal mode it is just power and ground. Usually the power is switched off when the car is turned off. If power is always on, you can get a form of parking mode by enabling motion detection in the camera. In hard wire mode it is always on power, as well as a power line that turns off when the car is off, and ground. With this setup, the camera knows to switch to parking mode when the switched power line is off.

 

[Dimitris1976]

Probably daft asking but not an expert with cars haha. So it’s one wire? Was getting confused thinking there is 2 wires but not sure… Going to get someone to install it but would assume anyone with knowledge would know what to do

The OBD2 adapter is one nice thin cable, obviously with three wires in it - ground, switched and unswitched power.
You don't have to worry about them though.
The installation is plug and play.