Ddpai M6+ - My first dash cam

[billyclub]

you could always buy the Vico Vation Vico-Power Plus.

 

[Paul Schmehl]

I formatted a 64 GB PNY card in the camera. My Mac says it's unreadable. Since I have two cards, I formatted on in Fat32 and the other in ExFat. Tomorrow I'll see if either card will work in the camera without formatting with the camera. Then I'll report the results. If I can't mount these cards on my Mac, it's going to be a bit of a PITA.

UPDATE: I tested both cards this morning. The ExFat card had to be formatted in the camera, and my Powerbook could not load it. The Fat32 card was accepted by the camera, and video was recorded on it. When I inserted it in my Powerbook, the Powerbook mounted the card and the file system was visible.

So pre-formatting the cards to Fat32 will work in the camera and be mountable on a Mac.

 

[Paul Schmehl]

Today I went to lunch with a friend. The camera was plugged in to a power outlet which has power all the time. About seven minutes after I shut the car off, the camera stopped recording. I own a 2013 Ford Flex. The car has a battery saver function that will shut off anything that's using the battery after a few minutes. So, if I wanted to use a camera that was powered on all the time, I would have to use a battery pack, I think.

 

[CDNinHH]

Yes a battery pack is an option or a power management device such as a Power magic pro or the Vico one that is hard wired.

 

[Yooshaw]

If you hardwire it with a battery discharge prevention device, you can tap into a power source that does not cut off after a few minutes.

 

[Paul Schmehl]

If you hardwire it with a battery discharge prevention device, you can tap into a power source that does not cut off after a few minutes.

The problem with this is that this camera has a Li-Po battery, and I don't want power to it all the time. I'm hoping that DDpai will change to super capacitors or someone will figure out how to replace the battery with a super capacitor. Until then, it will be hardwired to ACC so it's only on when the car is in use. Yes, I know I sacrifice the parking mode and time lapse capabilities, but those aren't very important to me anyway. I'm retired, so the car sits at home most of the time.

 

[Yooshaw]

Most BDPS have a switch so you can turn on or off whether the camera has power when the ignition is off. I do this with my Vico Power Plus. Turn it off at the end of the day when the car is in the garage. Plus the Vico has a high temp cutoff that will cut power at a temp you select.

All depends if you want parking mode really.

 

[allerley]

Strange I'd have though it would run of the battery longer if it has a lipo battery but it only seems to power for minutes

 

[Paul Schmehl]

The M6+ has a setting option for the battery. You can set it to 10 seconds (default), 30, 1, 3 or 5 minutes.

 

[SuperGoop]

@Paul Where is this option for the battery l? I can't find it. Thanks.

 

[Paul Schmehl]

My camera just updated to 3.3.1.6, and now I can't find it. They must have removed the option to adjust battery time. It was under Me/Settings/Advanced Settings.

On the plus side they've added icons for resolution and viewing mode, so you no longer have to go to camera settings to set those.

 

[Paul Schmehl]

For those who are interested, I want to describe the hardwire kit I bought. It's sold by DDpai and designed for the DDpai camera products. The total length of the kit is 140 inches (11'8", 3.556 meters). From the mini USB plug to the converter box is 119 inches (9'11", 3.0226 meters). The converter box is 1 & 7/8 inches long (47.625 mm) long, 1 inch wide (25.4 mm) wide and 5/8 inches (15.875 mm) deep. The wires coming out of the converter box are red and black and labeled ACC and GND respectively and 20 inches (508 mm) long. The red wire has a 1 A fuse in a fuse holder 6 inches (152.4 mm) from the end of the wire.

According to the instructions, the red cable must be connected to BATT if you want to use the long-time parking monitor. Otherwise it should be connected to ACC. I'm going to connect it to ACC as I will not be using parking mode. I'm concerned about the battery overheating in the hot sun of Texas.

According to the instructions, the converter has low voltage protection and will cut off power to the camera if the battery voltage drops to 11.6 V. It also includes short circuit, over current and over temperature protection. The operating temperature is -40 C to +85 C. The system is rated at 5 V/1.5 A. Static power consumption is about 15-18mA.

Here's a picture of the hardwire kit. I added the terminal to the end of the red wire.



You can buy the hardwire kit on eBay for about $12 US with free shipping. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...kit.TRS0&_nkw=ddpai+m6++hardwire+kit&_sacat=0

 

[Paul Schmehl]

I installed the hardwire kit today. Everything went well until it came to installing the add a circuit part. I absolutely could not do it. It took me about five minutes to route the wires through the headliner, down the A-pillar and under the dash. I spent the next three hours trying to get the Add A Circuit to plug in to the fuse block. By the end I was drenched in sweat and frustrated to no end. So I went into the house, cooled off and drove to a local stereo shop and had them complete the install. The camera comes on when you turn the car on, which is what I wanted. Overall I'm very pleased with the camera, with its performance and configurability, and pleased with the hardwire install. You can see about five inches of wire going up to the headliner. That's it. The rest is hidden.

Now I have to decide if I want to install the CPL filter. I want to get some night video before testing it, to see if it blocks too much light at night.

I went down the Chinese American Community Center with my warranty card and the instructions for the CPL filter, both of which are in Chinese only. The lady told me the warranty is for one year, and you do not have to fill it out and turn it in. The instructions for the CPL filter say to clean the lens with a wet wipe (provided) and then dry it with the dry wipe, before installing the CPL, which is a stick-on filter. I think I'm going to tape it to the camera for testing purposes before permanently affixing it.

 

[Paul Schmehl]

This is some night video taken this evening. The quality of this video is one of the reasons I bought the M6+. I stripped the audio from it. No more copyright violations for me.

 

[SuperGoop]

Yes, it is quite impressive how much light it captures. I know there are some compromises for this (maybe longer exposure? more motion blur?), but to me, I'd rather sacrifice some sharpness/details for see more in low light.

The visible sky and clouds at night is a good example of how much light it captures. With most other dashcam, the sky is mostly pitch black at night.

 

[allerley]

I've used mine at night a few times now and I'm really impressed with the night vision. My local area has LED street lighting and these are way too bright for the lens but the burn out is very localised and I can still see some detail in the sky. Again I'm very impressed I bought this on the strength of techmoans review and I'm very happy I did. Just hoping Traveller can get DV working on MacOS soon

 

[Paul Schmehl]

Today we ran to the grocery store. On the way home we drove directly into the setting sun, so I thought I would post a video.

 

[CDNinHH]

Very impressed with the quality of that camera. Are you using a CPL?

 

[Paul Schmehl]

Very impressed with the quality of that camera. Are you using a CPL?

I bought one but have not yet installed it. I want to do some testing to see how it affects night videos. The CPL filter is a stick on, so once it's installed, you can't take it back off. I thought I would tape it on the camera for testing and look at the videos before attaching it permanently.

 

[CDNinHH]

Ok, well it sure looks like you don't even need one from that video you posted. I see no reflection from the dash of the car at all.
You made a good choice with that camera I think.. The only thing that I wish is that it had a capacitor.