Do you need to disconnect the powered mount from the car when parked with or without the camera attached, is battery drainage/safety an issue?

Mad Dog Malcs

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Dash Cam
NextBase 512 GW
Hi Guys

I'm sure it has been asked many times, in many different ways. I got the 512GW for Christmas and my question surrounds leaving the camera in the car.

So, The powered mount is plugged into my cigarette lighter via the car power cable, not hard wired. I notice that this seems to stay permanently on even when the engine is switched off, I know because I've been back and checked after an hour or so and I can still see the red light on the car power cable that plugs in to the cigarette lighter socket.

So my question is two-fold.

1. Does leaving just the powered mount plugged in via the car power cable drain the car battery? I'm guessing it does if the light is staying on. Is this recommended/not recommended or should I just be unplugging it anyway?

2. If I'm leaving the camera plugged in and in parking mode with the G-Sensor I would need to keep it plugged in anyway? correct? Is this constantly draining the battery or only when the G-Sensor kicks in. (I assume having the camera connected would drain more battery than just leaving the cable plugged in with no camera attached).


Thanks in advance, I've searched the web on this one and can't seem to find a definitive answer.

Cheers, Malcs!
 
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Are you sure your cig lighter is live all the time? The NB shock sensor is very sensitive and will kick the cam into record at the merest suspicion of a door opening.
I think the light turns blue (charging) when the 12V is applied.
 
Hi @M8TJT Thanks for the reply. The adaptor is live with or without a camera attached (The red light on the car power cable is permanently on).
Not sure about the light changing blue, I haven't noticed it switch from red, I'll keep an eye on it on the way home tonight (figuratively speaking! :D)

I've also deleted the duplicate post on the other thread so this is the only one live now.
 
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Ah, yes, I see now. I miss read your post and thought that you were talking about the light on the camera.
1. The adaptor light will stay on all the time it has 12V applied whether or not the camera is being charged. The current drawn will go down to virtually nothing when the cam is fully charged, so as long as nothing is constantly triggering the camera requiring that its battery needs charging, then you should be OK
2. Not correct. It is reputed that the battery will last long enough for about 30 'events'. However it seems that pretty much anything triggers the camera, so leave it connected in parking mode for a few hours and see how many 'false alarms' that you get.
 
Thanks @M8TGT so to confirm:

1. Leaving the powered mount plugged into the car via the car power cable without the camera attached is not detrimental as it will not affect the car battery as there is nothing actually connected drawing down power.
2. I don't need to have the powered mount connected via the car power cable as the internal battery (assuming someone doesn't stand there rocking the car) should be sufficient.

I guess the final question and clarity I'm after would be is it dangerous to leave the dock connected to the power with or without a camera attached? (overheating etc). Or is it advised to unplug the dock from the 12V when not in use. It's no problem to do so, just a bit of a pain. Does anyone know of any safety guidelines around this?
 
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As an FYI for other users with the same or similar question, I've just downloaded the manual to this:
https://www.nextbase.com/en-gb/help-and-support/dash-cams/512gw-support/

-----------------------------------------------
CAUTIONS ON USING THIS PRODUCT

3. When not in use, please disconnect the car adaptor from both the 12/24Vdc outlet in your vehicle
and the device itself.

VIDEO MODE (CONTD.)

7. Parking Mode
When Parking Mode has been turned on, the Dash Cam enters standby mode when the 12Vdc supply has been turned OFF (typically removing your ignition key).

The Dash Cam will also enter standby mode if no physical movement is detected for 5 minutes, this is designed to allow use of a permanent 12Vdc supply, i.e hard-wire kit.

Should physical movement of the vehicle be detected, the Dash Cam will power on and start recording a 2 minute protected video. If no further physical movement is detected
then The Dash Cam will return to standby mode, if physical movement is detected subsequently, then the camera will continue to record normally, i.e. driving once more.
-----------------------------------------------

It only refers to a hard wired kit in parking mode but based on the 'Caution's' and @M8TJT's reply better to disconnect the Powered Mount from the 12V. I'm guessing that with a permanent live going to the camera from the powered mount it wouldn't actually be able to engage parking mode if it was still connected anyway!

Amazing things manuals! :rolleyes: If anyone has anything to add please feel free :)
 
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Parking / 7 /para 2 contradicts you.
 
Parking / 7 /para 2 contradicts you.

I wound trust the 5 minute thing - as mentioned check a couple of overnight sessions to see how many events it records. Mine is on a switched socket so running off the internal battery. But it records too many false positives so drains the battery really quickly. If that was wired to a permanent live, it’d possibly run the car battery down (and fill the season card with protected recordings)
 
Parking / 7 /para 2 contradicts you.

I'm not sure what to make of it to be honest, but it refers to a hard wired kit not the powered mount/ car power cable. It definitely states removing the car cable kit when parked (which in turn disables the powered mount).

Ideally it would be good to see what NextBase say (I notice they have representatives in here), for the moment I'm going to keep unplugging the car power cable when I'm parked as that is what the recommendation seems to be in the manual whether the camera is plugged in or not (although it does say 'when not in use' so does that mean you can leave it plugged in if you were using it in parking mode as it would still essentially be 'in use' :D).

I'll be honest I'm a bit nervous about leaving the actual camera in the car anyway for fear of someone smashing the window to get it! :rolleyes:
 
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I wound trust the 5 minute thing - as mentioned check a couple of overnight sessions to see how many events it records. Mine is on a switched socket so running off the internal battery. But it records too many false positives so drains the battery really quickly. If that was wired to a permanent live, it’d possibly run the car battery down (and fill the season card with protected recordings)

It's a fair point @mrklaw, thanks for the input.
 
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