Do you recommend a Power Magic Pro for this condition?

[reverend]

There are loads of variables to be honest mate - how much driving do you do, what sort of battery is it, what size engine is it (plus petrol or diesel), and most importantly of all what's the weather like where you are?

If it's really cold I'd be sticking to 12.4V which you'd need something else to be able to do.

Even here it got to a few degrees under and even at the 12.1V setting on the X2 (which in reality was 11.8V) you could hear the car taking longer to fire up.

If I use the 12.1V setting on the X2 (which is 11.8V) the car automatically disables things like coming home headlights and leaving home headlights to try and conserve energy for firing the engine up. Quite clever when you see how much intelligence they build in to cars now. It's warming up now and I've noticed the camera runs for much longer (it usually lasts overnight again now and sometimes cuts out as I unlock the car and the voltage drops when the xenon headlights turn on).

One day I had upgraded the camera and forgotten to set the voltage - I did a 45 min trip from home to the shops and we were in there maybe 90 mins - got back to the car and it wouldn't fire up. Took me a good two mins to get it to turn over and I've been a bit sensitive about it since as I've got a two year old and as much as I like testing dashcams I'm not risking having a car that can't fire up without heating working if we've gone out somewhere. As soon as the icy mornings are gone it should be fine.

To be honest my car does seem to cope at the 11.8V setting but if it was an older battery (this is an oversized Yuasa Silver bought last April) then you may struggle. Any lower than that and it's game over.

 

[Gugusse]

I've read a topic about something like this, and someone gave a electrical diagram to give power during parking mode that is automaticaly switched off if baterry is low: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/electrical-power-question-two-power-wires-for-one-camera.8904/

That way if you forget it, the system stop automatically. I think tha tI will do something like that with my dashcam.

 

[MANswers]

Looking at the instructions doesn't the Power Magic Pro only do 11.8V and 12V cut off whereas the Lukas has higher options which are more use in winter?

My LK290 only took about ten days from Korea, wasn't too bad at all tbh. In fact can't you get them locally in the USA from Lukas USA?

Reverend thanks for your previous reply. its definately a good approach to test it out.
I am kinda worried right now with the 12v cutover. Chicago winter falls really low, i wonder if PMP cannot manage higher than 12v cutover for the batter, i've been told it should be above 12.8v or little more.

Anyone know's or uses PMP in midwest or East coast in cold conditions and 12v is good enough?

 

[Alan-GTC-]

http://www.blackvue.co.kr/common/im...name=manual_powermagicpro_en_v1.02_121008.jpg

Voltage settings for cutoff = 11.8V, 12V,22.8V and 23.2V

Timer = 6hr, 12hr, 24hr, 36hr, 48hr, 72hr, 120hr or "to infinity and beyond!"

If worried about the cars on board systems shutting down the system when the engine is off ask the Professional Installer if they recommend wiring the YELLOW (BATT) cable direct to the battery and having an inline fuse as a precaution. As per the instructions the RED wire (ACC) should be connected to the cars fuse box where the power is only on when car is running (the cigar jack for example). You could use a fuse tap for this.

 

[jokiin]

, i've been told it should be above 12.8v or little more.

park your car and go and measure your battery after 10 minutes or so and I think you'll find it's already going to be at 12.8v or less

 

[MANswers]

Thanks @albertson, @jokiin and @reverend. I've placed an order for the Lukas LK-290. The power magic pro which I had ordered earlier yesterday is going back to amazon. The Lukas lk-290 should arrive by Wednesday next week from Korea. They have a good deal going on right now the lk290 is for 21 bucks. I guess now i can let the cams draw power from the battery with 12.4v cutover which was not possible with pmp. 12.4v is easily the most safest bet.

 

[miko]

@MANswers, did you end up installing PMP on your MDX? Where did you place the PMP? I was thinking either the glove compartment or center console of MDX.

Do the dashcams get overheat running parking mode? Thx!