BobW
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Wilmington, NC
- Country
- United States
- Dash Cam
- Mini 0805
Just bought a 470W as a replacement for one of several highly unreliable Mini 0805's that I have. After the 470W rode around in the vehicle for a few days, I decided to bring it in the house and download some video. I was surprised to find it ran for maybe a minute on it's battery.
Concerned that maybe I got one with a bad battery, I called DOD tech support. After explaining the observations and my concern, the support guy asked an odd question. "How long did you charge it" I explained it's probably been powered for like 6 hours while driving. His next question was a bit of a bombshell. He wanted to know how long I charged it with it powered, but turned off. The answer was that I hadn't.
So, he went on to explain that the battery isn't charged when the unit it turned on - AT ALL. It only charges if powered, and turned off. So, I started down the path of if it's not charging when turned on, what about the fact that it runs for a minute or so after the ignition is turned off. It's got to charge to make up for that bit of discharge. He said it doesn't, and if you go through enough cycles of shutting the car off, and never take the time to "charge" the camera by powering it, but having it shut off, that the battery will eventually die completely. He started quoting current output from the 12 to 5 volt converter as being about an amp, and that there's not enough current available to run the camera and charge the battery. This is pretty much what I observed where 5 or 6 hours of driving didn't charge the battery.
This just seems like a really bad design given what these things are used for.
Concerned that maybe I got one with a bad battery, I called DOD tech support. After explaining the observations and my concern, the support guy asked an odd question. "How long did you charge it" I explained it's probably been powered for like 6 hours while driving. His next question was a bit of a bombshell. He wanted to know how long I charged it with it powered, but turned off. The answer was that I hadn't.
So, he went on to explain that the battery isn't charged when the unit it turned on - AT ALL. It only charges if powered, and turned off. So, I started down the path of if it's not charging when turned on, what about the fact that it runs for a minute or so after the ignition is turned off. It's got to charge to make up for that bit of discharge. He said it doesn't, and if you go through enough cycles of shutting the car off, and never take the time to "charge" the camera by powering it, but having it shut off, that the battery will eventually die completely. He started quoting current output from the 12 to 5 volt converter as being about an amp, and that there's not enough current available to run the camera and charge the battery. This is pretty much what I observed where 5 or 6 hours of driving didn't charge the battery.
This just seems like a really bad design given what these things are used for.