DR900S-2CH draining batteries

[M8TJT]

As the cam takes 0.4A (400mA) from the supply (Post #1) then finding the capacity of the battery (B124) is simple. Multiply the Amps by the hours (Ah) and that gives you the capacity.
So 0.4A x 8h = 3.2Ah =3,200mAh. So either the B124 is duff, or the current measurement is duff.

 

[Major-OCD]

The more info and options the better in my eyes Like you say that’s what forums are for.

 

[isakhnov]

I do wonder what people observe in general with 900s-2ch and 124x setup?

I have a 27 deep conversation with BV support on the time to drain the battery not being even close to what they publish. Below are my observations

1. Camera is in the detection mode level 3 -- battery is flat in 10.3 hours
- Car is parked in my personal garage with the sensitivity of level 3
- There is no traffic in the garage except us coming to the car in the morning
- Starting battery state was at a 100%
- Battery was flat in 10.3 hours
- There were four detection made during this time
- WiFi is on

2. Camera is in the detection mode level 2 -- battery to flat projection is 14.7 hours
- Same conditions as above
- Battery at a starting point of 20:50 was at 89%
- Battery at a final point of 7:25 was at 16%
- There was a single detection during this time.

3. Camera in the lapse mode - usually get projected to be just over 16 hours based on the battery state when return back to the car

BV support is ridiculous with the very first recommendation to set sensitivity to 0 as a mitigation ...

 

[Major-OCD]

I give up! My dash cam was replaced and I have seen a minor improvement on runtime.
the wiring has been checked, changed earth point as a precaution. Charged the neo9 unplugged the cameras to see if it would discharge and it was fine. Disconnected the input with the cameras connected and the runtime remains the same. Nothing makes a difference! I’m assuming that the figures quoted to run the cameras from the neo9 are just bs! Very disappoint with the cameras and battery packs!
now I have issues with other features on the cameras since they were replaced!

 

[eman006]

I give up! My dash cam was replaced and I have seen a minor improvement on runtime.
the wiring has been checked, changed earth point as a precaution. Charged the neo9 unplugged the cameras to see if it would discharge and it was fine. Disconnected the input with the cameras connected and the runtime remains the same. Nothing makes a difference! I’m assuming that the figures quoted to run the cameras from the neo9 are just bs! Very disappoint with the cameras and battery packs!
now I have issues with other features on the cameras since they were replaced!

Although I don't have a BV and am running the Viofo A129 Pro Duo (4K) with the Cellink NEO, I was noticing the same thing where the Cellink Neo would get depleted within 12-13 hours on parking mode. So I wanted to see if there was any discussion on this with the BV. Based on what Blackboxmycar.com (where I bought my Viofo and Cellink NEO), they posted the following:
"A fully charged Cellink NEO can run a BlackVue DR900S-1CH dash camera for about 25 hours while a dual channel system like the BlackVue DR900S-2CH will be about 15 hours with its integrated 76.8Wh. On the other hand, a BlackVue DR750S-1CH dash camera for about 28 hours while a dual channel system like the BlackVue DR750S-2CH will be about 18 hours. " (LINK to the site)

So what you're observing when in parking mode is realistic, and I'm sure the actual hours you're getting is dependent upon if you have everything on (4K resolution, bit rate, Wi-Fi for cloud, etc.).

 

[Nath]

...
So what you're observing when in parking mode is realistic, ...

As i stated before, i had turned on everything(4k, h265, 25Mbps, rear always active, Wifi AP, Cloud+notifications/event auto-upload, Movement/G-sensor[at highest sensitivity] based parking mode) and it consumes about 0.4A. He should get about 22hours from the 108Wh battery(15hours from 77Wh).

It has pretty similar consumption to A129ProDuo... (without Wifi and Cloud though)

 

[Major-OCD]

So where is the runtime quoted by Cellink for the neo 9 coming form?
“capable of powering a standard single channel dash cam for over 68 hours of continuous recording (dash cam model dependant) or several days of periodic recording if the dash cam is set to trigger by motion or impact only.”
I figured that I’d get at least 24 hours out of it with the DR900s-2CH, that’s why I got it.

 

[Nath]

Marketing...

No idea how much DR900S-1CH consumes. But if you mean the "several days of periodic...blahblah" that's not the case for DR900S because that means, i suppose, the dashcam turns on/off completely(Thinkware has such feature - triggered by impact or by motion catched via radar-sensor). Good for power savings but it'll not produce a buffered video, so nothing before impact is recorded - that's the reason why DR900S consumes about same amount of energy in parking mode as in normal mode. (in case of Motion/G-sensor mode)

Yep, 24hours should be possible with DR900S-2CH.

 

[Major-OCD]

That’s the reason I went with the blackvue for the buffered parking mode.
I’m happy with the cameras, just not happy with there ability to drain battery's rapidly!
I know to take some quoted figures with a pinch of salt, but to go from 68 hours to 18 hours is not what I expected. I was told I’d get 24 hours out of it. all I wanted out of them was to be able to park my car up on a Friday night and go out to it later on, on a Saturday morning/midday and the cameras still be running. That never happens so there’s times when the car isn’t protected by the system.
the whole point in going for this set up was to look after the car wile it’s parked. I could of just went with a run of the mill canners if I only wanted to run them wile in the car.
The stuff isn’t cheap and if I end up having to go down the expansion battery route it’s getting into crazy money!
Not would of been cheaper to employ someone to look after the car wile it’s parked up!

 

[eman006]

That’s the reason I went with the blackvue for the buffered parking mode.
I’m happy with the cameras, just not happy with there ability to drain battery's rapidly!
I know to take some quoted figures with a pinch of salt, but to go from 68 hours to 18 hours is not what I expected. I was told I’d get 24 hours out of it. all I wanted out of them was to be able to park my car up on a Friday night and go out to it later on, on a Saturday morning/midday and the cameras still be running. That never happens so there’s times when the car isn’t protected by the system.
the whole point in going for this set up was to look after the car wile it’s parked. I could of just went with a run of the mill canners if I only wanted to run them wile in the car.
The stuff isn’t cheap and if I end up having to go down the expansion battery route it’s getting into crazy money!
Not would of been cheaper to employ someone to look after the car wile it’s parked up!

I'm with you on the cost. In my observation, if you park in a very busy area with motion detection on, then the cam will record a lot more, therefore using more power than when in "detection" mode. My 12-13 hours is when I park at my work's garage which is very busy during the day and the cam is setoff by any motion. So if you're parking in a busy city street, then I would expect it not lasting beyond 12 hours. That's why the Thinkware U1000 is so attractive with an available low power mode used with the separate radar detection. Sounds like you may need to eat ramen for the next month and buy an extended battery pack to daisy chain to the original one to double your runtime.

 

[Major-OCD]

My car is parked in a very quiet street. It’s also a dead end/cul-de-sac so there’s little passing traffic. I have set the app to send me notifications for motion to see if I’m getting a lot of triggers.
I was told by blackvue uk that the battery(neo 9) should do 24 hours without issues.
that was with parking mode set to motion and impact with WIFI on.
I’m not getting anywhere near that!

 

[eman006]

My car is parked in a very quiet street. It’s also a dead end/cul-de-sac so there’s little passing traffic. I have set the app to send me notifications for motion to see if I’m getting a lot of triggers.
I was told by blackvue uk that the battery(neo 9) should do 24 hours without issues.
that was with parking mode set to motion and impact with WIFI on.
I’m not getting anywhere near that!

Do you get a lot of parking mode recordings on your SD card although you have set alerts on for any motion triggers)?
I do notice on mine with the Viofo when I'm parked in my own garage with parking mode on overnight (for around 12 hours) with maybe a few triggers for when me or my family goes into the garage to get something, the battery in the morning will be at around 30% vs being dead when parked at work with many trigger for the same time. So worth a look to see if actual recordings are happening on the SD card even through you're not being alerted.

 

[Major-OCD]

I’m going to go through everything and see if I can get the battery to last a bit longer.

 

[M8TJT]

Do you get a lot of parking mode recordings on your SD card although you have set alerts on for any motion triggers)?

OP has a Blackvue DR900S -2CH. In parking mode, this camera is pretty much fully ON and buffers the video all the time in parking mode. It saves the video to the SD if either bumped or there is movement in the picture area (Both user adjustable), otherwise it discards it. This is so that the camera will record and save what happens for 30 seconds(I think) before the event happens, the event itself and for a time afterwards. Not like some that video the culprit going away.
So comparing the 900 with other cameras that are in standby and then 'wake up' when an event is detected is pretty pointless when the 900 is drawing 3-400mA permanently.

The more info and options the better in my eyes Like you say that’s what forums are for.

100% agree, but only if they are relevant to your problem

 

[Major-OCD]

Well I’ve been monitoring the runtime over the past week and I get approx 17 hours out of the neo9 in parking mode (motion and impact detection WIFI on) well below what they claim it to be capable of!

 

[Nath]

Actually that's not that far from realworld 0.4A. I just can't figure out where is the rest of the energy.

Do you use Cloud?

 

[Major-OCD]

Actually that's not that far from realworld 0.4A. I just can't figure out where is the rest of the energy.

Do you use Cloud?

Yes it’s connected to the cloud.

 

[Nath]

Yes it’s connected to the cloud.

And what provides internet connection?

 

[Major-OCD]

And what provides internet connection?

WiFi in my home (not far from the car)

 

[Nath]

So you use cloud only while the car is home, ok.

And are you testing the runtime by checking the battery via app, checking directly whether the camera is still running or via cloud when it disconnects?