Draining car battery

[Elfaro]

I picked up elsewhere this reply

'If you Dash Cam is hardwired into the car, you're on a Switch Live fuse. I'd recommend transferring the fuse to a Permanent Live, that way if you have Parking Mode turned on, the Camera's battery will not drain. Our Hard Wire kit has an in-built voltage cut-off, so that if you car's battery drops below a certain point, the Dash Cam will no longer receive power and will not drain the car's battery to a point where it wouldn't start.'

As far as I am aware my 622 has been wired to a permanent live. However on 2 occasions after 3-4 days I have returned to my car and have a flat car battery. I have overcome this by now turning the camera off manually. Is there a setting in the camera that either turns it off or goes into standby without draining the car battery.

In the menu I cant seem to find 'Parking Mode'

 

[Nextbase Support]

Hello,

The Series 2 Cameras have an internal lithium ion battery for emergency uses, such as the loss of power during an incident. This will allow the camera to continue recording to the end of the clip before switching off.

This internal battery has around 10-15 minutes of battery life.

However with the Rear Camera added, the battery life is drastically reduced due to the additional power draw. This is usually 1-3 minutes if fully charged.

If you intend on using Parking Mode on your camera, then we'd instead recommend using a Hard Wire Kit, not the Cigarette Lighter Cable. The Hard Wire Kit will allow the camera to draw nominal current from the car's battery, preventing the cam's battery from being drained. The Hard Wire Kit has an in-built voltage cut off which protects the car's battery from being drained below 11.2V.

Does your vehicle have a battery cut off point above 11.2V please?

Kind regards,
Millie
Nextbase Technical Support

 

[Elfaro]

Hello, thank you for your prompt reply.

I had the 622 + rear view camera fitted by Halfords UK using a hard wired kit.
The question you asked
'Does your vehicle have a battery cut off point above 11.2V please?'
is a technical question I can't answer except to say that my vehicle is a 2019 Honda CRV with no previous history of a low battery.

Please can you explain exactly what parking mode is?

 

[kamkar]

Parking mode is when the camera record while parked, but as a parked car can get hot the camera can not record regular quality all the time, so a few changes have been made by dashcam makers.
The camera can be on alert by the G - sensor, meaning if it feel something hitting the car it will wake up and record.
The camera can also use motion detect, but this is often not a good idea is there is much motion where parked cuz then the camera will more or less record all the time.
Finally the camera can be recording all the time, but using low bitrate which generate less heat, and smaller file sizes.

It can vary a little how the different dashcam makers handle this, i am not familiar with this brand so i have just mentioned the general stuff.

Parking mode is normally why people install a hard wire kit, but of course you can also do that just to have your dash power socket free for other things, you do not have to turn on parking guard if you dont want to use it, i think in all systems it is off as default.

Normally in parking guard the dashcam use the car battery, and this is why there is a low voltage cut off either in the camera itself or as a switch on the hard wire kit, normally the cut off values to choose between are 11.8 - 12.0 - 12.2 and 12.4 volts, it is not recommended to use under 12.2 volts, which is a 50% discharged battery.

The main challenge using parking guard is heat, as you know a car parked in the sun during summer can get extremely hot, so if it get too hot for the camera to handle they will shut them self down to prevent damage.
Only recording a little once in a while or with a lower bitrate minimize the heat the camera generate itself, and so it should be able to get a little hotter before it quit.

Not so much a problem for us living up here in the north, but if you live in a hotter place it might well be a big problem, and you probably have to park out of the sun in a garage or something.

 

[Kremmen]

Parking mode is a facility whereby the dashcam goes into standby to try and capture any incidents while the car is parked.

If you don't need parking mode, like me, then your dashcam should ideally be wired to an ignition source, not permanent power. That way, when you turn the ignition off the dashcam powers down.

On a side issue, the CRV has a fusebox option connector that is designed to provide smooth power to accessories. The option connector is not widely available, so Halfords won't have any, but they can be obtained here :

8,9,10 Gen Civic, 3,4,5 Gen CR-V, 3G Jazz, Honda E...

www.civinfo.com

 

[Elfaro]

Parking mode is when the camera record while parked, but as a parked car can get hot the camera can not record regular quality all the time, so a few changes have been made by dashcam makers.
The camera can be on alert by the G - sensor, meaning if it feel something hitting the car it will wake up and record.
The camera can also use motion detect, but this is often not a good idea is there is much motion where parked cuz then the camera will more or less record all the time.
Finally the camera can be recording all the time, but using low bitrate which generate less heat, and smaller file sizes.

It can vary a little how the different dashcam makers handle this, i am not familiar with this brand so i have just mentioned the general stuff.

Parking mode is normally why people install a hard wire kit, but of course you can also do that just to have your dash power socket free for other things, you do not have to turn on parking guard if you dont want to use it, i think in all systems it is off as default.

Normally in parking guard the dashcam use the car battery, and this is why there is a low voltage cut off either in the camera itself or as a switch on the hard wire kit, normally the cut off values to choose between are 11.8 - 12.0 - 12.2 and 12.4 volts, it is not recommended to use under 12.2 volts, which is a 50% discharged battery.

The main challenge using parking guard is heat, as you know a car parked in the sun during summer can get extremely hot, so if it get too hot for the camera to handle they will shut them self down to prevent damage.
Only recording a little once in a while or with a lower bitrate minimize the heat the camera generate itself, and so it should be able to get a little hotter before it quit.

Not so much a problem for us living up here in the north, but if you live in a hotter place it might well be a big problem, and you probably have to park out of the sun in a garage or something.

Thank you for your reply kamkar

 

[Elfaro]

Parking mode is a facility whereby the dashcam goes into standby to try and capture any incidents while the car is parked.

If you don't need parking mode, like me, then your dashcam should ideally be wired to an ignition source, not permanent power. That way, when you turn the ignition off the dashcam powers down.

On a side issue, the CRV has a fusebox option connector that is designed to provide smooth power to accessories. The option connector is not widely available, so Halfords won't have any, but they can be obtained here :

8,9,10 Gen Civic, 3,4,5 Gen CR-V, 3G Jazz, Honda E...

www.civinfo.com

Parking mode is a facility whereby the dashcam goes into standby to try and capture any incidents while the car is parked.

If you don't need parking mode, like me, then your dashcam should ideally be wired to an ignition source, not permanent power. That way, when you turn the ignition off the dashcam powers down.

On a side issue, the CRV has a fusebox option connector that is designed to provide smooth power to accessories. The option connector is not widely available, so Halfords won't have any, but they can be obtained here :

8,9,10 Gen Civic, 3,4,5 Gen CR-V, 3G Jazz, Honda E...

www.civinfo.com

Thank you for your reply Kremmen

 

[kamkar]

If you just want to keep your dash socket free for other things, you can use the provided solution, buy a female 12V socket and a couple of piggyback fuse adapters and wire that into the fuse box.
But you probably have to tape the female and male plug together or in other ways make sure the 2 can not wiggle apart under your dash board.

 

[Kremmen]

One thing to watch on new cars is the highly protected CANBUS.

I've read on a few car forums that piggybacking onto fuses has caused that circuit to shutdown. New cars often have systems that monitor the power being drawn and if it detects too much draw it protects itself.

Over here in the UK we have a chain of motor spares shops called Halfords that have a buy and fit service for most things like batteries, wipers, dashcams, bulbs, etc. They have a list of modern cars that they have been told not to install a dashcam on.