joe384
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2019
- Messages
- 617
- Reaction score
- 294
- Location
- Essex
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Dash Cam
- Viofo A139 3CH, A139 2CH, Mobius w/ Varifocal Zoom
One of the cool things about the Multisafer VU is that it has a setting to turn parking mode on and off.
With parking mode off, it will only power the dashcam when ACC is live.
With parking mode on, it will continue to power the dashcam when ACC is off.
The only problem is it is setup to work with 2 wire dashcams. I wanted to get my 3 wire viofo working with this so I connected the BAT and GND to the multisafer and then ACC to an ACC feed and it works (kinda off)
With parking mode on, if I go from ACC ON to ACC off, the viofo switches to and from parking mode normally. However, with parking mode off on the multisafer, the Multisafer keeps the BAT line powered for a few seconds before switching off, meaning that when I switch ACC off the viofo switches to parking mode then a second later powers down.
This is just something I'd have to live with if I wanted to use the multisafer, but it got me to thinking, why don't I just have a go at creating my own parking mode / dashcam controller? Microcontrollers are seriously cheap now (Pi Pico is $4). The only sticking point for me is how to switch the power to the dashcam (my electronics knowledge is shady in some areas) but I think I will probably need to look at some power MOSFETs (as I need to switch up to 2A @ 12v)
With parking mode off, it will only power the dashcam when ACC is live.
With parking mode on, it will continue to power the dashcam when ACC is off.
The only problem is it is setup to work with 2 wire dashcams. I wanted to get my 3 wire viofo working with this so I connected the BAT and GND to the multisafer and then ACC to an ACC feed and it works (kinda off)
With parking mode on, if I go from ACC ON to ACC off, the viofo switches to and from parking mode normally. However, with parking mode off on the multisafer, the Multisafer keeps the BAT line powered for a few seconds before switching off, meaning that when I switch ACC off the viofo switches to parking mode then a second later powers down.
This is just something I'd have to live with if I wanted to use the multisafer, but it got me to thinking, why don't I just have a go at creating my own parking mode / dashcam controller? Microcontrollers are seriously cheap now (Pi Pico is $4). The only sticking point for me is how to switch the power to the dashcam (my electronics knowledge is shady in some areas) but I think I will probably need to look at some power MOSFETs (as I need to switch up to 2A @ 12v)