Experience with the MultiSafer VU and thoughts on a custom parking mode controller

[joe384]

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)

 

[Mtrev]

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)

Could you use the parking mode timer of the dashcam to delay the parking mode until the multisafer has cut the BAT voltage?

 

[joe384]

Could you use the parking mode timer of the dashcam to delay the parking mode until the multisafer has cut the BAT voltage?

Yes, of course! I have just tried changing "Enter parking mode" on the A139 (setting it to 90secs) and this does indeed delay the switch to parking mode!

I will have to hook the multisafer up again (disconnected it while testing some things) but I am sure this will work. Thanks ever so much!