Extend Parking Mode Protection - new option

[BCHobbyist]

Parking Mode Protection is important but limited by battery power. Hard Wire Kits are normally used to supply continuous power until vehicle battery drops below limit. Some Kits now include Backup Rechargeable Batteries to extend protection. Power Banks are another option for short duration protection. To extend Parking Protection further, suggest the G-Sensor Event only option which records impacts without motion detection, saving power. If this new G-Sensor Only option was added to Parking Mode it should provide longer protection coverage time. Sometimes it's useful for Parking Mode to record nearby motion, but would you want 8 hours Motion & G-Sensor or 16 or more hours G-Sensor impact only coverage? Question is when will VIOFO add this option ?
Parking Mode power consumption test results:
0.12 - 0.19 Amp = Standby Mode (no recording)
0.30 Amp = 5fps Time Lapse Motion Detection recording
0.36 Amp = 30fps G-Sensor Event recording

 

[jokiin]

Chipset can support a sleep state which is only G-Sensor triggered which is the lowest power consumption, when relying only on the G-Sensor you only get recordings which commence several seconds after the event, that increases the likelihood of seeing who caused the event, but still not having any proof, are the extra hours of standby as useful if you have no video of the actual event?

 

[BCHobbyist]

Chipset can support a sleep state which is only G-Sensor triggered which is the lowest power consumption, when relying only on the G-Sensor you only get recordings which commence several seconds after the event, that increases the likelihood of seeing who caused the event, but still not having any proof, are the extra hours of standby as useful if you have no video of the actual event?

totally agree, except in the case the battery cutoff is reached and the garbage truck side-swipes the car while the Dash Cam is off due to recording cats on the fence all day.
I prefer 5 or 15fps Time Lapse but useless on 2nd day. When parking at the airport for a week which option would you select? My point is to have the OPTION.

 

[jokiin]

Nothing wrong with having options, none are really workable if looking for multiple days of coverage, there will always be comprises to be made

 

[Nigel]

To extend Parking Protection further, suggest the G-Sensor Event only option which records impacts without motion detection, saving power. If this new G-Sensor Only option was added to Parking Mode it should provide longer protection coverage time.

The negative would be that recording of the event will only start after the event has occurred, there will be no evidence of who's fault it was, what actually caused the accident to happen, so the person who hits your car can say it wasn't his fault, he was forced to hit you, and if he just knocked your mirror off and scraped your door then he is probably out of range for reading plates by the time the camera wakes up anyway. 5fps recording ensures that the event is recorded.

Sometimes it's useful for Parking Mode to record nearby motion, but would you want 8 hours Motion & G-Sensor or 16 or more hours G-Sensor impact only coverage?

Not sure that makes sense, but what you get from the 5 fps for 16 hours recording when displayed at 30fps is a 2.5 hour long recording, and if the g-sensor detects an event and locks the file then all you need to look at is a short recording that is easy to find because it was locked, and which wont get overwritten because it was locked, and most importantly shows what happened before, during and after the event.

Question is when will VIOFO add this option ?

Last I heard they were working on a different option!


The power saving you suggest from your figures is around 37%, and since the power consumption of other things such as the car alarm system wont change, the extension to car battery life will be less than that. I'm not convinced that figure is worth the loss of the most important part of the recording. The mini 0806 had a mode where it could run for a month without using measurable power and still wake up on a G-Sensor impact, I think that was what jokiin suggested in post #2, but it did take several seconds to wake up and start recording on an impact so only recorded the results of events, it didn't prove a popular mode.

In addition, car batteries are not designed to be regularly drained to low levels, doing so can become expensive in replacement car batteries, you are better off with a lithium power pack to keep your camera recording, and size it to record for the required length of time, or compromise if the price is too high. Another year or two and high capacity USB powerbanks that charge using the USB PD specification at 100W will start to become available at reasonable prices, that will solve the problem at considerably less cost than the Cellink Neo etc. but with better specs.

 

[BCHobbyist]

The negative would be that recording of the event will only start after the event has occurred, there will be no evidence of who's fault it was, what actually caused the accident to happen, so the person who hits your car can say it wasn't his fault, he was forced to hit you, and if he just knocked your mirror off and scraped your door then he is probably out of range for reading plates by the time the camera wakes up anyway. 5fps recording ensures that the event is recorded.


Not sure that makes sense, but what you get from the 5 fps for 16 hours recording when displayed at 30fps is a 2.5 hour long recording, and if the g-sensor detects an event and locks the file then all you need to look at is a short recording that is easy to find because it was locked, and which wont get overwritten because it was locked, and most importantly shows what happened before, during and after the event.


Last I heard they were working on a different option!


The power saving you suggest from your figures is around 37%, and since the power consumption of other things such as the car alarm system wont change, the extension to car battery life will be less than that. I'm not convinced that figure is worth the loss of the most important part of the recording. The mini 0806 had a mode where it could run for a month without using measurable power and still wake up on a G-Sensor impact, I think that was what jokiin suggested in post #2, but it did take several seconds to wake up and start recording on an impact so only recorded the results of events, it didn't prove a popular mode.

In addition, car batteries are not designed to be regularly drained to low levels, doing so can become expensive in replacement car batteries, you are better off with a lithium power pack to keep your camera recording, and size it to record for the required length of time, or compromise if the price is too high. Another year or two and high capacity USB powerbanks that charge using the USB PD specification at 100W will start to become available at reasonable prices, that will solve the problem at considerably less cost than the Cellink Neo etc. but with better specs.

great points, fully agree, mine is usually 5fps Time Lapse. For short duration Parking Protection current options work well. G-Sensor only suggestion option is for long duration parking protection, not perfect as you say but an option for those that need something and don't have a 50,000 mAh Power Bank. Consumers are buying these low priced Dashcams to save money not waste it on expensive backup battery options. One free menu option that can extend coverage time looks good to a budget buyer.

I've found it interesting few have suggested the manufacturer solve this G-Sensor Event Detection missing the first 2-4 seconds by including a buffered memory circuit on the circuit board. My 24hr Security Cams have upto 5 second pre-buffered video capture. When Motion is detected it records 5 seconds before that event. I'd expect all high-end Dashcams to include pre-buffered video, which ones really do? The feature exists but no one wants to pay for it until faced with spending much more on fancy backup battery solutions.
Imagine a VIOFO Dual Cam with multiple Parking Mode options plus G-Sensor 2-5 second pre-buffered video to record events before they occur and lock the file? = Best Selling Budget Priced Parking Mode Dashcam.

 

[Nigel]

...2-5 second pre-buffered video to record events before they occur...

You can't have your video from before the event unless you were recording before the event, and if you were recording before the event then it is going to use power, you might as well put it on the memory card so you have the 5 minutes before the event. Not writing it to the card would save a fairly small % of power, not really worth worrying about.

One approach to using less power is to use a mixture of lower resolution, lower bitrate, and lower frame rate so that less processing is necessary. You could try this on your existing A119.

Another approach is to use a more efficient camera, although I think the A119 is pretty good compared to most of the competition.

 

[BCHobbyist]

You can't have your video from before the event unless you were recording before the event, and if you were recording before the event then it is going to use power, you might as well put it on the memory card so you have the 5 minutes before the event. Not writing it to the card would save a fairly small % of power, not really worth worrying about.

One approach to using less power is to use a mixture of lower resolution, lower bitrate, and lower frame rate so that less processing is necessary. You could try this on your existing A119.

Another approach is to use a more efficient camera, although I think the A119 is pretty good compared to most of the competition.

great respect for your knowledge and 6k posts covering many devices, sharing your experience helps everyone.
September 2017 VIOFO added Parking Mode which (unless it was changed) enables Motion Detection to trigger Time Lapse recording.
Parking Mode Time Lapse isn't continuously recording unless you Disable Parking Mode and enable it separately. Other Parking Mode Dashcams record continuous Time Lapse video and don't need/use Motion Detection, VIOFO combines them to reduce the total clips recorded and regularly enters Standby Mode when nothing is recorded which may or not be a good idea based on preference. To always capture a Parking Mode impact event before, during and after, Motion Detection must trigger Time Lapse or G-Sensor must trigger Normal 30fps recording, but both miss 1-2 seconds without buffered video.

To be specific, I've done this test - If you park back from a wall with no foreground motion then enable Parking Mode Time Lapse 15fps wait 5 mins to begin test, then walk in front of car from side it will not record first two steps from any angle. During same test if vehicle is bumped when not actively recording Time Lapse event the G-Sensor still doesn't record the first 2 seconds.
Point of thread is to suggest adding the same delayed G-Sensor Detection without Time Lapse to extend Budget Priced Parking Mode Dashcam Protection.