External Battery Pack UseFul or Useless

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mobiledynamics

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A very worded title thread I suppose.....

I'm debating to have Parking Mode enabled on my cameras. If I do, I def want to have an external battery pack.
However, unless I am looking at this wrong, something like the iVolt Xtra 7500
If one does NOT drive the car daily, then the external pack will probably drain regardless.

I know this is a dash cam forum, so this may be a more enthusiast type of POV for others with maybe multiple setups, extra batteries, etc.
 
Hello @mobiledynamics ,
Last time I've made the maths, I was pretty disappointed : according to https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/vantrue-nexus-4-pro-review.49252/post-600361 , a Nexus N5 will draw between 500mA and 600mA depending on the parking mode (except collision mode : 14mAh, but recording will start ~15s after event...)
So, 7500mAh / 600mAh = 12 hours... not much better than what can do my car battery.

So, forget this tiny powerbank (featuring less than 100Wh), and target a "Solar battery" with x10 capacity or more. But that huge and heavy šŸ™‚ if you target over 1 week of autonomy...

Note: 600mAh, that approx 8.6Wh (assuming 14.4V battery voltage rather than 12V)
 
Heh, so I wasn't off on my POV.....
I ran similar run times and just short of a daily driver, unless one double or triple stacked these batteries (which then put's you in the footprint of a regular wet cell or AGM) .......it's kinda pointless for my use case, albeit it would be nice for the *1* time it may capture a parked incident
 
If you don't drive much, use an external battery pack that you can charge at home rather than try to charge it in the car
 
And you guys are not even factoring in the environmental factors, which at least here in Denmark are a real thing, so mainly dew but other things will obscure the view of your camera.
I am fortunate that i only really use parking guard when i am out and about, mostly shopping, at home i have CCTV on my car where it is parked, also my parking spot, pretty dark so not very much for a dashcam in parking mode to see, where as my CCTV see everything, well aside for severe precipitation events and fog.

People with a long duration need do have problems even if they cam make the price of a beefed up kit, and somehow assure it is fully charged when it need to be.
 
kamkar said:
And you guys are not even factoring in the environmental factors, which at least here in Denmark are a real thing, so mainly dew but other things will obscure the view of your camera.
I am fortunate that i only really use parking guard when i am out and about, mostly shopping, at home i have CCTV on my car where it is parked, also my parking spot, pretty dark so not very much for a dashcam in parking mode to see, where as my CCTV see everything, well aside for severe precipitation events and fog.

People with a long duration need do have problems even if they cam make the price of a beefed up kit, and somehow assure it is fully charged when it need to be.
Click to expand...
Dash Cam or 1st one for us, is going into the wife's. Once it is installed, it's in a set it and forget it mode.
There is no button on this VioFo to enable/disable Park Mode. nor would I expect to advise her to toggle a button on-off.
Or to take it 1 further step, have her disconnect phone from CarWiFi, Then connect to VioFo Wifi, launch app, connect to camera and toggle parking mode on and off . This is not practical.......

Now, if there was a way to Geo Turn it off @ home when it's in the garage, this might solve it, but that doesn't exist. Wishful thinking though
 
mobiledynamics said:
Now, if there was a way to Geo Turn it off @ home when it's in the garage, this might solve it, but that doesn't exist. Wishful thinking though
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I had the same though last week : as Vantrue still don't dare to ease the parking mode switching via shortcut (or as I suggested : allow to set a timeout after which it would go into low power parking mode), enabling a kind of geofencing would also be nice. I guess same apply to VioFo.

For my next car, I'm really wondering what dashcam I'll buy, because all are quite disappointing :-(
 
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Most often you can disable parking mode, once it change to that ( maybe also before in case you use a delay in handover between regular mode and parking guard mode ), long press the power button, that will override parking guard for that one " session " and just turn off the system.
But yeah it do necessitate you do something VS a automated feature.

I have also been thinking, if the cameras could read QR codes, you could have a QR code in the garage that tell system to turn off, or another QR code elsewhere to tell camera to go into a partikular guard mode in that place.

Geofencing is something Viofo have experimented with, i think if it was a feature in dashcams i would use it too, in my case to NOT do parking guard at home, or as a theft warning ( notification ) if someone move my car from its place.
 
Leon69 said:
because all are quite disappointing :-(
Click to expand...
There are always compromises to be made with dashcams, but not as bad now as it was 12 - 15 years ago.
 
Draining your car battery will quickly wear it out. It sucks in the winter when your car won't start.
 
TonyM said:
If you don't drive much, use an external battery pack that you can charge at home rather than try to charge it in the car
Click to expand...
Tell me more about this. Would it be possible to use a large power bank since some of these run off USB C?
 
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