Flat battery

[Sean Lavelle]

Since 2015 I have a Thinkware F750 hardwired to the car, a Ford Fiesta. It has front and rear cameras. Last Monday (27.09.21) the battery was completely flat. I unplugged the dash cam and charged up the battery. Had the battery tested at a garage. No problem at all. Left the dash cam unplugged for a week, car started every time. Plugged the cam in Friday night, Saturday morning battery flat again. Anyone have any idea as to what might cause this please? Thanks

 

[Phil-1]

Have you checked the settings in the camera? I have mine set to switch of when the car battery gets to 11.9v


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[Sean Lavelle]

Yes thanks. I have had this for five years. Problem only arose last weekend.

 

[Kremmen]

2 possible reasons :

1) The 11.9v cutoff isn't working. Has been known to suddenly break.

2) The battery whilst showing as OK may be at a stage, through age, whereby when it drops to 11.9v is starting to lose charge faster.

All you can do is watch if the cam does cutout when the voltage drops. If so then the battery may have an issue.

 

[Sean Lavelle]

"1) The 11.9v cutoff isn't working. Has been known to suddenly break." Is there any way to fix this?

 

[Kremmen]

I doubt it but I'd check first to see if it is cutting out - or not

Does it have a voltage cutoff setting so you can set it higher, safely, to see earlier whether it's working ?

 

[kamkar]

11.9 is pretty low, i would never use a cut off under 12.2 volts.

 

[IAmATeaf]

With a modern AGM battery 11.9 is when my car starts complaining that it’s low but it still has enough juice to start my car.

Again what I’ve found with my AGM battery is that 12.4 is when it’s fully charged so nothing like the old batteries where you’d expect them to go into the the high 12v range.

 

[DT MI]

What is the age of the battery?... and have you had it tested (especially 'load tested') to insure it's not the problem?

 

[Maddog1974]

Just check you still hear the 'Parking Recording Will Now Start' message about 30 seconds after turning off the ignition. Sometimes cars go into garages for work to be done (tyres, services etc) and they disconnect the camera at the Fuse Box end and have been known to reconnect them to the wrong supplies after. However I also suspect this is a Weak battery, it can cope without any additional discharge from it whilst parked but not when it is being discharged a little bit. I would recommend getting the battery Tested again somewhere else.

In my 6 years plus of working with Thinkware we have never had the Battery protection fail on any camera (as long as it's wired correctly).

 

[Smitt]

I don't understand this parking mode situation. If the camera is wired to the ignition switch, how is the camera going to work with out supply voltage in parking mode?

 

[Maddog1974]

I don't understand this parking mode situation. If the camera is wired to the ignition switch, how is the camera going to work with out supply voltage in parking mode?

The camera gets connected to Permanent Power & Ignition Power!

 

[kamkar]

I don't understand this parking mode situation

To be able to do parking guard you most often today need to be connected to two +12 wires, one ACC and the other a fuse that is always on.
And of course use the appropriate hard wire kit for that brand / model of dashcam.
There are also still cameras that can do parking guard on a 2 wire setup, but then the +12 V wire of course have to be one that are always on, as otherwise there would be no power when parked.

The 3 wire way most often use the ACC wire as the trigger to go in / out of parking guard, most often with a 12 - 5 V converter
The 2 wire systems are often 12 V cameras, and then the going in / out of parking guard are l eft to the G-sensor to determine, the same cameras also often have the low voltage cut off options in the camera itself where as the 3 wire kits you will find a slider switch, most often allowing for 11.9 - 12.0 - 12.2 and 12.4 volt cut off.

If you are thinking " but dont the cameras have a build in power source" and yes they have but it is for emergency shut down in case of a power interruption, this way the last file dont get corrupted by not being finished off the right way, it is, not for recording any length of time.