Greetings from Los Angeles!

[accordn2ryan]

Hi Everyone! I'm a total newbie to dashcams, and decided to join and get as much information as I can before I dive in and purchase one.

I'm looking for a dashcam that I'll be able to hard wire to my car, and also want to have it record while I'm parked. I was looking at the BlackVue 2ch (front and rear camera) with the magic pro, but was trying to see what other options are out there (Mobius, Thinkware, etc) that offers the features I'm looking for. Also what other equipment I would need like a capacitor so my car battery doesn't die. I read that the magic pro will shut off the camera automatically if it senses your car battery is reaching a certain level that's too low?

I look forward to learning as much as I could and definitely use that "search" function before I actually post a question!

Best,

Ryan

 

[kamkar]

Welcome Ryan.

yeah with parking guard you will need a BDP to make sure the camera dont drain your car battery to a level where you cant start the car again.
And since you are in LA you will proberly be best off with a camera based on capasitors instead of a lipo battery ( those are just there to end last recording proberly in case of a carsh )

Still using parking guard a lot, say 8 houres while you work and 8 houres while you are at home sleeping, this will put a substantial load on your battery, so you will allso have to drive a bit to make sure the car can keep your car battery topped up.
If you use parking guard that much and only drive like 1 hour every day you will be discharging more every day than charging.
But offcourse if you are out on the streets in the famous LA crawling traffic, that would be a good way to charge up that car battery.

Forthcomming dual systems should be better than most current ones that is based on technology that have its limitations, but we wont see those new gear on tha marked before the very tail end of the year.

So you might want to go for a "cheap" single channel system to tie you over, you should be able to reuse the hardwire you may install for a dual system later on.

 

[russ331]

Welcome to DCT. You don't necessarily need Power Magic Pro (or similar & better devices), as it's functionality is built into some DashCams, e.g. Thinkware F770, QVIA T790, etc.

 

[accordn2ryan]

Thanks @kamkar1 and @russ331 !

Sorry, but what does "BDP" mean? (sorry newbie question)! Also for dashcam's that are run from capasitors instead of lipo batteries, would I have to just take out the battery that's in the camera, or do they already have dashcam's ready to run from a capasitor?

Thankfully my commute in LA to work and home is only about 40 minutes total round trip, but there definitely be times where LA traffic will be bad =) If I wanted to, I can also turn off the dashcam if I don't intend to use it at home correct?

 

[kamkar]

Battery Discharge Preventer

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Welcome to the forum Ryan

 

[accordn2ryan]

Thanks @Gabacho

@kamkar1 Are there any options for dashcams to record the side of vehicle during parking mode? Also would this hardwiring kit suffice for the Mobius:


I think I'm leaning toward the 2 channel BlackSys (CH 100B), and adding a Mobius to capture the driver side of my car during parking mode. Another option (if feasible) would be to purchase a 2 channel BlackSys, and adding an additional rear camera to record the driver side of my vehicle, so I would be operating the BlackSys as a 3 channel set up?

 

[kamkar]

That blacksys camera is a good way to get your feet wet in this game

I am operating 6 cameras in my car, 3 of them in my wind screen, and then one in each of the other sides.
Thats off course overkill for most ppl, but as a tester affiliated with a fjew brands i have some home work to do.

The mobius don't have any usable parking mode, but if you plan to let it record all the time anyway thats no problem. It is a excellent little camera still even though it is also a old camera by now, myself i have mine in the left side of my car.

I think with the next batch of cameras to test i will relocate one of my current cameras to the lower corner in the right side by the A-pillar and then have it aimed at the driver seat, then if needed i can document i was not on the phone as the other part in a claim might lie about as many Danes today is dishonorable lairs.

Okay thats only now a person may have a little luck with that as i do have a phone now, but as soon as i can that "electronic pocket turd" ( as i call smartphones ) are gone.

The hard wire kit you link to should do fine powering a mobius, not quite sure if it can also power that dual Blacksys at the same time, it is a cheaper hardwire kit i think.

 

[accordn2ryan]

@kamkar1 6 dash cams are a lot! Did you hardwire all 6? I think the most I would be doing is 4 dash cams with all of them being able to record while parked, so I would need to hardwire all of them. Would hardwiring 4 dashcams require me to use an external battery, or would my car battery with the automatic cutoff at 12 volts be enough?

 

[kamkar]

No the cameras are not hardwired as such, i have tapped into my fuse box and the power grid of my dashboard to power them all and have a lot of spare USB outputs.
Atm i have the following outputs available to me ( some in use for dashcams )
The cars own 12 ciggeratte socket on the center console.
Six 12 V outputs ( ciggy sockets ) 3 in the glove box, and 3 in the boot of my car.
two 2 amp USB plugs, one in eack of the 12 V outputs mentioned above.
Six 2.4 Amp USB ports ( spread over 2 chargers - one 5 port and one 4 port ) all this in my glove box.
Three 1 amp USB outputs ( in the 5 port charger mentioned above )

I have a video where i am just finishing up the install of the 5 port USB charger in my glove box, needless to say its more crammed in my glove box now.

Hew extensions to power my phone and tablet i mention in the video is still in play, had to drill a little hole in the back of each of those compartments to be able to route the two micro USB wires there.


But real hardwired i only call it if its done for parking guard purpose so the camera can keep going after key off, and at the moment none of my cameras can do that.

I think there is ppl in here that at times might have 6 cameras just on the windscreen or maybe they have learned to do damage control on all the cameras they test / review.

I would prefer myself to have a separate car battery for my dashcams, not least if i was to use parking guard.
I would then use one of those charge splitters campers and ppl messing with car streo use to isolate the start battery of the car from the rest of the power grid.

But i drive a little Suzuki splash, and it have a small battery from the factory - no room for a larger one in the engine compartment, so my only choice is to put a battery in the back of my car, but that in turn would take up space in the also pretty small boot of this car.

Anyway parking guard is not possible with any of the cameras i have, but soon i might have to test cameras with that as a usable feature, so i will have to make a decision soon.

 

[accordn2ryan]

You definitely have a very nice set up @kamkar1

I ended up purchasing the BlackSys ch-100b 2 channel system and hardwired it, so I can have the parking mode. So far everything works as advertised, and the video quality is pretty good IMO.

I just have to mess around with the rear camera settings brightness since I have a pretty dark tint in the back. Maybe in the near future I will purchase 2 additional camera's for the driver and passenger side.

Thanks again for all the info!