Does the battery pack typically recharge from car (passively? active? how?) or is it something I need to remove and charge periodically?
A typical parking battery will actively recharge from the car while the engine is running. Parking batteries can be charged from the fusebox (generally a bad idea, especially with newer cars that have sophisticated electronic systems), from the 12v utility outlet (a better option than the fusebox), or directly wired to the car’s battery through a relay (best option for safety and reliability). Of course, a 4th option is to periodically charge the parking battery in the house.
The potential problem with fusebox and utility port charging is that many parking batteries draw far more current than they say they do, so this can cause damage to car wiring.
Is battery pack option better just because it can record longer?
I have a parking battery that I built myself (see the LiFePo and LTO threads in this forum from
@GPak). The primary appeal is parking mode recording without draining your car’s main battery. My battery can record a single channel for 72 hours before it needs to be recharged. I haven’t tested to see how long it will last in 2ch mode. Based on published data for the batteries I used (rated to 20,000 cycles), I estimate my batteries will last for 20yrs or more, likely longer than the car itself.
Is there a way to increase the time you can record being hardwired? I know that hardwire mode is limited to the drain from the dashcam and stops at a certain threshold so you can still start your car.
Presuming you are still talking about using a parking battery and not you car’s main battery, a bigger battery (more watt hours) will provide longer record times. Regardless of which battery is powering your dashcam, the primary way to make it record for longer periods of time is to choose recording modes that consume less power. There are a number of reviews here that report the power draw associated with different record modes for various cameras. There is no magic, it’s either less power draw y the camera, or a bigger battery to draw from.
