Hardwire, parked mode, battery consumption

[OverwhelmedNewbieUK]

Hi all, I have just ordered the A129 Duo. These should arrive tomorrow and I can collect my first car (Peugeot 208) on Saturday. After which I will obviously need to find someone to set up my hard wiring for me (how difficult is it for someone who knows nothing about cars?)

I do have a slight concern however, How will the battery fare if I use parked mode?

I wont be driving so much yet as I will want to build some confidence (not a very nice commute unfortunately)

Would it be best leaving parked mode off for now?

Is it possible to hard wire without parked mode being active? Or would I need to just disconnect the wires from the cameras and take them with me to prevent this?

I would like the cameras hardwired as I would like auto start when using the car without needing to use the 12v (cigarette lighter)

Thank you in advance for any help you can give, and for those who responded to my thread helping me to choose this model as having watched more reviews it looks fantastic!

 

[LateralNW]

There are two types of hardware kits that Viofo sells. I think there was another but has been superseded. Someone else here will set you straight on that.
2 wire and 3 wire kit.
The 2 wire kit seems to have built-in battery drain protection now. see links - 2 wire - https://www.viofo.com.au/product/hardwirekit/ and 3 wire - https://www.viofo.com.au/product/viofo-parking-hardwire-mini-usb/

This may also apply to the 2 wire kit now - On the 3 wire it has a little box that allows you to set what voltage should be the lowest voltage the battery can go to before it switches the dash cam off.
If you set the voltage setting to above 12 volts you should be fine. If you are in a really cold environment you might set it to 12.6v. Others on this site will know that answer better than me.

Leaving park mode on or off I guess is your choice now that you know the 3 wire kit has the voltage level setting.

I believe the parking mode is a setting in the Firmware. i.e. you can switch it off/on

If you have some idea of a fuse box and a bit of knowledge with electricity you should be able to pull it off. If you can afford someone to do it and hide all the wire then I would be doing that
This link might help you decide. - Viofo's web site - https://www.viofo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ad6-1.jpg - https://www.viofo.com.au/product/hardwirekit/

 

[skansen]

I do have a slight concern however, How will the battery fare if I use parked mode?

I wont be driving so much yet as I will want to build some confidence (not a very nice commute unfortunately)

Would it be best leaving parked mode off for now?

It all depends on driving time to parking time ratio. Energy consumption of A129Duo is 6Ah / 24 hours. There is plenty of threads about parking mode and energy consumption.
If you worry about you battery you can set cut-off voltage on highest level (12.4V).

Is it possible to hard wire without parked mode being active? Or would I need to just disconnect the wires from the cameras and take them with me to prevent this?

There is no need to disconnect wires. You can switch off parking mode completely in camera setup. You also can switch off parking mode by pressing for few second left button - in this case camera will switch on again after engine starting...

 

[Nigel]

There is plenty of threads about parking mode and energy consumption.

True, and very few threads showing parking mode being useful!

I use it when parked in a supermarket car park, but it is just extra wear on my camera, car battery and memory card if used while parked in my dark garage at home!

I think that for most people, unless you know you have a problem, parking mode is not worth while.

I wont be driving so much yet as I will want to build some confidence (not a very nice commute unfortunately)

For new drivers, most accidents will be caused by the new driver, and then the camera can only prove that you were at fault, however it can be very useful for working out what you are doing wrong after near misses - make good use of it. Most accidents are the result of people doing unexpected things, whether legal or not - avoid doing anything that others are not expecting.

 

[OverwhelmedNewbieUK]

Thank you all for your replies!

I have actually picked up the 3 wire kit and looks like it has the feature

• Adjustable voltage low voltage protection function, it will cut power to your dash camera when detect the vehicle battery voltage is below the set number. It has four voltage options 11.8V, 12V, 12.2V, 12.4V

Though I will probably only turn prlarking mode on when somewhere like a supermarket (couple of hours at most)

Part of the reason I opted for a camera is so I can look at instances that didn't go as I wanted so the above comment is useful.

 

[xdashq]

With the 3-wire kit you won't need to manually enable/disable parking mode. Two of the wires (same as 2-wire kit) connect to the permanent live and the additinoal wire connects a switched live - one that is only on when your ignition is on.

When the car detects that there is power on both live wires then it's in standard mode. Once you stop your car, the camera will detect that the switched live is off and switch over to parking mode automatically.
With the power monitor you don't need to worry as much about battery drain as it'll cut the power if battery voltage gets too low.