Hardwired kit drained my car battery.

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Mikeemike

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My brand new Tiguan Allspace car was delivered to me on 28th December. In early January I purchased Nextbase 522GW, rear Cam addon, and Nextbase hardwiring kit. I wanted to make use of the parking mode.
Halfords installed the kit on a permanent live for me.
Due to COVID, I have not been driving much.
Three weeks later I tried to start my car, but the battery was dead and had to jump start it.
This shouldn't happen!
Any advice to resolve, or has anyone else experienced this issue??
 
Most good quality HWK have a voltage cutoff that is often set by users to ~11.8v from the posts I've read here.

Does the Nextbase one have this ?
 
For a modern car 11.8 is too low, my car with an AGM battery will start complaining that the battery voltage is too low at 12-12.1v.

In the OPs case it looks like there may not even be a cutoff installed.
 
Kremmen said:
Most good quality HWK have a voltage cutoff that is often set by users to ~11.8v from the posts I've read here.

Does the Nextbase one have this ?
Click to expand...
It states it has the ability not to drain the battery when in parking mode. I am using the official nextbase hard wired kit.
 
Three weeks without driving? I would almost expect the car to discharge the battery on its own.
Today's cars have a lot more stuff permanently on. I use a small trickle charger when I don't drive for a few days.
Other than that, check the cutoff voltage or even install an off switch.
 
3 weeks, I missed that bit.

If the battery wasn't fully charged .... short journeys .... then 3 weeks could easily do it.

I also have a trickle charger, CTEK intelligent job that I've been using for years. If I don't use the car in 7 days, on it goes.
 
Three week later refers to the date the dash cam was installed, not the duration of when I last used the car.
 
This is the hard wire kit I purchased.
www.nextbase.com

Series 2 Dash Cam Hardwire Kit | Nextbase UK

A simple plug and play solution to power any Dash Cam directly from your car's fuse box and keep your car’s 12V outlet free. Read on to find out more.
www.nextbase.com www.nextbase.com
"If fitted to a permanent live supply, the inbuilt minimum voltage limiter will protect the vehicle's battery from going flat. With the Hardwire Kit installed on a switched live supply, the Dash Cam will power on and start recording automatically when the vehicle is opened or starts."
 
I see you've not been driving much, with the recent cold snap it could just have been the battery in the car might be low on charge due to lack of use and the cold weather or it's on its way out.

I'd recommend hooking it up to a CTEK MXS 5.0 while the car isn't being used much to keep the battery tip top.. I have mine hooked up to one with lack of use.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B00FC42HAA
Can also get it a tad cheaper from Halfords if you have a Trade Card.

Can also get it a tad cheaper from Halfords if you have a Trade Card.
84a02008cdf7e8fc56ab47dd04a71c1a.jpg
 
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With the car new at Christmastime, the battery should be OK. Still, with modern cars there's not really an "off" as a some of the computers only have a 'sleep mode' and will draw a very very small amount of current when parked so starting it and letting it run awhile to charge every 2-4 weeks is a good idea. And HWK's also draw current like this, again a tiny amount but it's there.

Lead/Acid car batteries should really not be kept below 12V for any great length of time. New batteries can tolerate this longer than old ones but as a rule it is bad for the battery. Driven daily that new battery can probably tolerate 11.8V but with it drawn down to that level before the HWK cuts off and then left sitting a week it may be much lower when you try to start the car so better to use a setting of 12V or higher for the HWK.

I don't know if the NB HWK is adjustable or how it's done but I'd look into that. Some HWK's aren't adjustable and are set too low (11.8V is common, some are 11.6V or lower :eek:) and there's some manufacturing tolerance so it may be ~0.1V or so lower than the setting. It could also be you've got a faulty HWK but they rarely fail in this manner. You need a voltmeter to diagnose this but you can look for an adjustment and set it to 12V or a bit higher and that may take care of things.

Phil
 
When all my 'new' cars arrived the battery wasn't anywhere near fully charged. I always found it took about 3 weeks at 2 x 20 mile weekday journeys to get it fully topped up.

Like most rechargeable batteries they often need a few discharge charge cycles.

I'm another advocate for the CTEK range. I've only got the 3.6 but it works well.
 
Kremmen said:
When all my 'new' cars arrived the battery wasn't anywhere near fully charged. I always found it took about 3 weeks at 2 x 20 mile weekday journeys to get it fully topped up.

Like most rechargeable batteries they often need a few discharge charge cycles.

I'm another advocate for the CTEK range. I've only got the 3.6 but it works well.
Click to expand...
Exactly this /\, plus "new" cars are often left at storage yards for quite some time before hitting the forecourts and being driven about so I doubt many new cars are ever "fully" charged until they start getting used properly.
 
Hi,

The Hard Wire Kit will allow the camera to draw nominal current from the car's battery, preventing the cam's battery from being drained. The Hard Wire Kit has an in-built voltage cut off which protects the car's battery from being drained below 11.2V. We'd recommend using a Permanent Live fuse with Parking Mode enabled. This voltage cut off is not currently adjustable from 11.2V.

I've passed your feedback onto our development team regarding a higher/adjustable voltage cut off level.

Regards,
Millie- Nextbase Support
 
This happened to me too now. I have a Seat Leon from 2019 and I didn't drive it on the weekend. When I got into my car, the dashcam was still on, but the software was frozen. The camera felt very warm.

When I tried to start my car it didn't work, the battery was too low.

I'm using the 522gw+rear camera with the overpriced official sd card, the official hardwire kit and the latest firmware.

I'll change back to a switch live fuse and won't use parking mode anymore.
 
buying a new car means its been stood around in a compound when imported or manufactured and at each point its been to including the garage you bought it from that has probably had to jump start like the rest of them ......
the battery may not ne in its best condition,,,,,

always insist on a new battery in a new car.
 
I bought the car one year ago and the battery is fine, also I don't think the camera software is supposed to freeze and heat up the camera. The camera was apparently running for almost 3 days instead of entering parking mode, so my battery didn't have enough power left to start the car.

And by reading this forum, I'm not the only one with the freezing problems.

Reading that the official hardwire kit cuts off at 11.2v just confirms it's useless.
 
Great idea! I'll order one too. I might also solder a switch, so I can turn it off, when I parked in my garage.

On a second thought, this works with a relay? Doesn't it drain a lot of battery too?
 
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Andreas1337 said:
Great idea! I'll order one too. I might also solder a switch, so I can turn it off, when I parked in my garage.

On a second thought, this works with a relay? Doesn't it drain a lot of battery too?
Click to expand...
No need to detach battery as if you set the cut off at 12.3 when it cuts off the supply the relay drops out as well and no further things happen until you start the car and the increased voltage trips the relay to supply the camera. I am pleased with mine mounted in a small box.
 
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