Low battery on Nextbase 312GW

I'm reviving this thread because I've got the problem again, but in a slightly different form. I've had the dash cam permanently wired in, as per earlier posts on this thread, and for a while it worked fine. But now if it comes on in parking mode (I test it by slamming the door) it immediately displays "low battery", goes off, comes on again, displays "low battery" again, goes off again, and it goes on doing this over and over. The only way to stop it is to run the engine for a few seconds (just turning the ignition on doesn't stop it).

Any ideas?
 
Maybe 'what it says on the tin', low battery ?

What is your daily usage to keep the battery topped up? Parking mode must have some battery drain whilst it's in standby waiting for movement.

If your daily usage isn't enough then parking mode will likely be pointless because there will be insufficient battery to record any footage.

When I used my 402 and 412 I used to bring them indoors to topup charge and it wasn't unusual for them to take a few hours on a PC for the light to indicate fully charged.
 
Can I confirm a few things:

I've had the dash cam permanently wired in, as per earlier posts on this thread, and for a while it worked fine. But now if it comes on in parking mode (I test it by slamming the door) it immediately displays "low battery", goes off, comes on again, displays "low battery" again, goes off again, and it goes on doing this over and over. The only way to stop it is to run the engine for a few seconds (just turning the ignition on doesn't stop it).

If its permanently live how is it "coming on" as it should be on 24/7 if permanently live?
 
Hi Kremmen and Tiffany,

Thanks for your replies, and my apologies for delay in responding.

Kremmen, my daily usage is very variable - sometimes days with no use, sometimes 100 miles or more in a day. I've been observing it over the past couple of days, and I think you're right, it gives "low battery" when it hasn't been driven for a while. I'll try charging it indoors as you suggest.

Tiffany, I keep it turned off at the on/off switch on the unit itself, but it comes on automatically when I turn on the ignition, and goes off automatically a few seconds after turning off the ignition. I didn't install it myself, I had a local campervan converter do it, so I can only guess there must be a signal sent when the ignition is turned on.
 
Hi it gives "low battery" when it hasn't been driven for a while.

This can happen if you have parking mode turned on especially if there are protected files triggered whilst you’re away from the car. Please let us know how long it lasts after a full charge.
 
Thanks Tiffany.

I've just put it on to charge now, and once it's fully charged I'll see how long it lasts. Mind you, I'll be driving from time to time, which will charge it up, so I'm not sure how meaningful that will be.
 
Hi Tiffany,

The dash cam has just given "low battery", for the first time since I charged it up on Saturday. This wasn't parking mode, I simply turned it on at the on/off switch, with the vehicle ignition off. I think it stayed on for about 1 1/2 minutes before giving "low battery" and turning itself off. I haven't done much driving since Saturday, maybe 20 - 30 miles.
 
This is exactly what has happened with mine!

I contacted nextbase about the "low battery" issue and they were little to no help, nothing about the warranty covers the battery; even the insurance I took out from amazon at purchase time won't cover the battery.

I've since thought 'to hell with it I'll use it as I can and get something different/better when it finally dies'. Well, before it's died it's killed my car battery. I too have the constant 12V in the power socket but I've never had issues with that, until now, I didn't use the car for a few days and in that time the battery in the dashcam must have discharged and recharged so many times it flattened my car battery - of course, at that time i didn't put two and two together, I just thought the car battery was faulty so I had it tested and it was fine. The weeks pass and it happens again, and again, then it clicks - it's the bloody dash cam! Unfortunately now my car battery will only just start the car and I've bought a jump start pack to support it (other reasons too).

Needless to say I don't have the dashcam plugged in anymore and most days my car will start fine, but the battery has been drastically affected by the dashcams issues. I'm going to see if I can get a new battery off the internet, hopefully a better one, and see how it goes but I suspect I may just have to wire it up without a battery (I'll go inside and whip it out and see what happens) and be done with it, crazy!!! :D

Any other thoughts of experiences with NextBase that suggest it's worth getting a better one - I have the 312GW so I thought I'd gone quite high quality? I can't believe NextBase had such a poor attitude to the issue, clearly there is one.

Cheers for your thoughts

P.S. I should add I've been through all the charging at home thing, resetting it, changing the sd card etc etc and no joy. It turns on then off again in about 2 seconds so battery is clearly fooked. It will be two years old this Christmas and I've had battery issues with it for the entire time, bar the first three months, but with it being plugged in I didn't see an issue.
 
This is exactly what has happened with mine!

I contacted nextbase about the "low battery" issue and they were little to no help, nothing about the warranty covers the battery; even the insurance I took out from amazon at purchase time won't cover the battery.

I've since thought 'to hell with it I'll use it as I can and get something different/better when it finally dies'. Well, before it's died it's killed my car battery. I too have the constant 12V in the power socket but I've never had issues with that, until now, I didn't use the car for a few days and in that time the battery in the dashcam must have discharged and recharged so many times it flattened my car battery - of course, at that time i didn't put two and two together, I just thought the car battery was faulty so I had it tested and it was fine. The weeks pass and it happens again, and again, then it clicks - it's the bloody dash cam! Unfortunately now my car battery will only just start the car and I've bought a jump start pack to support it (other reasons too).

Needless to say I don't have the dashcam plugged in anymore and most days my car will start fine, but the battery has been drastically affected by the dashcams issues. I'm going to see if I can get a new battery off the internet, hopefully a better one, and see how it goes but I suspect I may just have to wire it up without a battery (I'll go inside and whip it out and see what happens) and be done with it, crazy!!! :D

Any other thoughts of experiences with NextBase that suggest it's worth getting a better one - I have the 312GW so I thought I'd gone quite high quality? I can't believe NextBase had such a poor attitude to the issue, clearly there is one.

Cheers for your thoughts

P.S. I should add I've been through all the charging at home thing, resetting it, changing the sd card etc etc and no joy. It turns on then off again in about 2 seconds so battery is clearly fooked. It will be two years old this Christmas and I've had battery issues with it for the entire time, bar the first three months, but with it being plugged in I didn't see an issue.

Hi there,

Our warranty covers the whole product, including the battery of course. If you're outside of the warranty period, then it can be repaired, but it'll be a paid for replacement rather than a free one;

To minimize the time you have to spend apart from your camera, we send a battery with 24 hour delivery for £10 along with a full set of illustrated instructions. The battery replacement process is relatively straight forward and usually takes between 15/20 minutes to complete but does require some soldering.
Alternatively if you don't feel comfortable with the replacing the battery yourself we can get the camera booked in for repair for £31.20, the average turn around for repairs is between 7-10 working days.

The cigarette lighter cable has no voltage protection within it. For customers with a Permanent Live cigarette socket, we recommend using the Hard Wire kit instead as this has in-built voltage protection which will protect your car battery from being drained. I'm very sorry that you were not aware of the Permanent Live drainage. We'd recommend for customers who have a Permanent Live cigarette socket and do not want to install the Hard Wire Kit, that they unplug the cigarette plug when out of the car.

Regards,
Millie- Nextbase
 
So I got a Next Base 3121GW as a present 14 months ago, its hard wired into the vehicle but the blue light has always been illuminated, when it froze yesterday I removed and noticed it was low battery, charged over night still low battery, are the batteries on this model that poor that they stop holding a charge and then won’t charge after a year, really disappointed and certainly wont be recommending.
 
Hi there,

Our warranty covers the whole product, including the battery of course. If you're outside of the warranty period, then it can be repaired, but it'll be a paid for replacement rather than a free one;

To minimize the time you have to spend apart from your camera, we send a battery with 24 hour delivery for £10 along with a full set of illustrated instructions. The battery replacement process is relatively straight forward and usually takes between 15/20 minutes to complete but does require some soldering.
Alternatively if you don't feel comfortable with the replacing the battery yourself we can get the camera booked in for repair for £31.20, the average turn around for repairs is between 7-10 working days.

The cigarette lighter cable has no voltage protection within it. For customers with a Permanent Live cigarette socket, we recommend using the Hard Wire kit instead as this has in-built voltage protection which will protect your car battery from being drained. I'm very sorry that you were not aware of the Permanent Live drainage. We'd recommend for customers who have a Permanent Live cigarette socket and do not want to install the Hard Wire Kit, that they unplug the cigarette plug when out of the car.

Regards,
Millie- Nextbase
I’ve tried to purchase a replacement battery but cannot find it on the site, can you send a link please
 
Try the really last century method and phone them.
 
I’ve tried to purchase a replacement battery but cannot find it on the site, can you send a link please

Hi,

We do not sell these batteries on our website. Please private message me your email address, call 02920 866429 (UK) or email support@nextbase.com and we'll be able to provide a secure payment link, and then dispatch the battery directly.

Regards,
Millie- Nextbase
 
Hi all,

I've just sent an email to NextBase but saw this forum; i have my DashCam (312GW) plugged into a cigarette light port (12V) all the time, it only works when the engine runs and is not hardwired.

I'm doing on average 1000 miles a week and all the time the dashcam is on / charging, i used to have parking setting as on but it never worked ever!

The battery i presume is not charging properly as it cuts off even when i'm in the car with the engine switched off and when i press the power button nothing happens, it's only until i switch the ignition on the dashcam comes on?

I've brought it in and put on charge via an electrical point as mentioned in a previous post but that has no effect either, it may last a little longer but then shuts down again' the battery icon is always showing as charging but never shows as charged.

With all of the points made does this mean the battery if knackered and needs replacing? How do you replace the battery as it's all sealed up and if i can by one that is?

Thank you i await to hear back from someone as the dashcam when working is great.
 
Welcome to DCT @LooseGoose70 :)
It does seem that the battery is shot- yours are the usual symptoms of this. Not sure if NB offers a repair service for this but they used to. And it can be done at home with some DIY skills and a soldering iron if you can source the proper battery. Just know that you'll be doing that again in about the same amount of time as that battery wears out too.

I'm sure there's a tutorial vid or instructions on how to do this somewhere but someone else will have to point you there as I'm not that familiar with your cam; I only know it's been spoken of on this forum in the past. Your easiest solution would be to upgrade to a better cam, preferably one using supercaps instead of a battery as those don't normally wear out before the cam dies from some other problem.

Phil
 
Welcome to DCT @LooseGoose70 :)
It does seem that the battery is shot- yours are the usual symptoms of this. Not sure if NB offers a repair service for this but they used to. And it can be done at home with some DIY skills and a soldering iron if you can source the proper battery. Just know that you'll be doing that again in about the same amount of time as that battery wears out too.

I'm sure there's a tutorial vid or instructions on how to do this somewhere but someone else will have to point you there as I'm not that familiar with your cam; I only know it's been spoken of on this forum in the past. Your easiest solution would be to upgrade to a better cam, preferably one using supercaps instead of a battery as those don't normally wear out before the cam dies from some other problem.

Phil

Thank you Phil for your reply and answer, as far as getting a new dash cam I get what you’ve said but mine is only around 18 months old and surely I shouldn’t have this issue already?
Will see what Next base have to say, but again thank you.
 
TBH you shouldn't be experiencing this at 18 months, but you are far from alone in this :( Nextbase batteries generally have a history of failure in a much shorter timeframe than you see with other decent cam manufacturers. Most of those get 3 years plus or more use-time so I am at a loss to explain why theirs don't do this as well.

Before NextBase introduced it's 2nd series of cams, they offered very good customer support right here on these forums. That has apparently changed considerably as we rarely see their rep's posting responses to problems and issues owners are having with their cams. Maybe @NextBase Support will see this tag and respond to your thread- I certainly hope so. It would be very good to see their activity here return to how it once was (y)

Best of luck with getting your problem resolved quickly and easily!
Phil
 
Defo new battery job. one of my 312s does that exactly the same, it works fine when plugged in, but once un plugged it just goes dead and won't switch on until plugged in again and resets the settings. Battery is shot. I think Nextbase charge around £11 for the new battery if you can change it yourself if you're familiar with abit of a soldering, which I'm not. If you send it to Nextbase to be changed I think it is around £30, which personally I'd sooner put towards a new Dashcam.
 
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