Newbie questions

[Lord Polymath]

Hello all, I've been researching dash cams and thought I would join here to post some questions floating around in my head.

I am getting an all electric vehicle (Mustang Mach-E) in a few months and want to equip it with a dash cam. I will probably go with the Viofo A129 Pro Duo 4K. The Questions:

Does the A129 Pro automatically switch to parking mode? I'll be using low bitrate continuous recording rather than trying to rely on motion detection, but I want the camera to automatically switch to parking mode when the vehicle is off or stationary for more than a few minutes.

A 12 volt battery is just as important if not more important on an EV, so I am considering a dash cam battery that uses Lithium Iron Phosphate chemistry. Does the A129 Pro have built-in voltage monitoring? Do I really need voltage monitoring if I use a dedicated dash cam battery?

I will be doing 95% short trip, in-town driving and will be parked at work 7.5 hours per day. Will the Power Magic B-112 suffice for a battery?

Thanks for any help/comments!!

 

[Lord Polymath]

Now with all of the posts about the A129 not connecting to WiFi and having to be replaced, I'm not sure which camera to get. The U1000 seems nice but is expensive. Not everyone chime in all at once! *crickets*

 

[estore009]

Now with all of the posts about the A129 not connecting to WiFi and having to be replaced

Try again after switching airplane mode on your phone?

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum Lord Polymath.

For some reason wifi with dashcams are often a pain, the airplane / turn off mobile data is a good thing to try when that happen.
It is like a google phone are not happy connecting to any wifi that are not internet enabled, CUZ i refuse to believe that it is every dashcam maker that just can not do that part properly, and google are very evil so it is probably them messing things up.

With the viofo hard wire kit the camera will switch in and out of parking mode with your turn of the key in the car, and i would also recommend using low bitrate for parking mode.
Voltage monitoring are in the hard wire kit, but if you plan on using a dashcam power pack i think you can set the hardwire kit to the lowest 11.8 volts as the battery would have its own build in low voltage protection too as with their batteries draining too deep is even more critical to not do that.

I am however not aware of what battery pack work with the viofo cameras, but i assume @VIOFO-Support might be able to tell us about that, dashcam battery packs i think are in our future for sure, might be essential to have at some point.
As you are going with that "E-pony car" a dedicated power pack could well be a must have.

 

[Lord Polymath]

Welcome to the forum Lord Polymath.

For some reason wifi with dashcams are often a pain, the airplane / turn off mobile data is a good thing to try when that happen.
It is like a google phone are not happy connecting to any wifi that are not internet enabled, CUZ i refuse to believe that it is every dashcam maker that just can not do that part properly, and google are very evil so it is probably them messing things up.

With the viofo hard wire kit the camera will switch in and out of parking mode with your turn of the key in the car, and i would also recommend using low bitrate for parking mode.
Voltage monitoring are in the hard wire kit, but if you plan on using a dashcam power pack i think you can set the hardwire kit to the lowest 11.8 volts as the battery would have its own build in low voltage protection too as with their batteries draining too deep is even more critical to not do that.

I am however not aware of what battery pack work with the viofo cameras, but i assume @VIOFO-Support might be able to tell us about that, dashcam battery packs i think are in our future for sure, might be essential to have at some point.
As you are going with that "E-pony car" a dedicated power pack could well be a must have.

Thanks! I'm actually thinking now that I'll probably just forgo parking mode altogether. Dashcam battery packs are just too expensive. I'm thinking I'll hardwire into an unused accessory switched fuse so that the camera only records when the car is on and I won't have to worry about the camera draining the small 12v battery.

 

[kamkar]

Indeed, and no matter the power source, you also have to drive some to replenish what you have used, so to be able to do parking guard the rest of the day you probably have to drive for 1 hour every day at least.
I just use parking guard for 1 hour, which cover all my shopping, and at home i have CCTV on my car, and it is rare i park elsewhere where parking guard might be nice for a longer period, but can do that and just up the timer, but not something i will do in everyday use scenario.

Cameras like streetguardian have a setup where the 12 ->5 V PSU sit a few foot up the wire from the 12 V plug, this is nice if you want to keep that dash socket free for other stuff. CUZ then you just cut off the 12 V plug to expose the 2 wires, and then you can wire the red wire to a ACC fuse and the black to ground and have a neat clean setup and a free 12 V socket in the dash / center console.
Alternative if you go for a brand where the 12 -> 5 V PSU are in the plug, you can just buy a female 12 V plug and wire that to a ACC fuse and then plug into that, but as these can wiggle loose under the dash you should probably tape the 2 together.
Should be cheaper than buying a hard wire kit, which you dont really need if you are not going to use parking guard, on the other hand you can buy a hard wire kit that will enable you do use parking guard,,,, should you choose that one day, but you are not forced to use parking guard of course just cuz you have the hard wire kit.
Only downside is you will have two +12V wires to wire in, a ACC one and the always on one + the common ground,,,,,, not a big deal if you have a bit of DIY skills

 

[Lord Polymath]

Indeed, and no matter the power source, you also have to drive some to replenish what you have used, so to be able to do parking guard the rest of the day you probably have to drive for 1 hour every day at least.
I just use parking guard for 1 hour, which cover all my shopping, and at home i have CCTV on my car, and it is rare i park elsewhere where parking guard might be nice for a longer period, but can do that and just up the timer, but not something i will do in everyday use scenario.

Cameras like streetguardian have a setup where the 12 ->5 V PSU sit a few foot up the wire from the 12 V plug, this is nice if you want to keep that dash socket free for other stuff. CUZ then you just cut off the 12 V plug to expose the 2 wires, and then you can wire the red wire to a ACC fuse and the black to ground and have a neat clean setup and a free 12 V socket in the dash / center console.
Alternative if you go for a brand where the 12 -> 5 V PSU are in the plug, you can just buy a female 12 V plug and wire that to a ACC fuse and then plug into that, but as these can wiggle loose under the dash you should probably tape the 2 together.
Should be cheaper than buying a hard wire kit, which you dont really need if you are not going to use parking guard, on the other hand you can buy a hard wire kit that will enable you do use parking guard,,,, should you choose that one day, but you are not forced to use parking guard of course just cuz you have the hard wire kit.
Only downside is you will have two +12V wires to wire in, a ACC one and the always on one + the common ground,,,,,, not a big deal if you have a bit of DIY skills

Thank you! Very helpful.

 

[kamkar]

no sweat, here to empower people to make good decisions.

 

[Lothar]

Welcome to the forum Lord Polymath.

For some reason wifi with dashcams are often a pain, the airplane / turn off mobile data is a good thing to try when that happen.
It is like a google phone are not happy connecting to any wifi that are not internet enabled, CUZ i refuse to believe that it is every dashcam maker that just can not do that part properly, and google are very evil so it is probably them messing things up.

With the viofo hard wire kit the camera will switch in and out of parking mode with your turn of the key in the car, and i would also recommend using low bitrate for parking mode.
Voltage monitoring are in the hard wire kit, but if you plan on using a dashcam power pack i think you can set the hardwire kit to the lowest 11.8 volts as the battery would have its own build in low voltage protection too as with their batteries draining too deep is even more critical to not do that.

I am however not aware of what battery pack work with the viofo cameras, but i assume @VIOFO-Support might be able to tell us about that, dashcam battery packs i think are in our future for sure, might be essential to have at some point.
As you are going with that "E-pony car" a dedicated power pack could well be a must have.

That's some serious tinfoil hat conspiracy theory you have going on there.

 

[kamkar]

hehe yeah.
Actually i dont have such a hat, but as i choose to not use some modern technologies i often get pegged that way.