Parking Battery-Power Station, 3X capacity and 3X cheaper than dedicated options + extra functionality

Just quickly ( I'm at work) hooked up my ecoflow to the cellink dashcam battery again and it all seems to be working OK
 
here's a pic of the blackvue manual (because its English and easier to read) the cellink manual is in Korean, and English and harder to read lol
 

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Shiwarrior said:
Just quickly ( I'm at work) hooked up my ecoflow to the cellink dashcam battery again and it all seems to be working OK
Click to expand...

Unreliable

Ive now got an xt60 splitter , ecoflow and my cellink charges up so if I need to bring the ecoflow indoors then I can just swap the cable over on the camera as I've got 2 wires going to my camera, 1 for ecoflow and 1 for cellink

Tempted to get a usb C to cig lighter just to convert to usb from the cig socket on the ecoflow, but I don't see any point to that ?
 
Anyone setup a dc to dc charger for their power station? If I had more usage than just a dashcam I probably would. Just curious. I know ecoflow has one that even puts back power into the vehicle's battery.
 
stephenjones said:
Anyone setup a dc to dc charger for their power station? If I had more usage than just a dashcam I probably would. Just curious. I know ecoflow has one that even puts back power into the vehicle's battery.
Click to expand...
All Power Stations have their own built-in charger, and typically the maximum charge rate from the car’s 12V DC is limited to about 100W max.
However, when using a high-voltage solar input, the charge rate could be very high up to 800W in the case of Ecoflow Delta series power stations.

The Ecoflow DC-DC charger is simply a very sophisticated and quite expensive voltage boost converter that converts the car’s 12V to a much higher voltage to mimic solar input.
For the Ecoflow River 2, this doesn't matter much, as the solar input is limited to 110W, but for the River 2 Max/Pro, the solar input is limited to 220W, which is double the normal car charging speed.

The same result can be achieved with very chip DC-DC voltage boost converters, check out the video from post #62:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...options-extra-functionality.49972/post-607206
 
After turning off the dashcam manually, does the power station turn off automatically?
 
If I connect my A139 directly to a USB-C PD port on a powerbank or power station, the dashcam does not request power so it doesn't work. I have to use a USB-A port instead.

Does the USB-C to 12v cable overcome that limitation?
 
TonyM said:
After turning off the dashcam manually, does the power station turn off automatically?
Click to expand...
Most, if not all, power stations and power banks have an automatic shut-off feature after a certain period of time once the power draw removed.
For Ecoflow, you can set the auto-off time from 30 minutes minimum to never.

TonyM said:
If I connect my A139 directly to a USB-C PD port on a powerbank or power station, the dashcam does not request power so it doesn't work. I have to use a USB-A port instead.

Does the USB-C to 12v cable overcome that limitation?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Generally, USB-C to USB-C cables do not request/trigger power/voltage from power banks on their own, whatever is connected to the power bank must request the desired power/voltage.
However, the Viofo dash cam's USB-C power input port is not "smart" but just a dumb connector, meaning it will not activate/request 5V.

Dedicated USB-C to Barrel or pigtail cables do trigger a specified power/voltage.
Note that the USB-C to 12V/15V cable must be used with the HK4 hardwire kit.
The USB-C to 5V cable will directly power the dash cam, but you will need to splice it to a regular USB-C cable connector for the opposite end going into the dash cam.

Here is an example, I haven’t tested this particular one but shouldn’t be any different.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0D86T9F7X

From product description:

About this item​

  • USB C to DC 5V: Built-in a PD smart chip,it can convert the PD Charger into DC 5V. It supports 5V 3A Max
 
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I'm using some cheap USB C to USB A adapters from temu for this.
 
GPak said:
Dedicated USB-C to Barrel or pigtail cables do trigger a specified power/voltage.
Note that the USB-C to 12V/15V cable must be used with the HK4 hardwire kit.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification.

I have bought a couple of USB-C to 15V cables, one to connect my power station / powerbank to a dashcam HW kit, and one for another project. I've started acquiring components but have not connected anything yet.
 
What is the required spec for an ACC source, if I'm not going to hardwire? Can I use a USB-to-12V cable from a 2-port CLA USB charger? I only have one 12v socket in the car so I don't really want to dedicate it as an ACC trigger.
 
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There is VERY little current draw for the ACC wire, it’s just a trigger voltage. If the ACC is going directly into the camera, it’s likely that you just need a 5v source, so pulling from a USB cable is fine. If you are using the hardwire 12v to 5v power adapter box, the USB to 12v converter should work fine. Either way, the power draw is nearly zero.
 
My bench test setup is working so far, following the diagram in post 301. I'm using a USB-C to 15V connector from my CTECHi GT200 320Wh power station to Viofo HK3-C, powering the A139.

PXL_20241127_234722335.webp


Parking mode switching is working as expected when turning the ignition on and off.

On work days I don't drive much, just 10 minutes to the office then park for 9 hours. So I was planning to charge the power station at home rather than in the car. However, during further bench testing I found that if I unplug the charger cable from the PS, the dashcam does not turn on with the ignition, even if I turn on the PS manually. I checked and there's 15.2V going from the PS to the HK3-C, but no 5V out to the dashcam.

PXL_20241127_235220132.webp


Reading some earlier posts it sounds like this might be a grounding issue? But my electronics knowledge is not great so I'm really not sure what is happening.
 
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I'm not 100% clear on what is going on. Are you saying that everything works great on the test bench, but doesn't work correctly in the car?

If my understanding is correct, is this a power sequencing issue? I'm not sure, but I think you need to have power going to the HK3-C from red and black before applying power to the yellow trigger wire. When I tested my HK3-C regulator, it worked fine with voltages up to 19v, so the 3v difference you are getting with 15v from the USB-C adapter and the 12v on the yellow trigger wire shouldn't matter very much.
 
TonyM said:
However, during testing I found that if I unplug the charger cable from the PS, the dashcam does not turn on with the ignition, even if I turn on the PS manually. I checked and there's 15.2V going from the PS to the HK3-C, but no 5V out to the dashcam.
Click to expand...

You must connect the charging cable.
Without the charging cable, there is no ground for the yellow signal, i.e. the circuit is open (incomplete), and HK3 without yellow signal will not turn On the dashcam.

It looks like CTECHi's 12V DC output is automatically turned on when the PS is turned on, and it seams like it supports dual charging.
If so, you don’t need to use USB-C to 12V or 15V cable for HK3 (red and black), use 12VDC out instead.

Then:
You can use USB-CPD-IN to charge the PS at 60W,
or
You can use 12VDC-IN to charge the PS at 48W,
or
You can use dual charging USB-CPD-IN + 12VDC-IN to charge PS at combined 108W,
and finally
You can use USB-CPD-IN + up to 24VDC-IN Solar Panel for solar charging.
 
EricSan said:
I'm not 100% clear on what is going on. Are you saying that everything works great on the test bench, but doesn't work correctly in the car?
Click to expand...
Sorry for not being clear. This is just on the test bench. It works well when the charging cable is connected. It does not work without the charging cable. I see GPak has figured out the problem.
 
The River 3 is currently on sale at Amazon for $159
If I get the River 3, all I need to do is buy a 15V USB-C, and I'll be set?
 
GPak said:
You must connect the charging cable.
Without the charging cable, there is no ground for the yellow signal, i.e. the circuit is open (incomplete), and HK3 without yellow signal will not turn On the dashcam.
Click to expand...
Thank you for confirming it is a ground problem. I don't know enough about these things, though I'm happy to learn.

GPak said:
It looks like CTECHi's 12V DC output is automatically turned on when the PS is turned on, and it seams like it supports dual charging.
If so, you don’t need to use USB-C to 12V or 15V cable for HK3 (red and black), use 12VDC out instead.
Click to expand...
OK. I can make a 12V cable to HK3-C, and that frees up the USB-C PD port.

GPak said:
Then:
You can use USB-CPD-IN to charge the PS at 60W,
or
You can use 12VDC-IN to charge the PS at 48W,
or
You can use dual charging USB-CPD-IN + 12VDC-IN to charge PS at combined 108W,
and finally
You can use USB-CPD-IN + up to 24VDC-IN Solar Panel for solar charging.
Click to expand...
Charging over USB-C will be better for me. I have just one 12v socket in the car, in the centre console. I will use that for a multi port 12v-to-USB adapter and run one cable to the PS in the trunk.
 
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