Parking Mode + Car Battery, how long will it last me?

[John O.]

Was wondering how long people have seen their car battery lasting them when hardwired through the fuse box of their car? Will the camera only last a couple of hours or even longer?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

It depends, size/type of battery, what else is drawing power in your vehicle, what type of dashcam, what the temperature outside is. (and how old the battery is)

 

[John O.]

It depends, size/type of battery, what else is drawing power in your vehicle, what type of dashcam, what the temperature outside is. (and how old the battery is)

Well it will be on an 03 G35 Coupe and it will be a 2CH Blacksys CH-100B. This will be the only thing hooked up while the car is off (I do have a radar detector but I unplug it everytime I'm parked to hide it away. Knowing I bought this car used, I cannot say how old the battery is but for over 2 years I have not have problems with it yet so far. I'm just wanting to know a rough estimate on how long typical people have seen their dash cams last running off a car battery in parking mode.

 

[jokiin]

how many hours it will run depends on the condition of the battery, how long before the battery dies will depend on how long and how often you use parking mode

 

[John O.]

how many hours it will run depends on the condition of the battery, how long before the battery dies will depend on how long and how often you use parking mode

Well I do plan on running it everytime my car is parked at work and occasionally during the night. I do about an hour of commute everyday to work so I plan on running it for about 8 hours. But when home, my car is in the garage so I will disconnect the camera from power. But during some days it will be parked outside and I would like it to record for at least 10 hours. Don't know if these numbers are even possible but I've read that some people usually get 15+ hours when hardwired.

 

[SawMaster]

Seems like it's 490 CCA which is roughly a 45A total capacity and that isn't big. With a 1ch cam I'd say maybe for 8 hours, no more, and I feel that even this may be pushing things a bit. I don't think it will kill the battery immediately but it will probably die young with a 2ch cam at 8-10 hours on a regular basis (1/20 rule)

Numbers don't tell the whole tale here and only in trying can you know what you'll get for certain, but the numbers can help you roughly predict the results to expect

Phil

 

[John O.]

Seems like it's 490 CCA which is roughly a 45A total capacity and that isn't big. With a 1ch cam I'd say maybe for 8 hours, no more, and I feel that even this may be pushing things a bit. I don't think it will kill the battery immediately but it will probably die young with a 2ch cam at 8-10 hours on a regular basis (1/20 rule)

Numbers don't tell the whole tale here and only in trying can you know what you'll get for certain, but the numbers can help you roughly predict the results to expect

Phil

I definitely appreciate the information! Yeah I honestly really think my battery will soon need to be replaced anyways but for the time being I just wanted to get some numbers because blackboxmycar kept telling me to purchase a Celllink B Battery pack but for $200 it was too steep when I already spent $200 for the dashcam. When I was reading around the forums, it seems that everyone was hardwiring their dashcam and was getting about 10+ hours while in parking mode (I'm assuming the device wasn't constantly recording the whole time but monitoring any motion/impact and recording when needed which is what I want it to do).

I was thinking of running it in parking mode via a power bank but I don't think my dashcam can run off a USB Cable. But I did look up on amazon and found this (https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01J67JIOQ) which will allow me to plug in the cigarette plug that is included with the device but not sure if it will be suitable.

 

[Ralph2]

Test this yourself on your own car. Leave the dome light on.. and check to see how long it will be before you can not start your car. Do it several times under different conditions.. like in the winter when it is cold.. and again when it is colder.

 

[Nigel]

Test this yourself on your own car. Leave the dome light on.. and check to see how long it will be before you can not start your car. Do it several times under different conditions.. like in the winter when it is cold.. and again when it is colder.

Doing that will kill the battery!
Or at least cause permanent damage.
Ideally you should never empty a lead acid battery more than 50%.

Well I do plan on running it everytime my car is parked at work and occasionally during the night. I do about an hour of commute everyday to work so I plan on running it for about 8 hours.

An hour of driving should completely recharge the car battery so that should be doable, but you do need to make sure you don't accidently leave it on overnight, or if you do then it needs an automatic cut off when the battery is 50% empty.

You could investigate if you can fit a larger car battery, if the 45Ah posted above is correct then that is an unusually small one and not ideal.

 

[Ralph2]

Doing that will kill the battery!
Or at least cause permanent damage.

While I agree this is not good for the battery.. I don't think it kills it. I doubt folk replace the battery every time that they leave their headlights on and drain the battery to the point the car wont start. Or.. the dealer replaces the battery of a new car that has been sitting in the lot for months.. and the battery has run down.

 

[kamkar]

Depending on the layout of your parking spot/s you might be able to get off with 1 camera on parking duty, when i finally get around to doing that parking stuff i will just do one camera.

Reversing into a parking bay also minimize the risk of accidents according to a study i just read about in Danish news, not it was not quite clear if that's just the case this time of the year.

But if your parking spot are safe from 1 side ( up against a wall or curb ) then i would just reverse into the bay leaving the main front camera facing in the direction from which most threats will come from or exit.

 

[Nigel]

While I agree this is not good for the battery.. I don't think it kills it. I doubt folk replace the battery every time that they leave their headlights on and drain the battery to the point the car wont start. Or.. the dealer replaces the battery of a new car that has been sitting in the lot for months.. and the battery has run down.

The dealer will disconnect all the car batteries unless they are going to be used frequently.

It is not unusual for a battery to develop an internal short circuit if it is emptied and then it will no longer stay charged, even if it survives the plates get a coating of lead sulphate crystals that reduce capacity, after several full discharges it will die in the cold weather next winter.

It is not something you want to do intentionally.

 

[kamkar]

Here dealer cars will get stripped for parts by eastern EU guys on "holiday" here, even having your lot fenced off dont seem to be enough these days.

 

[Nigel]

Here dealer cars will get stripped for parts by eastern EU guys on "holiday" here, even having your lot fenced off dont seem to be enough these days.

In that case they should put solar panels on the dashboard to keep the batteries charged instead of disconnecting the batteries and thus disabling the alarms. That has become quite common for new cars that sit around waiting for delivery.

 

[Rajagra]

Remember, parking mode is not a low-power mode.
I've often left a single camera running for 6 hours, but that's using a Vico Power Plus to ensure the battery voltage doesn't drop too low.
Despite that my battery is getting weaker, not sure how much of that is down to the camera though.

 

[SawMaster]

A pre-buffered parking mode uses only a tiny bit less than continuous recording, and other parking modes only a tiny bit less than that. You're still powering the sensor and processor in parking mode- just not writing to the card

A lead-acid car starting battery will be seriously degraded after about 5 times getting completely discharged. It won't go far after that even if it is brand new Going below 50% capacity does the same thing- just more slowly. Better would be a 'deep-cycle' type battery but they die quickly under heavy loads like a starter motor Best would be one of each type, but that's impractical for most cars

There's a cost/benefit ratio going on and you set the cost by setting the acceptable discharge level. This is why many people use a BDP or a powerbank when parked
Phil

 

[jokiin]

This is why many people use a BDP or a powerbank when parked
Phil

actually I suspect most do it only for the immediate payback of not getting caught out with a car that won't start, not many seem to understand the longer term effect on lifespan as a result of the daily discharging of the battery

 

[SawMaster]

Maybe so Nothing is free- everything has a cost somewhere. You can't run a cam on nothing

Phil

 

[Thumpernator]

I had the BlackSys CH100 and just upgraded to the CH200, but both lasts the same amount of time in parking mode. I have mine set to turn off if the battery reaches 12.2 volts. I have a Miata which has a very small battery but I get around 14 to 15 hours in parking mode in my driveway at night. It may not last as long while parked on the street where it's going to pick up more motions. As others have said, there are a lot of variables to effect just how long parking mode will last.

 

[NuNet]

Why not use a hardwire kit with battery drain protection circuit inside? It will cut off the power when the battery voltage is lower than 11~11.6V so you won't have issue that you can not start your engine. But please make sure the wire is long enough (like more than 12ft) and it comes with fuse adapter matching with your car. Normally it comes with a microUSB or miniUSB charging head.