Power Charging Kit (With Parking Guard Signal)

[kamkar]

Okay i have just inspected the 8 batteries and everything is as it should be, but the reason i was a little worried was as you can see in the picture below.
The plastic holding the 2 power rails either side of the batteries, on the + side and with flat top batteries it is close that the plastic tab touch the batteries.




So with this particular power bank ( brand / model unknown to me ) i would recommend that people use button top batteries.
I dont have one to test with but i even think protected button top batteries can fit in there, still more flex in the springs on the - side of the batteries.
If you get into trouble with longer batteries you could always flatten the bumps on the positive rail ( in picture ) a little with a hammer.


PS. i do find the battery retention springs in this power bank a little soft, but i think its fine, its just i am used to a little more beefy springs in flashlights that often carry a higher load.
So not a complaint just putting my findings and feelings out there, i would install a power bank like this on the inside wall of my center console and to it would stand up and the batteries face in the front/rear direction of the car, so a massive impact in either end of the car could maybe be a problem, but by then i and everyone else would have more important things to think about.

Here at the end i am engaged in thinking forward and looking for problems that might not be there,,,, its my job.

So far i like this and think it could work just fine, i am a little sad i dont have a MEG product to test the triggered parking signal, but maybe i get in on the testing of the dual remote MEG might be working on.
I hope they are and it will be a "race" version with big cooling powers that can support big bitrates from both cameras.

 

[lacibaci]

The ports on this powerbank are confusing:

out2 get nothing here
typeC in or out? (apparently in)
in1 normal (slow) charging via micro USB
out1 normal USB out?

 

[kamkar]

It have 2 inputs ( in the middle ) one quick charge USB C - and one regular charge micro USB, it then have 2 outputs on USB A too, one quick charge and one regular charge.

This way you can always charge it quick or slow, and you can always charge from it again quick or slow.

I am connected like this:

Quick charge USB A out on controller to USB C quick charge input on Battery
5V - 2A USB A output on battery to 5V - 2A micro USB C input on controller, this is what toppled me as both the little ports on the controller are USB C, and why i use my RED phone USB C charge cable in testing.

 

[lacibaci]

So do you get anything out on "out2"?

 

[kamkar]

I have not tried to send quick charge from battery back into the controller, i cant as its inputs are only 5V - 2A
Look like you will have to use quick charge power bank, unless it can also regular charge if you dont press that button, and then if it could and you did, then you are only one accidental button press from frying something.

both camera outputs also work fine

 

[kamkar]

out 2 on the controller ? i dont know but i could try to plug my phone into that and see what happen....

Okay been there done that:

both quick charge out on battery work, but so do both fast charge out on the controller, so maybe you have a faulty unit, my 2 dip switched for the controller part are both in up position so its ( normal power bank ) & ( Disable parking signal even vehicle parking )

 

[kamkar]

I cant try my other little power bank on the setup too as it do not support quick charge, so i think i might risk frying it, though i am not aware if these things can control then self so 9 / 12 V charging will not go on if you plug in a 5 V charge power bank.

I think marking the ports are crucial here, if you wire up wrong you can fry or set fire to things, and really for this application i think you would want to use quick charge only to get some juice on that battery / batteries while you drive.

It take me 6.5 hour to quick charge 20.800 mah thats more than i drive in a couple of weeks or 3.

 

[Nigel]

I cant try my other little power bank on the setup too as it do not support quick charge, so i think i might risk frying it, though i am not aware if these things can control then self so 9 / 12 V charging will not go on if you plug in a 5 V charge power bank.

I think marking the ports are crucial here, if you wire up wrong you can fry or set fire to things, and really for this application i think you would want to use quick charge only to get some juice on that battery / batteries while you drive.

It take me 6.5 hour to quick charge 20.800 mah thats more than i drive in a couple of weeks or 3.

That is about the right time for an 18W quick charge on a 20800mAh battery, if you use 2x 10400mAh power banks then you get the same capacity but presumably you can charge in about half the time using both outputs?

Given the amount you drive you are never going to get 24 hour coverage from any battery system, so the question is, can you get enough charge on your way to the supermarket to cover the stay at the supermarket and catch all those people putting dings in your doors?

 

[kamkar]

Hehe lucky my shopping are over just as fast as my driving, when i do drive it is normally a 50 minute drive ( each way ) to visit my dear old mother or my friend that now dont live far apart.
But normally thats not something i do 2 times every week, pretty sad, and that also match how i feel when i see my mother in her state, and that in case torn to shame in not time, and so i am in between rock and a hard place.

My driving "for fun" might go up a little soon, my RC car are ready for use,,,,, well mostly, the driving / handling part are all there so i can use it and finish it up as i go.

For some reason i am still hemorrhaging money, my last hope is i get done with the payments on my car before i run all out of money.... i totally dont get it, i think i am stuffing my piggy bank too hard, and then dont think about when i buy something for myself or pay unexpected bills with those money.
Maybe i get lucky and find a little job, the idiots in charge here are talking about raising the amount a pensioner can earn without getting pension cut from 60.000 DKKr / year to 100,000 DKkr / year.
And able hands are needed hereat the moment, the problem is what can i find that i can do while still taking care of myself.

 

[kamkar]

I would not use parking guard in my day to day life, i dont need that as i either park at home with CCTV on my car, or at my friend's house that have yet to install most of his cameras but it is private property so no other cars there.
Then i do park when i am shopping, and this is where i might want to use parking guard, not that i mind all that much if my car get dinged, what annoy me the most is people do it and just dont care, and that i would like to stop.
And then the 1 or 2 times every year where i really do park on the town and would use parking guard for sure if i had it.

But in general i make do,,,, though now that i am about to try parking guard, maybe i catch a addiction there too,,,,, you never know its the weirdest little things that get a hook on people.

 

[tatkeung]

more test on the parking guard w/ the power charging kit today. I set the power charging kit to power off in 8 hours, so it would cover the whole time I am at work. A few issues I see:

1. The camera got pretty hot (~190F)! The charging kit and power bank are hot.... I am a little worried. This is southern CA and my car is under the sun the whole time. I will probably not try it tomorrow as there is a heat wave warning...
2. The videos captured while in parking guard mode toggle between timelapse and 1280x720p, I am guessing the default G sensor sensitivity is too high?
3. When I turn the car on, it turns off the camera instead of bringing it out from the parking guard mode!

Any help?

 

[kamkar]

Yeah doing full time recordings in a car this time of the year is a tough deal, not really recommended.

Are you using the 0906 ?

I think on the 0906 it do time lapse for the parking guard, then detecting a event on the G -sensor switch to full time 30 FPS video, but i am a little perplexed it is only 720p, i cant see that as being less heat generating than 1080 not least just for a little event burst.

Maybe its supposed to only do 720p, i sadly lost out of the 0906 testing as i somehow managed to kill my test sample, so i am not really on that ball.

 

[Nigel]

The ports on this powerbank are confusing:

out2 get nothing here
typeC in or out? (apparently in)
in1 normal (slow) charging via micro USB
out1 normal USB out?

Out2: I also get nothing there, but I notice from the back case that it is a PD port so maybe there is nothing there until something negotiates for power? I don't have any PD / QC devices to test it with...

typeC: Says on the back that it is both in and out with a maximum of 18W in both directions. A 20,000 mAh powerbank is normally 74Wh so to charge it needs 74/18 = 4.11 hours, however the last hour always slows down so expect around 80% charge in 4 hours, maybe 6 hours for 100%.

in1: This is a normal 2A, 10W port for charging the powerbank, 74/10 = 7.4 hours for around 80% charge, around 9.5 hours for a 100% charge.

out1: A normal 2A (10W) USB A output port.

Seems that it is worth using the USB C input for charging, even then it is not going to give 24 hour parking mode unless you do a huge amount of driving.
A typical dashcam uses around 2W, so the 18W charge should give an hours parking coverage from a 7 minute charge (8 hours from a 1 hour charge).

In parking mode the camera may use less power, I cant test my 0906 prototype since it doesn't do parking guard, my Viofo A129 uses about 70% normal power in parking mode, my Blueskysea B1W (single channel) uses only about 1W in parking mode, so 1 hour parking mode from a 3.5 minute USB-C charge (17 hours from a 1 hour charge). The 0906 is the most power hungry dashcam I have!

The Charging Kit has 2 sets of powerbank connectors so by connecting 2 powerbanks you can presumably get double the coverage.

Based on Kamkar's posts, it seems that maybe it is necessary to use a USB-C powerbank input, otherwise the powerbank turns off when parking mode starts?

 

[TonyM]

As promised a video of the erratic LED flashing on the mobius Maxi when powered by the power bank ( i dont think it do this when 12 V are connected.
Still all video are there and just fine.

I have not tried powering the mobius maxi fron my other little powerbank to see if it do the same there, so updates to follow.

The Maxi green light seems to flicker when the internal battery is almost fully charged. It then goes away when full. It's almost like it is trickle charging by on-off-on-off, hence the erratic LED.

 

[TonyM]

I just received one of these, very nice

Do you have a link to this product? I can't find it.

 

[jokiin]

Do you have a link to this product? I can't find it.

not available yet, they're pre production samples that they're testing

 

[TonyM]

not available yet, they're pre production samples that they're testing

thanks

 

[kamkar]

flicker when the internal battery is almost fully charged

Okay thats nice to hear, have not noticed that before as i cant see the camera when i have charged it at home.

 

[Nigel]

Turns out that the free powerbank can be charged through both the USB-C port at 18W and the micro USB port at 10W simultaneously = 31W total (yes figures don't quite add up).
74 / 31 = about 2 hours 20 minutes charge time to 80% (20000mAh powerbank), between 2 and 4 minutes charge time for an hour's parking guard depending on camera.

Keep the powerbank away from the Charging Kit though, the Charging Kit is running at 70C, and that is in the house.

(I've now added a heatsink to the power charging kit, must have been close to melting the plastic case.)
(I'm waiting for another USB-C cable to see if I can get the power back out.)

 

[kamkar]

So they say, but mine dont get that hot, and i have been wondering why.
It take me 6.5 hours to charge mine with one Quick charge port in use.
But how do you do that when botu OUT ports are quick charge ( if you have pressed that button ) do you use one of the camera ports ?