Power issues Nextbase 522

[Slow Tommo]

Hi, I have a very frustrating issue with my dashcam. Sometime it comes on for a while and sometimes it doesn’t. When it does, the blue light flickers and goes out and a short time later the dash cam shuts down.
It’s hardwired with a Nextbase kit. I’ve tried it in my other car and it works fine. I’ve tried the dash cam from the other car and that has the same fault- so it’s a power issue?I’ve tried two hardwire kits in various fuse locations. No difference. It works fine with the cigarette lighter adapter so I tried that fuse position - no good. I wired in a separate cigarette lighter in the same fuse positionand tried the cig adapter in that- no good. Every time I switch on, the blue light flickers, dies and after a short time the dashcam shuts down, presumably because it’s not been charging and the battery has died. It makes no sense to me.
Please help. It’s driving me to distraction. Thanks.

 

[Slow Tommo]

Still having this problem. Anyone got anything for me?

 

[EricSan]

I don't have clear understanding of exactly what equipment you have, though it sounds like you have two cameras to play with. I would recommend experimenting and just changing one element at a time. Start with the most basic configuration that works - maybe that's just using the 12v utility port adapter. Do you have a multi meter to use? That can go a long way toward helping you track down bizarre voltage issues. If you odn't have one, you can find a decent one on Amazon for $15. Another useful device is a USB power meter, also available from Amazon for the same price. It's hard to trouble shoot until you can make voltage measurements to see what is actually going on.

 

[Slow Tommo]

Thanks. I’ll try the voltage meter.

 

[PopzThompson]

Hi, I have a very frustrating issue with my dashcam. Sometime it comes on for a while and sometimes it doesn’t. When it does, the blue light flickers and goes out and a short time later the dash cam shuts down.
It’s hardwired with a Nextbase kit. I’ve tried it in my other car and it works fine. I’ve tried the dash cam from the other car and that has the same fault- so it’s a power issue?I’ve tried two hardwire kits in various fuse locations. No difference. It works fine with the cigarette lighter adapter so I tried that fuse position - no good. I wired in a separate cigarette lighter in the same fuse positionand tried the cig adapter in that- no good. Every time I switch on, the blue light flickers, dies and after a short time the dashcam shuts down, presumably because it’s not been charging and the battery has died. It makes no sense to me.
Please help. It’s driving me to distraction. Thanks.

Sounds to me like you have a grounding issue with your vehicle. Have to checked for continuity using a multimeter!

 

[Slow Tommo]

The car has been off the road for the winter and Ive just got back to trying to solve this issue.- without success.
I checked the output of various fuse ways which all give a very stable voltage of 14 ish when the car is running and just over 12v when the car is ignition only. I settled on one which is def controlled by the ignition switch.
The camera operates as it should when plugged into the car cig lighter socket. I had wired an additional cig lighter socket into that fuse way but It was constantly live and the camera didn’t work properly anyway.
I wired into the new fuse way and plugged the adapter into the additional cig lighter socket
When I start the car the camera comes on. The red record light flashes. The blue charge light is constant. After about 20 seconds the camera shuts down. The blue light is constant so I know there is power going to it. I can switch on the camera again but after about 20 seconds it shuts down. The voltage is constant. No occasional drop offs which might make the camera shut down. As I have said before- the camera works fine in my other car but the camera from my other car does the same shutdown in this car.

 

[Kremmen]

Unfortunately Nextbase went down the rechargeable battery route instead of supercaps like most others and they frequently fail, especially after sitting for a while

Next base do offer a battery replacement service but I'd be looking at another brand

 

[Slow Tommo]

It might be too early to say for certain but I’ve removed the rear view camera and it seems to have cured the issue. I’m not holding my breath but keeping fingers crossed that this is the end of it. Why didn’t I do this before?