Power Magic Pro Installation

pdmike

pdmike

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Location
South Pasadena, California
Country
United States
Dash Cam
Blackvue DR750S 2-CH
I had a Power Magic Pro installed in order to run my dash cam when the ignition is off (Parking Mode). My question is: once you turn the PMP on, would you ever want to turn it off or do anything else to it that would require you to get to it where it is located in your vehicle? The reason I ask is, the guy who installed it for me, took off the left side panel on the car dash and put it in there. It is very hard to pull the cover off, once you get it back on. I was talking to the chat guy at Dashcam Store, and he said they usually install the PMP in a location that allows easy access, such as in or below the glove box.

I can go back and have installer guy re-install it in a more accessible location, but I don't want to do that unless you guys tell me that I will have to have regular access to the PMP for some reason. If, once it's on, you never have to go back, then I'll just leave her where she is.

And finally, if you have a PMP is your car, where is it installed?
 
If you want to use the main switch to enable or disable parking mode, this switch must be easily accessible.
 
chris-s said:
If you want to use the main switch to enable or disable parking mode, this switch must be easily accessible.
Click to expand...
I know that. My question is, do you think I am going to WANT TO or HAVE TO use that switch often, or even at all, once I have the sucker turned on?
 
pdmike said:
I know that. My question is, do you think I am going to WANT TO or HAVE TO use that switch often, or even at all, once I have the sucker turned on?
Click to expand...

only you can answer that, are there situations where you don't want or need to use parking mode, at home in your garage etc, if so then you'll need access
 
If you are okay with the current voltage and timer settings then I would say no BUT you might not be in the future. I would get it located to a more accessible area. I have mine installed up under the dash. It isn't extremely easy to get to but if I ever need to change a setting I still can. I don't worry about the on/off on the PMP as I usually just power off the camera itself instead.
 
pdmike said:
The reason I ask is, the guy who installed it for me, took off the left side panel on the car dash and put it in there.
Click to expand...
We all thought that you will have your PMP installed by super-mega-real-pro? Seems not.
 
TCK81 said:
If you are okay with the current voltage and timer settings then I would say no BUT you might not be in the future. I would get it located to a more accessible area. I have mine installed up under the dash. It isn't extremely easy to get to but if I ever need to change a setting I still can. I don't worry about the on/off on the PMP as I usually just power off the camera itself instead.
Click to expand...
I had a question about that. I have found that I do the same. I don't see much point in have the camera running in Parking Mode when the car is in the garage all night, so I just pull the power input and turn it all off. That's all right to do, isn't it? I mean, pulling the power won't hurt the camera in any way, will it?
 
I use PMP switch all the time. When I go to store, church, somewhere where I don't feel comfortable leaving my car, I turn it on. Most of the time its in OFF position because I garage my car and at work its unlikely it will get damaged. In winter I was more careful when I left it on since I didn't want to kill my battery. However now thats its warm outside I will forget it from time to time and it will be running parking mode through the night now and then
 
But the whole idea of PMP is so that the dashcam will not 'kill the battery'.:banghead:
 
The PMP 'switch off' voltage is 12V (or 12.5V). 12V is the 'normal' nominal voltage for a 6 cell lead acid battery.
The battery is not being discharged below its normal working voltage, so how does that 'kill your battery'?
 
M8TJT said:
The PMP 'switch off' voltage is 12V (or 12.5V). 12V is the 'normal' nominal voltage for a 6 cell lead acid battery.
The battery is not being discharged below its normal working voltage, so how does that 'kill your battery'?
Click to expand...

No it's not. 12.0v is a nearly dead battery. It's normal voltage is ~12.6v when charged at rest. Living in a cold climate myself it seems stupid to me to have the potential of my car battery getting that low. In normal operation (without something draining your battery on purpose) if my car battery read 12.0v I would be replacing it.
 
M8TJT said:
The PMP 'switch off' voltage is 12V (or 12.5V). 12V is the 'normal' nominal voltage for a 6 cell lead acid battery.
The battery is not being discharged below its normal working voltage, so how does that 'kill your battery'?
Click to expand...

at rest your typical car battery will be around 12.6v, when the car is running it will be from about 13.8v (older cars) to about 14.5v (newer cars), at 12v the battery is considered to be 50% discharged, the battery is designed to remain at or near its resting voltage, when you start the car there will be a short very high current discharge and then the voltage will be quickly brought back up to normal and the charge maintained, typical SLA batteries are all about CCA (cold cranking amps) and not about having a regular parasitic drain, do it occasionally or for shorter periods is generally not too bad, if you do it for longer periods and more often it will shorten the life of your battery, when I said continual use will kill your battery I didn't mean it was going to die in a week but people that do multiple hours of parking mode daily will find they need to replace their car battery a lot sooner, most people replace car batteries after about 6 to 8 years, daily parking mode use might see you replacing it in 2 years or less
 
You think its that fast ?
That seem fast to me, but though i have dabbled in car stereo and their power grids, then i never experienced any premature battery deaths, of course thats not quite the same as a "parasitic" parking mode drain.

I feel lucky i would never use parking mode daily, not least as the battery in my car match the cars small size.
 
As I asked, 8 posts ago, will pulling the power plug hurt anything. Example: I get home and want to pull the SD card so I can take it inside to my computer and check out some videos recorded on my drive. In order to do that, I pull the power plug so I can get the cover off the SD card slot. Next morning, I get into the car, replace the SD card and plug the power in again. Anything wrong or harmful about that?
 
That will be fine, i use the same to simulate key off on cameras on my work table.
 
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