Power Magic Pro turns OFF, mystery?

Lionhart127

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This is a copy sent to BlackVue UK:- Purchased a Power Magic Pro for my BlackVue550GW front and rear cameras after the previous older type of parking mode unit failed me (totally dead). The new Power Magic Pro does not work properly either. I used to work for an electrical supply company so I DO know what I am doing. I am using 2 suitable fuse connections on my late 17 Mini (+ACC) and (+BATT). Checked them with a multi-tester and checked after leaving and locking the car for an hour connected to the tester. The +BATT has a constant supply. However when I connect the Power Magic Pro, it turns off the cameras after ignition is switched off, in the ON position? I then check the connection again on the white pin connector, yellow (+BATT) there is still power? So why is the PM Pro switching off? Now the uncanny part of this is:- When I connect the PM Pro to a 12v model train transformer, the PM Pro works fine, and then I disconnect the red (+ACC) cable it still stays on, as it should do in the on position? Why it will not work on the car, is a mystery? Can you explain this. PLEASE? I have had 2 hit and run bangs on my car in 5 months and I am desperate to get the parking mode working on the cams. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN. In the meantime I will have to return the PM Pro for another replacement. Hours and hours of wasted time!
 
This is a copy sent to BlackVue UK:- Purchased a Power Magic Pro for my BlackVue550GW front and rear cameras after the previous older type of parking mode unit failed me (totally dead). The new Power Magic Pro does not work properly either. I used to work for an electrical supply company so I DO know what I am doing. I am using 2 suitable fuse connections on my late 17 Mini (+ACC) and (+BATT). Checked them with a multi-tester and checked after leaving and locking the car for an hour connected to the tester. The +BATT has a constant supply. However when I connect the Power Magic Pro, it turns off the cameras after ignition is switched off, in the ON position? I then check the connection again on the white pin connector, yellow (+BATT) there is still power? So why is the PM Pro switching off? Now the uncanny part of this is:- When I connect the PM Pro to a 12v model train transformer, the PM Pro works fine, and then I disconnect the red (+ACC) cable it still stays on, as it should do in the on position? Why it will not work on the car, is a mystery? Can you explain this. PLEASE? I have had 2 hit and run bangs on my car in 5 months and I am desperate to get the parking mode working on the cams. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN. In the meantime I will have to return the PM Pro for another replacement. Hours and hours of wasted time!
I wish I could offer some help here but I can't. I think you've experienced what I and several others have: a low quality product not doing what it's supposed to do with any degree of accuracy or reliability. What are the exact voltage measurements from the car when the pmp decides to shut down? Also, exact voltage from the train transformer? My previous PMP would typically shut down at about 12.2v (sometimes) despite being set at 12v shut off. I returned that because it degraded to that point, the new one functions as intended (for how long I don't know.)
 
I wish I could offer some help here but I can't. I think you've experienced what I and several others have: a low quality product not doing what it's supposed to do with any degree of accuracy or reliability. What are the exact voltage measurements from the car when the pmp decides to shut down? Also, exact voltage from the train transformer? My previous PMP would typically shut down at about 12.2v (sometimes) despite being set at 12v shut off. I returned that because it degraded to that point, the new one functions as intended (for how long I don't know.)
Just checked voltages. The model train trans is 12.28 volts. The car fuse is 12.15 volts. The cut-off on the PMP is set for 12 volts (+- 0.1). So it should only cut off between 11.90 to 12.10 volts. So the PMP is inaccurate and is not fit for purpose. The lowest cut off at 11.90 volts, in my view is too high. It should be about 11.5 volts. 2 HD cameras running for 6 hours or more could drain a car battery down close to 11.5 volts, especially if the battery is little weak.
 
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First things first, have your battery checked to see if it's OK, a bad battery can play lots of tricks on you.
 
My two PMPs both shut off at almost exactly 12V (measured with a DVM) when set to 12V but they take about 12.25V to initially fire up though.
I assume that when you switch on and start the engine, it actually switches ON then drops out with ignition OFF and the battery falls to 12.15V?
If yours is dropping out at 12.15V, I would return it as faulty.
First things first, have your battery checked to see if it's OK, a bad battery can play lots of tricks on you.
I also think your battery is suspect as it shouldn't drop that much off load for quite a while after switching off the engine.
 
I would think that if the battery is not falling below 12volts, then that is ok. My car is a late 2017 Mini Cooper S, and the mileage is only 5,600. So we are not referring to an old car with high mileage.
 
A car that doesn't do a lot of miles can run a battery down much quicker than a car that gets driven a lot
 
I'm on my SECOND PMP, first one failed. This one I've been running for 6 months and as of yesterday it went from running minimum 12 hours in parking mode down to 5 minutes. 5 minutes after shutting off ignition, PMP shuts off. This is such a crap product.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Just measured voltage at the PMP, 12.25 and PMP is set to 12v.
Is there a similar product from a different company that would actually work as intended? I'm super sick of this.
Edit: I toggled all the dip switches and returned them to the 12v/infinity position, camera ran all night. Lol.

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As in the other thread about similar problems. Turn the engine on and see what happens
 
Perhaps the accuracy of those meters should be questioned as well.. When one starts measuring the voltage of a moving target... a single measurement with a cheap meter just might not be that accurate.
 
To which meters do you refer?
 
In my experience with several cheap DMM's they have all been fairly accurate with voltage measurement (within a few percent) or they were wildly off or outright dead. I think most are generally accurate enough for this use.

Phil
 
I've gone through 3 PMPs so far and what I have found is that they start off working great but eventually, after a couple months of use, the run time in parking mode will degrade from almost an entire 24 hour period down to about an hour, sometimes much less. I changed out my 3rd PMP about 3 months ago because it was shutting off pretty much immediately after I turned my truck off. When I swapped it out, the new PMP would run 20+ hours (magically it would find enough voltage where the older unit couldn't), 3 months later it's back to shutting off almost immediately. Without disassembling the unit, I'm guessing they use a small capacitor somewhere to smooth out voltage and that capacitor just degrades over a short time, just like any battery would. Those of you with success with this product- I would attribute that to luck or maybe an older build with different components or perhaps your vehicles electrical system. Either way, I've been through 3 of them and they all behave in the manner I just detailed above. Completely unreliable and I'm in search of a new solution that doesn't involve giving blackvue any more money.
 
Ive had the same issue as others. My 4th pmp worked for a week, and now powers off when i turn off the car. Still waiting to hear back from support. This pmp is total cheap crap garbage, its amazing how pourly made all these dash cams are, they are totally unreliable. When i plugged my cam into my cigarette lighter it worked perfect. Im going to just install a toggle switch to turn off my cam when i don't need parking mode. When on vacation for example. I would pay 100 dollars for a stupid working product at this point.
 
AS has been said before Check your battery as it can be resting at just under 12v if its getting on a bit in age.
To reiterate, I was fitting a PMP to my car which only gets used occasionally and it wouldnt work in parking mode when turned on, in fact wouldnt turn on at all.

Took it back to the shop who tried it on a spare used battery and it did the same as did the other 4 they had in stock.

Took mine home and had and refitted it and had a light bulb moment.. Turned the engine on and Voila away it went. Battery was about 4 years old and while it would start the car it dropped to just under 12 v when sitting and therefore the PMP was shut off.. Endless blaming of the product when it isnt its fault as I found out.
 
As I understand it.. once the PMP is "tripped" (time or voltage) it takes a restart of the car engine to reset it. Toggling the off/on switch won't do it.
 
There is a whole thread on the subject of PMPs with the first and a few subsequent posts by own fair hand which explains exactly how the PMP works and the requirement for a voltage of 》0.25V above the cut off voltage before it will output the supply to the cam and it says in several places to start the engine. Shouted in a couple of places. And post #5 in this very thread.
 
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