power magic pro

randy

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Dash Cam
Lukas lk-7900 Ace (2), Mobius C2
Hello,
I record with my hardwire kit (power magic pro) when my vehicle is parked and off. Sometimes I cut it off for the day or night if I'm not using my vehicle. My settings are configured to shut off my power at 11.8v but my time is set to infinity. Recently I have noticed that when I open my car door my Lukas LK-7900 Ace will shut down...even when the switch is on for the camera and power kit. I have to cut the switch off and power it back on...which has always worked so far. I believe a couple times (when someone else was driving my car) the kit on it's own turned off/on. Is this normal or is this an issue that I need to fix? I have never had an issue with getting no power when I want to record. It seems as though me unlocking my jeep with my keyless entry or opening my door does something to effect the electricity. I do ground my hardwire kit on the door versus the fuse box area.
 
In my opinion the 11.8 setting is too low. I use 12 hrs and 12 volts. I would suspect that you opening the doors drops the voltage enough to trigger the 11.8 threshold. But then when you start the car the PMP should reset and the camera should power up again.
 
In my opinion the 11.8 setting is too low. I use 12 hrs and 12 volts. I would suspect that you opening the doors drops the voltage enough to trigger the 11.8 threshold. But then when you start the car the PMP should reset and the camera should power up again.

CDNinHH thank you for the response. I may be able confirm if that is the case by looking at the video prior to the shutdown...sounds logical to me. Thanks for the insight!!!
 
Ok , is that a capacitor cam ...
My A118c has a similar issue , but I think its due to an interruption in the current ..
Due to the speed that Capacitor cams shut down , any interruption to the flow of current can trigger the shut down ..
And the cam shuts down even though your about to start the car or drive or what ever ...
My battery cams dont have any issue with this , nor does my G1Wc seem to suffer from this , but the A118c does ...
My forward cams are hardwired , so to I merely have to toggle my power switch ( I can manually power off my cams ) to restart it ...
It can be annoying , but I found the best way to avoid issue was to power the cams after the car was running ...
 
My A118c has a similar issue , but I think its due to an interruption in the current ..

Interesting, I will admit I have only had my A118C for a short period of time, but so far I have not seen that. Regardless if it is after 12 hours and the camera was powered down by the PMP or it is still running and I start the car it always seems to start recording.
 
When I start the car , there is sometimes a very fast glitch or power interruption , this is enough sometimes to turn the A118c off ...
Not always , but sometimes ...
 
In my opinion the 11.8 setting is too low. I use 12 hrs and 12 volts. I would suspect that you opening the doors drops the voltage enough to trigger the 11.8 threshold. But then when you start the car the PMP should reset and the camera should power up again.

I don't know what a capacitor cam is...I have seen others labeled as such but I have never seen that terminology used with my Lukas. So today I was parking and cut my vehicle off after a short drive. As I was getting out of my vehicle my cameras shut down...I have a front and rear camera that are fed by my PMP which was on. I reviewed the video and it showed my voltage being a healthy 13v-14v while the car was on...when I cut my car off the voltage went as low 11.2v. It stayed below the 11.8 threshold for 20 seconds or so and then cut off. I cut my hardwire kit off and turned it back on...and didn't have anymore problems throughout the day. So what I am making out of this is that there is no issues with my camera...or hardwire kit. I am not car savvy but I am wondering if my battery is okay...have not had any issues with it under other circumstances....or perhaps I do need to change my settings..
 
It sounds to me like your car battery is on its last legs. How old is it? What is your climate like? Here in Thailand we can only expect about 3 years out of a car battery due to the heat. Most quick service shops can put a load tester on your cars battery to tell you how healthy it is.
 
11.2v Without the alternator running ( ? )
13-14v with the alternator running ... ( sounds about right )

The voltage from the alternator needs to be higher so that current flows to the battery .. This will artificially inflate the voltage in the battery as its in a charged state ( alternator feeding it power )
When the engine is turned off , you will now be registering the true voltage state of the battery ...
What is the Voltage of a new fully charged battery ( ? )

If you think your battery is cactus , you can buy a reconditioning kit , I did that with a battery and it perked up right away .. ( Never did replace it )
 
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It sounds to me like your car battery is on its last legs. How old is it? What is your climate like? Here in Thailand we can only expect about 3 years out of a car battery due to the heat. Most quick service shops can put a load tester on your cars battery to tell you how healthy it is.

Unfortunately I can not remember when I last replaced my battery...I have an 05 liberty...I can take it to pep boys and get it checked. Our temp ranges from about 50 degrees F to 70 degrees F at this point in the year in north Carolina (north America). Furthermore...I've noticed that my PMP holds a charge after I shut it off. I have turned my vehicle on and my camera starts up with my PMP being off....and I also can turn my PMP off and my cameras will stay on until I turn my vehicle off.
 
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11.2v Without the alternator running ( ? )
13-14v with the alternator running ... ( sounds about right )

The voltage from the alternator needs to be higher so that current flows to the battery .. This will artificially inflate the voltage in the battery as its in a charged state ( alternator feeding it power )
When the engine is turned off , you will now be registering the true voltage state of the battery ...
What is the Voltage of a new fully charged battery ( ? )

If you think your battery is cactus , you can buy a reconditioning kit , I did that with a battery and it perked up right away .. ( Never did replace it )

The alternator was not running when it registered 11.2v...thanks I will look into a reconditioning kit I have never done that...
 
Your best bet it to get the battery load tested. There are a number of reasons that lead acid batteries fail, high discharge being one. You could have a brand new battery and if you kill it stone dead a few times it will be done. Never used a "reconditioning kit" but I suspect it is nothing more than some new acid, a stop gap at best.

I have my second PMP now and I have no issues with either one although I wish I would have read this first: https://dashcamtalk.com/battery-discharge-prevention/

I could have gotten the Lukas unit for less money and I think it is a better unit.

Let us know how your battery tests...
 
Your best bet it to get the battery load tested. There are a number of reasons that lead acid batteries fail, high discharge being one. You could have a brand new battery and if you kill it stone dead a few times it will be done. Never used a "reconditioning kit" but I suspect it is nothing more than some new acid, a stop gap at best.

I have my second PMP now and I have no issues with either one although I wish I would have read this first: https://dashcamtalk.com/battery-discharge-prevention/

I could have gotten the Lukas unit for less money and I think it is a better unit.

Let us know how your battery tests...

Had a free battery test done today...my battery was completely fine. I know I have had it replaced somewhat recently as well. So I have no idea what the issue is if there is one...the guy at pep boys said it wasn't uncommon for it to get into the 11's for voltage when the car is off...
 
Ok, well that is some good news anyway, at least you don't need a new battery. I would say that the PEP boys are correct that it could get to 11's, but not instantly after shutting the car off...unless there is something still on causing a big drain. If you can put a volt meter on the battery while the car is running and see what it says, then have someone shut it off and watch what happens to the volts might give you an idea what is happening.
 
Ok, well that is some good news anyway, at least you don't need a new battery. I would say that the PEP boys are correct that it could get to 11's, but not instantly after shutting the car off...unless there is something still on causing a big drain. If you can put a volt meter on the battery while the car is running and see what it says, then have someone shut it off and watch what happens to the volts might give you an idea what is happening.

yep...thanks for the input!
 
IMG_1478.JPG This is what I have after a fairly long drive and then the car sitting for about 2 hours with the PMP active powering a Matego MG600G.
 
I don't know what a capacitor cam is...I have seen others labeled as such but I have never seen that terminology used with my Lukas

Your LK-7900 is a capacitor camera.

Pros / cons of capacitor vs battery in dash camera.

Battery based dash cams has been reported having problems working in hot countries, due to battery overheating or even exploding. Many manufacturers advertise having battery in dash cam as positive thing, - you can record videos even without external power source, - yes thats true, but let's think in real life we all have mobile phones these days, so we can use them to record footage outside the car if needed. Most battery based dash camera will record around 20-30 minutes if fully charged and this is when they are new. ( latest Mobius and Innovv can record about 1h +/- ). After some period batteries lose their memory ( capacity ) and you are lucky if you can record few minutes footage. After some period of use batteries in many cases can die, so you end up in situation where your dash camera will not save last video file which is in most accidences is the most important video footage you want to keep as an evidence.

With Capacitor based dash cameras there are almost no worries with overheating issue, no exploding batteries, no risk of last file not saved. The only drawback with capacitor based dash cameras is that you can not record footage without external power.

Niko explains it well in the above post....capacitor cams are the better option for obvious reasons.

Now...the real reason your dash cam cuts off occasionally is because it has inadvertently recorded something that doesn't really exist...such as...
UFOs, aliens, Men in Black, Elvis Presley, the Abominable Snowman, Big Foot, a politician telling the truth, unicorns, free lunch, cheap gas, a husband with a vacuum cleaner, a really good light beer, leprechauns, cold fusion, poop that smells like roses, goblins, elves, a beautiful girl that cooks and cleans, laid-back sharks, straight male hairdressers, Rosie O'donell sex tape, the Loch Ness Monster and a cop when you need one...the list is long...feel free to add to it if you like.

The NSA monitors these events closely for anomalies and erases the data from your memory and your dash cam using lasers, satellites and cheerios. The NSA then turns the camera off to destroy the evidence....if the video is unable to be completely erased due to heavy cloud cover and pixie dust, then it is rendered to wobbly and blurry out of focus footage ....thus keeping us all safe from knowing things that we shouldn't know and couldn't possibly comprehend. Trust me...trust no one...its for our own good.
 
Edward Snowden has obviously assumed the identity of dash cam talk member daleg and is releasing credible NSA secrets...this all makes sense I knew these things existed. lets all jump ship from big brother and destroy our cameras so we can no longer be monitored...the dash cam community isn't safe anymore.
 
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Now...the real reason your dash cam cuts off occasionally is because it has inadvertently recorded something that doesn't really exist...such as...
UFOs, aliens, Men in Black, Elvis Presley
I have personally witnessed Elvis picking up luggage at the Las Vegas airport :D
 
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