Powerbank Dashcams

[Dashmellow]

Don't worry about the "experts" that don't understand how these batteries work but still give their opinions!

The reason RAVpower suggest not to use pass through charging long term is that when most people use it, they use it between a charger and phone or tablet or laptop, where the battery ends up at maximum charge for very long periods. Lithium batteries don't like to be permanently at maximum charge, doing so does reduce their lifetime, but you are not using it in that way, and you are accepting that using the power bank will slowly wear it out, so you have nothing to worry about.

There can be problems with passthrough charging on some powerbanks when combined with some dashcameras, where the output of the powerbank glitches as the car ignition is turned on/off, which can result in the dashcam shutting down. This makes it very difficult to recommend using powerbanks in the way you are using them, especially for super capacitor based dashcams, which is what most people here have, but if you have a combination that works then there is no need to worry.

The main thing to worry about when using powerbanks is to make sure they are supervised whenever they are being charged. Ensure that you are ready to deal with a powerbank fire in the unlikely event that they do catch fire. You should find this message included in the instructions for every lithium powerbank.

Wait! "Supervised charging"? The whole idea behind this ill-advised charging scheme was "fit and forget" Or maybe you forgot?

"Ensure that you are ready to deal with a powerbank fire"! But you said, "You have nothing to worry about". Either it is safe or it is not safe.

As I've said, there is a reason Anker and RAVpower stopped touting and offering "Pass-through-charging" powerbanks. There is a reason both companies tech support advisors recommend not using pass-through-charging, "too much or not at all" or "don't use it "very much", "think emergency ration situations". Clearly, they are recommending against the practice full time!

There is a reason that battery manufacturers as well as Isador Buchmann, the well known authority behind Battery University cautions not to charge lithium batteries that are undergoing a parasitic load.

These are the actual "experts" one should be listening to. They understand "how these batteries work".

Everything else is merely just rationalizing. We see quite a lot of that around here, especially in situations like this one.

Portable powerbanks were designed for occasional charging of mobile devices. They were never designed to be used as permanent UPS units, constantly being charged/discharged simultaneously. Portable powerbanks were also never designed to be permanently installed and charging in an automotive environment of wide temperature swings, shocks and vibrations. This is simply product abuse (of a potentially dangerous product no less).

 

[PeteTheGreek]

A few weeks ago I advised our friend to follow my setup and install power supplies to his Dashcam rather than the more cumbersome method of hardwiring.
He is so glad he listened.
Yesterday, with his wife and two young kids in his car he was involved in road rage.
Attempting to escape the idiot driver, he drove off the motorway and into a service station.
The idiot followed him in and stopped his vehicle before exiting and walking quickly towards my froends vehicle.
Without time to think and obviously, while thinking of his families safety, our friend pulled the key from his ignition, exited his own vehicle and locked it with the remote. He obviously wanted to keep the man from getting to his wife and kids.
He then had no choice but to confront the lunatic at the front right side of his vehicle. An argument pursued before the man suddenly became violent. They grappled for a while but luckily a couple of guys ran over and pulled them apart.
The argue and confrontation went on for almost ten minutes before police arrived.
The entire footage was recorded on his Dashcam despite the man claiming our friend had started the altercation.
On watching the video, the police arrested the culprit.
With hardwired dashcam, the recording would have ceased to exist as the camera would have turned off after removing the key.
The ravpower enabled the dashcam to keep recording right up until the police arrived and more.
Watching the video, you can quickly see who was at fault.
His wife and kids were badly shook up but the ravpowers kept the cameras rolling.
Without them, who knows what our friend would be facing. Possible assault charges instead of self defence?
This is the Beauty of Ravpower and why no hardwired dashcam can ever match it.
Once the police have finished with the footage our friend said he will youtube it.
I will bang a link up on this forum.
I'm so glad I spread the word!

 

[Dadi_T]

With hardwired dashcam, the recording would have ceased to exist as the camera would have turned off after removing the key.

This is the purpose of hardwiring a dashcam, not to turn off when the ignition is off and the car locked.

I think you are just a reseller of RavPower.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

This is the purpose of hardwiring a dashcam, not to turn off when the ignition is off and the car locked.

I think you are just a troll of RavPower.

No one cares what you think as it is public knowledge on here just by reading your post that it is both toxic and rude. You also make unjustified accusations. Your post is not important or relevant to my topic.
I had a hardwired dashcam. It recorded for only a few minutes, so stop being silly.
A hardwired dashcam does not provide constant 24/7 recording- this is public knowledge.
As for being an agent of ravpower. I have stipulated MANY TIMES that any power supply will do as long as it has pass through.
So again, stop being silly.
If you don't like my post move on. No one asks you to be on here, least of all me.
So goodbye.

P. S
I have reported your post as no one needs to see posts like yours. They are both insulting and toxic and don't belong on a forum like this, where only decent conversation should take place. I will also ask admin to block you on my posts as I don't want to have conversation with you in future. If you have anger issues, there are other forums available that you could visit to vent your red mist.

 

[Nigel]

A hardwired dashcam does not provide constant 24/7 recording- this is public knowledge.

If you have a decent car battery and drive for an hour a day then it should be capable of providing 24/7 coverage, and that is the main reason that a lot of people install a hardwire kit. Some people install them so that they don't need cables lying around to access the accessory socket, but the main reason is to provide coverage when parked. I suspect most people don't achieve 27/4 coverage with a hardwire kit, but most will get more than enough to have covered your incident.

Certainly your example is a good example of why you should use a parking mode, even if you only set a 30 minute duration timer so that it will put very little strain on the car battery, but I don't think it demonstrates a good reason not to use the car battery and a hardwire kit for power. For a 30 minute parking mode, I would much rather use the car battery, since it is going to put very little wear on it, and it is cheaper than a good quality powerbank, and it charges a lot faster if you are only making short journeys, and there is very little chance of it bursting into flames, which is definitely a possibility with a lithium powerbank, even if not very likely.

This is the Beauty of Ravpower and why no hardwired dashcam can ever match it.

I would expect a hardwire kit + the car battery to more than match a USB powerbank.
Maybe you can explain how the Ravpower is actually better?

The important features are capacity and charging speed, where I would expect a reasonably new car battery to have at least 100Wh available before a low voltage cutoff and to charge from low voltage cutoff at around 270W, although the charging rate will slow down considerably as it nears full charge.

The main advantage of a lithium powerbank is lifespan, which if you are regularly using 12+ hours parking mode per day will become significant and result in lower cost long term.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

If you have a decent car battery and drive for an hour a day then it should be capable of providing 24/7 coverage, and that is the main reason that a lot of people install a hardwire kit. Some people install them so that they don't need cables lying around to access the accessory socket, but the main reason is to provide coverage when parked. I suspect most people don't achieve 27/4 coverage with a hardwire kit, but most will get more than enough to have covered your incident.

Certainly your example is a good example of why you should use a parking mode, even if you only set a 30 minute duration timer so that it will put very little strain on the car battery, but I don't think it demonstrates a good reason not to use the car battery and a hardwire kit for power. For a 30 minute parking mode, I would much rather use the car battery, since it is going to put very little wear on it, and it is cheaper than a good quality powerbank, and it charges a lot faster if you are only making short journeys, and there is very little chance of it bursting into flames, which is definitely a possibility with a lithium powerbank, even if not very likely.


I would expect a hardwire kit + the car battery to more than match a USB powerbank.
Maybe you can explain how the Ravpower is actually better?

The important features are capacity and charging speed, where I would expect a reasonably new car battery to have at least 100Wh available before a low voltage cutoff and to charge from low voltage cutoff at around 270W, although the charging rate will slow down considerably as it nears full charge.

The main advantage of a lithium powerbank is lifespan, which if you are regularly using 12+ hours parking mode per day will become significant and result in lower cost long term.

Hi Nigel.
OK. So am I right in saying that with a hardwire kit, the dashcam could continue to record for thirty minutes after you exit the vehicle.
I wasn't aware of that? I was under the impression that with a hardwire kit, parking mode would only activate if the dashcam motion sensor was activated.
An example for me was, my car was parked at Manchester Airport for three days. When I returned to my car on the Friday, all three days events were recorded.
There was work going on, on terminal one which caused my car to be covered in brick dust. I was able to prove the event and was given a £50 voucher for valeting.
Will a hardwire kit achieve that Nigel?
Does the car not have to be knocked to enable recording.
In my previous experience of hardwiring, once you exit the vehicle, the dashcam would go to sleep within minutes and only awaken if it senses shock with parking mode activated?
With the power supplies installed as in my set up, shock sensing does not need to be activated, therefore recording continues after you leave the vehicle irrespect of motion sensor.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Nigel]

OK. So am I right in saying that with a hardwire kit, the dashcam could continue to record for thirty minutes after you exit the vehicle.

That will depend on the dashcam.

Dashcams from Viofo, Street Guardian, Blackvue, Thinkware will certainly do that, if parking mode is turned on. That is the expected purpose of the hardwire kits.

Some of the cheaper dashcams will not, and will behave as you describe. Thinkware also has a low power mode for long duration parking mode which also powers off until woken by either impact or radar movement detection.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

That's good to know. Thanks.
Looking at affordability Nigel. My setup cost £119 per dashcam and £38 for the Power supplies.
That's a total of around £280 for two cameras, power supplies, 64gb sd cards etc.
What will be the cost of two of the ones you mentioned complete with hardwiring. Front and rear cameras, hardwire, 64gb Sd cards etc, all in?

I'd certainly be interested in that if the price could be matched, all in for £280.
I fly Easyjet by the way, not British Airways so I don't have a pot of money. Cheap, cheerful and very effective is my motto lol.

One other important factor.
The forums are filled with complaints about car batteries being drained and cars being unable to start caused by faulty dashcams (Viofo being the worst). Having the cams powered independently prevents this issue 100%

My dashcam drained my battery..

I have a 2 year old car with an A129 dashcam that I just got two days ago. I have the official Viofo hardwire kit with the voltage cutoff at the second to last switch from the left (The one that says 12v/24v). The second day the car started up perfectly with no issues, instant on. But when I...

dashcamtalk.com

 

[IAmATeaf]

What dash am do you have, I have a Viofo A119 V3 which is certainly capable of various parking modes but I personally don’t make use of the features.

I got my Viofo from Amazon in a deal day, cost me £60, have been on the lookout for another for the wife’s car but Amazon have never since repeated the deal, think they are currently around £100.

 

[Kremmen]

That's what I did.

Reading the new A119 Mini teething problems I decided on a second V3 as mine has been rock solid, as was my V2 before that.

All 3 :

V2 gets unboxed and charged every 6 months.

V3's are used in rotation.

 

[thomas-dash]

I regularly get 15+ hours with my Viofo hardwired to my starter battery. Viofo has different parking modes you can select from. If you use the low bitrate mode, then it will record all the time at a reduced resolution.

The downfall of powerbanks or secondary batteries is that the storage card becomes the new chokepoint. It doesn’t do any good to be able to run your cameras for three days, if the storage card starts overwriting itself before you’re able to check on your car for damage.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

I regularly get 15+ hours with my Viofo hardwired to my starter battery. Viofo has different parking modes you can select from. If you use the low bitrate mode, then it will record all the time at a reduced resolution.

The downfall of powerbanks or secondary batteries is that the storage card becomes the new chokepoint. It doesn’t do any good to be able to run your cameras for three days, if the storage card starts overwriting itself before you’re able to check on your car for damage.

That's a valid point.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

What dash am do you have, I have a Viofo A119 V3 which is certainly capable of various parking modes but I personally don’t make use of the features.

I got my Viofo from Amazon in a deal day, cost me £60, have been on the lookout for another for the wife’s car but Amazon have never since repeated the deal, think they are currently around £100.

Hi.
My dashcams are nextbase. I got put of viofo by the bad reviews.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

That's what I did.

Reading the new A119 Mini teething problems I decided on a second V3 as mine has been rock solid, as was my V2 before that.

All 3 :

V2 gets unboxed and charged every 6 months.

V3's are used in rotation.

Got to admit. They look real class.

 

[Kremmen]

I had 3 Nextbase dashcams and their main problems were vibration, due to them hanging from stalks on a ball joint, and they were not very stealthy.

I thought they had it cracked with the 380 but the resolution was poor and no way to fit a CPL.

 

[gamesfrager]

Sorry this is not a Ravpower specific post, but it's in the same realm. I didn't want to spend on the battery pack more than I spent on the camera itself!
Today, on my 2011 BMW 328i, I installed Viofo A139 2 channel dash camera with their hardwiring kit and bluetooth remote button from Aliexpress when it was on sale. Came with CPL filter too!

Since I didn't want to buy the expensive Cellink NEO dash cam battery pack for +$400; it meant I had to spend a lot of time researching

I found and bought LiFePO4 battery pack that supports pass through charging https://www.amazon.ca/gp/B07YRZYLKV for $85 CAD as an alternative to buying Cellink NEO.

I also bought:
- step-up converter 12v -> 15v to charge the battery pack
- fuse taps
- extension barrel plugs

Took some planning time and getting all the parts (~3 months) to get it all setup and figure out the wiring as this was my own custom setup.
But now the camera works as expected. Parking mode triggers when the ignition shuts off and resumes continuous recording when ignition is on.
I mounted the black bluetooth remote trigger behind the sunroof button. It looks very OEM now.

Finally a project that I planned for, got the parts for and actually managed to finish.

 

[Nigel]

- step-up converter 12v -> 15v to charge the battery pack

Why do you need the step-up converter?

The specifications seem to indicate that it charges on car alternator voltage...

 

[IAmATeaf]

Why do you need the step-up converter?

The specifications seem to indicate that it charges on car alternator voltage...

The specs do state 14.6v input voltage.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

I had 3 Nextbase dashcams and their main problems were vibration, due to them hanging from stalks on a ball joint, and they were not very stealthy.

I thought they had it cracked with the 380 but the resolution was poor and no way to fit a CPL.

I have a nextbase 522gw. It has a brilliant polarising filter built in and no issues with vibration. Playback is the same quality as my £2,000 Sony Camera.
It's a far cry from older nextbases.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

Sorry this is not a Ravpower specific post, but it's in the same realm. I didn't want to spend on the battery pack more than I spent on the camera itself!
Today, on my 2011 BMW 328i, I installed Viofo A139 2 channel dash camera with their hardwiring kit and bluetooth remote button from Aliexpress when it was on sale. Came with CPL filter too!

Since I didn't want to buy the expensive Cellink NEO dash cam battery pack for +$400; it meant I had to spend a lot of time researching

I found and bought LiFePO4 battery pack that supports pass through charging https://www.amazon.ca/gp/B07YRZYLKV for $85 CAD as an alternative to buying Cellink NEO.

I also bought:
- step-up converter 12v -> 15v to charge the battery pack
- fuse taps
- extension barrel plugs

Took some planning time and getting all the parts (~3 months) to get it all setup and figure out the wiring as this was my own custom setup.
But now the camera works as expected. Parking mode triggers when the ignition shuts off and resumes continuous recording when ignition is on.
I mounted the black bluetooth remote trigger behind the sunroof button. It looks very OEM now.

Finally a project that I planned for, got the parts for and actually managed to finish.

Can I ask, what was the total cost?