Question about hardwiring wiring (parking function)

[coffeefiendlol]

Hello all, I'm planning on hardwiring my new dashcam so that parking mode is an active feature.

BUT, I have some questions as to how I can disable that feature downstream if it turns out that it's using up my car's battery and causing poor starts. This has happened to my friend so I am a bit concerned.

Once the car is properly hardwired, is it possible to without having to rewire anything disable the parking function for the dashcam via its built in software/app so that the power does not drain anything from the battery (i.e. parking mode feature is turned off)? Or, does that not matter and simply having the hardwire kit plugged into an always-on fuse mean that it will continue to drain power?

Also, what if we just simply disconnect the dashcam from the power cable when the car is parked? I know the hardwire cables would still be connected to whatever fuse allows for the parking monitoring to function, but since there is nothing plugged in to the end cable, would it still drain the car's battery?

Is there a preference to select a cut off between 12v and 11.6v? I'm thinking 12v so it keeps the battery slightly higher charged.

Is there also a preference on the best fuse to tap when installing hardwired dashcams if the preference is to not impact any critical pieces of hardware? Right now, with my old dash cam, I believe it's tapped into the ignition so it only comes on when the car is turned on (at least acc mode) but otherwise there is no power going into the dashcam (with no parking function on the old dash cam).

 

[EricSan]

Most cameras have a setting in the app that lets you turn parking mode on/off, so this should be easy to adjust once installed.

As for using a fuse tap, pick something like the fuse for power seats, heated seats, heater steering wheel, radio, 12v outlets, trunk release, or other non-mission critical things. Stay away from anything that looks like a safety system.

 

[phil44]

Spoke with Nextbase yesterday regarding this...if you're hardwiring/connecting via permanent live, set Parking Mode to ON. The camera will switch off after 5 minutes of inactivity. If you leave Parking Mode Off, the camera will just continue to operate, potentially draining the battery. But as you mention, there's an additional safeguarding feature that cuts power once the car battery voltage drops. So permanent Live...use Parking ON, switched live, use Parking OFF.

If you remove the camera, clearly there will be no battery drain, but you'll have to check the alignment when replacing and I think this will eventually loosen the mounting gimble...once the camera is set up, leave it in place.

There is recently an issue causing camera freezes (my 422GW & 322GW have both been affected) due to the app update and Firmware 30.5. It is a Bluetooth connection issue, so the fix is to unpair the camera from your phone. Even if the phone app isn't running on your phone, the Bluetooth may well attempt to reconnect once in range and cause a problem. I've never really used the phone app anyway, always set up my camera from the small screen on the camera itself, and if need to look at anything, I remove the SD card and use my laptop. The app has never been that great, wifi connection has always been a problem, the set up on the camera screen itself is easier and more reliable.

Nextbase are working on a fix, look out for a new app update, new firmware or both.

 

[Nigel]

BUT, I have some questions as to how I can disable that feature downstream if it turns out that it's using up my car's battery and causing poor starts. This has happened to my friend so I am a bit concerned.

It depends on the dashcam brand.

For Viofo dashcams, the hardwire kit has a switch to select the cutoff voltage, between 11.8V and 12.4V, with 11.8V being good for AGM car batteries and 12.2V being good for normal lead acid batteries, maybe 12.0 if you live in a warmer region. There is a menu setting to enable/disable parking mode, and an optional Bluetooth Remote Control that can be configured to turn parking mode off. It also has a parking mode duration timer, so if you only want to use parking mode for supermarket parking, you can set the duration to 3 hours, and then it will never run your battery down to the low voltage cutoff.

Which fuse to tap depends on the car, ideally ask in the relevant car forum.

Also, what if we just simply disconnect the dashcam from the power cable when the car is parked? I know the hardwire cables would still be connected to whatever fuse allows for the parking monitoring to function, but since there is nothing plugged in to the end cable, would it still drain the car's battery?

If you unplug the dashcam, then you need to remember to plug it back in again before the next journey, it is much better to have a dashcam that can be turned off on a button, since then it will wake up again on the next journey, you can't forget.

The hardwire kit will consume a tiny amount of power with the dashcam unplugged, in normal use it is not going to be significant, and will drop to virtually zero once the low voltage cutoff is reached..

 

[kamkar]

Most often, say if you park in your garage where you do not need parking guard, well after you have stopped just long press power button to turn off the camera.
The camera and of course its parking guard regime will be back next time you start the car so no getting back to normal interaction needed.

 

[coffeefiendlol]

Thanks guys! Having the shop work on it now. It looks like the tech will wire directly to the 12v to get constant power. Hope that's ok?

Edit: nope, we're apparently looking for a fuse to tap.