Solar Powerbank for parking mode

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demosethell

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has anyone tried to use a solar powerbank to power their A129 while in parking mode? What was the output? Does it hold?
 
You need nearly 3 watts to power the A129, if your solar cell can produce an average of 3 watts, day and night, summer and winter, then it would work.

The solar cells on most of those cheap powerbanks probably produce about 0.3 watts in sunny conditions when not behind glass that removes half the energy from the sunlight.

Better to get a good quality power bank + a decent solar cell with USB output to charge the powerbank, but it still needs quite a large solar cell if you are going to keep it behind the glass.
 
In theory this sounds like a good idea but unfortunately I think having the solar bank sitting out would make thieves more likely to break into a car.
 
im trying it, but im facing some issues. looks like the cam never goes to parkingmode. It always keeps recording in normal mode. I have G-Sensor activated.

I have the powerbank connected to the car so it can charge while the car is on, but after i turn on the car, the powerbank also turns off, and i need to plug it directly to the car, so its not very practical
 
Although I can see the attraction to the concept, I've never been a fan of solar powered power banks for the simple reason that leaving lithium-ion batteries baking under the hot sun is not a wise thing to do from a safety perspective or for the longevity of the cells in the power bank.
 
Dashmellow said:
Although I can see the attraction to the concept, I've never been a fan of solar powered power banks for the simple reason that leaving lithium-ion batteries baking under the hot sun is not a wise thing to do from a safety perspective or for the longevity of the cells in the power bank.
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VERY much agreed. To get a decent charge rate, you need a lot more square footage of solar panel than what can be fitted on a powerbank anyway. Panels are better now, but several years ago it would have taken me about 3 SqFt (1/3 SqMeter) to get 500mA @ 12VDC through glass for a project I had in mind. Didn't have the space for that so it never happened

Phil
 
I have done some testing with solar charging power banks. It took almost 4 weeks to fully charged a 20,000mah power bank with a 14W panel that got around 3 hours of direct sun light everyday. The peak current was only .75A when in direct sunlight behind a double pane glass. I estimate it will require a 25-35W panel to be able to keep the power bank top up so it can run a 3W dash cam on cloudy days and through the nights.

If I remember correctly my mobius with my fully charged 20,000mah power bank can run 36 hours on continuous loop mode and around 50-60 hours on motion detect depending on how much activity it picks up. With a power bank that can be charging and run the dash cam at the same time you will need to drive the car at least a couple of hours per day to keep the power bank top up.

I don't use my car everyday and only have street parking. I've had a couple of hit and run (more than $3000 damage) and received lots of bumps and dings from careless drivers. That is why I was looking into solar panels to run dash cam and think the most economy option is to have 2 or 3 high capacity power banks and just swap them.

I am now looking at lithium iron phosphate batteries because they are a safer battery but more expensive.
 
Dave Bert said:
I don't use my car everyday and only have street parking. I've had a couple of hit and run (more than $3000 damage) and received lots of bumps and dings from careless drivers. That is why I was looking into solar panels to run dash cam and think the most economy option is to have 2 or 3 high capacity power banks and just swap them.

I am now looking at lithium iron phosphate batteries because they are a safer battery but more expensive.
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nothing will save your car. I own a 2 years old car and all the scratches on a car's body are "parking" made and all not mine. I have 2 cameras recording while my car was scratched, the cameras were recording the front and the back not not the sides.
get more realistic. find the best parking places for a car and park there, that's all you can do.
 
Here are the 3 hit and runs that I have experienced with my cars. Not a very good feeling coming home and seeing this done to your car. I'm pretty sure a dash cam would have caught these incidents and the offender's license plate.

HitRun1M5.jpgHitRunM5.jpg20151003_173910.jpg
 
NomadTech said:
Unfortunately, no camera would catch the offender. Angle is bad.
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Not necessarily. A (fairly simple) four camera set-up can capture 360º coverage (and more) which would have caught the offender from multiple angles, See THIS post for an example. And here a side facing camera, for another example with good plate number capture.
 
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Ouch! :eek: I'd want at least front and rear cams parking there. You have to remember that insurance is your best defense- cams just make it more likely that offenders have to pay for their sins. Which can include having the Courts cause them to pay your deductible and compensate you for any raises in your insurance rates ;) From looking at the damage in front, it's likely that either your neighbors or someone visiting them did that reversing into you from in front. Odds are that darn near any dashcam would have captured enough info to identify the culprits. The rear damage is a maybe. Powerbanks swapped out as needed will be the cheapest simplest way ahead, but that means constantly charging and swapping them, probably every day or two at best. Solar panels in the rear window might extend that time, but aren't likely to provide enough juice to prevent a need to charge the powerbanks. The units with built-in solar charging are not going to do the job here. Another possible problem might be theft- solar panels aren't easily concealed but powerbanks are. I'd just get two powerbanks and have one charging while the other is in use. And I'd have cams with good vid quality day and night front and back. I might even let the neighbors who park there know what I'm doing so they and their visitors exercise more caution when they park next to me :whistle:

Phil
 
Is it possible to keep a power bank connected along with the power lead from the lighter socket for parking mode, or would I need to connect and disconnect the appropriate power leads.
 
Mike Smith said:
Is it possible to keep a power bank connected along with the power lead from the lighter socket for parking mode, or would I need to connect and disconnect the appropriate power leads.
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I had to disconnect the power leads from my power banks every time I planed to use a "parking mode" until I put a switch on it (on a power leads).
today my cameras record from power banks regardless the power switch position (On or Off).
 
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Would it be better to power it from a power bank with pass through so the bank is charging when the ignition is on and powers the camera.
 
Mike Smith said:
Would it be better to power it from a power bank with pass through so the bank is charging when the ignition is on and powers the camera.
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it would be but... my power banks don't get charged while provide a pass through charge. that's what a "pass through" is, I guess.
 
I have one that charges at the same time as powering a device.
Not sure if the journeys I do would enable the charging to keep up with demand though.
 
Mike Smith said:
I have one that charges at the same time as powering a device.
Not sure if the journeys I do would enable the charging to keep up with demand though.
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lucky you. 1 camera draws about 0.5A, a power bank charges at up to 2A if ~50% depleted. should work in your case. what's the brand / model and capacity of your power bank?
 
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