suspiciously cheap (£4) Battery Discharge Prevention kit on ebay - advice please

dwl99

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Dash Cam
Mobius C2
I'm trying to decide on which dashcam to buy but in the meantime I have realised that the car battery might go flat if I hardwire the dashcam & don't have one of these. Most of the branded Battery Discharge Prevention kits I have seen are much more expensive. This one is only £4 - does anyone have an opinion on it?
Thanks

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201380650833
 
Has anyone experimented with a cam to see what the discharge rate might be?
The power socket on my bus isn't switched so I had to buy a switched plug. Forgot to turn it off one evening so the cam was recording all night & still going the next morning. The engine turned over fine. Surprisingly, although the battery is huge, it isn't really that 'meaty', probably no better than my car's battery.
 
Has anyone experimented with a cam to see what the discharge rate might be?
The power socket on my bus isn't switched so I had to buy a switched plug. Forgot to turn it off one evening so the cam was recording all night & still going the next morning. The engine turned over fine. Surprisingly, although the battery is huge, it isn't really that 'meaty', probably no better than my car's battery.
I suspect it draws less than say the dome light. And similarly you can leave that on overnight and you may well not have an issue with starting the morning.. or not. Depends entirely on whether you have an important meeting to attend or kids to get off to school.
 
I suspect it draws less than say the dome light. And similarly you can leave that on overnight and you may well not have an issue with starting the morning.. or not. Depends entirely on whether you have an important meeting to attend or kids to get off to school.
Ahh, murphy's law. The state of charge of a car battery is directly proportional to the importance of the journey!
 
@dw199 The unit you linked to does not specify what battery voltage it cuts the current at. Without that spec, it might either stop early or over-discharge the battery. It would be a gamble but possibly worth trying. I'd go for it myself if I needed one.

My van has a large battery and will run my Mobius for 14+ hours without any noticeable lessening of starter speed afterward; I haven't checked the voltage or tried it for longer but I think I could go 24 hours without trouble. Most of today's cars would have roughly about half the capacity mine does so I think they could go 8 hours safely, maybe more.

The thing to remember here is that even with a device like this, you are now using the battery in a different manner than it was designed for so it's usable lifetime will be lessened. Car batteries are designed for short high loads- long slow discharges are not good for them. Always buy a higher-quality car battery; the service life will be a lot longer than with the cheapest ones. Top priced batteries usually cost more than they are worth for the average car owner, but in severe hot or cold climates they may be worth it. You don't get what you don't pay for but you can always pay too much.

Phil
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I've decided to take a chance and go for this one which is even more worryingly cheap https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221813954816 at under £3. It claims to cut out at 11.6V. And an add-a-fuse https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371036262838
As it happens I've finally decided on the Mobius C2 so parking mode won't be an issue. I also ordered a super capacitor which seems to be the recommended course of action for reasons I don't fully understand ☺
 
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