too much power consumption.

[CayenneS]

i bought A119 mini dashcam last month.
strangely, the a119 mini seems to consume too much power.

i have a 20000mAh(75WH) powerbank(baseus 65w pd power), and it took only 16 hours to consume it all in parking mode.

when i parked my car about 2weeks ago, there was only about 50% of the powerbank battery based on 12hours of parking.
but yester day, all of the powerbank based on 16hours of parking was discharged.

as i usually prk my car in the underground parking lot, i suspect that the power consumption has increased due to GPS recognition problems.

i suspected it because i had seen Thread that there was an issue with GPS power in the model before using the a119 v3.

is this a119 originally high in power consumption?
the a 119 mini is a 1ch product, so i don't think it will be this high since this model uses only 1channel.

 

[CayenneS]

oh, i can't fix my thread.
firmware is 20220519. parking mode setup is 'high G sensor, medium motion detect, auto event detection)

 

[kamkar]

I think in general dashcams use a good deal below 500 mah, 300 mah are more the norm as i recall

If there is a lot of motion where you park, the camera would more or less be on all the time.
You could simulate no action / movement by blocking the lens, and then see for how long it can do parking guard on that power bank.
Also i dont know if it would work, but you could try and turn off GPS in the menu and see how that work in regard to duration on a charge of that powerbank.

 

[Dashmellow]

You can buy inexpensive USB meters that will show you how much current and voltage your camera, power bank or other devices are consuming over time. One of these might help you figure out how much current the A119 Mini is actually consuming.
There are many on the market and they usually only sell for a few dollars USD. If you do a search for "USB charger meter" you will find them. You would plug it in between the power bank and your camera. I have both the Keweisi and a Charger Doctor but prefer the Keweisi in the first photo. These are very useful gadgets for dash cam and power bank owners. For example, they can show you how much current your power bank consumed while you charge it and how long it took to charge the power bank. It will record how much power (mAh) the camera consumed from the power bank over a period of time (T) at what voltage (V).

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=USB+meter&_sacat=0

 

[Karagandinez]

i bought A119 mini dashcam last month.
strangely, the a119 mini seems to consume too much power.

i have a 20000mAh(75WH) powerbank(baseus 65w pd power), and it took only 16 hours to consume it all in parking mode.

when i parked my car about 2weeks ago, there was only about 50% of the powerbank battery based on 12hours of parking.
but yester day, all of the powerbank based on 16hours of parking was discharged.

as i usually prk my car in the underground parking lot, i suspect that the power consumption has increased due to GPS recognition problems.

i suspected it because i had seen Thread that there was an issue with GPS power in the model before using the a119 v3.

is this a119 originally high in power consumption?
the a 119 mini is a 1ch product, so i don't think it will be this high since this model uses only 1channel.

Read this thread. https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a119-mini-review-testing.46969/
There, a person measured the consumption of this DVR.

 

[Nigel]

is this a119 originally high in power consumption?

It is a 2K dashcam, it does use more than older FHD cameras because it has twice the resolution.
It also uses a little more than the A119 V3, not sure why but the A119 V3 has very low power use for a 2K camera, and I suspect some of the extra is used for extra processing to achieve better image quality. It also has Bluetooth which will use a tiny amount extra.
It uses a little less than the A229 when that is running single channel, although it is not much difference.


I would expect to get more than 16 hours from a 75Wh powerbank. That would be 75/16=4.6875W power consumption, and I am measuring around 2.1W power consumption from the A119 Mini in normal record mode. Auto detection parking mode should use less. There are always some losses, but it ought to last about 2 days.

I suggest you give your powerbank a full charge, plus a few hours, and then try again. Don't trust its power indicator too much, power indicators are often not very accurate.

i suspected it because i had seen Thread that there was an issue with GPS power in the model before using the a119 v3.

The GPS unit does not use a lot of power. There is currently an issue being discussed on the GPS unit power in parking mode, but it could only give a small improvement in battery life, worthwhile but small.

You could try a different memory card, there can be significant differences in power consumption between memory cards, but overall it should be a few percent of the camera's power use, not losing a whole day!

 

[CayenneS]

I think in general dashcams use a good deal below 500 mah, 300 mah are more the norm as i recall

If there is a lot of motion where you park, the camera would more or less be on all the time.
You could simulate no action / movement by blocking the lens, and then see for how long it can do parking guard on that power bank.
Also i dont know if it would work, but you could try and turn off GPS in the menu and see how that work in regard to duration on a charge of that powerbank.

thank you for your advice.
i'll cover the lens and test it.

 

[CayenneS]

You can buy inexpensive USB meters that will show you how much current and voltage your camera, power bank or other devices are consuming over time. One of these might help you figure out how much current the A119 Mini is actually consuming.
There are many on the market and they usually only sell for a few dollars USD. If you do a search for "USB charger meter" you will find them. You would plug it in between the power bank and your camera. I have both the Keweisi and a Charger Doctor but prefer the Keweisi in the first photo. These are very useful gadgets for dash cam and power bank owners. For example, they can show you how much current your power bank consumed while you charge it and how long it took to charge the power bank. It will record how much power (mAh) the camera consumed from the power bank over a period of time (T) at what voltage (V).

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=USB+meter&_sacat=0

oh, i have keweisi meter!
i will test it!

 

[Panzer Platform]

Hello CayenneS,

Welcome to the forum, I’m new too.
I’m currently testing the A119 Mini too.
I’ve completed a few power consumption tests.
I’ll list them, and maybe you can use them to compare with your testing as well.

Settings: 2K@60fps / High Bitrate / Normal Recording Mode / 64GB Viofo SD Card
1.) Fluke measured around 274mA @ 12.6 Volts.

2.) Next I plugged the camera into a standard 5W iPhone charger, and then plugged it into my “killawatt” meter. It draws around 4.0 Watts.

3.) Next I plugged the camera into a single cell power bank rated at 3350mAh, (12Wh) and the camera ran for 3 hours 31 minutes.

4.) Next I plugged the camera into power bank rated at 20,000mAh, (74Wh) and the camera ran for 20 hours; https://www.walmart.com/ip/seort/458863902

-Chuck

 

[Nigel]

Settings: 2K@60fps / High Bitrate / Normal Recording Mode / 64GB Viofo SD Card
1.) Fluke measured around 274mAh @ 12.6 Volts.
...

1. That should be 274mA! mAh is how much power you have stored, mA is how fast you use the power.

2. For that measurement, you presumably included the power consumed by your hardwire kit, while CayenneS isn't using a hardwire kit.

3. Much better to document power consumption using Watts, otherwise people have to do a lot of conversions in order to make comparisons. Also using Watts makes it easy to work out how long a 74Wh powerbank will last when powering the camera, at 1W it would last 74 hours.

4. You were using one of the 2K 60fps resolutions, but don't specify which. The 16:9 2K resolution uses power approximately 5% faster than the 21:9 2K resolution, while the 60fps frame rate uses the power approximately 25% faster than the 30fps frame rate.

5. Power bank capacity specifications are often very inaccurate, and even if they are accurate when new, power banks lose capacity over time and with use!

6. How come your A119 Mini is using around 3.5 watts, when mine is using around 2.1 watts? Some of it is due to different settings, but most of it I have no idea... Maybe you measured with the screen on, which is not going to be the case in normal use? Maybe you measured with the wifi turned on, which again isn't going to be the case in normal use?

 

[Panzer Platform]

1. That should be 274mA! mAh is how much power you have stored, mA is how fast you use the power.

2. For that measurement, you presumably included the power consumed by your hardwire kit, while CayenneS isn't using a hardwire kit.

3. Much better to document power consumption using Watts, otherwise people have to do a lot of conversions in order to make comparisons. Also using Watts makes it easy to work out how long a 74Wh powerbank will last when powering the camera, at 1W it would last 74 hours.

4. You were using one of the 2K 60fps resolutions, but don't specify which. The 16:9 2K resolution uses power approximately 5% faster than the 21:9 2K resolution, while the 60fps frame rate uses the power approximately 25% faster than the 30fps frame rate.

5. Power bank capacity specifications are often very inaccurate, and even if they are accurate when new, power banks lose capacity over time and with use!

6. How come your A119 Mini is using around 3.5 watts, when mine is using around 2.1 watts? Some of it is due to different settings, but most of it I have no idea... Maybe you measured with the screen on, which is not going to be the case in normal use? Maybe you measured with the wifi turned on, which again isn't going to be the case in normal use?

Right on Nigel,
Please forgive me, and please keep correcting my mistakes so I can make better more accurate posts.

1.) I always get mA and mAh confused, sorry about that. Lol

2.) Yes, I will remeasure with the factory included usb power cable & viofo cigarette power supply.

3.) This is the second time you’ve told me to use watts, (I forgot to include the watt conversion). Sorry about that.

4.) I looked through my camera settings, and I do not have the 21:9 aspect ratio.
How do I get that, I would love to test that out.

5.) Yes, you are correct.

6.) I measured with lcd screen off, and wi-fi off.
-Chuck

 

[Nigel]

1.) I always get mA and mAh confused, sorry about that. Lol

You are not the only one, several of the "experts" and manufacturers who should know better get it wrong too!
But since the mistakes don't help people new to the subject to understand how things work, I will keep pointing out the errors.

2.) Yes, I will remeasure with the factory included usb power cable & viofo cigarette power supply.

It shouldn't make much difference, but I was looking for an explanation of why your dashcam is using so much more power than mine!

4.) I looked through my camera settings, and I do not have the 21:9 aspect ratio.
How do I get that, I would love to test that out.

2560x1080 is 21:9 (approximately), there are 60fps and 30fps versions on my A119 Mini.

6.) I measured with lcd screen off, and wi-fi off.

Maybe some other people can take measurements, must be an explanation, but it seems a big difference to just be losing a bit of power somewhere!

The figures rcg530 gave are between yours and mine.
There are different versions of the hardware about, and it seems I'm using a slightly older firmware, maybe mine really is more efficient!

​

 

[inspire]

I also noticed that the power consumption was a lot compared to the A119 V3, because I had a 26800 mAh powerbank and it drained it extremely quickly.

I am using 2K / 1440p @ 60 fps. Anyone tested the power consumption of 1440p @ 30 fps compared to 60 fps? Does it make much of a difference?

 

[LateralNW]

If I understand this correctly, I've noticed a couple of times the suggestion to use Power/Watts rather than Amps and Volts. Assumptions have to be made when dealing solely with Watts so it doesn't reflect an accurate result but infers an assumed result.
For example, I have a 100 Watt device. How much current is it drawing? What was its voltage to come to that figure? What is its resistance? Very hard to extract that information, actually, it's impossible.

To suggest a device always outputs exactly 5 volts or 12 volts is making assumptions and will skew the true Power/Watts answer.
However, if you mention Volts, Current and Power then that would save others trying to work out Power/Watts.

Don't drop the Volts and Current measurements as they are important.

@Panzer Platform @Nigel

 

[Panzer Platform]

If I understand this correctly, I've noticed a couple of times the suggestion to use Power/Watts rather than Amps and Volts. Assumptions have to be made when dealing solely with Watts so it doesn't reflect an accurate result but infers an assumed result.
For example, I have a 100 Watt device. How much current is it drawing? What was its voltage to come to that figure? What is its resistance? Very hard to extract that information, actually, it's impossible.

To suggest a device always outputs exactly 5 volts or 12 volts is making assumptions and will skew the true Power/Watts answer.
However, if you mention Volts, Current and Power then that would save others trying to work out Power/Watts.

Don't drop the Volts and Current measurements as they are important.

@Panzer Platform @Nigel

Right on Lateral,
I only have a basic understanding of electrical theory.
The reason I don't use Watts is because it confuses me.
When I hear Watts my mind thinks of an old 60 Watt light bulb that screws into a 110 Volt AC socket, (USA). lol

I have a slightly better understanding of DC Volts, Amps, and Ohms as related to automotive repair.
Another reason I like milliamps is because most of my dash cams consume between 200mA - 450mA @ 12.6 Volts, and I like the "smaller" more precise scale.
Most of my meters measure down to 0.001 Amps.
None of my meters have a Watt setting. lol

So yes, I will continue to measure dash cam power consumption in DC Volts & Amps, but I will make the effort to include the Watt conversion.
Thanks again,
-Chuck

 

[Nigel]

I am using 2K / 1440p @ 60 fps. Anyone tested the power consumption of 1440p @ 30 fps compared to 60 fps? Does it make much of a difference?

As I wrote two posts ago:

The 16:9 2K resolution uses power approximately 5% faster than the 21:9 2K resolution, while the 60fps frame rate uses the power approximately 25% faster than the 30fps frame rate.

 

[Nigel]

If I understand this correctly, I've noticed a couple of times the suggestion to use Power/Watts rather than Amps and Volts. Assumptions have to be made when dealing solely with Watts so it doesn't reflect an accurate result but infers an assumed result.
For example, I have a 100 Watt device. How much current is it drawing? What was its voltage to come to that figure? What is its resistance? Very hard to extract that information, actually, it's impossible.

To suggest a device always outputs exactly 5 volts or 12 volts is making assumptions and will skew the true Power/Watts answer.
However, if you mention Volts, Current and Power then that would save others trying to work out Power/Watts.

Don't drop the Volts and Current measurements as they are important.

@Panzer Platform @Nigel

I don't think you understand correctly.

With your 60W light bulb example, I know how much power that uses, I know what size battery would be required to power it for 1 hour - a 60Wh battery, so a 74Wh USB powerbank could power it for over 1 hour... if you had the necessary voltage converter! I do not need to know if it is a USA 60W light bulb or a UK 60W light bulb. The USA 60W light bulb uses twice the current, twice the Amps that the UK 60W light bulb uses but that is not something I need to know for calculating battery life, or even to know the light output, which is the same in both cases.

Wh tells me how much power is in the battery, mAh does not, and even if I know that the powerbank is outputting 5 volt USB, and contains 1Ah, I still don't know how long it will last because USB powerbanks sometimes have the Ah measured at 5V, normally have them measured at 3.8V, sometimes at 3.7V, and sometimes at 12.8V (LiFePO4 dashcam batteries).

So when someone says they have a 20,000mAh battery, I do not know how much power that holds, I don't know how long it will power the camera for, but if someone says they have a 74Wh battery, I know exactly how much power that holds and how long it will power a camera for.

If you measure the camera power consumption in Watts then the calculations are easy, if you measure it in amps, well they may not be the same amps as the battery, since the camera amps were probably measured at 5V USB power bank output, or maybe 12V car battery for the HWK, or 5.2V HWK output, or maybe 14.6V car alternator voltage, and the battery amps were maybe measured at 3.7 V Lipo voltage, or maybe 3.1V LiFePO4 voltage, or maybe 12V car battery, or... all these will have different amp measurements, and even the difference between a full 12V battery at 13V and an empty one at 11.8V makes the battery life calculations significantly wrong. Using W and Wh always gives you correct measurements and correct calculations whatever the power source, however full or empty the battery is, and even when you swap sources.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I don't think you understand correctly.

With your 60W light bulb example, I know how much power that uses, I know what size battery would be required to power it for 1 hour - a 60Wh battery, so a 74Wh USB powerbank could power it for over 1 hour... if you had the necessary voltage converter! I do not need to know if it is a USA 60W light bulb or a UK 60W light bulb. The USA 60W light bulb uses twice the current, twice the Amps that the UK 60W light bulb uses but that is not something I need to know for calculating battery life, or even to know the light output, which is the same in both cases.

Wh tells me how much power is in the battery, mAh does not, and even if I know that the powerbank is outputting 5 volt USB, and contains 1Ah, I still don't know how long it will last because USB powerbanks sometimes have the Ah measured at 5V, normally have them measured at 3.8V, sometimes at 3.7V, and sometimes at 12.8V (LiFePO4 dashcam batteries).

So when someone says they have a 20,000mAh battery, I do not know how much power that holds, I don't know how long it will power the camera for, but if someone says they have a 74Wh battery, I know exactly how much power that holds and how long it will power a camera for.

If you measure the camera power consumption in Watts then the calculations are easy, if you measure it in amps, well they may not be the same amps as the battery, since the camera amps were probably measured at 5V USB power bank output, or maybe 12V car battery for the HWK, or 5.2V HWK output, or maybe 14.6V car alternator voltage, and the battery amps were maybe measured at 3.7 V Lipo voltage, or maybe 3.1V LiFePO4 voltage, or maybe 12V car battery, or... all these will have different amp measurements, and even the difference between a full 12V battery at 13V and an empty one at 11.8V makes the battery life calculations significantly wrong. Using W and Wh always gives you correct measurements and correct calculations whatever the power source, however full or empty the battery is, and even when you swap sources.

Right on Nigel,
Thanks for the explanation.
I’ll do better next time.

I took Dashmellow’s @Dashmellow advice and, I ordered this USB Power Tester; https://www.ebay.com/itm/123946852024This should come in handy when I test power consumption using a battery bank.
-Chuck

 

[LateralNW]

For example, I have a 100 Watt device.

With your 60W light bulb example, I know how much power that uses

100 Watt I used as the example and didn't mention what the device was. You jumped to conclusions. You made Assumptions.
This is why I suggest the inclusion of Volts, Amps, (and Resistance if you know it), helps to be accurate when quoting the wattage of a device.

Here is the formula to work out Power. I don't think that is a hard formula.

P = Power or Watts, V = Volts, I = Current/Amperage

 

[Nigel]

100 Watt I used as the example and didn't mention what the device was. You jumped to conclusions. You made Assumptions.

No, I didn't jump to conclusions or make assumptions, I saw the 60W light bulb statement here:

When I hear Watts my mind thinks of an old 60 Watt light bulb that screws into a 110 Volt AC socket, (USA). lol

I just failed to notice that this sentence was not from your post, but it is still a perfectly good example anyway.

Power is measured in Watts, not Amps. People buy 60W light bulbs, they don't buy quarter amp light bulbs in UK and half amp light bulbs in USA, both of which will use 60W of power and produce the same amount of light, although if you use the half amp USA light bulb in the UK, it will blow up!