Viofo A229 Duo - Draining battery pack very quickly

[chrismaslee]

Hi all,

Was hoping to get some advice on the A229 duo. I set it up last week in my car and opted to go for a battery pack solution rather than a hardwire, as I had heard it was better for my car battery.

The battery pack is a 6500maH rechargeable battery that charges via a 12V in (either a wall plug or the car plug), and outputs via 5V USB-A. I have a small PCB that allows the car to charge the battery pack while it is running, and prevents the battery pack from turning the car into accessory mode when it is turned off.

However, I can't seem to get the battery pack to last for longer than a few hours. My entire reason for getting the A229 in the first place was to setup parking mode, after my car had been hit-and-run 3 times while parked. I've tested it by coming back to the car after a few hours and jostling the dash cam a bit, but it's fully powered off.

Any else have the same issue? I have the WiFi module turned off, Parking Recording set to Auto Event Detection, and Parking Recording Duration to 48 hrs. Not sure what else I can do to save battery.

Do I need a bigger battery pack? Or is it just time to hardwire.

Appreciate any help - thanks.

 

[rcg530]

Based on the power consumption testing I did with the A229 Duo, you should be getting somewhere in the 18 hour range in AED parking mode. Converting the 6500 mAh to Wh is (6500*12.8)/1000 which equals 83.2 Wh for the battery pack. I used 12.8 volts in the calculation since that is what other dash camera battery packs use in their mAh to Wh conversion calculation.

My power consumption data for the A229 Duo was using a VIOFO HK4 hardwiring kit to power it which uses a 12-volt power source for the BATT+ and ACC+ power.



Either the capacity of the battery is not as stated, it's not fully charged at the start of the parking mode session or the manner in which you're obtaining 5V power from the battery has a hidden power consumption that is depleting the battery quicker than expected.

 

[Panzer Platform]

The battery pack is a 6500maH rechargeable battery that charges via a 12V

Can you provide a link to the battery pack?
-Chuck

 

[chrismaslee]

LINK here's a link to the powerbank

 

[chrismaslee]

Based on the power consumption testing I did with the A229 Duo, you should be getting somewhere in the 18 hour range in AED parking mode. Converting the 6500 mAh to Wh is (6500*12.8)/1000 which equals 83.2 Wh for the battery pack. I used 12.8 volts in the calculation since that is what other dash camera battery packs use in their mAh to Wh conversion calculation.

My power consumption data for the A229 Duo was using a VIOFO HK4 hardwiring kit to power it which uses a 12-volt power source for the BATT+ and ACC+ power.

View attachment 66396

Either the capacity of the battery is not as stated, it's not fully charged at the start of the parking mode session or the manner in which you're obtaining 5V power from the battery has a hidden power consumption that is depleting the battery quicker than expected.

Is it possible to determine how much driving time would fully charge the battery?

 

[Panzer Platform]

Is it possible to determine how much driving time would fully charge the battery?

Yes, we need to know the full specifications of your battery pack.

You said the capacity was 6500mAh, but you did not say if it was;
6500mAh @ 12.8 Volts = 83.2 Wh
or
6500mAh @ 3.7 Volts = 24 Wh

That's why I asked you for the link to the battery pack.
Is your battery pack a USB Power Bank?
Or is it a dedicated dash cam battery pack?
Is it Li-ion?
Or LiFeP04?
-Chuck

 

[Panzer Platform]

LINK here's a link to the powerbank

Thank you for providing the link.
It’s all starting to make sense now.
This battery pack is incompatible with @Viofo’s parking mode.
What I mean by that is in order for “reliable” function of parking mode you must use the Viofo 3-Wire hardwire kit.
This is so the camera knows when you shut the engine off it immediately goes into parking mode, and when you start the engine it goes back to normal recording mode.
Without the hardwire kit the camera must have 5 minutes of “inactivity” to go into parking mode.
However, if the camera detects “activity” it will go back into normal recording mode and power consumption will increase.
You said your entire reason for purchasing the A229 was for parking mode.
It looks like you have been mislead by Viofo’s advertising.
We can determine if you were mislead with one question.

1.) Did you know the $18 Hardwire Kit was necessary for fully enabling parking mode of the A229 at the time of purchase?

If you would have known that, you would have been able to determine this battery pack is incompatible with the A229.
And you would need a dedicated dash cam battery pack like the BBMC PowerCell 8.
The PC8 has a capacity of 96Wh.
Using RCG’s power consumption chart it will provide approximately 20 hours of parking mode duration.

 

[Karagandinez]

Thank you for providing the link.
It’s all starting to make sense now.
This battery pack is incompatible with @Viofo’s parking mode.
What I mean by that is in order for “reliable” function of parking mode you must use the Viofo 3-Wire hardwire kit.
This is so the camera knows when you shut the engine off it immediately goes into parking mode, and when you start the engine it goes back to normal recording mode.
Without the hardwire kit the camera must have 5 minutes of “inactivity” to go into parking mode.
However, if the camera detects “activity” it will go back into normal recording mode and power consumption will increase.
You said your entire reason for purchasing the A229 was for parking mode.
It looks like you have been mislead by Viofo’s advertising.
We can determine if you were mislead with one question.

1.) Did you know the $18 Hardwire Kit was necessary for fully enabling parking mode of the A229 at the time of purchase?

If you would have known that, you would have been able to determine this battery pack is incompatible with the A229.
And you would need a dedicated dash cam battery pack like the BBMC PowerCell 8.
The PC8 has a capacity of 96Wh.
Using RCG’s power consumption chart it will provide approximately 20 hours of parking mode duration.

View attachment 66401
View attachment 66402

No need to mislead people. Everything works fine without NK4. If the Viofo model is connected from a constant power source and the parking mode is turned on, it enters the parking mode after 5 minutes of inactivity, and to exit the parking mode, you need to accelerate the car to 8 km/h and then the dash cam will exit the parking mode.

Personally, this is how WM1 works for me and there was not a single spontaneous exit from the parking mode.
Parking Mode: "Low Bitrate Recording".
A comrade has been working this way for several years already A119 V3 and there was not a single spontaneous exit from the parking mode. Parking mode: "Auto Event Detection".

 

[Panzer Platform]

If the Viofo model is connected from a constant power source and the parking mode is turned on, it enters the parking mode after 5 minutes of inactivity, and to exit the parking mode, you need to accelerate the car to 8 km/h and then the dash cam will exit the parking mode.

Incorrect.
I was experiencing this issue for the past three days trying to measure the remaining capacity of the BBMC PC8 with the A119 Mini 2 in Low Bitrate Parking Mode.
Sometimes the the camera would go into, and out of parking mode.
I could tell because the voice notifications would announce;
"Recording Started"
And then 5 minutes later it would announce;
"Parking Recording Started"
So it's possible parking mode is implemented differently across cameras.

 

[Karagandinez]

Incorrect.
I was experiencing this issue for the past three days trying to measure the remaining capacity of the BBMC PC8 with the A119 Mini 2 in Low Bitrate Parking Mode.
Sometimes the the camera would go into, and out of parking mode.
I could tell because the voice notifications would announce;
"Recording Started"
And then 5 minutes later it would announce;
"Parking Recording Started"
So it's possible parking mode is implemented differently across cameras.

Why not correct?
I described my experience, you describe yours. But both of them are not related to A229.
Someone needs to check specifically A229. Unfortunately, my A229 went on vacation and I can't do it.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I described my experience, you describe yours. But both of them are not related to A229.

Correct.