Viofo BP-100 & EP-100 Battery Testing

[Vortex Radar]

@Vortex Radar great info, thanks
I have a few questions if you can address and correct my assumptions:
1. What is required car running / driving time to fully charge both Camera pack and car battery?
I assume that hardwired kit for camera battery pack will draw alternator power and as result car battery will not get enough power to get recharged over normal 30 min trip

That's covered both on Viofo's website and in my review you can check out here. Hardwired it takes about 70 min to fully recharge from dead and in my testing, that's pretty accurate.

How this will work for normal daily commute of 30 min drive?
I don't see that camera pack will be able to recharge over 2 by 30 min a day, while it will deplete over a night to 0

Same as most any other battery pack since they all have pretty comparable figures. You'll get almost half a battery's worth of charging in both directions, and maybe 15-30 hours of record time total, depending on how many cameras you're running.

what is max Camera Parking mode power draw? And what is max allowed to sustain on the battery pack over 24H?
So far many Cameras in Parking Mode with all time on buffered recording draws a lot of power. Sure there is Collision Save Mode, but wake up time is so long to be really useful.

I've never hit limits like that, even running multiple multi-channel dashcams off a single battery.

 

[GPak]

Yes about most if not all electronic devices, but you're talking about a battery here. What other functions does it need to possess? If BMS has show-stopping bugs then the battery shouldn't even be released.
If a vendor is charging more for their product just because it has firmware / app, and it's a battery, then I would think most people would believe that's a bit of a waste of money.
This won't be an issue in a year or two when battery back prices come down and all that functionality is baked in anyway..

Bugs are usually not "show-stoppers"; rather, they represent oversights or missed issues during the design phase - problems that are difficult to detect by the time of product launch (something we know all too well from dashcam reviews).
The dash cam battery contains at list two major electronic components - the BMS and the Charge Controller, sometimes combined into a single PSB.
These components operate on firmware - which can be baggy.

As for additional features, here are a few that I have used and found particularly useful:
- On/Off function via app - extremely handy for dashcams that lack geofencing capabilities.
- A timeout function designed to conserve power once the designated parking period has elapsed and dashcam turns Off.
- A charging current selector within the app, offering 3–4 distinct power levels.
(I am sure no one enjoys the hassle of switching the charging current on a 70 mai battery).

I am a firm believer in convenient, user-friendly "plug and play" and "set and forget" devices - and that includes battery packs.
However, given a price point of ±$300 for a mere 96Wh of capacity, a simple yet functional app - complete with a few extra features and options - should not be considered a luxury; it should be a standard expectation.

 

[Augustus]

Bugs are usually not "show-stoppers"; rather, they represent oversights or missed issues during the design phase - problems that are difficult to detect by the time of product launch (something we know all too well from dashcam reviews).
The dash cam battery contains at list two major electronic components - the BMS and the Charge Controller, sometimes combined into a single PSB.
These components operate on firmware - which can be baggy.

As for additional features, here are a few that I have used and found particularly useful:
- On/Off function via app - extremely handy for dashcams that lack geofencing capabilities.
- A timeout function designed to conserve power once the designated parking period has elapsed and dashcam turns Off.
- A charging current selector within the app, offering 3–4 distinct power levels.
(I am sure no one enjoys the hassle of switching the charging current on a 70 mai battery).

I am a firm believer in convenient, user-friendly "plug and play" and "set and forget" devices - and that includes battery packs.
However, given a price point of ±$300 for a mere 96Wh of capacity, a simple yet functional app - complete with a few extra features and options - should not be considered a luxury; it should be a standard expectation.

Well, shouldn't one extend that to every device that has a battery then? Should I be worrying whether my cell phone has a firmware update for the silicon carbide battery in it?

These are nice to have extra functions for customisation in a battery, and sure may as well be there if you've paid good money for it. But is it essential or a standard expectation? Not convinced about that, and I don't think Vortex here is either.

Sometimes making something 'smart' just for the sake of it can go too far. Like when kettles and air fryers have an app. Nice to see how long until my food is cooked / water is boiled, but I'm still going to walk over there to get the food out or pour water, aren't I?

 

[GPak]

Well, shouldn't one extend that to every device that has a battery then? Should I be worrying whether my cell phone has a firmware update for the silicon carbide battery in it?

All mobile phones regularly receive updates—and, in all likelihood, these could also include updates for the electronics responsible for ensuring the battery functions correctly (the battery itself does not require updates).

These are nice to have extra functions for customisation in a battery, and sure may as well be there if you've paid good money for it. But is it essential or a standard expectation? Not convinced about that, and I don't think Vortex here is either.

I suppose it all depends on the battery price point and the user's expectation/preferences.

Sometimes making something 'smart' just for the sake of it can go too far. Like when kettles and air fryers have an app. Nice to see how long until my food is cooked / water is boiled, but I'm still going to walk over there to get the food out or pour water, aren't I?

Yes, sometimes things go to extremes: for instance, my LG refrigerator has an app that tracks how many times—and exactly which—door was opened throughout the day. 🤣

 

[TonyM]

Voltage based hybrid parking mode isn't really necessary with a dedicated battery pack.

Hardwired it takes about 70 min to fully recharge from dead and in my testing, that's pretty accurate.

My daily commute is about 10 minutes. Round trip is 20. I park at work for 9 hours.

Looking at the quoted recharge times, if I hardwire I'll get 20/70=28% charge between parking sessions, if I use the CLA I'll get 20/100=20% charge.

Looking at Viofo's table, on a full charge the BP-100 should power an A329T in 2CH low bitrate parking mode for 25 hours.
- 28% of 25 is 7 hours if the BP-100 is hardwired
- 20% of 25 is 5 hours if using the CLA

Conclusion - I don't drive long enough to recharge the BP-100 to cover 9 hours of low bitrate parking at work. That's why I would appreciate using hybrid parking with the BP-100, if it is possible, to extend parking coverage to a whole day when the BP-100 capacity drops below a defined level. I suppose the alternative option is to set time-based hybrid parking mode in the A329T so that it switches to LPID after say 2 hours.

I could bring the battery indoors every weekend for a full charge but I would rather have a set-and-forget setup than one which requires weekly removal, charge and return to the car.

 

[Augustus]

My daily commute is about 10 minutes. Round trip is 20. I park at work for 9 hours.

Looking at the quoted recharge times, if I hardwire I'll get 20/70=28% charge between parking sessions, if I use the CLA I'll get 20/100=20% charge.

Looking at Viofo's table, on a full charge the BP-100 should power an A329T in 2CH low bitrate parking mode for 25 hours.
- 28% of 25 is 7 hours if the BP-100 is hardwired
- 20% of 25 is 5 hours if using the CLA

Conclusion - I don't drive long enough to recharge the BP-100 to cover 9 hours of low bitrate parking at work. That's why I would appreciate using hybrid parking with the BP-100, if it is possible, to extend parking coverage to a whole day when the BP-100 capacity drops below a defined level. I suppose the alternative option is to set time-based hybrid parking mode in the A329T so that it switches to LPID after say 2 hours.

I could bring the battery indoors every weekend for a full charge but I would rather have a set-and-forget setup than one which requires weekly removal, charge and return to the car.

That's it, it takes my round trip 50 minutes to one hour every day to work. Some days it's not quite enough to charge my 70mai battery, especially if I don't drive e.g. on Saturday the day after work.

What would change that is LPID on newer Viofo or Vueroid, and apparently what's coming to 70mai this year. Otherwise the battery capacity would have to double or triple in a newer model.

It's decent, and I wouldn't live without it, but it's not. quite. there.

 

[Hack_man]

My daily commute is about 10 minutes. Round trip is 20. I park at work for 9 hours.

Looking at the quoted recharge times, if I hardwire I'll get 20/70=28% charge between parking sessions, if I use the CLA I'll get 20/100=20% charge.

Looking at Viofo's table, on a full charge the BP-100 should power an A329T in 2CH low bitrate parking mode for 25 hours.
- 28% of 25 is 7 hours if the BP-100 is hardwired
- 20% of 25 is 5 hours if using the CLA

Conclusion - I don't drive long enough to recharge the BP-100 to cover 9 hours of low bitrate parking at work. That's why I would appreciate using hybrid parking with the BP-100, if it is possible, to extend parking coverage to a whole day when the BP-100 capacity drops below a defined level. I suppose the alternative option is to set time-based hybrid parking mode in the A329T so that it switches to LPID after say 2 hours.

I could bring the battery indoors every weekend for a full charge but I would rather have a set-and-forget setup than one which requires weekly removal, charge and return to the car.

Maybe I missed a post, but why not use the HK6 Hardwire kit with the no-cutoff option with the BP100? Then you will drain every last drop from your battery along with getting the energy conserving LPID Hybrid Parking mode since the HK6 will transmit voltage to the camera.

 

[TonyM]

why not use the HK6 Hardwire kit with the no-cutoff option with the BP100?

Is the BP-100 output regulated? If so, I'm not sure if the HK6 can detect when the BP-100 is running low.

 

[rcg530]

Is the BP-100 output regulated? If so, I'm not sure if the HK6 can detect when the BP-100 is running low.

As far as the HK6 is concerned, it's monitoring its input voltage level no matter what the source ends up being [vehicle or BP-100].

 

[Vortex Radar]

As far as the HK6 is concerned, it's monitoring its input voltage level no matter what the source ends up being [vehicle or BP-100].

I haven't tested it, but I suppose the question is if the BP100 output voltage drops as you start getting to lower remaining charge levels and if you could use that as a voltage trigger with the HK6 to switch the dashcam into low power impact detection with hybrid parking mode.

Have you looked at the battery's output voltage across the discharge cycle?

 

[GPak]

My daily commute is about 10 minutes. Round trip is 20. I park at work for 9 hours.
Looking at the quoted recharge times, if I hardwire I'll get 20/70=28% charge between parking sessions, if I use the CLA I'll get 20/100=20% charge.
Looking at Viofo's table, on a full charge the BP-100 should power an A329T in 2CH low bitrate parking mode for 25 hours.
- 28% of 25 is 7 hours if the BP-100 is hardwired
- 20% of 25 is 5 hours if using the CLA
Conclusion - I don't drive long enough to recharge the BP-100 to cover 9 hours of low bitrate parking at work. That's why I would appreciate using hybrid parking with the BP-100, if it is possible, to extend parking coverage to a whole day when the BP-100 capacity drops below a defined level. I suppose the alternative option is to set time-based hybrid parking mode in the A329T so that it switches to LPID after say 2 hours.
I could bring the battery indoors every weekend for a full charge but I would rather have a set-and-forget setup than one which requires weekly removal, charge and return to the car.

In this scenario, the problem is the limited charge rate (C-rate) for all dedicated batteries.
Currently, the charge rate for most batteries already reaches its maximum—around 1C (full charge in 1 hour), which is the maximum recommended value for standard LFP batteries.

Doubling the capacity by connecting an extended battery will not solve this problem, as the main battery will continue to charge at the same rate (and now the corresponding rates are 0.5C and 2 hours to full charge).

The solution is a main unit that is capable of charging at up to a double charge rate - a mode that is activated ONLY when an additional battery is connected! (Or the main battery must initially have double the capacity).
Another important condition for ensuring such a high charge rate is a direct connection to the vehicle's alternator-battery, with the charging wires sized accordingly!

This will restore the charge rate to 1C for the combined battery with double the capacity, which will now fully charge in just 1 hour.
But most importantly, the battery will charge at double speed every minute, and according to your calculations, 20 minutes of driving will be sufficient for 14 hours of LBR parking.
(I have done this with my DIY LTO battery)

 

[GPak]

Is the BP-100 output regulated? If so, I'm not sure if the HK6 can detect when the BP-100 is running low.

As far as the HK6 is concerned, it's monitoring its input voltage level no matter what the source ends up being [vehicle or BP-100].

I haven't tested it, but I suppose the question is if the BP100 output voltage drops as you start getting to lower remaining charge levels and if you could use that as a voltage trigger with the HK6 to switch the dashcam into low power impact detection with hybrid parking mode.
Have you looked at the battery's output voltage across the discharge cycle?

I believe all dedicated batteries feature an unregulated output in order to achieve the highest possible efficiency.
However:
LFP batteries feature an almost flat voltage curve within the State of Charge (SoC) range of 20% to 90% (unlike lead-acid or LTO batteries).
Consequently, relying exclusively on voltage readings within this range to trigger the hybrid mode switch may not be sufficiently accurate or reliable.
For LFP batteries the better option is timer-based switching based on predicted conditions, unless you plan to switch below 20% SoC

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Have you looked at the battery's output voltage across the discharge cycle?

The last time I measured this battery voltage starts around 13.1V and steadily drops to 11.8V and then takes a nose dive all the way down to 10.0V.
I calculated the Wh capacity from 11.8 to 10.0V to be appoximately 4-5% of total pack capacity, so around 4Wh.
Depending on channel configuration in Low Bitrate the last 4Wh would operate LBR Parking mode 30 Minutes to 2 Hours.
But this was before we had LPID.
LPID should last quite a while on the last 4Wh of the pack given the stand by power consumption is around 0.5W.

 

[rcg530]

Discharge Test: BP-100 fully charged, A139 Pro 3CH in Low Bitrate Parking Mode

20250713 19:25: BP-100 top off charge perform before start of discharge test
20250713 19:46: Start - Turn off ACC input to BP-100, A139 Pro 3CH starts low bitrate parking mode
20250714 06:51: Finish - BP-100 turns off due to low battery pack voltage

Total time: 11 hours 26 minutes

The voltage data logger that I had monitoring the 12V output voltage from the BP-100 to the A139 Pro 3CH:

The BP-100 output voltage just as it turned off was 10.11V