VIOFO Dash Cam Battery Pack - Sneak Peak

[Someoneone]

It should also allow for easy input for solar panels for those who have extra cars who park outside.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

It should also allow for easy input for solar panels for those who have extra cars who park outside.

The only current dash cam battery pack that has this is the Energy Well P6.
The charge input connector is a barrel connector used by some solar panels.
Unfortunately it's not available in the US.
It's only sold in Canada, and EU.

 

[Someoneone]

The only current dash cam battery pack that has this is the Energy Well P6.
The charge input connector is a barrel connector used by some solar panels.
Unfortunately it's not available in the US.
It's only sold in Canada, and EU.

View attachment 75072
View attachment 75073

I don’t mind not having warranty if it’s a good product. Have you tested it before?

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Have you tested it before?

I contacted the owner / person in charge, and requested the official US release date, and a test unit.
Ken Chan: ken@stardeve.com

Ken informed me the unit will not be available to US customers because it does not have an FCC ID#.
Technically, without an FCC ID# a device cannot be used, or sold in the US, (cough 70mai). lol
Ken informed me they have no plans to obtain an FCC ID# for the unit.
Ken declined to send a unit for test & review.
He offered to sell me one, but I would have to arrange my own shipping, and customs clearance.
Even if I had the funds to buy one I doubt I would ever receive it due to shipping / customs regulations.
I was really bummed because this pack has some really cool features.

 

[lufa6977]

I contacted the owner / person in charge, and requested the official US release date, and a test unit.
Ken Chan: ken@stardeve.com

Ken informed me the unit will not be available to US customers because it does not have an FCC ID#.

The FCC 'tic' can cost from about $3000 and up, depending on what the test facility requires and finds as they do testing. Then there is the manufacturer additional cost of managing the requirements and responding to the test facility. Go with a low-ball figure of $5000 and the manufacturer has to divide that cost across the the number of units expected to sell in the U.S. market. If they add $2 dollars in cost to each unit, they need to sell 2500 units to recoup the money spent for testing.

What some manufacturers do is require the North America/American importer to pay for the FCC certification. A Korean manufacturer may be able to absorb that FCC cert cost across his product line, however, an importer usually can not unless it is an item that they know will sell like hot cakes. Then there is the issue where there is a component change, that component may need to be certified to use in the battery case.

Technically, without an FCC ID# a device cannot be used, or sold in the US, (cough 70mai). lol

It is not technically, it is legally they are not allowed to import for sell, or sell and ship the product. If you are aware of this, you should report this to the FCC.

FCC Complaints

 

[joe384]

Here are 5 must-have features for a good dash-cam battery in my opinion:

• A three-wire charging input - two main high current wires for charging and one ACC signal/sense wire. As @safedrivesolutions mentioned. That means built in power switch/relay.
• A ±10 second time delay (20 sec is unnecessary too long), or a really good soft-start charger that takes ±15-20 second to reach the max charging current. I prefer time delay as a more reliable option, otherwise the charger will draw full current as soon as ACC gets voltage.
• A low voltage cut-off, meaning the charger should stop charging at less than, say, ±12.6V, this is necessary when ignition is On but the engine is nor running, to protect car’s starting battery.
• High-Low current switch, actually I would prefer High-Medium-Low current switch, because different cars may have different amp-rated CLAs.
• And most importantly, the output to dash-cam must be “by-pass” and not “pass-through”. This will allow the dash-cam to be powered directly from the car's electrical system as soon as ACC input gets voltage, and with no time delay, it will also allow the dash-cam to work with the ignition-On but engine not running, and most importantly, the dash-cam, directly powered by the car’s electrical system will continue to work and protect while driving if for whatever reason battery pack fails.

There is nothing complicated about these requirements, I have included them all in my LTO batteries using off-the-shelf components.

Don't forget low/high temp charging cutoff or some sort of protection (eg. lower charge rate)

And to make it sell (for me) it's got to be cheaper than rolling your own.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Don't forget low/high temp charging cutoff or some sort of protection (eg. lower charge rate)

And to make it sell (for me) it's got to be cheaper than rolling your own.

They pretty much already have that, (maybe why GPak omitted it).
But yes, low temp charge protection is critical.
That's why I put the packs in the freezer, and try to charge them bellow 32F (0C) to see if it works properly.

 

[GPak]

Don't forget low/high temp charging cutoff or some sort of protection (eg. lower charge rate)

And to make it sell (for me) it's got to be cheaper than rolling your own.

Yes, as @Panzer Platform mentioned
I didn’t listed any of the battery protections, because all of them, including low/high temp protection, over-charge/over-discharge protection, short circuit protection, over-current protection, reverse current protection and many more are already implemented by the latest battery packs, I hope.
These are mostly functions of BMS.

I also didn’t listed some ‘good to have’ features, like, App support, informative display, USB-C In/Out ports, expendability, solar charging input, and many more.
I am sure, some of us may consider some of these ‘good to have’ features essential.