In tracing down the reason my car battery was going flat, I have discovered that my BlackVue is drawing about 0.32A when in parking mode.

Surely this can't be right, as it would mean that after about a week it would have probably drained enough juice from the battery that the car would no longer start.

It seems stupid that it has a parking mode, but this does not seem to significantly drop the current draw from the unit.

Any one else with a BlackVue (400HD) noticed this? I got mine as part of the recent group buy.

The unit is in pretty much its standard configuration - is there something I can do to make it draw less lower when the car is parked in the garaged for the week?

Yep, I noticed this. In winter its even worse as it leaves a defrosted patch on your windscreen where the camera is attracting attention. I changed it to switch on with the ignition.

I wonder if I might have to change mine to ignition powered too. Seems that parking mode is rather a pointless feature?

I have seen some blackvue PSU units, which I think are designed to tackle this (design) feature:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BlackVue-Power-Magic-for-BlackVue-battery-discharge-prevention-device-/111030593997

Interesting as I've changed mine to have a constant power supply the park mode basically records all the time. Which is a pointless feature really. I was under the impression that it would do so if an event took place.

Also the LED is stuck on blue even when its unplugged.

The pointless feature in my mind was "parking mode" as it seems to draw just as much power as it does when the car is moving.

If yours is running all the time, and you leave the car for any length of time expect a flat battery. I am going to make a simple timer unit which is triggered from a lack of ingnition power which will cut the power to the BlackVue after 15(ish) minutes.

The logic being that if I stop at a garage for fuel, etc I would prefer the BackVue did not have to go through a full power sequence before I drive off.

I am pretty sure you can turn off the button colour LED via the software.

I am going to make a simple timer unit which is triggered from a lack of ingnition power which will cut the power to the BlackVue after 15(ish) minutes.

The logic being that if I stop at a garage for fuel, etc I would prefer the BackVue did not have to go through a full power sequence before I drive off.

I might do this myself as yes, its annoying having the minute or so delay before it starts recording while it does what, gets a GPS lock? The one in my lass' car (different camera entirely) is near instant on.

Obviously battery drain is a big problem,

However surely having the camera recording all the time is a good thing?

G

I am not sure what the delay in. If it was a near instant power on, I would be happy to power it from the ignition feed.

BlackVue sell a Power unit to monitor battery condition and power down the unit but this seems rather expensive for me. Generally for me when my car is parked it is in one of two locations:

- my locked and alarmed garage (covered by cctv)

- at work on a list-x site

If was parking the car elsewhere, then I might well remove the BlackVue incase someone spotted it and thought they would like to take ownership of it.

I'm glad it's not just me, I thought I was programming it wrongly!

deffo shows up in this icy weather though, minus 5 this morning with a big clear patch on the windscreen

ok so after changing the settings its not recording all the time now, but either has it record anything at all other than driving mode. Nothing has triggered it in park mode. It also killed the battery on the Octavia.

Sat in it today to get the SD card out of the to check the footage and there was a beeping noise from the car. Went to start it and the dreaded nearly dead battery.

So its gone from not recorded 24/7 to nothing and still kills the battery.

If the unit is powered up, it draws around 0.3A - even in park mode :-(