Dash Camera Drain

[arnold]

Just a word of warning regarding Dash Cams that are hard wired. I today realised i had made a school boy error when i returned to my car in the long stay car park  at  Stanstead upon arriving back from Greece. My Battery was almost dead with just enough juice to open the doors and turn the engine briefly before it died. On the plus side skoda assist were fantastic as i got words of advice from the wife and the scenario lasted 15 minutes from phone call to AA arriving. All good but a valuable lesson learnt. I do have front and rear but will be disconnecting them from now on . I was surprised in one week this would drain a fully charged battery. 

[ahenners]

Do you have yours connected on a switch/ignition live or permanent live? Mine's on a switched live and haven't noticed any battery drain issues when it hasn't been driven for a few days. 

[arnold]

Mine is permanent live and just runs the small led no screen but powers up on motion just in 1 minute chunks. I have left it for 4 days and all was OK but not today.I wanted it that way so If someone decides to hit and run

 I have some footage as well. Like the p##ck who parked six inches from my drivers side and must have crawled out the passenger side of a ****ty Picasso with full compliment of kid car seats in the back.  

[Guest Cossiecol]

3 hours ago, arnold said:

Just a word of warning regarding Dash Cams that are hard wired. I today realised i had made a school boy error when i returned to my car in the long stay car park  at  Stanstead upon arriving back from Greece. My Battery was almost dead with just enough juice to open the doors and turn the engine briefly before it died. On the plus side skoda assist were fantastic as i got words of advice from the wife and the scenario lasted 15 minutes from phone call to AA arriving. All good but a valuable lesson learnt. I do have front and rear but will be disconnecting them from now on . I was surprised in one week this would drain a fully charged battery. 

Just get a control unit that cuts the camera off when it reaches a certain voltage or after a set amount of time, wouldn't leave mine on without it.

[arnold]

8 hours ago, Cossiecol said:

Just get a control unit that cuts the camera off when it reaches a certain voltage or after a set amount of time, wouldn't leave mine on without it.

 I have seen these but i think for the costs involved i will make sure i just unplug them. Im sure if i go away again SWMBO will remind me of my last error. i always trickle charge the car battery every few weeks or had through the winter just a school boy error. Charger will be going on over night tonight.

[bomski]

I've got a blackvue with a 'power magic pro' controller; you can set it to a specific minimum voltage (currently 11.8v) so when it's in park mode, it'll automatically switch off when it gets too low.

 

Blackvue are also bringing out a battery pack of sorts for extended periods; haven't got one of those myself but they are certainly interesting.

[vrs red]

I'm the same as bomski, have a power magic pro to cut the power, works a treat 

 

https://www.blackvue.co.uk/index.php/component/virtuemart/blackvue-accessories/power-magic-battery-pack-detail?Itemid=0

Crickey ! 

 

https://www.blackvue.co.uk/index.php/component/virtuemart/blackvue-accessories/power-magic-electric-power-controller-detail?Itemid=0

 

 

 

[Miz]

I left a USB phone charger plugged in in mine at the airport, had recovery out to start the car. Battery never recovered from the experience, so I would get yours checked out.

[arnold]

It's on charge with the Ctek smart charger and all looks OK but I will have to keep tabs on it 

 

 

[tomsimes]

9 hours ago, arnold said:

17 hours ago, Cossiecol said:

Just get a control unit that cuts the camera off when it reaches a certain voltage or after a set amount of time, wouldn't leave mine on without it.

 I have seen these but i think for the costs involved i will make sure i just unplug them. Im sure if i go away again SWMBO will remind me of my last error. i always trickle charge the car battery every few weeks or had through the winter just a school boy error. Charger will be going on over night tonight.

 

I also have one - for £26 (current Amazon price), is it really worth messing about with?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LN2BZL2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edited 4 June, 2017 by tomsimes
Fixed quote

[arnold]

I need 2 and for the amount of times I  leave the car for a week unattended then I think pulling the plug out of the camera will suffice. Thanks for everyone's input though. 

[tomsimes]

1 hour ago, arnold said:

I need 2 and for the amount of times I  leave the car for a week unattended then I think pulling the plug out of the camera will suffice. Thanks for everyone's input though. 

Why do you need two? I have two cameras, functioning off a single Power Magic Pro.

[arnold]

I didn't realise it would do that. I might look into it. It's just I power from the rear cigar plug so a bit of hiding wiring. I will have a look when I get a moment. 

 

[bomski]

@arnold what make is your dashcam? Might be worth seeing if there's a 'wiring kit' for your specific make/model? I know nextbase have one but not sure about the others. 

 

FYI it cost me about £90 at a local vehicle electricians to have it fully installed. Warned me though that removing it from the Octy would be a nightmare so best to leave it!

[arnold]

I wired the front one myself direct to a switched live at the fuse box and it was a fairly easy process under 20 minutes to fit. I only bought a cheap amacam AM81 which was about 80 quid. I will have to look on their website.

[mbames]

On 6/4/2017 at 08:50, bomski said:

I've got a blackvue with a 'power magic pro' controller; you can set it to a specific minimum voltage (currently 11.8v) so when it's in park mode, it'll automatically switch off when it gets too low.

 

Blackvue are also bringing out a battery pack of sorts for extended periods; haven't got one of those myself but they are certainly interesting.

 

I've got one of these as well, but not had a chance to fit it.  Where did you source your +12v per and +12v ignition feeds from?  I thought I set mine to just power down the camera after 20minutes or something rather than on minimum voltage.

 

At least once I've forgotten to unplug the camera and the car had just enough juice to unlock.  Was rather late getting into work that day!

[bomski]

@mbames I had it professionally fitted; so no idea really! I'll take the side trim panel off the car tonight and take a look... will let you know if I can figure out where they pulled the feeds from.

 

[ChrisHooligan]

2 hours ago, bomski said:

@arnold what make is your dashcam? Might be worth seeing if there's a 'wiring kit' for your specific make/model? I know nextbase have one but not sure about the others. 

 

FYI it cost me about £90 at a local vehicle electricians to have it fully installed. Warned me though that removing it from the Octy would be a nightmare so best to leave it!

@bomski just thinking of having one fitted to my VRS but plan to change the vehicle within 18 months, so I'm curious to know why they think it will be a nightmare to remove? 

[bomski]

they were referring to the rear camera cable; told me due to the way the hatchback boot is put together, they had to drill a couple of grommets etc to route the camera feed. Basically said 'don't try taking it out'. Given the cable is only £30 if I decide to remove it i'd just buy another and stash the existing one in the headliner (and use some fabric tape to stop it making any noise).

 

The blackvue kits also come with a spare set of adhesive pads, so you can swap the camera into another vehicle (and they sell additional spares on their site).

Edited 5 June, 2017 by bomski

[ChrisHooligan]

@bomski thanks was thinking of a high end blackvue unit so didn't want to buy one then it was a hassle to remove. Once again tanks for the info.