[lethbridge]

This will only be relevant to those of you with/thinking about hard-wired dash cams that operating in Park mode. These have a permanent battery connection as well as one typically fed from an Accessories/Cigar Lighter feed.

I fitted a Thinkware F770 Front & Rear at the weekend - very pleased with it. I know this has been mentioned in a few threads but I've not really found anything conclusive about the Battery Drain Warning message.

As I understand it you will get the warning if something is causing the car to draw more than 80mA when the car is completely shut down (car normally draws around 20mA in this state). By my reckoning a 2Ch Thinkware draws just under 300mA, so it is not surprising to get the warning but I wondered what others were experiencing? From what I've seen of others experiences it makes no difference where you source the BATT feed from as the car will sense the drain regardless.

I don't really want to have to OK the warning every time I start the car in the morning & it will obviously be reported every time it goes in for a service. This question is about the warning message & not about any concern over the battery drain itself. The Thinkware has power-off settings for duration (I've just reduced mine to 12 hours from the default 48) and for voltage drop (I have it set at 12.2v) so I have no risk of getting a flat battery.

The only definitive solution I've seen is to have a 2nd battery but they cost a lot and only give limited cover so not sure of the value of this.

For those of you with hard wired dash cams that operating in Park mode, what are your experiences? Do you get the drain message?

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by lethbridge

This will only be relevant to those of you with/thinking about hard-wired dash cams that operating in Park mode. These have a permanent battery connection as well as one typically fed from an Accessories/Cigar Lighter feed.

I fitted a Thinkware F770 Front & Rear at the weekend - very pleased with it. I know this has been mentioned in a few threads but I've not really found anything conclusive about the Battery Drain Warning message.

As I understand it you will get the warning if something is causing the car to draw more than 80mA when the car is completely shut down (car normally draws around 20mA in this state). By my reckoning a 2Ch Thinkware draws just under 300mA, so it is not surprising to get the warning but I wondered what others were experiencing? From what I've seen of others experiences it makes no difference where you source the BATT feed from as the car will sense the drain regardless.

I don't really want to have to OK the warning every time I start the car in the morning & it will obviously be reported every time it goes in for a service. This question is about the warning message & not about any concern over the battery drain itself. The Thinkware has power-off settings for duration (I've just reduced mine to 12 hours from the default 48) and for voltage drop (I have it set at 12.2v) so I have no risk of getting a flat battery.

The only definitive solution I've seen is to have a 2nd battery but they cost a lot and only give limited cover so not sure of the value of this.

For those of you with hard wired dash cams that operating in Park mode, what are your experiences? Do you get the drain message?

The cigarette lighter feed should prevent the drain problem as the car cuts power to them about 5 minutes after turning off the car. Do you want the dash cam to record while you are parked?

[lethbridge]

Yes - that is what I want to explore in this thread - I'm interested in the experiences of those that want to run a DashCam when parked (so use a permanent battery feed as well as an Accessories feed - the Accessories feed tells the Camera the car is parked)...

[DThr33]

Have you looked into products like the Cellink Battery B?

It's basically battery pack that you install along with the dashcam, the dashcam runs off the battery pack and the battery pack charges when the car's running

[swez]

ive got the same kit and the same issue. I dont get the battery drain message on the weekdays when i use for daily runs but when left over the weekend (more than 24hrs), i get the msg when i start the car on Monday morning. No issues with starting the car, so the dashcam does shut down at the cut off point.
I queried about installing a separate battery when i purchased the kit and i was advised that they recommend the battery for older cars where the battery might lose charge quickly and if i left the car in park mode for longer duration. For fairly new car ( 1 year old) and if i use daily / regularly, they just told my car battery should be okay.
Its been a month since ive got dashcam installed. Ive had the msg pop up 2 or 3 times. Ill monitor the situation and see if i need to get a battery.

[Soul_Glo]

My BMW Advanced Car Eye has a super capacitor so doesn't run the battery down.

[willjames]

I get the message occasionally when the cars been stood for a couple of days. I have power magic pro fitted so it's supposed to turn the camera off if the voltage drops too much. Mines always on and triggered by motion (parking mode). Not had it long so will keep an eye on it and report back.

[Kal101]

Had it a couple of times.

Usually goes when the car has had a decent enough run(s) to charge up the battery. Other than with the BlackVue I turn off the cameras when parked st home on the drive.

[AlfaM]

I've got the Cellink B battery + extender battery. Been running for about 12months with a thinkware F770 without issue.

Plugged in the cigar socket in boot. Auto switches to battery when cigar sockets powers down and switches F770 over to parking mode, and automatically switches back again when you unlock car and cigar socket powers up.

[lethbridge]

Thanks for the feedback all. Yes I did consider the Cellink B battery but it does seem an expensive fix. I've only just dropped the cut-off timer to 12 hours so that may solve it from what some are saying - failing that I think I'll reduce it to 6 hours as that will cover it for most parking sessions.

Does the BMW Advanced Car Eye have Parking mode? That may give a clue as to any approved work-arounds. The super capacitor does not power it for 10 hours while it is parked - they are primarily used to cope with short term power loss, specifically, being in a smash where the camera loses power from the car and needs to have some time to write the recording to the storage (most decent Dash Cams use super capacitors due - Thinkware do). Thanks again...

[scottc]

I have had the thinkware and the black vue both hardwired. I had the thinkware set to 12.5 (or 12.6 cannot remember) which was stopped the message but didn't record for as long.

I then switched to the blackvue due to DAB issues, I used the power magic pro set at the highest voltage cut off. No messages but would only record for 7 or so hours.

I then bought the Cell link B and used the cigarette lighter fuse to tap into (for quick charge. I now get 20 hrs for a full charge and that is with the 2ch 650 cloud connected. No error messages at all.

The BMW system is good but will only record parking for 6 hrs (programmed to do so) there is supposedly a hack to make it record for 12 hrs..

Be warned both the thinkware and blackvue cause DAB issues

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by DThr33

Have you looked into products like the Cellink Battery B?

It's basically battery pack that you install along with the dashcam, the dashcam runs off the battery pack and the battery pack charges when the car's running

Yes I was thinking it should have its own battery pack. I have a battery pack I keep in my car charging off the cigarette lighter plug in the trunk that I can use to charge my cell phone or jump start the car.

[lethbridge]

Thanks - I can confirm the Thinkware F770 I've just installed is behaving perfectly - no Dab issues. Just listened to Dab for 2 hours error free. Suspect this was an early model issue using a poorly screened cable but also depends on cable route and mounting position ( mine is routed down drivers side headlining and mounted to rear screen on the passenger side of high level brake light). Sounds like worst case is set to shut down after 6 hours or a secondary battery if you want longer (or just put up with the warnings)...

[scottc]

Originally Posted by lethbridge

Thanks - I can confirm the Thinkware F770 I've just installed is behaving perfectly - no Dab issues. Just listened to Dab for 2 hours error free. Suspect this was an early model issue using a poorly screened cable but also depends on cable route and mounting position ( mine is routed down drivers side headlining and mounted to rear screen on the passenger side of high level brake light). Sounds like worst case is set to shut down after 6 hours or a secondary battery if you want longer (or just put up with the warnings)...

I had the latest version and had it installed professionally, they confirmed there was an issue and couldn't fix it. Tried running it low down, high up with loads of the cores still kept cutting out. Take the rear camera out and all back to normal.

Have to admit the area I need signal is a poor reception anyway so I don't think that helps.

[WTruter]

I have blackvue DR650S-2CH with Power Magic Pro. As with some others, I got the power message from the car on occasions, but I changed the parameters on the power magic and have not had any error since.
Think I switched voltage to 12.5 and Time to 12Hrs.
Before the Voltage cut was set to 12V, which resulted in getting the error when the car was parked up over a weekend.

[Boxtyp3]

I got the older X500 just in the front and have no issues. It was set at 12hrs and 12.0 voltage drop cut off.

[f32-440i]

Just hardwired a Blackvue 650S-2CH with a Multisafer

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MultiSafer-...rds=multisafer

Did a fair amount of research and the Multisafer apparently has better voltage detection than the Powermagic Pro. When I first plugged it in I had it set to no time limit and 11.8v and I got the discharge warning. Changed it to 12 hours and 12.2v and haven't had it since.