Hardwire Dash-cams - Always on

krissovo

Folks, has anyone hardwired a dash-cam that will keep it running in parked mode? I need about 12 to 16 hours, the installer suggested a auxiliary battery pack but that’s an extra €300.

I am not sure how charging it works, can the 12v system drain when a i3 or leaf are switched off?

unkel

krissovo wrote: »

I am not sure how charging it works, can the 12v system drain when a i3 or leaf are switched off?

Oh yes. Shockingly quickly too. I've no specific experience with either i3 or Leaf, but that's what happens in Ioniq. Which has a tiny capacity 12V lead acid battery. It does automatically top up from the HV battery regularly though, even with all systems shut down (car locked, charger not connected)

I guess the question is, how many amps does the dash cam draw?

Mech1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jumping-Jack-Max-Portable-Charger/dp/B00UJ9Q6IC

run your camera off a power bank like that, have the power bank Charged by a key on fed relay, sorted.

And you can jump start any of us non leccy guys when we get stuck!

unkel

Almost GBP100? That's very poor value for money, Mech1. I got one of those (lower capacity than yours but high max amps) for GBP20 a year or two ago in a black friday deal from Amazon, and yes it did in fact jump start several cars successfully, including my 6 cylinder Mercedes and my 6 cylinder Porsche.

Black_Knight

Word of note on those usb charger jumpers, I've seen ones where it will charge a device to full and then stop until the device is reconnected. Ie. It won't constantly power devices plugged into it.

krissovo

Nice option with the jump starters, I have the Halfords 3l jump starter anyway that i can use from a deal last year which from digging around is 13,000 mah.

The dashcam in normal mode is draws at 3.12w and is 12.3v = ~260 milliamperes, so 44 hours of power in theory?

Edit: its 2 channel so power consumption is 4.2w so 350 milliamperes

slave1

Do you really need it powered when parked up?
I hard-wired my front dash cam and it was pretty straight forward, it's a while since I did it on the Leaf but from memory the fuse board is on the passenger side and easy to access. I just kept trying a spare slot until I found one that only worked with the car turned on.
2.5yrs later all still good

krissovo

slave1 wrote: »

Do you really need it powered when parked up?
I hard-wired my front dash cam and it was pretty straight forward, it's a while since I did it on the Leaf but from memory the fuse board is on the passenger side and easy to access. I just kept trying a spare slot until I found one that only worked with the car turned on.
2.5yrs later all still good

The idea of Tesla style sentry mode is quite appealing as the amount of body work damage to our cars over the years when parked publicly is crazy. Also our home heating oil is regularly stolen and its close to where we park to charge up at home so an extra camera or two will come in handy to identify the feckers. Last year alone we had over €2000 stolen and the police are not that interested unless the CCTV image is crystal clear.

Just the other day we witnessed a lady parallel parking using the method of bumping into the car in front and then reversing and bumping into our Leaf scratching the paint down to the plastic. She didn’t give a hoot when we confronted her and again the police are not interested.

zilog_jones

I got a Viofo A129 Duo recently, with the Viofo HK3 3-wire hardwire kit:

https://www.viofo.com/en/accessories/108-3-wires-hk3-acc-hardwire-kit-parking-mode-cable-for-a119v3-a129-a129ir.html

It's wired to permanent power and also accessory mode power (I used two fuse taps), so it can detect when the car is turned off, and it also has a selectable voltage cutoff.

I have it currently set to 12.4 V with my Prius Plug-in, this usually lasts overnight in parking mode (currently using time lapse 3 fps) but not always - my 12V battery is probably the original though, so about 7 years old! I'm not sure what a safe cutoff voltage is, so haven't tried lower settings yet.

unkel

zilog_jones wrote: »

it also has a selectable voltage cutoff.

I have it currently set to 12.4 V

Now that is a great solution!

rolion

Still cant see the reasons why you need a dashcam powered on sorry,16 hours ?

Assuming that you sort out the power requirements,have you done the maths in relation to video footage quality versus file length size and the supported SD Card ?

krissovo

rolion wrote: »

Still cant see the reasons why you need a dashcam powered on sorry,16 hours ?

Assuming that you sort out the power requirements,have you done the maths in relation to video footage quality versus file length size and the supported SD Card ?

The cam i am looking at goes into a park mode and only records “events”. It’s also cloud based so even if its full it will still upload files on the fly. It’s WiFi and the car has a decent hotspot so I should be covered.

rolion

Still cant see the logic behind the dashcam usage, but your call...

How are you going to deal with the condensation !?

JohnC.

rolion wrote: »

Still cant see the logic behind the dashcam usage, but your call...

How are you going to deal with the condensation !?

Not everything happens while driving. There's plenty of videos captured of break-ins, vandalism or other traffic having accidents while a car is parked.

I have mine wired into an always-on fuse socket. Though it isn't left on at home or work, just when I park in other public places, which usually isn't too long anyway.

krissovo

rolion wrote: »

Still cant see the logic behind the dashcam usage, but your call...

How are you going to deal with the condensation !?

I have rain-x on my interiors since my i3 fogs a lot in normal use (i vape & sweat like mad) and it works a treat, the outside is ceramic coated and i rarely use wipers. Any water beads off the windows.

It’s just another security defense in a wider strategy for my property be it car on the move or at home tied in with my cctv coverage to cover a black spot, fair enough you cannot see the logic but I don’t really care as i see a perfectly good use case. For the sake of less than €50 i will have a hardwired dash cam front and rear that will have the option of a poor mans sentry.

krissovo

zilog_jones wrote: »

I got a Viofo A129 Duo recently, with the Viofo HK3 3-wire hardwire kit:

https://www.viofo.com/en/accessories/108-3-wires-hk3-acc-hardwire-kit-parking-mode-cable-for-a119v3-a129-a129ir.html

It's wired to permanent power and also accessory mode power (I used two fuse taps), so it can detect when the car is turned off, and it also has a selectable voltage cutoff.

I have it currently set to 12.4 V with my Prius Plug-in, this usually lasts overnight in parking mode (currently using time lapse 3 fps) but not always - my 12V battery is probably the original though, so about 7 years old! I'm not sure what a safe cutoff voltage is, so haven't tried lower settings yet.

Thanks for the heads up, i found a similar hardwire kit with voltage sensing as well as manual switch between using the car battery and the auxiliary feed only. It’s the blackvue power magic pro.

rolion

@ krissovo
Just to let you know that i have a dashcam for years on my cars.
I have video evidence from many arseholes driving like a..holes on our roads.

There is no legal framework that will help you ... Garda is not legally abide to act or follow on your dashcam footage (even if they are asking for evidence to be sent to them in case of accident,peculliar )

Just today i had a black VW Gold on N3 doing smart moves cutting me face on the three lanes.
When i indicated i'm recording with my dashcam,he pulled his hands out the window and show me a big "FCUK OFF". That says all about the arseholes behaviour towards a cam...

I have 4 CCTV camera pointing to front of my house....know your feelings.
Good luck !