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Jenper
0
Nov 24, 2017
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Hi to everyone. Does this cam has a built in battery? How does it record if the engine is turn off?
Alex_Robins
6
Nov 24, 2017
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JenperLike most decent dash cams. they have very small batteries or a super capacitor which gives the unit just enough time to shutdown cleanly when you remove power. This particular unit i believe uses a Super Capacitor.
As such most decent cameras are expected to be hardwired for recording while the car is shut down, and the Blacksys comes with a special cable you wire in to do this along with the big standard cig socket cable.
With the hardwiring cable on this camera, you have 3 wires: Ground Wire Switched Ignition Feed Constant Power feed from an "always hot" supply from the vehicle battery.
The switched wire tells the camera when the car is turned on and the unit records normally when ignition is on, and when you turn the car off the camera is powered by the always hot feed, and enters parking mode. If the battery gets too low and/or a certain time elapses, then the camera will shutdown to avoid leaving you with a flat battery and a car that wont start.
As such most decent cameras are expected to be hardwired for recording while the car is shut down, and the Blacksys comes with a special cable you wire in to do this along with the big standard cig socket cable.
With the hardwiring cable on this camera, you have 3 wires: Ground Wire Switched Ignition Feed Constant Power feed from an "always hot" supply from the vehicle battery.
The switched wire tells the camera when the car is turned on and the unit records normally when ignition is on, and when you turn the car off the camera is powered by the always hot feed, and enters parking mode. If the battery gets too low and/or a certain time elapses, then the camera will shutdown to avoid leaving you with a flat battery and a car that wont start.
Jenper
0
Nov 24, 2017
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Alex_RobinsHi alex. Thanks for a reply. Do i need to hardwire the dashcam?, if i just want only to record the event if something hits my car during parking.
Alex_Robins
6
Nov 24, 2017
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JenperFor recording while parked, yes you will need to hardwire as your power socket wont be powered when the car is shut down.
if you only want to record while driving with the car running, then just use the standard cig socket cable.
there are also other options like using a special battery pack that keeps the camera running with the car turned off but thats a whole different avenue and usually not worth it. Better to hardwire it, and do it properly as it will pay off in the long run, not to mention you get to use your power socket for other things then.
If you are not comfortable hardwiring yourself, many reputable auto places can do it for you, some even specialise in dashcam installs.
if you only want to record while driving with the car running, then just use the standard cig socket cable.
there are also other options like using a special battery pack that keeps the camera running with the car turned off but thats a whole different avenue and usually not worth it. Better to hardwire it, and do it properly as it will pay off in the long run, not to mention you get to use your power socket for other things then.
If you are not comfortable hardwiring yourself, many reputable auto places can do it for you, some even specialise in dashcam installs.
Jenper
0
Nov 24, 2017
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Alex_RobinsIf i need a battery pack can you suggest one. Im just only worried about the warranty if the battery will get flat. I have two cig socket in my car.
Jenper
0
Nov 24, 2017
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Alex_RobinsI mean i dont need to record the whole time the car it was parked. Ive just need enough power to record the time when someone hits my car at parked mode.
Alex_Robins
6
Nov 24, 2017
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JenperThis is what Parking mode is. The camera is awake the whole time in a "Power Save" mode waiting for the car to be hit or for the motion sensing if configured to trip and cause it to record for a configured amount of time. As such the camera requires constant power supply for this to function. Hardwire your camera or have a professional do it, and use the Blacksys App on your phone to configure the Low voltage shutdown (where the camera will go from parking mode to Off) to 12.2v or maybe 12.4v if nervous, and you will be fine.
for reference a fully charged battery at ~25 degrees celsius is about 12.65v and fully discharged is about 11.9v, with 12.2v being about 50-60% charged. 12.2v is basically the sweet spot between recording time (you should get several hours) and remaining battery charge if left long enough.
More information here: https://www.blackboxmycar.com/pages/blacksys-app-walkthrough-blacksys-setting and here: https://www.carcamcentral.com/guide/guide-parked-recording-dash-cameras
If you really want a proper dashcam battery pack, then its going to cost you nearly as much as the camera itself for something like a Cellink-B Dashcam battery pack, though such battery packs are supposedly good for 12-34 hours of run time depending on camera, and they recharge while the car is running in about an hour. here is a link to the Cellink-B: https://dashcamsaustralia.com.au/shop/dashcams/blackvue/cellink-b-battery-pack/
More information here: https://www.blackboxmycar.com/pages/blacksys-app-walkthrough-blacksys-setting and here: https://www.carcamcentral.com/guide/guide-parked-recording-dash-cameras
If you really want a proper dashcam battery pack, then its going to cost you nearly as much as the camera itself for something like a Cellink-B Dashcam battery pack, though such battery packs are supposedly good for 12-34 hours of run time depending on camera, and they recharge while the car is running in about an hour. here is a link to the Cellink-B: https://dashcamsaustralia.com.au/shop/dashcams/blackvue/cellink-b-battery-pack/
Alex_Robins
6
Nov 24, 2017
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JenperPS, these camera don't use that much power in the scheme of things, and pretty much all modern cars also use a small but constant amount of power themselves anyway to keep the clock running, retain the "Learned memory" in the Engine computer, remember your radio settings, and for the factory alarm to monitor the vehicle for break-in attempts. So unless you leave the car sitting for a week or several at a time and do so frequently you wont have issues. Camera is rated to use ~380mA at 13.4v which is 5.1watts, which is just a tad more than USB 3.0 which is good for 4.5w per specification. For comparision modern smart phones charge at 2A @ 5v or more which is more than double what the camera uses.
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