Dashcam questions

[asone]

I have fitted a 2 channel dashcam to my Jazz using a hardwire kit.  A few weeks ago I fitted the same one to our other car (Kia Cerato).  The hardwire kit has a few switch settings for voltage cutout so that it doesn't drain the battery.  On the Kia I have it set to 12.2V (second highest setting) and it works fine.  The camera will record as long as it needs to (it is set to motion detection and so will work all day, but only recording when there is movement) and there is no trouble with the car starting or anything.

On the Jazz, I tried setting the hardwire kit to cut out at 12.2V - same as the Kia.  If I come back to the car after a day parked at work the camera is not working - the cut out has done it's thing and turned off the power.  Also, with it set to 12.2V the car is pretty sluggish to start.  It will, but the starter motor turns over very sluggishly.  It doesn't give me confidence that it will always start.  I currently have the voltage selector set to 12.4V instead (the highest setting).  Most days the camera will only record until about the middle of a work day.  The car has no trouble starting though.  Sometimes when driving and stopped (at lights usually) the camera will power off and back on - I am assuming the electrical system can dip below 12.4V briefly when idling and the camera powers off. 

I am wondering if the car battery could be nearing the end of it's life (I can't remember how old it is) or is this just how the electrics on a Jazz work?  Any ideas about how to get a care that reliably starts and will power the camera all day at the same time will be welcome (especially if I can turn the cut out down to 12.2V so it doesn't keep cutting out when I am driving :-) )

My camera does have a power off parking mode that is supposed to record for 60 seconds if it detects a crash, but the I have had a few people crash into my parked car so that is why I got the camera - I am a bit paranoid now about people damaging may car wgeb I am at work.  I would really like a camera that can record anything

Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you

[Kremmen]

Is this a Viofo 3 wire kit ?

[asone]

No.  I doubt most people will know it.  I am sure it is available world wide through other brands but here in Australia it is available through a single retailer

This is the kit:  https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/nanocam--nanocam-ncp-hwk-dash-cam-hard-wiring-kit/559377.html

This is the camera: https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/nanocam--nanocam-1080p-fhd-front-and-rear-dash-cam-wifi-super-capacitor-ncp-dvrw2s/652557.html?cgid=SCA010301#prefn1=srgBrand&prefv1=Nanocam%20%2B&sz=60&start=5

[embee]

Sounds like your battery might well be tired. The voltage is one aspect but is only part of the story. The key parameters are how much charge it can hold (i.e. how quickly it will drop down to 12.2V from "fully charged") and also how much current it can deliver to the starter from that partly discharged state.
In reasonably warm climates it is surprising how poor a battery can get and still start the engine apparently quite well, but you find there is actually very little in reserve. The downside of warm climates is that the battery actually chemically degrades more quickly than in cold climates, swings and roundabouts.

First things to check are whether the terminals are clean and tight, and what the charging voltage is when the engine is running, something just over 14V is normal (though intelligent charging systems can vary this). This will indicate whether the battery will get fully charged in the car.

Batteries will usually have a date code on them somewhere, usually a week/year code. If yours is more than perhaps 5yrs old it would not be wasted money to invest in a new one anyway. In the UK we can get a good quality battery for the Jazz (e.g. Yuasa silver 5000 range) for reasonable cost, around £60 sterling for a non-stop/start type.

[Kremmen]

Some posters on DashcamTalk have had success using powerbanks for parking mode to avoid extra strain on the car battery.

You can't permanently wire one in to charge and deliver power simultaneously as those types have been discontinued. The only known 'pass through' powerbank was RAVPower but they had hardware issues so discontinued.

[Jocko]

I use a Powerbank for my current rear camera and when (if) the Fabia ever arrives I intend to use that for both cameras (I have two) as the power socket is down between the front seats.

[Lord Voltermore]

Sounds like the battery on the Honda is a getting older. Or maybe the kia  does longer runs that help keep it better charged.
If you havnt already got one  its worth buying a digital multimeter  (from about £7.  )  You can use these to accurately measure  voltage,and you can find on the internet how this can help indicate  battery condition ,state of charge ,rate of discharge etc  A car battery specialist can do better tests, but then they want to sell you a new battery. -Multimeters  also have lots of other uses around the car and home- mine has saved me from unnecessary  aaa and aa battery changes in mouses,remotes etc .
If the car battery is a a bit past it but might outlast your ownership of the car , running the camera on a usb power bank is  a good idea, at least  for the winter.   Again they have other uses such as charging a phone 'in the field'.

[asone]

I haven't managed to work out how old the battery is.  I couldn't see a date on it, but I could only see the top without taking it out.  It is over 2 years old because that is as far back as I can see in the online banking :-)

It has an indicator bubble on top that is supposed to be green when the battery is good and red when it needs replacing.  That is still green, but I suspect that red is really dead and green is quite a wide performance band.  The battery is this one: https://www.yuasabatteries.com.au/resources/battery-finder/product/battery/ns40zlx%20mf/info

I was hoping it would be a small capacity battery in there and fitting a larger one would fix it, but this one seems to be about the largest capacity that I can easily get that will fit :-(

I have a multimeter (I can probably scare up 3 digital, one analog and a cheap digital oscilloscope if need be).  I haven't had time to measure the charging yet.  I do know that when I was poking around the fuse box to find ground and an always on fuse to use for power the battery was sitting at 12.6V.  Not sure what is normal for a battery to sit at.

I had wondered about the power bank thing, but to be honest I am a bit unsure about leaving one sit in a car in our summer heat all day.  I know they can start fires if they get too hot, and a car in the sun here can get way too hot inside.

[Kremmen]

If you use your car daily and cover at least 20 to 30 miles then the battery will get a good workout, be fully charged and a single overnight parking mode should be OK on the car battery.

If you only do low mileage then using the car battery for long periods of parking mode just won't work and the hardwire kit voltage cutoff, if it works properly, will cut parking mode more than desired.

[asone]

Work is about a half hour drive for me, so on weekdays it does at least 2 half hour trips daily.  Coming up to Christmas it's been doing an extra trip to pick my daughter up from work as well.  Should be keeping fairly good charge.