Dashcam to record for 24 hrs.

Associate
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I have an urgent need to leave a dashcam recording in my car for a whole day.I am concerned that this might drain the battery and then I will need to call AA/RAC to jumpstart the battery.

Are there any particular dashcams that can assist me ? I have also read about using OBD ports as the adapters have a 'sensor' that switches off the dashcam when a certain low voltage is reached and thus does not drain the battery.

Much appreciated for any help.
 
Man of Honour
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Most dashcams now have a USB power connection on them - so you can use an external battery pack.

Depending on dashcam you are probably looking at between 10,000 and 50,000mah USB battery pack for 24 hours.
 

NVP

NVP

Soldato
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I can offer no advice, however I'm curious as to the urgent need - care to spill some sexy details?
 
Soldato
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Most dashcams now have a USB power connection on them - so you can use an external battery pack.

Depending on dashcam you are probably looking at between 10,000 and 50,000mah USB battery pack for 24 hours.

My dashcam (a rather average model) draws 100mA - so 2,400mAh is all it’d need for 24 hours.
50,000 would probably do it for months! :D

To the OP, 2,400mAh of capacity loss is nothing to the average car battery - so you’d be OK to leave it running from this.
 
Man of Honour
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My dashcam (a rather average model) draws 100mA - so 2,400mAh is all it’d need for 24 hours.
50,000 would probably do it for months! :D

To the OP, 2,400mAh of capacity loss is nothing to the average car battery - so you’d be OK to leave it running from this.

Depends on the features and how well designed it is - some of the generic noname ones can sit there using 700mA for LOLs.
 
Soldato
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I have an urgent need to leave a dashcam recording in my car for a whole day

Make sure your SD card has sufficient space for the whole 24 hours.

I have also read about using OBD ports as the adapters have a 'sensor' that switches off the dashcam when a certain low voltage is reached and thus does not drain the battery.

Yes, I have one of these. It works well.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XS33J2N

I am concerned that this might drain the battery and then I will need to call AA/RAC to jumpstart the battery.

Get yourself one of these:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/jump-start-4000/
 
Associate
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Do you need it recording for 24 hours or will ones with a movement sensor be sufficiant? Mine easily records (Thinkware F770) will record a couple of days footsge before it turns off at the set Voltage to stop the car battery suffering.
 
Associate
OP
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I can offer no advice, however I'm curious as to the urgent need - care to spill some sexy details?

Nothing illegal, I assure thee.

Make sure your SD card has sufficient space for the whole 24 hours.

Would 128GB suffice?

Do you need it recording for 24 hours or will ones with a movement sensor be sufficiant? Mine easily records (Thinkware F770) will record a couple of days footsge before it turns off at the set Voltage to stop the car battery suffering.
It does need to be a steady 24 hours recording.
 
Underboss
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Nothing illegal, I assure thee.



Would 128GB suffice?


It does need to be a steady 24 hours recording.


nope

128Gb is NOT enough
i had a 400 Gb, and that was enough
but you have to remember, if the memory card is NOT designed for video use, the sd card will not last very long

bare in mind a lot of camera will not work above 128Gb, with the exception of Blackvue , they do 256Gb

my thinkware took a "normal" memory card 400Gb A1 card, and only just worked for 6 months before it died
 
Man of Honour
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but you have to remember, if the memory card is NOT designed for video use, the sd card will not last very long

Frustratingly each new generation seems to reduce the write cycles lifetime - slightly older generation normal ones often have higher write endurance than the newer ultra-high endurance ones :( and so on.

I've been using some older Kingston 32 and 64GB ones which survive about 10x as long as a current model 64 or 128GB high endurance SD card in the same situation.

128GB gets about 20 hours of footage on the ones I use though I think you can adjust the settings to double that at a reduction in quality - but you really don't want to do that as it renders the footage useless for actually showing a lot of stuff like numberplates and finer details.
 
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