Blackvue Front and Rear dashcam

[GrumpyGranddad]

Ah, you live near Halton. Used to live in High Moors, Halton, when I was posted to RAF Hospital Halton back in the mid 70's.

Yep, Wendover.

 

[Wogga]

Yep, Wendover.

GG did roger fit the flat cable from the solar panel to the door? Can I have picture of where goes into the van if you get a mo?

Did you look at a bigger storage card for the cam?

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

GG did roger fit the flat cable from the solar panel to the door? Can I have picture of where goes into the van if you get a mo?

Did you look at a bigger storage card for the cam?

I went for the curly cable Wogga.
I haven’t tried a bigger micro SD card yet. On reflection I probably don’t need it because my Dashcam is connected to the Cloud. All ‘Events’ get stored there. I do have some bigger capacity SD cards laying around so might try it at some point.

 

[Wogga]

I went for the curly cable Wogga.
I haven’t tried a bigger micro SD card yet. On reflection I probably don’t need it because my Dashcam is connected to the Cloud. All ‘Events’ get stored there. I do have some bigger capacity SD cards laying around so might try it at some point.View attachment 69321View attachment 69322

You greedy boy you got two! Thanks for the pictures. Should be no low battery woes there with the dash cam sucking juice, let us know how you get. My van is finally off the production, it is now enjoying a bier at the Hauptbahnhof waiting for the train to Emden.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

You greedy boy you got two! Thanks for the pictures. Should be no low battery woes there with the dash cam sucking juice, let us know how you get. My van is finally off the production, it is now enjoying a bier at the Haupbahnhof waiting for the train to Emden.

Won’t be long now Wogga.
Yes, hopefully I’ll have no worries with leisure or starter batteries. The Power Magic Pro will protect the starter battery from dashcam drain too.

 

[marcdavis]

Great thread this. Thanks for posting all the info/pics on your Blackvue installation GG. It’s definitely near the top of my essential van purchases when it arrives next year.

One question... now you have been using the cameras for a few weeks, do you have a view of how long ‘Parking Mode’ is staying active before the Power Magic Pro steps in? (assuming your solar panels are not feeding your starter battery, based on what I have read).

 

[Californication69]

I went for the curly cable Wogga.
I haven’t tried a bigger micro SD card yet. On reflection I probably don’t need it because my Dashcam is connected to the Cloud. All ‘Events’ get stored there. I do have some bigger capacity SD cards laying around so might try it at some point.View attachment 69321View attachment 69322

I’d have to get my knipex cutters on that cable tie and cut it flat, had too many nasty cuts on my forearms from sticking out cable ties !!
Lovely looking solar panels though @GrumpyGranddad

 

[Properjob]

Great thread this. Thanks for posting all the info/pics on your Blackvue installation GG. It’s definitely near the top of my essential van purchases when it arrives next year.

One question... now you have been using the cameras for a few weeks, do you have a view of how long ‘Parking Mode’ is staying active before the Power Magic Pro steps in? (assuming your solar panels are not feeding your starter battery, based on what I have read).

Depends on the time of year. I have BlackVue front and rear plus a single 110w solar panel from Roger, and in the winter i get about a day before the power magic pro kicks in. In the summer it never seems to need to as the solar keeps both sets of batteries topped up all the time.

 

[marcdavis]

Depends on the time of year. I have BlackVue front and rear plus a single 110w solar panel from Roger, and in the winter i get about a day before the power magic pro kicks in. In the summer it never seems to need to as the solar keeps both sets of batteries topped up all the time.

Thanks Properjob. Makes sense. It very much depends on the variables. I think I need to properly work out my ‘use case’. Originally, the main reason I wanted a dash cam was for keeping tabs on driving incidents. However, after reading all of the great content on here about the Blackvue, it’s now parking mode that is really interesting me.

I’m not overly concerned about parking at home as it’ll be on my driveway, so it is more for the ‘out and about’ usage such as school run, supermarket/public car parks and national trust etc. car parks. In all these cases, I’d only be away from <insert name here TBC April 2021> for a few hours max. Therefore, assuming I was only recording for ‘events’, the trickle from the starter battery with protection from the Power Manage Pro would do the trick.

The part I’m torn on is the occasional longer parking sessions - all day or overnight for 1 or 2 nights. These occasions would be less frequent but they would probably be well served with a Power Magic Ultra Battery B-124X - assuming the cams are not on constant record of course. However they are quite steep which is making me hesitate a bit.

(I haven’t even started to look at Solar Panels yet, but this could be another route of course).

I suppose it all boils down to if I think it’s worth spending a couple of hundred quid now for peace of mind to help protect what will be a very valuable asset.

Apologies for the rambling post! Thinking out loud here but just wanted to share my thought process

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Great thread this. Thanks for posting all the info/pics on your Blackvue installation GG. It’s definitely near the top of my essential van purchases when it arrives next year.

One question... now you have been using the cameras for a few weeks, do you have a view of how long ‘Parking Mode’ is staying active before the Power Magic Pro steps in? (assuming your solar panels are not feeding your starter battery, based on what I have read).

Hi marcdavis,
OK, so my solar panels are feeding the 2 leisure batteries AND the starter battery. Roger runs a wire to a relay under the passenger seat to make the necessary connection.
So far the Power Magic Pro hasn’t kicked in at all, even though it’s been foggy/overcast here for a few days. The test will be this coming week with my van undercover in a VW workshop having a repair done.

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Thanks Properjob. Makes sense. It very much depends on the variables. I think I need to properly work out my ‘use case’. Originally, the main reason I wanted a dash cam was for keeping tabs on driving incidents. However, after reading all of the great content on here about the Blackvue, it’s now parking mode that is really interesting me.

I’m not overly concerned about parking at home as it’ll be on my driveway, so it is more for the ‘out and about’ usage such as school run, supermarket/public car parks and national trust etc. car parks. In all these cases, I’d only be away from <insert name here TBC April 2021> for a few hours max. Therefore, assuming I was only recording for ‘events’, the trickle from the starter battery with protection from the Power Manage Pro would do the trick.

The part I’m torn on is the occasional longer parking sessions - all day or overnight for 1 or 2 nights. These occasions would be less frequent but they would probably be well served with a Power Magic Ultra Battery B-124X - assuming the cams are not on constant record of course. However they are quite steep which is making me hesitate a bit.

(I haven’t even started to look at Solar Panels yet, but this could be another route of course).

I suppose it all boils down to if I think it’s worth spending a couple of hundred quid now for peace of mind to help protect what will be a very valuable asset.

Apologies for the rambling post! Thinking out loud here but just wanted to share my thought process

Personally I wouldn’t go for the Blackvue battery, i’d rather put that money towards solar which gives you other benefits. But it really depends on your usage i.e. if you park under cover regularly with no sunlight then the Blackvue battery might be worth the spend.

 

[marcdavis]

Personally I wouldn’t go for the Blackvue battery, i’d rather put that money towards solar which gives you other benefits. But it really depends on your usage i.e. if you park under cover regularly with no sunlight then the Blackvue battery might be worth the spend.

Hi GG, Thanks for the insight. It has definitely given me some food for thought! Time to start some solar panel research.... It will be interesting to see the results when you get yours back from the dealer.

Btw, I hope your bench repair goes smoothly. It must be extremely frustrating to be parted from your new pride and joy so soon after getting it

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Hi GG, Thanks for the insight. It has definitely given me some food for thought! Time to start some solar panel research.... It will be interesting to see the results when you get yours back from the dealer.

Btw, I hope your bench repair goes smoothly. It must be extremely frustrating to be parted from your new pride and joy so soon after getting it

Thanks Marc,
Yes a bit frustrating but should all be done by mid-week. I have to say i’ve so far been very impressed by Citygate, Wooburn Green. They talked me through things when I dropped the van off on Saturday and reassured me that they had ordered in parts to cover all eventualities including a complete new seat frame, rails, trims, etc.Time will tell but i’m looking forward to a good ongoing relationship with them.

Hi GG, Thanks for the insight. It has definitely given me some food for thought! Time to start some solar panel research.... It will be interesting to see the results when you get yours back from the dealer.

Btw, I hope your bench repair goes smoothly. It must be extremely frustrating to be parted from your new pride and joy so soon after getting it

BTW i’ve also got the starter battery upgrade in my Cali which may help?

 

[marcdavis]

Thanks Marc,
Yes a bit frustrating but should all be done by mid-week. I have to say i’ve so far been very impressed by Citygate, Wooburn Green. They talked me through things when I dropped the van off on Saturday and reassured me that they had ordered in parts to cover all eventualities including a complete new seat frame, rails, trims, etc.Time will tell but i’m looking forward to a good ongoing relationship with them.


BTW i’ve also got the starter battery upgrade in my Cali which may help?

Good to hear Citygate are looking after you. It’s my local so may well be using them soon. I’m just down the road from you in Amersham

All being well, come April there will be another Candy White / Copper Bronze specimen roaming the Chilterns!

 

[Abx]

Anybody put a larger SD card in a Blackvue camera? Mine comes with a 32Gb card but thinking of buying a bigger one. However Blackvue says it MUST be one of there’s !!??
If so I won’t bother as they want to charge £318.95 for a 256Gb !!! Crazy, you can buy a good quality card (Sandisk) of that size for about £50.

If you google the question there are a few sites that state what non BV cards work in their cameras's, I use branded aftermarket and when they crash just replace, I get well over a year out of each and for £10/£15 a lot cheaper than a BV card, one hint is to format it each month, easy to do with two presses of a button on a camera and prolongs the cards life.

 

[Abx]

I've been using BV cameras for years and their power magic pro, the setting on both the PMP and the camera are a fine balance.

I had the PMP set to record at the max length and after not using my car during the week at the weekend had a battery low message on my dash, this is on my M3 and the batteries in those are £700 so was keen not to destroy that, and i fact all I was doing was recording the inside of my garage door so pointless, I now have set to 6 hours as that will catch most car park incidents.

As for the camera, on my T5.1 which was lowered and on 20's I had to really play with the sensitivity settings as it was always recoding, just with normal driving it thought everything was an accident so I had to turn vertical pretty much off and reduce front/back and side!

Just ordered a new X range and that no longer needs a power magic as its all built into the camera which should make life easier,

 

[Californication69]

How was the power consumption on the Lesuire battery’s whilst using parking mode on blackvue cameras @GrumpyGranddad ?
Whilst the Buzz was in for bench repair ?

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Hi Californication69,
It was a same day fix for the bench seat and I believe Citygate unplugged the cameras whilst in the workshop, however I believe they are wired to the starter battery not the leisure batteries.
My Cali has, like most of us, sat idle recently for days at a time and the Blackvue cameras have therefore been in Parking Mode a lot. They’ve not switched off at all via the Power Magic Pro so I guess the battery drain is not too great. Having said that I do have dual solar panels which Roger set up to charge both leisure and starter batteries.

 

[Californication69]

Hi Californication69,
It was a same day fix for the bench seat and I believe Citygate unplugged the cameras whilst in the workshop, however I believe they are wired to the starter battery not the leisure batteries.
My Cali has, like most of us, sat idle recently for days at a time and the Blackvue cameras have therefore been in Parking Mode a lot. They’ve not switched off at all via the Power Magic Pro so I guess the battery drain is not too great. Having said that I do have dual solar panels which Roger set up to charge both leisure and starter batteries.

Thanks @GrumpyGranddad
So the Solar has been keeping the Lesuire & starter topped up and kept the BlackVue from shutting down. That’s good. When pressing the button on ceiling display, how many blue bars and charge left in the Lesuire battery’s ?
I think you need to switch on ignition to get the display to update. TIA

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Thanks @GrumpyGranddad
So the Solar has been keeping the Lesuire & starter topped up and kept the BlackVue from shutting down. That’s good. When pressing the button on ceiling display, how many blue bars and charge left in the Lesuire battery’s ?
I think you need to switch on ignition to get the display to update. TIA

Just taken the attached photo.

Just taken the attached photo.

I should add that i have also had it on EHU for about 8 hours on Monday this week.

 

[Californication69]

I should add that i have also had it on EHU for about 8 hours on Monday this week.

Thanks, and I guess it’s only true as he about 2 hours of Sun while I tested Rogers Solar panels in the garden.
Saw the sun and thought aha, some sun to test the panels out before installation !!

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Thanks, and I guess it’s only true as he about 2 hours of Sun while I tested Rogers Solar panels in the garden.
Saw the sun and thought aha, some sun to test the panels out before installation !!

Different subject but does the graphic for waste water in my photo above mean thete is some in the tank? I.e. the yellow strip along the bottom. Thought i’d checked it was empty.

 

[Californication69]

Different subject but does the graphic for waste water in my photo above mean thete is some in the tank? I.e. the yellow strip along the bottom. Thought i’d checked it was empty.

Mines the same.
Both tanks are empty, but shows some liquid in there.
Maybe funky software issue ?

 

[Californication69]

I've been using BV cameras for years and their power magic pro, the setting on both the PMP and the camera are a fine balance.

I had the PMP set to record at the max length and after not using my car during the week at the weekend had a battery low message on my dash, this is on my M3 and the batteries in those are £700 so was keen not to destroy that, and i fact all I was doing was recording the inside of my garage door so pointless, I now have set to 6 hours as that will catch most car park incidents.

As for the camera, on my T5.1 which was lowered and on 20's I had to really play with the sensitivity settings as it was always recoding, just with normal driving it thought everything was an accident so I had to turn vertical pretty much off and reduce front/back and side!

Just ordered a new X range and that no longer needs a power magic as its all built into the camera which should make life easier,

@Abx Is your Night time live view completely dark?
I’ve just looked at my live view and nothing to see !!

 

[Californication69]

@GrumpyGranddad
What settings are you running?
When it’s in park mode, do you have it on a visual movement and knock sensing or just the knock sensor ?
I’m trying to see which is best