Dash cam power unit voltage setting

[Andy Rose]

Hi,
I’m trying to fit a mio mivue smartbox II to power my dashcam.

The instructions require me to set a voltage on the above unit.

Has anyone any ideas how I should take the voltage reading? From the car battery? With engine running or turned off? Or am I supposed to take reading from the fuse socket I will be taking my permanent live feed from?
Thanks

 

[DJAlix]

• Connect ACC to fuse position F40 (switched power for 12v socket).
• Connect Yellow to any fuse fuse in positions F4 through to F21.
• Connect Ground to an earthing point.

 

[Andy Rose]

I have just taken a voltage reading from my battery whilst engine is not running. The reading was 12.6 v.
There is no setting for this voltage on smart box. Incidentally, the smart box allows a parking mode function on dash cam.

 

[DJAlix]

if possible set the smartbox voltage cut off threshold to 12v.

 

[Andy Rose]

Thanks DJAlix, but I need to know which position the voltage selection switched should be in.

 

[Andy Rose]

Ah, sorry, we are messaging at same time. Thanks again

 

[DJAlix]

looks like 12V = 1 Off / 2 On

Set the following for parking mode:

3 = On / 4 = Off for 36 hours.

What the above means is the camera will power down based on which threshold is reached first, battery drops to 12v or 36hours has lapsed since the last ignition cycle.

 

[AlS3BE]

@DJAlix is there something like this you recommend for the f770?
I’m finding in parking mode the f770 switches off after a couple of hours which isn’t useful especially if I’m parked at airports or hotel car parks.
Dealer is saying the drain from the f770 is quite high and that’s why I’m getting occasional low battery warning on dash and code on bcm saying static drain too high.

 

[DJAlix]

The Thinkware F770 has an internal voltage cutoff / battery protection mode. You would need to make sure that this is activated and set to 12v. When I was running the F770, I run a Q800 Pro currently, I was easily getting 2 days of motion based parking mode. If you wanted longer then you would need an external battery solution.

Edit:

also if there are a lot of parking "events" detected then the camera would be using more power. I myself turn the motion sensitivity down to lowest as 1) I am not interested in seeing clouds and tree's moving in the wind and 2) this seems to work will in ignoring everything but "events" happening close to the vehicle. I turn vibration and noise sensitivity up to max.

 

[AlS3BE]

The Thinkware F770 has an internal voltage cutoff / battery protection mode. You would need to make sure that this is activated and set to 12v. When I was running the F770, I run a Q800 Pro currently, I was easily getting 2 days of motion based parking mode. If you wanted longer then you would need an external battery solution.

Edit:

also if there are a lot of parking "events" detected then the camera would be using more power. I myself turn the motion sensitivity down to lowest as 1) I am not interested in seeing clouds and tree's moving in the wind and 2) this seems to work will in ignoring everything but "events" happening close to the vehicle. I turn vibration and noise sensitivity up to max.

Will give it a try and see.
Battery voltage setting is at 12v other than that not changed anything since you fitted it.

 

[DJAlix]

Will give it a try and see.
Battery voltage setting is at 12v other than that not changed anything since you fitted it.

would suggest that the motion sensor settings need playing with or that your vehicles battery is not operating at 100%, or was not at 100% charge

 

[AlS3BE]

would suggest that the motion sensor settings need playing with or that your vehicles battery is not operating at 100%, or was not at 100% charge

That’s what I said to dealer. Went to visit family and car was running on motorway for 2 hours each way and battery capacity didn’t get past 70% ish. I know these stop start and regenerative gubbins stops it’s charging to 100% but 70% is quite low to me.
Now my normal commute is 12 miles each way so it never gets above 66% most days.

 

[DJAlix]

That’s what I said to dealer. Went to visit family and car was running on motorway for 2 hours each way and battery capacity didn’t get past 70% ish. I know these stop start and regenerative gubbins stops it’s charging to 100% but 70% is quite low to me.
Now my normal commute is 12 miles each way so it never gets above 66% most days.

That would greatly affect the "standby" time of the camera. Might be with investing in an external battery if you are looking at leaving the car parked for long periods.

 

[AlS3BE]

That would greatly affect the "standby" time of the camera. Might be with investing in an external battery if you are looking at leaving the car parked for long periods.

That’s what I was thinking. There are times my car is parked for whole working week.
What would you recommend?
Googled the thinkware one and it’s like £200 which is quite expensive for a battery.

 

[DJAlix]

That’s what I was thinking. There are times my car is parked for whole working week.
What would you recommend?
Googled the thinkware one and it’s like £200 which is quite expensive for a battery.

Thinkware only now offer the ivolt mini within the EU which has an approx 20hour standby time. It’s approx £180 and it’s independent of the vehicles battery. The ivolt fast charges when the engine is running and then powers the camera when the engine is off. The ivolt mini offers less standby time than a standard vehicle battery so it not worth the money unless you have a reason to want to remove your vehicles battery from the loop.

Larger ivolt units, up to 72 hours, are unavailable as they have to be shipped in bombproof boxes due to the battery rating and EU regs, so are cost prohibitive now.

 

[cuke2u]

That’s what I was thinking. There are times my car is parked for whole working week.
What would you recommend?
Googled the thinkware one and it’s like £200 which is quite expensive for a battery.

I have some experience of this with my A4. I had a Blackvue DR750S dashcam professionally installed with a Powermagic Pro. At first the installer set the PMP to 12.4 volts, as the instructions suggested, however because I only perform journeys of some 5 miles or so after only a few hours in parking mode the PMP was turning off the supply to the camera. So the installer had to come back and reset the PMP to 12 volts.
Now the dashcam stays on all night, if I have a normal working day, but don't expect much more than that without a alternative power source. They are expensive and there is no guarantee that it will keep the cam powered up for several days without using the car. Also note that they need charging up by using the car as well.
See here for my experiences https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/b9-and-blackvue.299391/ Within that there is advice on which mode to use, when the cam is in parking mode, to prevent less drain upon the car's battery....