Dash Cameras

[vikingaero]

Probably a camera for the Lane Departure Warning System.

[Pesty]

Ahh didn’t think of that I’ll check handbook. Not heard any strange beeps or anything and I weave all over

[Belle427]

Looking to spend around £100 on a forward camera, nothing too fancy.
Probably nothing between them but saw these 2.
Any advice is much appreciated.
https://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/YI-3-Axis-G-Sensor-Contro...

[dfen5]

Just ordered a BlackVue dr750 2 channel and a Cellink Neo battery. Expensive but wanted to be able to leave park mode on without worrying about causing ‘high drain’ error codes on the car, seems Audi’s can be prone to that even with the battery managers.
Wanted the Audi UTR but it doesn’t go back to my car’s year and it gets crap reviews anyway.

[Watchman]

dfen5 said:

Just ordered a BlackVue dr750 2 channel and a Cellink Neo battery. Expensive but wanted to be able to leave park mode on without worrying about causing ‘high drain’ error codes on the car, seems Audi’s can be prone to that even with the battery managers.
Wanted the Audi UTR but it doesn’t go back to my car’s year and it gets crap reviews anyway.

I bought a 750/2 in July for £260-something and I regret not buying two at that price - the other for my wife's car. Do you know of any deals? Happy to go with the 16Gb card variant for a good price.

My Merc has an accessories battery into which I have plumbed my 750/2 with a MagicPro, but the cam is turning off when I exit the car. A BlackVue battery is £200 or more. A replacement for my accessories battery is £19 but a bit of work to install. I bought one and I'm just waiting until I have a free weekend which is coincidentally dry. That'll probably be May now [sigh].

[ninjag]

Watchman said:

My Merc has an accessories battery into which I have plumbed my 750/2 with a MagicPro, but the cam is turning off when I exit the car. A BlackVue battery is £200 or more. A replacement for my accessories battery is £19 but a bit of work to install. I bought one and I'm just waiting until I have a free weekend which is coincidentally dry. That'll probably be May now [sigh].

Is the accessories battery reading a low voltage with the engine off? Just wondering if it's also worth double checking the parking mode switch hasn't moved to the off position by accident, or any of the jumpers have moved?

[Heidfirst]

Watchman said:

I bought a 750/2 in July for £260-something and I regret not buying two at that price - the other for my wife's car. Do you know of any deals? Happy to go with the 16Gb card variant for a good price.

If you want to go with a Thinkware instead https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/new-uk-think... & the F800 Pro is also on sale atm anyway. Plus you don't need to budget for a PowerMagic Pro as the battery manager is already integrated in the Thinkware.

[davek_964]

Any recommendations for dash cams under £50?

To put it into context - I have 3 Nextbase cameras already (in other cars), and I've previously wired in power for fitting one in the 4th car but never got around to ordering the camera. I'm reluctant to spend ~£100 on a Nextbase again - especially since I've seen a few pics which suggest they've changed the USB connector type and so I may be forced to redo with wiring anyway.

I would prefer one with a screen - it gives me some confidence that it's still working.

[Watchman]

ninjag said:

Watchman said:

My Merc has an accessories battery into which I have plumbed my 750/2 with a MagicPro, but the cam is turning off when I exit the car. A BlackVue battery is £200 or more. A replacement for my accessories battery is £19 but a bit of work to install. I bought one and I'm just waiting until I have a free weekend which is coincidentally dry. That'll probably be May now [sigh].

Is the accessories battery reading a low voltage with the engine off? Just wondering if it's also worth double checking the parking mode switch hasn't moved to the off position by accident, or any of the jumpers have moved?

The MagicPro is setup and working properly - I checked a couple of weeks ago. I haven't actually measured the battery in isolation because it's so inaccessible - under the floor under the driver's seat. 19 quid gets a new one so I thought I'd just replace it and be done. If there's any life left in the old one, I'll use it for a fun project with my 14yo son who is just starting to get interested in electrics and electronics.

The problem *could* be with the main battery but the car starts just as convincingly as normal so I don't think that's likely but if the replacement accessories battery doesn't fix it, replacing the main battery is still cheaper than the official BlackVue battery pack (crazy price).

What's the betting that I end up replacing both car batteries then buying the Blackvue battery anyway?

[Watchman]

Heidfirst said:

Watchman said:

I bought a 750/2 in July for £260-something and I regret not buying two at that price - the other for my wife's car. Do you know of any deals? Happy to go with the 16Gb card variant for a good price.

If you want to go with a Thinkware instead https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/new-uk-think... & the F800 Pro is also on sale atm anyway. Plus you don't need to budget for a PowerMagic Pro as the battery manager is already integrated in the Thinkware.

When I did the research originally which led me to buy the BlackVue, I was quite happy with the choice but I don't recall looking at those so I'll give them a look over this evening. Thanks.

[ninjag]

Watchman said:

ninjag said:

Watchman said:

My Merc has an accessories battery into which I have plumbed my 750/2 with a MagicPro, but the cam is turning off when I exit the car. A BlackVue battery is £200 or more. A replacement for my accessories battery is £19 but a bit of work to install. I bought one and I'm just waiting until I have a free weekend which is coincidentally dry. That'll probably be May now [sigh].

Is the accessories battery reading a low voltage with the engine off? Just wondering if it's also worth double checking the parking mode switch hasn't moved to the off position by accident, or any of the jumpers have moved?

The MagicPro is setup and working properly - I checked a couple of weeks ago. I haven't actually measured the battery in isolation because it's so inaccessible - under the floor under the driver's seat. 19 quid gets a new one so I thought I'd just replace it and be done. If there's any life left in the old one, I'll use it for a fun project with my 14yo son who is just starting to get interested in electrics and electronics.

The problem *could* be with the main battery but the car starts just as convincingly as normal so I don't think that's likely but if the replacement accessories battery doesn't fix it, replacing the main battery is still cheaper than the official BlackVue battery pack (crazy price).

What's the betting that I end up replacing both car batteries then buying the Blackvue battery anyway?

I've got one of those little voltage digital displays that you pop into the cigarette lighter socket, handy for seeing your battery voltage before starting the engine. The amount of short runs I do hammers my battery.

[Dash-Cam Man]

Watchman said:

My Merc has an accessories battery into which I have plumbed my 750/2 with a MagicPro, but the cam is turning off when I exit the car. A BlackVue battery is £200 or more. A replacement for my accessories battery is £19 but a bit of work to install. I bought one and I'm just waiting until I have a free weekend which is coincidentally dry. That'll probably be May now [sigh].

If the camera is turning off instantly when you switch off the ignition, check your yellow wire on the Power Magic Pro, it will be wired into a switched fuse, not a constant 'Live'.

[M4cruiser]

I have 2 questions about the NextBase 412GW:-

It seems to be filling up the 32GB card, and I found it's putting about 20% of the files into "Protected" instead of "Video". Over time there's no space left, because it doesn't delete the protected ones (obviously).

1. Why would it put so many in Protected? As far as I'm aware we're not doing anything to trigger that.

2. How do you clear down the protected ones? Everything I've tried says you can't because they are protected!

Many thanks,

[ninjag]

M4cruiser said:

I have 2 questions about the NextBase 412GW:-

It seems to be filling up the 32GB card, and I found it's putting about 20% of the files into "Protected" instead of "Video". Over time there's no space left, because it doesn't delete the protected ones (obviously).

1. Why would it put so many in Protected? As far as I'm aware we're not doing anything to trigger that.

2. How do you clear down the protected ones? Everything I've tried says you can't because they are protected!

Many thanks,

I don't know the NextBase cameras but my guess is that the sensitivity of the G-Force is turned up high? Usually a format should ignore protected status and clear everything.

[ninjag]

Dash-Cam Man said:

If the camera is turning off instantly when you switch off the ignition, check your yellow wire on the Power Magic Pro, it will be wired into a switched fuse, not a constant 'Live'.

I was wondering about that but then he said it's all setup properly and also he has plumbed it into the accessories battery so I assumed it's been wired to the battery's terminal to run 24/7? If the battery is dying and not holding a charge then I guess when the engine is shut down the battery's voltage will immediately fall below the voltage cut-off set on the PMP's jumpers?

Otherwise, the fuses being tapped into with the yellow and red wires would be my first port of call with a multimeter

[dfen5]

Watchman said:

dfen5 said:

Just ordered a BlackVue dr750 2 channel and a Cellink Neo battery. Expensive but wanted to be able to leave park mode on without worrying about causing ‘high drain’ error codes on the car, seems Audi’s can be prone to that even with the battery managers.
Wanted the Audi UTR but it doesn’t go back to my car’s year and it gets crap reviews anyway.

I bought a 750/2 in July for £260-something and I regret not buying two at that price - the other for my wife's car. Do you know of any deals? Happy to go with the 16Gb card variant for a good price.

My Merc has an accessories battery into which I have plumbed my 750/2 with a MagicPro, but the cam is turning off when I exit the car. A BlackVue battery is £200 or more. A replacement for my accessories battery is £19 but a bit of work to install. I bought one and I'm just waiting until I have a free weekend which is coincidentally dry. That'll probably be May now [sigh].

Bought it off the BlackVue eBay shop, refurbished @ £249 shipped. They’re also doing the battery for £99

[M4cruiser]

ninjag said:

I don't know the NextBase cameras but my guess is that the sensitivity of the G-Force is turned up high? Usually a format should ignore protected status and clear everything.

Hello ninjag,
Many thanks - I hope it's now fixed; the G Sensor was "Medium" so I've set it to "Low". Format in the camera itself seems to work (a format attempt earlier on the computer refused to do it!).

As an aside, I do find the non-moving buttons on the Nextbase very hard to use, sometimes it just doesn't register. I guess it's quite a cheaply built product. Pressing "menu" either did nothing or found "ok" by mistake a few times.

[Watchman]

ninjag said:

Dash-Cam Man said:

If the camera is turning off instantly when you switch off the ignition, check your yellow wire on the Power Magic Pro, it will be wired into a switched fuse, not a constant 'Live'.

I was wondering about that but then he said it's all setup properly and also he has plumbed it into the accessories battery so I assumed it's been wired to the battery's terminal to run 24/7? If the battery is dying and not holding a charge then I guess when the engine is shut down the battery's voltage will immediately fall below the voltage cut-off set on the PMP's jumpers?

Otherwise, the fuses being tapped into with the yellow and red wires would be my first port of call with a multimeter

Yes, sorry about the late reply. It was all working well until the weather went cooler. Until then, it'd stay alive all night but as it went cooler, the duration dropped until it dies as soon as I turn off the engine now.

My wife's 62-plate E-class needed a new accessories battery so I know they're only good for a limited period. My GL is a 61 so it's done OK. I may need a "normal" battery change by now too but I'll change the little one first and see how it pans out.

[ninjag]

Watchman said:

Yes, sorry about the late reply. It was all working well until the weather went cooler. Until then, it'd stay alive all night but as it went cooler, the duration dropped until it dies as soon as I turn off the engine now.

My wife's 62-plate E-class needed a new accessories battery so I know they're only good for a limited period. My GL is a 61 so it's done OK. I may need a "normal" battery change by now too but I'll change the little one first and see how it pans out.

Definitely sounds like you are right with it being the battery and at least it's cheap enough! Although I'm wondering how the PMP operates properly unless you have the red wire connected to an ignition only fuse? Or is it basically running in parking mode 24/7 even when driving? (constant motion detection I guess).

[ninjag]

M4cruiser said:

Format in the camera itself seems to work (a format attempt earlier on the computer refused to do it!).

Always best to format in the device and not the computer is a tip I got from one of the dash cam manufacturers.