Will a dash cam drain my battery

At the time of driving, dash board camera plays a vital role for ensuring security. However, the question is will a dash cam drain my battery? Accident may happen any time due to reckless driving. Though we can be careful, accident can happen due to reckless driving from another driver.

We can prove the fault to the insurance company with the recording of the camera. Currently, Dashboard cameras are a great addition to vehicles. We can get power from some vehicles for the cigarette lighter even when the vehicle is turned off. It is essential to power dash cam on the cigarette lighter, we should not worry about the dash board camera draining car battery because we can’t turn on the dash cam when it loses power. After losing power it will turn off.

Why does dashcam drain battery?

Whenever you turn the car off, a dashcam will continue to draw power from the battery, since it is hardwired into the battery. This can cause a drain car battery. A backup camera also can drain the battery. After passing time it will be at a lower rate. In the event that you leave your dash cam charging but not driving, it will drain your car’s battery. When we do not drive our car for several days electrical components have the chance to drain the battery. In this case, we can unplug the dashcam to prevent further loss.

Will a dash cam drain my battery
Will a dash cam drain my battery

Does dash cam drain battery at the time of parking?

At the time of parking dash cam does not drain car battery. Dash cam consumes very little power. A dash cam with wide range of function consumes less than half the amount of power of a standard light bulb. When we turn on a standard light bulb, it can consume 0.9amps.Many dash cams have low voltage cut off feature.

For providing unwanted dead battery situations, many manufacturers provide low voltage cutoff and power magic pro accessories. Voltage level can be monitored by many dash cams. The camera can be stopped when power drops below the safety level. A good quality car battery can operate a dashcam in parking mode for one or two days. Duration will be not more before reaching the low voltage cut off level.

Does your insurance go down with a dash cam

Dashcams play a vital role as security cameras during the trip. Does your insurance go down with a dash cam? Insurance does not go down with a dash cam.

Does dashcam drain battery when hardwired?

It is common for dashcams to be hardwired to batteries so they can consume power even when the vehicle is not running. This could drain battery when the right precautions are taken. There is a voltage meter in a good hardwire kit that cuts out when it detects a critical voltage level.

How do dashboard camera works 

We need external power source to run dash cam effectively. We can charge them for future recordings operation. We can also connect them to power source constantly. We can control many dash cams by the ignition. They can be turned on or off by turning the vehicle. We should not worry about turning on or off the dashcam.

Types of power source 

We have two types of external power sources to power dashboard cameras. We can power dashboard cameras by using vehicle’s cigarette adapter and other is hardwire kit. Hardwire kits are designed such that the power will be shut off when the battery voltage drops below 11.4V. This will enable us to prevent the batteries from drained due to this installation. When we don’t use the car for several days we should unplug the dash cam.

Hardwire kit 

 We can use hardwire kit to charge up our dashcam. We use two dashcam wire. We can use one wire for power and the other is for ground. They are plugged in into a fuse. Fuse charges after turning on vehicle. By doing this we can’t drain the vehicle’s batteries but dash cam will stop working after turning off vehicle. We can use hardwire kit when cars are parked. We can buy hardwire kit with three wires.

Three wires are used for constant power, battery power and ground. In this way, a car battery can be drained. Many new dash board cameras use motion sensors. They can be turned on at the time of detecting movement. Battery level can be drained at the time of constant movement. When car is parked Dash cam may not turn on many nights if there is no movement. Though Car battery will not be empty in the morning, battery life ca be hampered.

Advantages 

1. This method may be arranged in order.

2. We can find power supply easily.

Disadvantages 

1. We need longer installation.

2. We need hardwire kit for each vehicle.

Cigarette lighter  

We can use a cigarette lighter as an external power outlet. We can use a power cord to plug it in cigarette charger. It is an external source. We know that the cigarette lighter works like the hardwire kit. When we turn on the vehicle cigarette lighter will get power.

On the other hand, when we turn off the vehicle, the cigarette lighter will also lose power. When we power dash cam on the cigarette lighter we should not worry about the dash cam draining the car battery. Dash cam will turn off when it loses power. When the cigarette lighter has an always power button the dashcam will get power even when the vehicle is turned off. It will drain the car battery.

Advantages 

1. Very simple to plug in.

2. We can get power supply easily.

Disadvantages 

1. 12v power socket is needed.

2. Cable can be obtrusive.

How to prevent dashcam from drawing car battery 

When car is off, a dash cam can draw from the vehicle battery. Whenever we do not wish for this to happen, we can hardwire the camera by using a fuse that turns off the engine when the camera is not needed. When this happens, parking mode will not be available. In my opinion, that is a negative aspect.

Even though the car’s ignition is off, the dash can continue to draw power even though the dash camera is hard-wired to remain on. You should use a good quality hard-wire kit in order to have a reliable hard-wire system. It is advisable to avoid lower-cost hardwire kits on the basis that they will continue to draw power until the battery has completely depleted.

Conclusion 

Dash cam is a great feature for vehicle. We should keep our car battery healthy. Besides this we should also keep dash cam well so that it can work very well. For preventing drainage cars battery both hardwiring kit and cigarette lighter play vital role. For emergency situations in which multiple dash cams are required, the cigarette lighter will be more useful. On the other hand when the dash cam is used for permanently for the vehicle we can use hardwire kit.