New car. Left dash cam ON overnight. The car wouldn't start in the morning.

[Three]

2015 Mazda 3 HB, purchased in Sept 2015. Left a dash cam ON overnight (standby mode) by forgetting to turn it off. In the morning the car wouldn't start. Is this common? It's a small one channel camera. I thought it would take a lot longer than one night to drain the battery.

[S.F.W.]

Not sure if it is common, but it does make sense. Dash cameras in standby mode can deep cycle a battery. You should either set the minimum voltage on your dash cam, or upgrade your battery.

[aZuMi]

Yes, it happens. Get your car jump started and run it for 30 mins to get it charged up and don't forget to turn off your dash cam.

Min-voltage cut off is nice, but the low temperature during winter doesn't help and you still have the risk of your battery not cranking your car. This happened to my WRX - so I make sure my dash cam is always off when I'm leaving the car.

[Three]

Ok thanks, I will rewire my cam so it would turn on/off with the car.

[ottoyu34]

you would need a dashcam with battery drain prevention for functions like that.

[Jeff-TheBiz]

or get one of those magic boxes that cut out when the voltage drops to a certain point.

[michaelm_]

Yup..like the other members said, you can either turn it off before you leave the car or get the box/module that'll program you car to turn your dashcam off when it reaches a certain battery voltage. Best to contact audio heaven/lockdown security for that.

[Three]

Ended up going to Lockdown Security. Here is the cell phone picture of the work. Have no idea where and what it is connected to, but it solved all the problems I had. So far very pleased with their work.

http://postimg.org/image/l8o52h17l/

[Three]

http://postimg.org/image/l8o52h17l/

[Three]

How do I edit my own post? Also, please delete my post below. Was trying to insert an image but for some reason it does not work.

[ottoyu34]

Does dashcam turn off along with the car?

[Three]

Does dashcam turn off along with the car? Yes. It's pretty neat. Still didnt find what it connects to.

[Canadianbacon]

My dashcam turns off at 12.1v (50% battery)

[ottoyu34]

Yes. It's pretty neat. Still didnt find what it connects to.

taps into your interior fuse box.

[Three]

My dashcam turns off at 12.1v (50% battery)

So every time you turn off the car, the dash cam keeps working until it's battery depletes to 50 %, and then when you turn the car on, it recharges to 100%? Sounds a little redundant.

[S.F.W.]

So every time you turn off the car, the dash cam keeps working until it's battery depletes to 50 %, and then when you turn the car on, it recharges to 100%? Sounds a little redundant.
In parking mode it is not redundant. The alternative is the camera stays on, until the battery is fully depleted, then you go to start the car and need a boost. Other option is to turn off parking mode.
I prefer the idea of turning off once battery is depleted to a certain %.

[Canadianbacon]

So every time you turn off the car, the dash cam keeps working until it's battery depletes to 50 %, and then when you turn the car on, it recharges to 100%? Sounds a little redundant.

No its in parking mode, it only turns on when it detects motion/loud banging noises 100% of time and is VERY accurate. It makes a 20 second recording and puts it under the Parking folder in the dashcam. Its a compustar motion sensor in the camrea.

[Three]

No its in parking mode, it only turns on when it detects motion/loud banging noises 100% of time and is VERY accurate. It makes a 20 second recording and puts it under the Parking folder in the dashcam. Its a compustar motion sensor in the camrea.

Ok, I see. Then it's quite useful. I misunderstood how the parking mode works.

[zoomister]

I just got 2016 GT which has only 1 always-on 12vdc socket. I wanted to plug my camera into a switched socket to avoid battery drain. Alas, the GT has the useless CD player instead of switched 12v sockets.

I found a thread on reddit which suggests to use the USB which has switched 5vdc. You can get an adapter from Ebay or just make one. But I got a socket from Canadian tire and cut one end from a spare USB cable. Have not tested it yet.

[natspriceless]

Okay now this is going to sound silly (and there is a good chance that I wasn't fully paying attention to the salesperson when I purchased) but isn't the i-ELOOP feature supposed to safe guard against things like this? Is that not where the power for all these ports comes from?

[JonsMazda]

Hmm I left my dashcam on for 2days and never got power drained.

[xxgg]

I just got 2016 GT which has only 1 always-on 12vdc socket. I wanted to plug my camera into a switched socket to avoid battery drain. Alas, the GT has the useless CD player instead of switched 12v sockets.

I found a thread on reddit which suggests to use the USB which has switched 5vdc. You can get an adapter from Ebay or just make one. But I got a socket from Canadian tire and cut one end from a spare USB cable. Have not tested it yet.

Not sure about your camera but my dash cam mode auto change as if it things I am plugging into a computer. Thus... camera mode is not working.
To avoid this, you need a USB cable for charge only, so no data wires.

You can quickly google how to make your own charge only usb cable. very simple.

[zoomister]

The 2016 Mazda 3 has two 12v auxillary fuses but only one 12v socket in the armrest which is always on. This can be fixed without modifying the car with the add-a-circuit device found at walmart. You remove the last or bottom 15amp fuse and plug in this adapter. You also need a crimping tool to join wires after you have routed them. Finally, you need a 10amp battery charging clip to make ground connection. I found one under the dash above the steering column. Look for a big black wire with a ring terminal bolted to the structure.

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=13061&d=1466995641