Dashcam Install Help

[HankLloydRight]

Ok, here's my two-part solution to this dashcam problem.

Version One is the "lite" model which is ready now.
Version Two is the "advanced" model, but not quite ready yet.

Version One will will allow you to program your Tesla Homelink system to automatically turn on your dashcam when you leave your home/garage ("Away" mode), and turn it off when you return ("Home" mode).

See more about Version Two at the end of this post.

See the image below for Version One. V1 only has 12v power in (from the car power and/or existing battery), and 12v (switched) power out to the dashcam and/or in-car hotspot.

In the image below, there are:

• One 12v input
• One remote control switch (black box)
• One extra 12v output (unswitched)
• Two switched 12v outputs (with option for a third)
• Two remote controls, Homelink compatible (only one shown)
• Two One-to-Three EL cable splitters
• Four EL cable connectors (1 input, 3 output)

All you need to do to install this unit is wire it anywhere in-between your existing power source and your dashcam. The EL cable connectors also make it easy to remove the entire unit, and/or add other accessories, switched or unswitched.

The video below is to demonstrate that this remote control can be programmed into the Homelink system, and using the GPS Aware Homelink in the Tesla, it will automatically trigger your dashcam on or off without your intervention. And if for some reason your dashcam gets out of sync (or you want to manually enable "Home" or "Away" modes), you can use the remote button to or the Homelink entry on the touchscreen to toggle the power.

This video is for a Model S/X, I assume it's similar for Model 3:

I have enough parts here to build 5 units of the Version One remote switch, including everything you see above. If you want one, I'm asking $60 including shipping in the US. (sorry, shipping is more for Canada or overseas). PM me if you are interested. If more than 5 people are interested, I'll have to order more parts.

Version Two will do the same thing as V1, but adds an accessory battery, so that when you arrive at home at night, the unit will automatically turn off your dashcam and start charging the extra battery. When you leave home, it will turn on the dashcam using only battery power for as long as possible (until the dashcam can no longer run on battery power), and then automatically switch over to car power. With an appropriately sized battery, the cutover should only happen on the longest of days away from home. Most of the time, the dashcam would be running only on the battery, and the only drain on the car battery would be a brief period of time each night to recharge the dashcam battery.

As with Version One, you will be able to manually enter "Home" or "Away" modes using the remote or the Homelink touchscreen buttons.

A photo of my 'mostly-working' V2 prototype is below, but I think I might have to switch to a micro-controller to get it to work just the way I want. I probably won't have time to design and build that until September. And I don't have a Model 3 (yet), so I can't test it in real life. But maybe Version One is enough for now, along with the previous solutions offered, we might not even need Version Two.

 

[ranova]

Ok, here's my two-part solution to this dashcam problem.

Version One is the "lite" model which is ready now.
Version Two is the "advanced" model, but not quite ready yet.

Version One will will allow you to program your Tesla Homelink system to automatically turn on your dashcam when you leave your home/garage ("Away" mode), and turn it off when you return ("Home" mode).

See more about Version Two at the end of this post.

See the image below for Version One. V1 only has 12v power in (from the car power and/or existing battery), and 12v (switched) power out to the dashcam and/or in-car hotspot.

In the image below, there are:

• One 12v input
• One remote control switch (black box)
• One extra 12v output (unswitched)
• Two switched 12v outputs (with option for a third)
• Two remote controls, Homelink compatible (only one shown)
• Two One-to-Three EL cable splitters
• Four EL cable connectors (1 input, 3 output)

All you need to do to install this unit is wire it anywhere in-between your existing power source and your dashcam. The EL cable connectors also make it easy to remove the entire unit, and/or add other accessories, switched or unswitched.

View attachment 317839

The video below is to demonstrate that this remote control can be programmed into the Homelink system, and using the GPS Aware Homelink in the Tesla, it will automatically trigger your dashcam on or off without your intervention. And if for some reason your dashcam gets out of sync (or you want to manually enable "Home" or "Away" modes), you can use the remote button to or the Homelink entry on the touchscreen to toggle the power.

This video is for a Model S/X, I assume it's similar for Model 3:

I have enough parts here to build 5 units of the Version One remote switch, including everything you see above. If you want one, I'm asking $60 including shipping in the US. (sorry, shipping is more for Canada or overseas). PM me if you are interested. If more than 5 people are interested, I'll have to order more parts.

Version Two will do the same thing as V1, but adds an accessory battery, so that when you arrive at home at night, the unit will automatically turn off your dashcam and start charging the extra battery. When you leave home, it will turn on the dashcam using only battery power for as long as possible (until the dashcam can no longer run on battery power), and then automatically switch over to car power. With an appropriately sized battery, the cutover should only happen on the longest of days away from home. Most of the time, the dashcam would be running only on the battery, and the only drain on the car battery would be a brief period of time each night to recharge the dashcam battery.

As with Version One, you will be able to manually enter "Home" or "Away" modes using the remote or the Homelink touchscreen buttons.

A photo of my 'mostly-working' V2 prototype is below, but I think I might have to switch to a micro-controller to get it to work just the way I want. I probably won't have time to design and build that until September. And I don't have a Model 3 (yet), so I can't test it in real life. But maybe Version One is enough for now, along with the previous solutions offered, we might not even need Version Two.

View attachment 317842

Thats an amazing project you got going there! I think I would be interested in a v1 and trying to figure out how to integrate it with what I have now. I currently have a redundant power switch that changes power sources between the Blackvue b124 battery and regular 12v via cig socket, so no matter which power source is selected, it will always turn on when the car turns on. I think I could use the relay to setup a work and home location where I dont need my dash cam on during parking. So upon leaving my home or work, it will switch over to the b124 power source, but when I am in the home or work areas, it would switch to 12v source - effectively shutting down the dash cam when parked.

I would also be very interested in the v2 version, as I want to be able to run off the car's 12v battery ONLY when the b124 is depleted. Right now, I believe it will continually charge the b124 battery while the battery powers the dash cam, which I worry will cause 12v battery warnings

 

[HankLloydRight]

. So upon leaving my home or work, it will switch over to the b124 power source, but when I am in the home or work areas, it would switch to 12v source - effectively shutting down the dash cam when parked.

Just so I understand, is the 12v cig socket in the Model 3 a switched source only when the car is on? Under your current setup, when you switch to the b124 battery, wouldn't that power the dashcam even when the car is powered down?

It is possible to re-purpose the relay in the wireless module to flip between two power sources, instead of just on/off like it is now. I could wire that up for you with the connectors in the photo above. I might do that and post a photo later today (I have 'real work' to get to sometime today).

I would also be very interested in the v2 version, as I want to be able to run off the car's 12v battery ONLY when the b124 is depleted. Right now, I believe it will continually charge the b124 battery while the battery powers the dash cam, which I worry will cause 12v battery warnings

Yes, that's exactly what I plan V2 to do, but it's not as easy as it sounds. It really needs more logic than a few relays will provide.

 

[ranova]

Just so I understand, is the 12v cig socket in the Model 3 a switched source only when the car is on? Under your current setup, when you switch to the b124 battery, wouldn't that power the dashcam even when the car is powered down?

Yep, since I do have longer than 16 hour parking periods, especially at home or work, I usually dont switch to the b124 power source and keep it switched on the 12v cig socket as power source using a DPDT switch. The problem with just an on/off switch that others have done is that sometimes you just forget to turn it on, so you'll start driving without it and might miss something

If you can make v2 do that, I will definitely buy a set from you. I loathe having to micromanage my dashcam. Id rather set it and forget it, like how I have in other cars. Right now , if I want to do longer than 16 hours, I have to turn on preconditioning in my 3 every 8 hours for 30 minutes for the b124 to recharge. Sometimes the car doesnt have signal, so that wont work

 

[HankLloydRight]

Interesting. Thanks for the detail. Will keep this thread updated when I make progress on Version Two.

 

[ty04]

Okay it's been 3 months +/- a few days with my DR750S-2CH hooked up to my car's 12V running an average of ~30 hours a week. Still no battery service errors. Car's currently on 2018.21.9.

I may be switching out the DR750S for a Viofo A129-2CH in the next few months and I think it may consume less power.

 

[scottf200]

Okay it's been 3 months +/- a few days with my DR750S-2CH hooked up to my car's 12V running an average of ~30 hours a week. Still no battery service errors. Car's currently on 2018.21.9.

I may be switching out the DR750S for a Viofo A129-2CH in the next few months and I think it may consume less power.

From the BlackVue site so the watts... seems pretty small:

To give you a specific example, the average power consumption of the dual lens BlackVue DR750S-2CH dash cam is between 300 and 350 milliamps (3.6-4.2 watts @ 12v). A single-lens dash cam like the DR750S-1CH consumes even less power: between 200-250 mA (2.4-3 watts @ 12v). So, your dash cam is drawing about as much power as a 3-4 watt light bulb would

 

[Akikiki]

Hanklloyd, WOW, that's an amazing project gadget there. Automatically Off @ Home and automatically On - as you drive Away from Home. Of course, that could be flipped to do the opposite if someone had a situation that warranted it. VERY COOL DEVICE. VERY COOL.

 

[ty04]

From the BlackVue site so the watts... seems pretty small:

Well apparently it was still enough to trip whatever battery protection the Model 3 has (though I don't think if it's been determined to be a cumulative amount of power drawn or if it's some rate over a period of time). From what I've seen the A129 should use ~20-30% less energy than the DR750S so if anything it should "help".

 

[lairdb]

Just got back from my installer. They said they no longer hard wire to the battery as their customers have still said they get 12V battery issues. For mine they will be wiring to the 12V cig port. Once I get it back I'll figure somewhere to splice in my switch once I see how they ran things.

A new theory on this has occurred to me. Test question: have all the folks that have had the car raise a warning wired directly to the battery, literally, i.e. not to a constant 12v feed?

If so, theory: 12v current draw to all systems is monitored. The warning is triggered if the drain/charge decline on the battery itself differs from that being drawn by the active subsystems.

IOW, direct-to-battery car says: "hmmm. i'm asleep, and car systems have drawn 1327 mwh in the last hour. However, battery has declined by 1863 mwh. Battery chemistry must be borked. HELP HELP!"

Connected to constant 12v source inside car says: "ok, i'm asleep, and car systems have drawn 1860 mwh. Battery says it's down 1863 mwh; that's pretty close. back to sleep."

(Yes, it's possible that the second car would also say "wow, 1860 mwh is more than I expect while asleep; something else is wrong." However, that's a less likely step for them to engineer in, compared with monitoring battery health through drain comparison.)


tl;dr: Theory that connecting to unswitched 12 within the car instead of direct to battery may placate the warning system.

 

[mongo]

(Yes, it's possible that the second car would also say "wow, 1860 mwh is more than I expect while asleep; something else is wrong." However, that's a less likely step for them to engineer in, compared with monitoring battery health through drain comparison.)

That is actually very likely. The power distribution architecture uses smart FETs instead of fuses and relays. Smart FETS natively provide current flow feedback so you get a system with much more diagnostic smarts that typical. Sleep current would especially be monitored, even if it is only the total battery feed to monitor for wiring/ circuit faults or watch for excessive vampire drain.

 

[lairdb]

That is actually very likely. The power distribution architecture uses smart FETs instead of fuses and relays. Smart FETS natively provide current flow feedback so you get a system with much more diagnostic smarts that typical. Sleep current would especially be monitored, even if it is only the total battery feed to monitor for wiring/ circuit faults or watch for excessive vampire drain.

I only said "less likely" -- but I do think it less likely. From a development budget perspective, I'd put "small additional drain tracking" waaaay lower than battery health or (for example) short detection.

ETA: has anybody measured unmodified 12v draw during various sleep states?

 

[AdamNS]

rom the BlackVue site so the watts... seems pretty small

Depends on how you look at it. 4 watts is significantly more than I would have expected.
For reference, a TI-83 programmable calculator (20 year old technology, which I remember sucking down batteries) consumes just 0.01W while turned on and under 0.05W while calculating/graphing constantly. In that context, the DR750S I have installed is constantly using the same power as over 80 of those calculators

 

[mongo]

I only said "less likely" -- but I do think it less likely. From a development budget perspective, I'd put "small additional drain tracking" waaaay lower than battery health or (for example) short detection.

ETA: has anybody measured unmodified 12v draw during various sleep states?

From a developmental budget POV, they have analog inputs with bounds checking already, so it is near zero effort to set the expected bounds on the 12V or individual circuit draws. (more effort to code out the bounds check function).

Now, the level of accuracy they set the limits too...

 

[scottf200]

Depends on how you look at it. 4 watts is significantly more than I would have expected.
For reference, a TI-83 programmable calculator (20 year old technology, which I remember sucking down batteries) consumes just 0.01W while turned on and under 0.05W while calculating/graphing constantly. In that context, the DR750S I have installed is constantly using the same power as over 80 of those calculators

Seriously? Taking, analyzing, compressing HD videos is your comparison to a TI-83 graphing?

 

[AdamNS]

Seriously? Taking, analyzing, compressing HD videos is your comparison to a TI-83 graphing?

I wasn't trying to give a fair comparison.
I'm not suggesting that 4 watts is way above what's appropriate for a camera (though it could be more efficient), just that 4 watts is a lot of electricity. Because as you pointed out, it needs to do a lot.

I'm not trying to make an argument that "Blackvue cameras are power hogs". I'm trying to counter the argument "why would this cause an issue with the car? it's not like it uses a lot of power"

 

[ranova]

@HankLloydRight @Akikiki @AdamNS Could I setup a DPDT Relay switch to automatically switch from the b124 backup to the 12v car battery once the b124 is depleted?

Diagram of the relay I was thinking of:

So when the b124 backup battery has charge, it would be powering the relay power and therefore would be in the NO switch position. When the b124 runs out of battery, it should stop providing the relay power and therefore the relay switch should switch back to the NC position, which, at that point, will be using the car's 12V battery to power the dash cam.

Would this work? I came up with the this diagram after watching this video:

Relay I bought:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWXTHIX/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[HankLloydRight]

That's basically what one of the three relays is doing in my Version Two prototype, pictured above.

The problem is that when the b124 (or any accessory battery) drops below a sufficient charge level to run a dashcam (say it's between 11 and 12 volts), the dashcam will then shut down... but the battery will still be delivering more than enough current to the relay to keep it in the "NO" position.

Even though the relay is rated at 12v, it will likely stay energized well under that value. The battery voltage never really goes to "zero" (or low enough) to de-energize the relay. You can pretty much bet the power to keep a 12v relay closed is way less than the power needed to operate the dashcam.

And if for some reason the relay does shut off at anything below 12v, you probably won't be using the full power available in the battery for the dashcam, so your dashcam won't run until the battery "runs out", it will run as long as it can keep the relay closed, which would be a shorter time period.

What you want, which is what I'm working on for "V2", requires a few more logic controls, which is why I'm considering using a micro-controller and three or four individually controlled relays.

First, you would need to detect when the dashcam shuts down (regardless of voltage level in the accessory battery), and then flipping the relay over to car power. But then the dashcam is powered on again (after a brief interruption), and you do NOT want the relay to immediately switch back to battery power. You want it to say on car power until some other independent trigger (i.e. arriving home).

Second, the other problem is you have to figure out when and how to recharge the battery to "full" without energizing the relay again which would switch the dashcam back to the battery. If you recharge it just enough to energize the relay and/or power the dashcam, you'll get a circuit that's constantly flip-flopping between those two states, and that's not good either.

Third (just FYI) in your circuit above, you can tie all the negative wires together since they're all just "ground". You only need SPDT relays for this kind of thing.

Finally, you can also use a much smaller relay, like below, which is what I'm using in my designs -- these are more than enough to handle the currents being used for dashcams and such (well below 1 amp@12VDC) and much smaller and reliable.

https://www.amazon.com/Uxcell-JQC-3F-Electromagnetic-Power-Relay/dp/B01DZL8GH4

 

[ranova]

That's basically what one of the three relays is doing in my Version Two prototype, pictured above.

The problem is that when the b124 (or any accessory battery) drops below a sufficient charge level to run a dashcam (say it's between 11 and 12 volts), the dashcam will then shut down... but the battery will still be delivering more than enough current to the relay to keep it in the "NO" position.

Even though the relay is rated at 12v, it will likely stay energized well under that value. The battery voltage never really goes to "zero" (or low enough) to de-energize the relay. You can pretty much bet the power to keep a 12v relay closed is way less than the power needed to operate the dashcam.

And if for some reason the relay does shut off at anything below 12v, you probably won't be using the full power available in the battery for the dashcam, so your dashcam won't run until the battery "runs out", it will run as long as it can keep the relay closed, which would be a shorter time period.

What you want, which is what I'm working on for "V2", requires a few more logic controls, which is why I'm considering using a micro-controller and three or four individually controlled relays.

First, you would need to detect when the dashcam shuts down (regardless of voltage level in the accessory battery), and then flipping the relay over to car power. But then the dashcam is powered on again (after a brief interruption), and you do NOT want the relay to immediately switch back to battery power. You want it to say on car power until some other independent trigger (i.e. arriving home).

Second, the other problem is you have to figure out when and how to recharge the battery to "full" without energizing the relay again which would switch the dashcam back to the battery. If you recharge it just enough to energize the relay and/or power the dashcam, you'll get a circuit that's constantly flip-flopping between those two states, and that's not good either.

Third (just FYI) in your circuit above, you can tie all the negative wires together since they're all just "ground". You only need SPDT relays for this kind of thing.

Finally, you can also use a much smaller relay, like below, which is what I'm using in my designs -- these are more than enough to handle the currents being used for dashcams and such (well below 1 amp@12VDC) and much smaller and reliable.

https://www.amazon.com/Uxcell-JQC-3F-Electromagnetic-Power-Relay/dp/B01DZL8GH4

Thank you for your insights! Once I started reading, I came to that realization I wasn't taking in account that the relay would likely still be powered with a minimal amount of juice left in the b124. Thats really unfortunate, so I'll await your v2 and hope you get it working!

Thanks again

 

[Akikiki]

ranova, cool drawing.

I think Hank explained the complexity of his "Lite" and "Advanced". From reading this and other threads about Model 3 dash cam issues, I think his designs are terrific. I think he covers 80+% of the different situations that people so far have described as the way they live/drive/park and need the car and dash cam to behave. Has he missed a scenario that (maybe) he can cover for someone? Guys, what are your requirements. What do you need a "magic device" to do for you? What's the details or summary of the way you want an automated solution to work for you?

I am not promising that Hank can take what you need and turn it into a solution. (I can't promise in his behalf). But he's a smart guy and he's helping. Ya don't see many doing that these days. Hank is truly one of the good guys.