• This topic has 19 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 4 years ago by DezB.
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  • Dash cams that record whilst parked. Recommendations please :)
  • woody2000
    Full Member

    After another incidence of car vandalism outside our house, I’ve decided that a camera might be a good idea.  Our house is elevated from the road and cars are not visible so regular CCTV not really an option.  I understand it’s possible to get dash cams that will continue to record after the car is parked which would seem like a half decent solution – anyone able to recommend one please?  TIA

    euain
    Full Member

    Not sure about dash cams – but could you put one of those motion-sensitive wildlife cameras somewhere that could see it?

    Something like this?

    alanf
    Free Member

    The problem with continuing to record once parked up is that it will drain the vehicle battery and eventually shut down. Depending on how smart the car is it could mean you can’t then start the car.
    You can get a piggyback battery which can be charged while the vehicle is running to then subsequently power the dash cam when the vehicle is switched off, but they are eye-wateringly expensive. The wildlife cam above sounds like a better idea to me.

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    woody2000
    Full Member

    Thanks.  I don’t think the wildlife cam would be a goer – to be able to see the cars it would have to be mounted somewhere pretty obvious and I’d guess it would be knocked off or nicked in no time.  The cars are parked on a busyish street so the camera would be triggered all the time as well.  I’ve seen some of the cameras come with a widget to stop the battery being drained, but I guess a decent sized powerbank would do the trick to keep the camera powered for a while at least?

    flyingmonkeycorps
    Full Member

    The one I have has a park mode which is triggered by impact I think, dunno if that would be any use.

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    Arlo does a self-contained, wireless security cam that connects to a mobile network using a SIM called Arlo Go. Not cheap though. The wildlife cam sounds like a more affordable solution.

    dove1
    Full Member

    Some of the Garmin dash cams have the record-while-parked facility. It is triggered by motion sensing so not continually recording and draining the car battery.
    The 55 and 65 models definitely do with the addition of an extra parking mode cable.

    Garmin are releasing a new dash cam shortly, the Tandem which also records the interior of the car.

    woody2000
    Full Member

    Cars are parked here, so a wildlife cam would have to go on the wall.  It would be seen and pinched within a day 🙂

    Issue is people walking past and knocking mirrors off (path side, not road).  We’ve all been done 3 or 4 times in the last few years.  Pissed up idiots or bored kids walking home most likely.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Issue is people walking past and knocking mirrors off (path side, not road).

    will the dash cam be able to read their registration? 🙂

    I can understand the frustration but what help is the cam – your wing mirror won’t be in the field of view. If you return to your car to find the mirror damaged all you’ll have is film of everyone who walked past since you parked the car and proof of nothing.

    i know people generally think of the curb nearest to their house as their place to park but if it was me I’d just park somewhere else.

    woody2000
    Full Member

    I’m not just concerned about my car, if I can catch it happening to someone else’s that’s a win too.  If it works then we might all get one and park to cover everyone.  Camera may act as a deterrent too I guess (or not!) 🙂

    It’s one long straight road, if I park anywhere else it’s just as likely to happen there too!

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    That looks like a really narrow pavement. Maybe try to get it widened so that door mirrors aren’t making it difficult to get past? Do you fold your mirrors in when parked?

    Pierre
    Full Member

    I’ve got a Thinkware F800 front and rear cam which was pain-in-the-arse expensive to buy but relatively easy to fit and set up, although I sought the help of a local in car hi fi shop to do the hardwiring into the fuse box.

    It’s been excellent – it’s got loads of settings and when parked (when the ignition’s off) it’s got different options for how to record. It’s also got a battery level detector so that if your battery drops below a certain point it will shut down, so you’re not left with a dead battery. This hasn’t been a problem for me, but I guess if you’ve got an old battery it might be – that said, a new battery is a lot cheaper than the piggyback batteries and would mean your car starts more reliably!

    I leave it in a mode that starts recording if it senses a bump or motion. The advantage of this is that it uses less power most of the time, but that it takes a second to “wake up” and start recording so won’t start until after the impact. The other option is to have it in a mode that’s permanently recording to a memory buffer but only writes to the memory card the contents of the buffer once it senes an impact. The advantage of that is it will have in the memory the minute or so before the impact, so you’ll have a better record of what happened, but the permanently recording mode uses more power so will drain your battery faster.

    The mode I use seems to work fine for a week or two of parked monitoring. That said, the recording function is set to only start if the camera senses a physical movement. Which means it won’t start recording if someone is having a go at the car parked behind you unless they jostle your car as well. If you want it permanently recording (and a 128GB SD card can store at least a few days’ worth of recordings), you’ll need to set it to do that, but be aware of the drain on the battery.

    HTH!

    woody2000
    Full Member

    It’s not that narrow, pic is foreshortening it a bit I think – 2 people can walk side by side easily enough.  Mirrors are generally folded in yes.  I don’t think it’s accidental if that’s what you’re getting at.  There’s been scratches and a broken window too (I’m making it sound like a terrible place to live!)

    woody2000
    Full Member

    Thanks @Pierre

    scotroutes
    Full Member

    Cool. I was thinking more of folk taking out their frustration than it being purely accidental.

    Pierre
    Full Member

    Another consideration is where to put the camera(s) in the car. The conventional front and rear setup won’t capture anything useful if someone runs a key down the side of your car; conversely, cameras set up to look sideways out of the car aren’t much use while you’re driving the car.

    A compromise is to set up the two cameras alongside each other, either both at the rear of the car or both on the top of the screen. That way one of them looks out of the glass, the other views the inside of the car and, because they tend to be wide-angle lenses, both sides of the car as well. The downside of this is that if you’re in the car there’s a camera permanently watching you, which not everyone is comfortable with!

    While researching which camera to buy I found all sorts of crazy multi-camera setups detailed online, mostly from people in the States in areas where I guess CCTV and fearing your neighbours is more of a way of life. :/

    woody2000
    Full Member

    I’m not really bothered about using it as an actual dashcam, more of a security camera to be honest.  Most half decent dash cams seem to be pretty good in low light without having to use the infrared illumination (which is useless behind glass anyway).  I should be able to angle it so that it gives a reasonable view forward and slightly sideways,

    c_klein87
    Full Member

    ive had a 70mai dashcam from aliexpress for 4 months, seems good, software can be a little funky but otherwise very good, think they are around £40-50 and 1080p etc

    retro83
    Free Member

    I’ve got a Nextbase 522GW with front and rear, and though it does have a parking mode, it won’t be any good out of the box. The inbuilt battery does not last a complete night if it’s getting activated even semi-regularly.

    Instead of a normal cigarette adaptor or hardwire kit, what you need is a hardwire kit run runs off a permanent live with a voltage cutoff.

    They will make the dashcam think the ignition is on, therefore recording all the time as normal but will automatically power it down if the car battery voltage starts to get low.

    The keyword you want for this is ‘BDP’ or “Battery Discharge Prevention”

    DezB
    Free Member

    Put a fake security cam on that lamp post.

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