[xnick101]

I am new to dashcams. I am trying to buy a dashcam for my m340i. I narrowed it down to Blackvue DR970X or Viofo A139 Pro. Can someone tell me if you can use the parking mode on a bmw without a battery pack? I know our cars cut off power after about an hour. I've heard if you set the voltage low enough it can still operate without a battery pack. For instance, I know on euro cars people use BlackVue Power Magic Pro Hardwiring Kit to lower voltage and this allows them not to use the battery pack and still record for about 24 hours. I also want to mention I live in Florida so heat is a MAJOR factor here as the car is parked out side the entire day. Looking for any helpful tips. Thanks.

[xnick101]

bump? I know you guys have dashcams that are utilizing the parking mode

[srbs73]

I've not done this on my BMW, but previously had a 2016 Audi Q7 and hardwired a Thinkware front/rear dashcam without a battery pack. It worked okay but there were probably a dozen times in a 4 year period where it cause battery drain despite the time / voltage cut-off (mainly winter from memory).

The tell tale signs were strange electrical errors (I think parking brake was a common one). Putting it on charge for 24 hours always fixed it.

The worst one was the car wouldn't start after getting back to the airport after a week!

Last 3 cars I've either added the cheap iVolt batter or a Cellink Neo.

[michael.bramblett]

Have you looked into just paying for drive recorder? If you have the parking assistance package… I’ve used that and three away my old dash cam. Much cleaner look too, obviously lol.

[srbs73]

Originally Posted by michael.bramblett

Have you looked into just paying for drive recorder? If you have the parking assistance package… I’ve used that and three away my old dash cam. Much cleaner look too, obviously lol.

No parking mode is the showstopper for me. I do have drive recorder as it came with one of the packs.

[k4sh_90]

I think our cars will warn if there’s any kind of load on the battery when the car is asleep. And also given replacing a battery had a couple more steps involved with our cars convinced me enough to run a battery pack with my A139 Pro.

[G22b58]

From what I understand, our cars monitor standby current consumption and are rather picky with throwing codes. I use fridge sometimes when parked so instead of rewire the trunk outlet for constant power (like I did in older cars) I use a power bank for power when the car shuts off the outlet. I would certainly not let a camera or similar draw power until the cars battery voltage is on the low side. Saw some specification for parking mode was 0.35A. Over 24h that means 8.4 Ah. Maybe not a large part of what normally will be available in the 12V battery (mine usually is around 75%, so around 65Ah) but it will require a certain driving time to recharge that every day. Parking over a weekend would then mean say 20Ah which is significant. (So to have use for a camera using 0.35A over a weekend also requires a good sized power bank.)

[xnick101]

So all in all using parking mode is not really possible without an external battery pack.

[eviade62595]

I don't know much about the parking mode. But I did watch a comparison between Blackvue DR970X or Viofo A139 Pro. Hope it is helpful for you.

[xnick101]

Originally Posted by eviade62595

I don't know much about the parking mode. But I did watch a comparison between Blackvue DR970X or Viofo A139 Pro. Hope it is helpful for you.

I watched this as well. I ended up wanting the Viofo A139 Pro because of this video. I am planning to order it this week anyway. Thanks for the recommendation!