Does the dash cam consume power when recording after parking?
3 Answers
Dash cams do not consume power when recording after parking. Below is a relevant introduction to dash cams: Functions of dash cams: They can protect drivers' legal rights and avoid extortion or blackmail, enable traffic police to handle accidents accurately and quickly, reduce driver violations and lower the probability of traffic accidents, and assist courts in making accurate judgments when handling traffic accident cases. Installation method of dash cams: Determine the installation position of the dash cam, locate the USB interface of the dash cam and insert the cable into the USB interface, fix the dash cam properly, and tuck the power cable into the gap of the sun visor to complete the installation.
I've been driving for five years and always used a dash cam. It does consume battery power when recording after parking. Even with the engine off, as long as the parking monitoring feature is enabled, it secretly draws power from the car battery. I learned this the hard way last winter when my car wouldn't start after three days at the airport – diagnostics showed the dash cam drained the battery. It's like a phone on standby; it appears inactive but is actually consuming power. Now I only enable this feature in unfamiliar parking lots and keep it off otherwise. If you travel frequently, it's best to get a dash cam with low-voltage protection that automatically cuts off power when the battery voltage drops below 11.6 volts.
When I first got my car, I loved tinkering with these electronic devices. It's certain that the dashcam's parking mode consumes battery power, but the key is how you use it. A regular sedan's battery capacity is around 60 ampere-hours, and the standby power of a dashcam is typically 0.2-0.5 amps. Calculated, parking for a week might drain about 10% of the battery, which is even riskier for older cars. My current practice is: for short-term parking, I keep the anti-theft mode on, but for over 48 hours, I turn it off. Make sure to buy a voltage reduction cable kit that can set a cut-off voltage to protect the battery. A car modification shop technician taught me to use a multimeter to measure the static current—a good dashcam should draw less than 50 milliamps after parking.
