Car battery problems - is the dashcam draining it?

ripplyuk

I’ve just had to call Greenflag out for the first time ever because my car battery was dead. The car is 4 yrs old and the guy said you wouldn’t normally expect any battery problems so soon. He made sure it wasn’t the alternator and checked that the battery was charging properly.

All I can think of is that the dashcam is draining it. It’s a nextbase 412GW and is hardwired in. I’ve posted before about problems with it because it seems to have a mind of its own whether it’s in parking mode or not. Sometimes it turns off soon after I take the key out. Other times it stays on permanently. Is this likely to have caused the battery failure?

Greenflag will not do another call out within 28 days for the same problem so the guy suggested getting a new battery. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve taken the dashcam out of it for tonight.

sevenhills

ripplyuk wrote: »

Greenflag will not do another call out within 28 days for the same problem so the guy suggested getting a new battery. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve taken the dashcam out of it for tonight.

If its wired into the car, is it wired in such a way that there is no power to it when the igition is switched off?

ratrace

ripplyuk wrote: »

I’ve just had to call Greenflag out for the first time ever because my car battery was dead. The car is 4 yrs old and the guy said you wouldn’t normally expect any battery problems so soon. He made sure it wasn’t the alternator and checked that the battery was charging properly.

All I can think of is that the dashcam is draining it. It’s a nextbase 412GW and is hardwired in. I’ve posted before about problems with it because it seems to have a mind of its own whether it’s in parking mode or not. Sometimes it turns off soon after I take the key out. Other times it stays on permanently. Is this likely to have caused the battery failure?

Greenflag will not do another call out within 28 days for the same problem so the guy suggested getting a new battery. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve taken the dashcam out of it for tonight.

Hi yes the dashcam could be causing a draw even after the car is turned off, this is quite common with car modules where they carry on staying active even when the car ecu has gone into sleep mode

you have done the roght thing by un upluging the dash cam that way you can eliminate it as a problem, if you are still having the same problem after it has been disconnected then there is another component that is draing the batttery,in that case its best to take it to an electriation who will carry out a parasitic draw test

facade

Modern cars use a bit of current when they are switched off, if you don't drive it much, or leave it standing for weeks the battery goes flat.


There could be a wiring fault with the camera, that prevents the cars ecu going to sleep, and it uses a lot more current.


I once wired a tiny flashing LED across the ignition switch on a vauxhall, so that when the ignition was off, the LED earths through the ignition load and flashes, when the ignition is on it goes out.


Flattened the battery over a weekend as the flashing was enough to keep the ecu awake.

ripplyuk

sevenhills wrote: »

If its wired into the car, is it wired in such a way that there is no power to it when the igition is switched off?

I’m not sure. I don’t really understand electric stuff. It doesn’t go off when I take the key out. Sometimes it does go off after a few minutes but other times it doesn’t. Sometimes it goes off but comes back on randomly or stays on constantly. It doesn’t make any difference if I use parking mode or not.

I have it in the house now and it still won’t turn off! It just keeps turning itself back on every time and then warning that the battery is low.

I rang nextbase about this before and they assured me that there is no way it could drain the battery because they have built-in battery protection to prevent that, even if it is on permanently. I’m not so sure I believe that now.

TadleyBaggie

I plugged my dash cam into a always live socket, battery was drained after a being parked up for 10 days. It's now plugged into a switched socket and haven't had a problem since.

Car_54

ripplyuk wrote: »

I’ve just had to call Greenflag out for the first time ever because my car battery was dead. The car is 4 yrs old and the guy said you wouldn’t normally expect any battery problems so soon.

Maybe I'm out of date, but I'd have thought a 4-y-o battery was living on borrowed time.

System

You're out of date, you should get several years out of one now.

OP, do you do lots of short journeys or do you do the odd long run a week? Lots of short journeys would result in a flat battery eventually as the charge used when starting never gets replenished.

custardy

Car_54 wrote: »

Maybe I'm out of date, but I'd have thought a 4-y-o battery was living on borrowed time.

our old Picasso got 9 years out of its battery then failed with no warning.

ripplyuk

Tarambor wrote: »

You're out of date, you should get several years out of one now.

OP, do you do lots of short journeys or do you do the odd long run a week? Lots of short journeys would result in a flat battery eventually as the charge used when starting never gets replenished.

I don’t drive much. I do a couple of short runs in it during the week and then 10 miles twice a week. Once a fortnight I do a much longer journey of about 30 miles (60 miles round trip). It’s never been a problem before. My old car was 14yrs old and I did the same miles. I never put a new battery into it in its whole life.

Should I get the battery replaced? I read that once it’s gone dead, it’ll never be reliable again, especially with cold weather beginning.

Is my dashcam faulty or wired in incorrectly? Or is it normal for this to happen with dashcams sometimes? I’m not sure if I should contact nextbase about it or the company who hardwired it.

wgl2014

How long has the dash cam been fitted for?

If it's been in a while wouldn't it have drained the battery before now....

In my experience car batteries vary massively in lifespan, they like being kept fully charged and depending on how the car is used will affect this. Have recently sold a 2007 car with its original battery that has never given any issue but before that had a cheap battery fitted to a previous car which lasted about 3 years before being scrap.

Halfords used to do a free battery check (involves using an automated tester so no opportunity for them to mess it up) which could be worth considering.