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Dash Cam causing12 volt charging fault?

stillmarried

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City, State
South Dakota
Year, Model & Trim Level
2017 ExplorerLimited 3.5L
Got an error when I ran the Ford Pass, Vehicle Health Alert test tonight:

"Powertrain
Urgent Service Required
Indicates that there is a 12V charging system fault."

I suspect that I am the cause of this problem since I had a Cobra front and rear dash camera, SC 400D installed a couple of weeks ago. I put a new Motorcraft battery with the 850 CCA rating to keep the battery up right afterwards. I set up the system to go to sleep after 2 hours in Park mode.
Cobra suggested that the batteries use such a small amount of electrical that it would not impact the charging system.
Anyone else with this problem regarding dash cameras?
Dang it!
 



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ive had one and gave had no issue with it! how long was it sitting? i usually drive my rig at least once a week, so it doesnt get a chance to drain at all. if you plan to let it sit a while unplug negative.
 






Get specs from them, how much current it uses. Does it continuously record in park mode or only from motion sensing in a lower power state or if there's an impact?

If you can't get specs, measure it yourself.

I am suspecting that they are correct, that it doesn't use enough power in two hours to matter, and that it may not be going completely off after that 2 hours.

I assume the battery was a recent manufacture date instead of old, drained, stock, and there isn't really a problem with your charging system (just coincidence it happened now).
 






ive had one and gave had no issue with it! how long was it sitting? i usually drive my rig at least once a week, so it doesnt get a chance to drain at all. if you plan to let it sit a while unplug negative.
We drive the Ex about 1-2 times a week, so it does sit off for a few days at a time. After experimenting with the dash camera programming, I found that if I reduced the Surveillance auto shut off time from 2 hours to 1 hour, the battery would not drain and cause a fault. So, I have Parking mode enabled, which puts the camera to sleep after 5 minutes of idle time. If the camera sees motion, the camera will wake up and take video and then go back to sleep. However, the Surveillance mode will turn off the Parking mode after 1 hour and will completely turn off the camera. This seems to be the trick to not draining the battery.
Good point about unplugging the cameras if the vehicle will be off for an extended time, I can unplug the cigarette lighter plug that powers the cameras as needed.
 






We drive the Ex about 1-2 times a week, so it does sit off for a few days at a time. After experimenting with the dash camera programming, I found that if I reduced the Surveillance auto shut off time from 2 hours to 1 hour, the battery would not drain and cause a fault. So, I have Parking mode enabled, which puts the camera to sleep after 5 minutes of idle time. If the camera sees motion, the camera will wake up and take video and then go back to sleep. However, the Surveillance mode will turn off the Parking mode after 1 hour and will completely turn off the camera. This seems to be the trick to not draining the battery.
Good point about unplugging the cameras if the vehicle will be off for an extended time, I can unplug the cigarette lighter plug that powers the cameras as needed.
makes sense! pretty sure mine does that automotically, ive trued jostling the rig, seems like it takes quite the impact. also helos that i have a deep cycle
 






Get specs from them, how much current it uses. Does it continuously record in park mode or only from motion sensing in a lower power state or if there's an impact?

If you can't get specs, measure it yourself.

I am suspecting that they are correct, that it doesn't use enough power in two hours to matter, and that it may not be going completely off after that 2 hours.

I assume the battery was a recent manufacture date instead of old, drained, stock, and there isn't really a problem with your charging system (just coincidence it happened now).
No amp current usage mentioned in the user manual, so I will ask the tech, Randy, at Cobra for specs and how to test. As I mentioned to Fix4Dirt above, using the Auto Surveillance mode turns off power to the cameras completely after the new 1 hour programmed time..
The new battery is dated January 2022, so I got a later manufactured date. Good news is that since I reprogrammed the Auto Surveillance mode to one hour, I have not had either the engine system fault or the 12 V charging fault.
 






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