New to Forum - Have an ST with a power question....

[lordboots]

I have a 2020 Explorer ST. We put dash cams on the front window and back window with it set to monitor the car for 12 hours and then shut off. Whenever we start the car now (after about 16 months of it being there) it seems to take about 20 minutes -> 45 minutes for the camera to turn back on after driving. I know the "shutting off accessories" shows up on Sync screen. Problem is I want the dash cam to run when we're driving as we want to record all driving trips. It also won't start up the radar detector system until it's charged back up.

Question: Should I put a solar battery tender on the car to help keep it topped off with power or should I simply turn off the parking recording feature on the camera?
OR: Should I just wire the radar and camera off a different fuse system and can we divert it to a different system?


Anyone have advise on this?

 

[Rick]

Try the largest solar charger you can find and give it a shot.

 

[themishmosh]

Hmmm. I've never seen "shutting off accessories" while the car is running. The voltage should be close to 15V at that point, so something is wrong. Your dash cam may be set to turn off at a certain battery level but that shouldn't prevent turning on when the car is running. As far as I know, when the car is running, the car should have plenty of power for accessories and the battery should start charging up--I've never run the battery super low though. I would first find out two things. What is the voltage when your car is running when you first start the car. How low does your battery get when you run the dash cams for 12 hours. Lastly, not sure if you know, but there are a few battery backup systems made specifically for things like dashcam (ie. Cellink NEO, Blackboxmycar PowerCell 8, Blackvue, Thinkware versions, etc.)

 

[Rick]

Hmmm. I've never seen "shutting off accessories" while the car is running. The voltage should be close to 15V at that point, so something is wrong. Your dash cam may be set to turn off at a certain battery level but that shouldn't prevent turning on when the car is running. As far as I know, when the car is running, the car should have plenty of power for accessories and the battery should start charging up--I've never run the battery super low though. I would first find out two things. What is the voltage when your car is running when you first start the car. How low does your battery get when you run the dash cams for 12 hours. Lastly, not sure if you know, but there are a few battery backup systems made specifically for things like dashcam (ie. Cellink NEO, Blackboxmycar PowerCell 8, Blackvue, Thinkware versions, etc.)

Just be sure to wire it into a circuit that is only hot when the vehicle is running, or it will drain the car battery as well. I don't think he mentioned that in his video, or I missed it.

 

[peterk9]

Hmmm. I've never seen "shutting off accessories" while the car is running. The voltage should be close to 15V at that point, so something is wrong.

It is possible to have that message displayed while the engine is running if the right condition presents itself. The fact that you've never seen it is a very good thing indeed.

Displayed when the battery management system detects an
extended low-voltage condition. Various vehicle features will
be disabled to help preserve the battery. Turn off as many of
the electrical loads as soon as possible to improve system
voltage. If the system voltage has recovered, the disabled
features will operate again as normal.

Peter