When you have a dashboard camera running in parking mode, there is a risk that it will eventually drain your battery if you leave it running too long. While one or two days won’t be a problem if your battery is in good shape, if you leave your dash cam running for an extended period of time, you run a real risk that it may kill your battery.
That’s why some dash cam manufacturers offer battery discharge prevention devices. These devices ensure that power to your dashboard camera will be cut off after a specified amount of time, or if your battery’s voltage drops below a specific threshold.
A good setting for a discharge prevention device would be to cut off power if the battery’s voltage drops below 12V, and additionally set a timeout of 1-2 days. The reason why you need a timer is that at 12V, your battery will already be partially depleted. And while that’s not a huge problem by itself, you should not let this happen too often, because it could significantly reduce your battery’s overall life span.
The best battery discharge prevention device that we found is the BlackVue Power Magic Pro, which offers the required cutoff setting of 12V. It also lets you select a timeout between 6 and 120 hours, or you can set it to infinity.
Note that any discharge prevention device will work with any dash cam, so you can use the BlackVue Power Magic Pro even if your dashboard camera is of a different brand.
Where To Buy
The Power Magic Pro is no longer available.
