Dashcams+ Battery Banks+Solar Panels in LS

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jrand

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well i have been slowly but surely picking up deals related to dashcams for the past few months.. original topic here: http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?92644-dash-cams-in-LS

I have done some light experimenting with my finds but i do have some knowledge-gap hangups that someone might be able to help me out with. i bought two of these panels for like $20 each, which was a steal: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Sunforce-12-Volt-Battery-Solar-Charger/747062.uts

i have a gen 2 black ls with black interior and put the 2 panels on the shelf behind the rear seats <a 3rd could have fit back there too>. they blend in pretty well with the black interior and come with pre-drilled mounting holes. to prevent the panels from sliding i slipped some black paracord thru the mounting holes and tied the panels up to the child seat anchors in the front and the vents in the back.

the panels easily produce enough to top off the 12v battery, even on cloudy days. the panels have a blocking diode built in. however, i park my car in a commercial garage and the light is only sufficient to produce between 6.5-9.5 volts each, obviously insufficient to keep the 12v battery from draining. so i am trying to think of a simple way to power a dashcam or two off of these panels without being wired into the car's electrical system. im not sure of the answer to this question: if i am only producing 6.5-9.5 volts with each panel, and i hook the male 12v plugs on the panels to a 12v splitter/adapter like this http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...s/6050343-P?searchTerm=12v+adapter#fragment-2 or like this: http://www.amazon.com/cigarette-lig...e-splitter/dp/B003YJ8TVQ/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t and then take a 5v usb battery bank like this <or larger>: http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-6000mAh-External-Battery-Charger/dp/B007HUTXV8/ and have this battery bank hooked to either the 12v 3 way splitter via a usb adapter in the splitter's 3rd female socket, or the splitter/adapter from amazon which already has a usb hookup... is this going to be sufficient voltage to charge the battery bank? i do not want to plug the splitter/adapter into the car's electrical system at all, because im thinking <not sure> that the solar panels churning out between 6.5-9.5 volts is enough to power the 5v usb ports to power the battery bank, which i would in turn use to power my 5v usb dashcam... i guess the simple version of the question is, do i need a full 12v of input to get the usb adapter to push out a measely 5v via the usb port? and also, is the 12v splitter/adapter still going to function if it's male connector is not in use?

i believe i will eventually be getting two cams, two battery banks, and running them off the two panels in the fashion described above. i currently have one cam ready to go, compact, discreet, very hackable/moddable, good support communities. cam is called 'mobius'.. i linked it in the old thread and you can google it if you please. i have read somewhere that someone had a mobius working with sdxc cards <capacities up to 2TB> but i do not have the link where i read that and i do not have an sdxc card to test it either.

i really just want to keep the whole 'system' off my car's electrical system since its kind of finnicky, it gets cold here, and i cannot get the panels producing over the 12V hump without connecting them in series, which i <particularly> dont feel like fcking with
 
check the input/output rating on the cam, it likely requires 12v in

how about an simple DC/AC inverter, one of those that come with usb outlets. plug into cig lighter and just leave the panels charging your car battery.
 
actually the inverter would be drawing more power than the cam... not sure how to help you here but I've always wanted solar panels on top of my vehicle somehow.

I have two 15 watt panels on my roof that charge a deep cycle battery in my apt that can in turn light my whole apartment for days.
 
well the cam runs off usb <5v, 500mah> and has a very small battery inside the cam itself. thats why i would use the battery bank, so the cam would drain the bank and the bank would take the charge off the panels. i want to stay independent of the cars 12v battery bc the panels can only do 9.5 volts max each in my garage, which is not enough to keep the 12v battery charged <unless i put them in series, which i dont want to do>.

these panels are nice and fit perfectly on the shelf behind the rear seat, which is rarely used anyways. two panels fit easily. a third would fit but for some reason, i want to say, it would have to sit on some piece of plastic outcropping back there and might be a bit more prone to sliding and potentially warping the panel's plastic housing. but 3 would definitely fit. each panel was putting out 20+ volts from this location inside the car on a fairly sunny day. even in cloudy skies they were doing 19 volts. its pretty dark where i park in the garage, but i parked under a modern street light and it was doing 14 volts at night.

i have a LS battery that was on its last legs that i have used to run A/C drills, dremels, multis, jig saws and lights for hours and i never even had to recharge it. i have seen youtube videos where a guy had a bicycle with the rear wheel off, a belt where the wheel went, belt on an alternator, alternator charging a battery. basically he rode his bike for power. maybe you could try that on the cloudy days
 
You can run them in series with a ~13v regulator for the battery, or keep them in parallel, run them to a 5v regulator (or USB unit with a 9-24v input), and power the dashcam, or put them in series again if they can't sustain enough voltage for whatever USB converter you pick
 
LSFrank said:
You can run them in series with a ~13v regulator for the battery, or keep them in parallel, run them to a 5v regulator (or USB unit with a 9-24v input), and power the dashcam, or put them in series again if they can't sustain enough voltage for whatever USB converter you pick
Click to expand...

so if my panels are pumping out, say, 7.5 volts each and i plug the panels into this:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...-12v-triple-socket-adapter-06-mt-ts/6050343-P

and then use one of these type of usb adapters in the open port from the link above:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...words=12v usb adapter&sprefix=12v+usb,aps,159

and then plug the battery bank into the usb port for the product directly above and then plug the cam into the battery bank via usb; all the while without plugging the male end of this:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...-12v-triple-socket-adapter-06-mt-ts/6050343-P

without plugging the male end of that^ into the car itself... is that going to be sufficient to pump out 5volts into that battery bank via usb? the panels are steady at 6.5-9.5v <the variation only occurs depending on where i park the car in relation to one of the overhead lights.. some spots are lined up with the lights better than others, some lights are visibly brighter than others, etc>
 
Cool to see you're still pursuing this.

How much do your cameras draw? Are you designing for enough battery reserves in case you get no light and the battery has to supply all the power?
 
I would save the bulk of the cigarette plug splitter and cigarette-usb adapter and go with this or similar:

http://www.amazon.com/DROK-Power-Ad...416099025&sr=8-1&keywords=8v+5v+converter+usb

There's are a few different versions but some only say 12v input, others 12-24, 9-20, 8-50, etc. I just grabbed that one quickly for you to give you an idea. If you use a regular converter component (such as the ones in your video's thumbnail), don't forget about heat dissipation. That flange with the whole is there to be screwed into a heatsink

Can your panels supply enough current for the dashcam?
 
im sure i will eventually find a large enough battery bank <or two> to maintain power in the event of prolonged darkness at some point, but at the moment i am just going to grab the best deal i can find from a reputable retailer on a battery bank with good reviews and no reports of it catching on fire/smoking/etc.

im not sure how to measure the DC Amps coming off the panels, i havent really looked into it. i just picked up the panels on price alone bc i originally planned to have them hooked to the car's electrical system. they are rated @ 5watts <15v @ 350mA> im sure its easier to measure the amps coming from the panels than it is to measure the draw by the camera.. but fwiw, the 12v to 5v usb adapter that came with the camera says it outputs 5v @ 1000mA and i know that 1000ma is sufficient for the camera based on multiple online reviews.

i was thinking that, i rarely ever park in pitch black for an extended period, but if i did, the camera is fairly easy to just plug into the car's electrical up front <or i could just go without the camera being on if necessary>. and likewise, if for whatever reason the car's battery needs a boost and i happen to be in good sunlight it would be easy to just plug the system into the car's 12v outlet and let it rip. maintaining that adaptability would be the reason why i would stay away from putting the panels in series <unless there was an easy connector to do it> or using a gizmo like lsfrank mentioned <thanks for the link tho bc i had not seen anything like it before i click it>.

the bulk of the 12v socket splitters i provided will be semi manageable and easy access. i am thinking that i would mount it right behind the center console, maybe even create some little box for it. its easy to pass wires in and out of the center console's main bin bc theres some play in the lid, and then its easy to pass wires from the shelf where the panels are bc i just ran them behind the fold down seats. right now i have them coming out between the rear seat's top piece and bottom piece, but it appears that it would be easy to run the wires underneath the bottom portion of the rear seat and just have like the 5 inches or so of wire on the hump on the floor running to the rear of the console where i plan to mount the 12v socket splitter
 
I would opt for a cleaner, low-key installation since it seems like you want to run the camera in the garage if you're worried about theft. You could run the wires along the headliner.

If the panels are at full power in parallel, you're only going to get 700ma max for a device that presumably wants 1000ma. Running them in series puts the max at 350ma and not receiving enough sunlight is only going to reduce that current output. If the camera is running all the time, the panels will not be able to support it forever. You may want to consider an ignition-on charger as well to supplement the panels when you're driving. To simplify wiring, you can just throw in a diode to allow electricity to flow from the car to the battery banks, but not from the solar panels to the whole car
 
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