Dashcam Monitoring Solution with 24/7 or Motion Recording

geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 08:08

So I was hosing the car this morning and noticed a nice scratch mark on the front bumper. Lucky it has come out besides a small scratch but I think I can get that out with some more elbow grease.

I have a suspicion of when and where it occurred because my Car Alarm went off. I am always cautious about where I park and I WFH with the ute in the garage, so it isn't like it happened when I was at work or in a work car park.

The issue is, I don't have a 24/7 dashcam for when I am not around or the car is not running. I also don't have any side cameras. After this incident, I should have something in case something happens in the future.

I have a Front and Rear Dashcam currently which are triggered when the car turns on via the usual 12V Cigarette lighter.

I have a Dual Battery Setup (300Ah lithium), so I can hook anything into that setup for constant power.

Now, the question is, what are people using/doing for Dashcams/Cameras when they are not in attendance or the car is not running? Also, storage obviously needs to be at the maximum amount available and record when there is motion. My incident happened on Monday (so two days ago), so I would need a couple of days' storage.

Automotive Dash Camera

Comments

  • boomramada on 14/05/2025 - 08:26
    +1

    The issue is, I don't have a 24/7 dashcam for when I am not around or the car is not running. I also don't have any side cameras. After this incident, I should have something in case something happens in the future.

    So you're going to check your car every day for scratches, and if there is one, then go through 24 hours of footage to find out what happened?

    Perhaps you should get a Tesla with a motion-activated camera all around?

    My personal favourite is to park away from others if something happens, shit happens :)

    • geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 11:05

      So you're going to check your car every day for scratches, and if there is one, then go through 24 hours of footage to find out what happened?

      I am usually pretty on top of things when it comes to car damage, but this just isn't a small scratch that you might notice after a car wash, its a car swipe. So I would've gone back to the footage (which was 48 hours of this comment) and would've reviewed to hopefully get a rego and proceed with there.

      Perhaps you should get a Tesla with a motion-activated camera all around?

      Eh, no.

      My personal favourite is to park away from others if something happens, shit happens :)

      Thats what I do and the interesting thing is where I think it happened, I had NO one next to me on the side and there was no one there when I came to check the car after the alarm. There was no dedicated lines for parking, it was just a gravel car park.

  • idd on 14/05/2025 - 08:38
    +3

    If your dashcam supports parking mode, which will record if it gets triggered when the car is off - you can enable it by hardwiring it or install an external dashcam battery pack.

    • geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 11:08

      It does not support it, hence my thread.

  • JIMB0 on 14/05/2025 - 08:51
    +1

    I have a viofo and it can be set to record constantly in low bit-rate. It will also lock the video if it detects impact. Using motion detection risks missing important footage before the incident.

    This can run for days on the standard car battery. Get the biggest max endurance SD card that will fit.

    • idd on 14/05/2025 - 09:00

      A 2ch Viofo shouldn’t be able to run for more than 10-12hrs in parking mode that’s hardwired to standard car battery, even an external dashcam battery pack will only be 20-25hrs.

      • JIMB0 on 14/05/2025 - 10:26

        It does if the battery is reasonably full, even on our little run around car with it's tiny battery. You wouldn't be able to repeatedly park it for 2 days at a time with only an hours driving in between though.

  • dylanando on 14/05/2025 - 09:13
    -1

    You could get a Tesla x

    • geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 11:06

      I could, but I won't….. probably ever. Not against Telsa or Musk, just not a big fan of Electric Vehicles.

      • Euphemistic on 15/05/2025 - 05:47

        But its all computer!

        • geekcohen on 15/05/2025 - 10:13
          +1

          I know. I love my tech, but I also love my cars. I want to hear an engine when I put my foot down.

          Also a Tesla won't do me any good for my towing requirements and range.

  • cngu0803 on 14/05/2025 - 11:50

    Get a CCTV camera and park your car in view of it.

    • geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 13:11

      Already got one of those for home, but it's not helpful when out and about. My inner nerd has come out in me though and I thought about putting some Reolink Duo V3s on each end plus the sides of the car. I have 240v in the Canopy and a spare NVR. Just need cameras…….

      Funny thing was, where I was at the time I think this happened, I was doing a site visit for a CCTV Security System for that location…….. the cameras wouldn't entirely cover the carpark though, but would catch something/someone if they go ahead with the proposed solution.

  • AustriaBargain on 14/05/2025 - 15:16

    Wyze IP cams have a service that monitors them for an extra fee, but they don't make dash cams. Kinda creepy though having a 24/7 monitored CCTV on your car though isn't it?

    • geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 15:25

      I’m not looking for 24/7 of someone monitoring it. But like have a security camera for your house. You might not use it and rewatch footage unless you are looking for something specific. I’m thinking something similar for the car.

      I look at my situation and think, if I had the rego and footage, I could at least report it and get details for insurance. This time the mark came off but next time it could be a door keyed or a a bigger dint. I then have to pay my excess for something that was not my fault.

      • AustriaBargain on 14/05/2025 - 15:27

        Sounds like a cam that will work and detect when parked is all you need.

        • geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 15:52

          Yes, that is the right and its the whole point of my thread. Only 1 person has mentioned a specific brand.

          However, it was mentioned above:

          Using motion detection risks missing important footage before the incident

          • AustriaBargain on 14/05/2025 - 16:19

            @geekcohen: Well I'd assume that a dashcam that works in parking mode records 24/7 to the SD card. So you could scrobble back through the footage and see it all. But mine doesn't work in parking mode so I wouldn't know.

            • geekcohen on 14/05/2025 - 17:04

              @AustriaBargain: Yeah, I don't have parking mode on mine either and never really had to deal with them, so not 100% familiar. I don't want to invest in a solution that might not work.

  • munecito on 15/05/2025 - 10:11
    +1

    Blackvue dashcams have both parking mode and motion detection

    • geekcohen on 15/05/2025 - 10:18

      Thanks I had a look and found the BlackVue DR970X 2CH 4K UHD Dash Cam 64GB which looks good. But on the website, it says you need to use the Blackvue MicroSD cards….. a 512GB is $360! Thats going on almost $1,400. I do like the look of Blackvue Cloud though……

      • munecito on 15/05/2025 - 13:05
        +2

        I'm not sure about the SD cards. We use ours with Samsung pro endurance cards and they work flawlessly.

        I do have mine hooked to a 100ah lithium in the ute and used to have a Telstra 4gx modem also modded to run from the lithium battery as a mean to have the camera online. But I haven't hooked it back since the plan lapsed

        • geekcohen on 15/05/2025 - 13:25

          Okay, good to know. I would be hooking it up into my 300Ah Lithium as well and then Starlink for Internet Connectivity (already on the ute).

          I think I'll look into this further and wait for some specials.

  • SavingBux on 15/05/2025 - 10:40
    +1

    We have BlackVue 1080p dual cams which are constantly on (EVs). They happily record to Sandisc microSD cards. 128Gb stores 2 days of recordings.

    • geekcohen on 15/05/2025 - 11:38

      2 days at constant recording?

      • munecito on 15/05/2025 - 13:07
        +1

        Your really don't need the full 2 days. On motion sensing it keeps the events that trigger it. Not the whole bunch of nothing

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