BlackVue dash cam

[Scott]

My dashcam (Nextbase) has now become unreliable and I am looking to replace it.

A local supplier and fitter, who comes with impressive reviews (and is an agent for BlackVue) recommends BlackVue as by far the best because it has a supercapacitor rather than a battery. However, Trustpilot shows 87% one star reviews for BlackVue with commentary to match. Given the disparity, can anyone comment on BlackVue as a brand?

When I bought the Nextbase - now several years ago - it was fitted by Halfords who did not tell me that the battery required to be fully charged before use. I just used it immediately. Could this have contributed to the demise of the battery?

[alan_m]

Batteries in equipment do have an end of life and possibly much shorter in the insides of a car which can become very hot when left parked in the sun. Are you sure that you cannot open up the case of your nextlife and just change the rechargeable battery?

Go to youtube and search for nextlife battery replacement

There is nothing magic about "super capacitors" that make them more reliable.

[Scott]

I know it can be done but I was discouraged when I started looking at the 16 minute video.

I wondered. I think the guy was probably the sales manager.

[Brian Gaff]

I'd doubt it depending on what sort of battery tech it used. I've never heard of using a capacitor instead of a battery. What is the supposed advantage to this, after all you would presumably still be charging when you use the car, and the usage of the camera should be minimal at other times, unless you have a lot of vandals. Brian

[Andy Burns]

It's reasonably common in dash cams, the life of supercapacitors does get reduced by heat, but not as badly as lithium batteries.

[alan_m]

The only thing I had that had a (super?)* capacitor as the storage source was a fairly expensive watch. It also had a generator of the swinging weight type where the movement of your arm moved the weight. It was OK for a year or two when I wore it on a day to day basis but one year I went away for nearly a month and left my watch at home. The capacitor fully discharged never to be charged again. An on-line investigation revealed this was a common problem.

Unfortunately the capacitor was almost impossible to remove (without drilling) and of a bespoke size. The "officail" repair cost was more than the cost of a new watch.

*A large value, low voltage capacitor of roughly a coin battery size.

[alan_m]

They tend to only be specified to 70C. The other day I didn't want to get into my car after it had parked in the sun for around 3 hours :( I had to open all doors and the tailgate for 10 minutes in an attempt to cool down the oven :)

[Bob Henson]

Many years ago, my Dad gave me a round, magnetically attached dashboard thermometer after I remarked how hot it got when parked outside the pharmacy. It's scale ran to 100°F and there was a stop at about 120°F. I'd only had it a day or two attached to the steel dashboard in my Escort when I came out at lunchtime and found the hand had bent the vertical stop at 120°F and carried on to what would have been marked at

140°F plus. Even allowing for the fact that it was not an accurate device, it gives an idea why I couldn't touch the steering wheel to drive away nor sit on the seat for some time.

[Rod Speed]

Yes there is. They dont have the chemical deterioration due to the number of charge/discharge cycles that batterys do.

[Brian Gaff]

I really do not get the point about a super capacitor. They are not a battery, and may be fine for short term power, they can tend to be unreliable. As for not using a camera until fully charged, all that would mean on a correctly designed piece of equipment would be it probably turns off or has to charge up sooner. It would be a pretty crap design if it ran the battery so low it damaged it. Brian

[Scott]

Thanks. Plus the fact that the unit was plugged into the car battery at the time, so I think you are right that the internal battery should not have been affected.

I have gone off the idea for replacing the dash cam. I bought a new battery online and now I need someone with a soldering iron to install it. A retired BT engineer who 'owes me one' would seem to be ideal.