Recording Modes Of Your Dash Cam
What is a Dash Cam Parking Mode cable? This question is asked, and some people still find it confusing in terms of what it does. This is the magic of owning a professionally installed dash camera. You get your wires hidden and hardwired to the vehicles electrical system. Giving you a lot more flexibility in different recording modes of your dash cam.
How Does My Dash Cam Work?
Dash Cam Parking Mode cable requires you to hook up ground, constant power, and accessory power to the vehicle. When you turn your vehicle on with your key, the accessory, and constant power tell the dash camera to constantly record. Some companies refer to this as continuous recording. The dash camera then monitors when accessory power shuts off and hence turns on parking mode.
Parking Mode Recording Options
There is a bunch of frequently used terms used with dash cameras. Some of them are Event/Incident Recording, Time Lapse, and Motion Detection. So, you turn your ignition off and go into Superstore for some groceries. While you are in the store another car backs into your vehicle and drives off. You come back to your car and find your bumper marked up, you are upset and now have to call the insurance company and tell them what happened. With a dash camera all 3 recording modes would have captured the incident.
Event And Incident Recording
One of the most popular options on your dash cam is event and incident recording. The dash camera has a Gyro-Sensor in it that detects any impacts to the vehicle while parked and driving. If it detects any impacts the dash camera wakes up and records the incident. All event and incident recordings go into a separate folder on your SD card as to make sure you do not record over top of it. Some companies call this Energy-Saving mode as it only records when there are events keeping the wear and tear on the battery at minimal.
Time Lapse
Have you ever seen a video where someone builds something, and it is done in 1 minute? That is Time Lapse in a nutshell. It takes a long video recording and congests it into a smaller timeline. When driving your vehicle most dash cameras record at 30 Frames Per Second which to you and I real world speed. In Time Lapse mode the dash camera will record at 2 frames per second in turn taking a 10-minute video clip and condensing it into 2 minutes. If any impacts occur while in this setting it will slow down and record at 30 frames per second to record the incident. Keep in mind on this setting, the dash cam is constantly recording while away from your vehicle.
Motion Detection
This mode will record any movements in front of the camera. If you park on a busy street or go to a mall parking lot, your dash camera will constantly be recording. I recommend only using this mode if you are concerned about vandalism to your vehicle, or suspicious activity in your neighbourhood. Some dash cameras even have a light that lights up letting whoever is nearby that they are on camera.
Low Battery Protection
Dash Cameras from IROAD and Thinkware have LBP (Low Battery Protection) built in and will turn off once below a certain voltage to preserve the battery. Make sure you have this setting turned on to avoid coming out to a dead battery. Not everyone drives their vehicle daily, so this is a big plus to save battery power. The picture below gives an example of settings for low battery protection.
Which Recording Modes For Your Dash Cam?
The real question is which one should you choose? Every lifestyle has a different need and if you are worried about your battery drainage, I recommend only using a dash camera with Low Battery Protection that way no matter what mode you pick your protected. Both Thinkware and IROAD dash cameras offer this feature. You can also look at getting an external dash cam battery to protect your battery completely.
The second is how often do you want to record? If you want to record all night in time lapse or motion detection modes, make sure you get a big SD Card. Keep in mind Thinkware FA200, F200Pro, QA100, and U1000 supports up to 128GB SD card. The IROAD X10, X5, T10S2 and NX7 support up to a 256GB SD card.
Finally, we recommend professional installation. Get your dash cam hardwired in, wires hidden, cigarette lighter free from plugs and have someone who can explain how the system works. Get a good dash camera that comes with a parking mode cable in the box. A lot of dash cameras from various websites do not include this and make it confusing. They tell you the system does parking mode but does not include the cable in the box. Talk to professionals at independent speciality companies to get the best service and better understand the recording modes available for your dash cam.