Thread: Low power consumption 24/7 video recorder?

Nice, do you have more info on the setup? Like the recorder and camera you are using?

For my setup, I was thinking of mounting the camera in the back of the cabin pointing forwards. That way it can capture my driving, as well as the driver and passengers (and if anyone breaks in, messing with my dash). Not sure how well that's going to work out...as my camera is pretty low quality.

Originally Posted by nobb

Nice, do you have more info on the setup? Like the recorder and camera you are using?

For my setup, I was thinking of mounting the camera in the back of the cabin pointing forwards. That way it can capture my driving, as well as the driver and passengers (and if anyone breaks in, messing with my dash). Not sure how well that's going to work out...as my camera is pretty low quality.

Search ebay for "motion activated dvr" and match it with the one I posted a picture of in the thread. The original ebay link I used is not there anymore. As for the camera, the ebay listing was "Mini Pin-hole Sharp CCD CCTV Camera W/Mic 420TVL 3.7mm". Bascially, make sure you get one with CCD vs. CMOS camera chip (also sony is the best i think) as well as a decent low lux rating (mine was 0.3 lux) for night shots.

Thanks for the tip. My current camera sucks in low light conditions, noticeably dimmer at night under indoor lighting. But that's probably because its rated for 3 lux illumination. I just eBayed a Sony 480 lines resolution CCD camera rated for 0.3 lux, so hopefully that will look much better.

Well my Sony CCD camera just arrived and the picture quality is amazing, even in low light. Rounding up, power consumption has now increased to about 4W with the new camera. But according to my calculations, that should be about 7 days worth of 24/7 operation on my current deep cycle. Hopefully ~1.5hr of driving/day should keep that topped up.

The camera came with both a 16mm and 6mm lens, still trying to decide which one I like better. Ive attached shots using the 16mm. The interior looks really clear, but the downside is you cant really see the outside because of the brightness.

Now, here are pictures using the 6mm. The field of view is more narrower now. Id love to hear your guys' opinions what you think I use should. Perhaps maybe getting a lens that is between 6mm and 16mm would work better? Ideally, I would like the view of the 16mm but being able to actually see outside without the brightness problem.

Could you possibly post some more info about the DVR that you ended up selecting since the ebay pages that were linked to no longer exist? Maybe the unit's manufacturer, or even the keywords you used to find it on ebay? Thanks!

I completely forgot the keywords, sorry. For the camera, I know it was a Sony cctv ccd (not cmos), bare circuit board type. DVR was basically just the cheapest one I could find on eBay that had an automatic erase old footage feature and could write on a SD card.

On the eBay page, I didnt see any mention of it being able to automatically erase old footage to make room for new stuff. That was an important feature for me. Also, you might want to take into account how much time you are in the car each day and whether that will be enough to keep the batteries charged. You dont want to be drawing more power than can be replenished.