Does a dashcam with built-in battery exist? Dashcams come in all shapes and sizes. With one, two or even three cameras, GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, etc. So there won't be much more to wish for, you might almost think. But there is: a dashcam with built-in battery.

Battery-powered dashcam

We hear it more and more often: ‘I'm looking for a dashcam with a big battery or battery’ and ‘Is a dashcam rechargeable or is there a rechargeable dashcam?’. There seems to be a lot of demand for dashcam on battery or with a battery. It also sounds very convenient; you charge the dashcam at home for a few hours and when you go driving you place the dashcam in the car and it films until the battery runs out. You then no longer need a power supply and cables in the car, and your car battery is also protected from being drained.

Action cams

The best option for a dashcam with built-in battery are our action cams from SJCam. These all have a rechargeable battery and, as an option, you can order a suction cup holder and power supply for the car. Like a dashcam, they have a Loop recording function but often no G-sensor, parking mode or GPS receiver.

Built-in batteries small

The fact is that most dashcams do have a built-in battery, but they are generally very small. In many other types of video cameras and cameras, there is often a battery or battery of at least 1000mAh. You need this because you will often use the camera in a place where there is no power supply. Smartphones sometimes even have batteries of 2000mAh or more. In dashcams, the battery or battery capacity often does not exceed 300mAh, enough to film for maybe 10 minutes.

For emergencies

So what is the dashcam battery for? The main reason there is a battery in a dashcam is for safety. This is because the battery ensures that the last video can still be saved in case of a sudden power failure, such as an accident. If a dashcam had no battery, the dashcam would immediately switch off and the last (usually crucial) video would not be saved to the SD card.

Why not a bigger battery?

So smartphones and other cameras often have a larger battery. So why isn't there a larger battery or battery in a dashcam? There are a few reasons for this:

Durability

Normal batteries and accumulators work best when they are fully charged and then fully drained. It is not good for a battery to be only half charged and drained, the capacity will quickly deteriorate. In practice, a dashcam is almost continuously connected to the cigarette power supply in the car. If it had a large (expensive) battery in it, it would not last long anyway, a real shame. This is why many manufacturers opt for a smaller, inexpensive battery.

Safety

A battery is not very resistant to high and low temperatures, let alone fluctuations in these. A car dashboard can quickly reach 100˚C on a hot day, disastrous for a battery and even very dangerous. Indeed, when temperatures are too high, a battery or battery can leak or, in the worst case, explode.

Superfluous

Perhaps the most obvious reason dashcams don't have a big battery is that you use them in the car. In the car, you have plenty of ways to power the dashcam. Your car's battery is very large and continuously charged so you will never lack power for the dashcam.

Battery vs. Super capacitor

Many dashcams these days no longer have a built-in battery but a so-called super capacitor. Dashcams with a super capacitor are a lot more durable than those with a battery and can also withstand more extreme temperatures. A super capacitor creates a disturbing static charge between two plates, whereas a battery generates voltage through chemical processes. Super capacitors are a bit more expensive than batteries, which is why you mostly see them on dashcams in a higher price category. However, the lifespan of dashcams with a super capacitor is a lot longer than dashcams with a battery.

A ‘disadvantage’ is that a super capacitor generates much less current than a battery, so a dashcam with super capacitor actually shuts down almost immediately when the power is interrupted. Dashcams with a super capacitor can therefore not be used at all without being connected to the power supply in the car or an external battery pack, where dashcams with a small battery can still be used for a few minutes.

How then?

So you can't charge a dashcam. So how do you use it? There are basically three options:

1. Cigarette power

The simplest way to power your dashcam is to connect it to the cigarette power supply in the car. Each dashcam comes with a cigarette power supply with a long cable that you can easily tuck away. This way, the dashcam will turn on and start recording when you start the car and stop again when you turn off the car. The condition for this is that your car does not supply power via the cigarette power supply when the ignition is off. In that case, you also don't have to worry about it draining the car's battery because it is only on when you are driving.

There are some drawbacks when using the cigarette power supply. If your car does supply power when the ignition is switched off, the camera will always be on and you will have to switch it on and off manually. Also, parking mode will not work because the dashcam will therefore not receive power when the car is parked. In these cases, it is recommended to connect it with a hardwire kit.

2. Hardwire kit

Connecting the dashcam with a hardwire kit is a good idea when you want to use the dashcam in parking mode or when you don't want to use the cigarette power supply for some other reason. A hardwire kit is a separate power supply that you connect to the car battery, preferably via fuse box. By connecting your dashcam in this way, it can be used even with the ignition turned off and the dashcam can also record in parking mode. You can also use the hardwire kit when you want the dashcam to turn on and off with the ignition but your car's cigarette power supply provides continuous power. You then simply connect the power supply to a fuse that does not provide any power when the ignition is switched off.

There are different hardwire kits depending on the type of dashcam. Standard ‘2-wire’ hardwire kits have two connections, a + and -. You connect the + to a continuous or switched fuse and the - to the car's earth. There are also ‘3-wire’ power supplies, which you connect to both a continuous and switched fuse and to the car's earth. Dashcams with 3-wire power supplies have the option to automatically switch in and out of parking mode when you turn the ignition on and off. Note that not all dashcams support this option.

3. Battery pack

If you prefer not to connect the dashcam to a power point in the car, you can use the dashcam with a battery pack. In principle, you can use a standard battery pack or power bank that you use for charging your phone and other equipment, for example. However, in most cases, the parking mode on the dashcam will then not work. A better option is to choose a Cellink power bank. These Battery packs are specially designed for using dashcams in the car.

Cellink Neo 5 4500mAh

The Cellink Neo 5 ‘Plug&Play’ battery pack is the ideal accessory to power your dashcam without taxing the car battery. It then provides up to around 15 hours of power to the dashcam when the car is turned off. Dashcams with a visual parking mode (which automatically switch on after a few minutes of car standstill) can thus be easily used with the Cellink Neo 5 battery pack.

Cellink Neo 8+ 7500mAh

Cellink's largest and most advanced battery pack is the Neo 8+. In terms of functions, it is similar to the Neo 5, however, it has a larger capacity of 7500mAh so you can use it even longer. It also has Bluetooth so you can check the charge on your phone and you can connect the Cellink EXT7 battery to the Cellink Neo 8+ to extend its capacity indefinitely.