How Do I Stop My Dashcam from Overheating?
Ben Wells is a tech enthusiast specializing in cameras and GPS devices. He has a keen interest in reviewing dashcams, navigators, and other useful car...
Many dash cams are prone to overheat, and if not properly addressed, they can even pose a risk of explosion. The reason dash cam overheat is that they consume continuous power from the car battery and record continuous video throughout the drive and even while in parking, which makes them prone to overheating, and it gets extreme in the summer climate.
To fix your overheating dash cam, you’ve the following options:
- Ensure Proper Ventilation (Park under a Shade)
- Upgrade to a High-Temperature Dash Cam
- Replace Dash Cam Battery with SuperCapacitor
To know what causes your dash cam to overheat, there are several reasons to notice, and two of the most common I’ve listed here:
Lack of Ventilation (Direct Sunlight)
Dash cams have processors and chipsets (circuitry) that generate heat while in use. If the dash cam is not properly ventilated and your car is parked in direct sunlight, the heat can build up excessively and cause the camera to overheat.
This is especially true because the location where the dash cam is typically mounted is often exposed to direct sunlight. If this issue isn’t tackled quickly, overheating can even lead to the risk of an explosion.
Defective Hardware (Battery)
In most cases, a dash cam overheats due to a hardware problem. It is usually caused by swollen Li-ion batteries or burnt wiring, rather than outdated hardware.
Lithium Ion batteries have a low resistance to temperatures, hence they are in danger of being blown up in hot weather. If you suspect that this is the case, you may need to have your dash cam repaired or replaced.
How to Prevent Your Dashcam from Overheating
These are easy ways to keep your dash cam from overheating. All you have to do is evaluate them against each other to determine which ones make sense in your case, and you’ll have a clear solution to your dash cam overheating problem.
Ensure proper ventilation (Park under a shade)
Proper ventilation is essential for the proper functioning of all electronics that do not have a built-in fan or heatsink, such as dash cameras.
To prevent overheating, it is important to ensure that there is adequate airflow. This can be achieved by keeping a car window open or using the air conditioning system.
However, it is important to note that parking a car in direct sunlight can cause the dash cam to overheat. To prevent this, try to park in the shade or, if possible, opt for underground parking to minimize the impact of solar heat on the dash cam.
Upgrade to a High-temperature dash cam
We have come across high-temperature dash cameras in past reviews. These dashcams are unique in that they use supercapacitors instead of batteries. As a result, they have various qualities that make them potentially preferable to battery-powered dash cameras in high-temperature conditions.
The main advantage of supercapacitors used in dash cams, is they have a higher tolerance for extreme temperatures compared to batteries. They can maintain their performance over a wider temperature range of -30℃ to +70℃;(-22℉ to 158℉). This means they can withstand overheating or freezing in high or low-temperature environments.
However, supercapacitors have a lower energy density than batteries, which means they may not be able to store as much energy in a given volume, resulting in a limited charge capacity. Dash cameras may suffer from the inability to operate for long periods without a power supply.
Instead, supercapacitors can sustain a large number of charge and discharge cycles, implying that they may have a longer lifespan than batteries. They also charge faster and can tolerate higher current demands, which might be useful in some cases.
Replace Dash Cam Battery with SuperCapacitor
It is similar to replacing a dead battery in a car. However, capacitors are not the same as batteries. It’s easy to leave it to professionals, but if you’re a DIY enthusiast, here’s as simple as I can get to describe the basic steps:
You should understand a few basic terms:
- A regular 12-volt car battery is fully charged at 12.6 volts and flat at 11.6 volts.
- Whereas, a 12-volt capacitor is fully charged at 12 volts and flat at 0 volts. This is the one big difference that needs to address when getting a DIY replacement.
- Additionally, a typical dashcam with a 3.7v lithium battery requires a voltage range between 4.2v (fully charged) and 3.0v (discharged).
Based on this information, you’ll choose between a single 5.4V capacitor and two 2.7V capacitors interconnected in series to make a 5.4V capacitor bank.
Make sure it will fit in the available area within the dash cam housing, then take the connections and position the capacitors inside the dash cam, test for a few cycles and the amount of energy that a capacitor bank can store and finally pack for reuse.
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