Has anyone installed a Power Magic Battery?

dtbaker61

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...snip... Because the little battery is so little I wanted to install a dashcam battery in the car. Second problem is location. I've looked near and around the fuse box, and that's a no go. Under the passenger seat is too low. ... snip...

The MME 'senses' the LVB needing a charge at about 12.1 as far as I can tell... which wakes up the HV and charges up the LVB. The little LVB voltage sags pretty fast with any loads beyond the internal stuff in sleep mode. Gets pulled down just by the accessory lights when you open the doors !

You could either add capacity, or leave the MME 'on'.

Adding battery capacity may mess up the calculations on when your LVB needs to be replaced, but I can't think of any other harm it would do.

There is a pretty big hole under the existing little battery, towards the firewall. I'd guess that if you fabricate a little tray or bracket for it to sit on, you can fit a second AGM battery under there and put it in parallel. you'll have to pull the Frunk bucket to get access...

Once in parallel, the MME *should* maintain it. The extra capacity *may* get you thru the night.

An alternative would be to leave the MME 'on' ALL the time, and turn off the auto-off setting. This gives you full time voltage support from the HV and hold it at 13v+, and you wouldn't have to add anything, but it would drain the HV more than if you let it sleep. Especially if you leave the cabin temperature 'on'. It will also double-honk when you leave and take your phone with you to remind you left it running. ;)
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you can fit a second AGM battery under there and put it in parallel
I'm not trying to put a battery in parallel. I was attempting to install a "dash cam battery" which is specifically designed to keep the camera on when the car is off. I was wanting to do this because the Power Magic Pro was cutting the power to the camera because the voltage was going below 12.5v.

After doing hours of testing today these are my observations which confirm my original suspicions:
  • When the vehicle is hooked up and charging the voltage to the LVB is 13.5v sustained (spikes to 14.5 then drops) and it appears that so long as the big battery is charging the DC/DC charger is active on the LVB regardless of the starting voltage to the LVB. I tested this 3 times on a fully updated MME and each time as soon as the L2 charging kicked on the LVB jumped and maintained 13.5v
  • When the vehicle is initially exited via driving the voltage dips to the 12.3-12.5 range depending on headlamps etc. It remains at this level for several minutes until the car sleeps.
  • Once the car goes to sleep the voltage bounces back to 12.85
This leads me to believe that Power Magic Pro is cutting the camera because the voltage is dipping while the car remains awake after use. Because the Power Magic Pro only has a 12 and 12.5v setting and the MME is bouncing above and below the 12.5 range it's causing the PMP to cut the cam.

I have ordered a vico power plus to replace the PMP which I can customize to 12.2 or 12.4. I can also use shorter timers in the case of the internal switch being reset by a jump in voltage.

So based on this I am returning the $400 battery that I can't find a place to install and I'm going to replace the PMP. I'm confident that this should solve the problem. To be completely honest I could probably leave the PMP at 12v and not have any issues at all since, although it could be reset (skeptical), the timer would only have an additional 15-30 minutes added to it (time before voltage rises). I am skeptical that the voltage on the battery leg has any effect on the timer at all since it would make more sense for the timer to be based on the ACC leg. ACC off - Timer on / ACC on - Timer off. Since the DC/DC kicks in at 12.1, when not charging, and notifies via FP I would know if the LVB was being drained by the cam.
 
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dtbaker61

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...snip...
To be completely honest I could probably leave the PMP at 12v and not have any issues at all since, ...snip... Since the DC/DC kicks in at 12.1 and notifies via FP I would know if the LVB was being drained by the cam.
if you can set your cam to think everything is ok down to 12.0, you'll probably be fine relying on the MME to wake up and charge the LVB.

I can verify that even small loads like the frunk light or cabin lights will pull the ACC voltage down to 12.2-12.4 if the MME is off. once it hits 10 minutes and goes to sleep the resting voltage settles back to about 12.8
 
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if you can set your cam to think everything is ok down to 12.0, you'll probably be fine relying on the MME to wake up and charge the LVB.

I can verify that even small loads like the frunk light or cabin lights will pull the ACC voltage down to 12.2-12.4 if the MME is off. once it hits 10 minutes and goes to sleep the resting voltage settles back to about 12.8
That's exactly what I was saying... maybe it didn't come off correctly. Either way, I'll replace the PMP since I haven't seen many people with the Vico device (although highly recommended) and that will give me something to write about :D The Vico will also allow me to cutoff at 12.2 which I think would be the best scenario and prevent ever getting to 12.1.
 
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Received the Vico Power Plus and got it installed. Pretty neat little device with an LCD that shows current voltage as well.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Has anyone installed a Power Magic Battery? PXL_20211201_235312736
 


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I think you are using a BlackVue, is that correct? Why do you need any extra device to change the cut-off voltage? It is under Settings->Firmware->System

Ford Mustang Mach-E Has anyone installed a Power Magic Battery? Screen Shot 2021-12-01 at 7.05.42 PM
 
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I think you are using a BlackVue, is that correct? Why do you need any extra device to change the cut-off voltage? It is under Settings->Firmware->System

Screen Shot 2021-12-01 at 7.05.42 PM.jpg
That's only available on some models. I have the LTE version which I prefer because it will send notifications of impact when the car is turned off via Verizon Wireless (in my case). This makes it similar to sentry mode.

The LTE version doesn't have voltage and timer settings.
 

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That's only available on some models. I have the LTE version which I prefer because it will send notifications of impact when the car is turned off via Verizon Wireless (in my case). This makes it similar to sentry mode.

The LTE version doesn't have voltage and timer settings.

Got ya, I thought that was an app feature independent of the camera model. Good to know.

Instead of adding the LTE module to mine, I bought a Verizon Jetpack and have the same feature. The upside is that my Jetpack has a 24-hour battery of its own, and I have a morphie battery pack that I connect to my 12v plug. Car on-> charges my morphie battery while my Jetpack is plugged into it. It all fits in my center console or under the rear deck if I want to plug it in back there.
 
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Got ya, I thought that was an app feature independent of the camera model. Good to know.

Instead of adding the LTE module to mine, I bought a Verizon Jetpack and have the same feature. The upside is that my Jetpack has a 24-hour battery of its own, and I have a morphie battery pack that I connect to my 12v plug. Car on-> charges my morphie battery while my Jetpack is plugged into it. It all fits in my center console or under the rear deck if I want to plug it in back there.
I prefer everything hidden as much as possible and I think the jetpack is more expensive than a data sim. The data sim with Verizon is unlimited for 10 a month.
 

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I prefer everything hidden as much as possible and I think the jetpack is more expensive than a data sim. The data sim with Verizon is unlimited for 10 a month.
I understand. Assuming you have the DR750X-2CH LTE Plus, it didn't have Verizon as a carrier option when I looked that them, and I really wanted 4K. Since I have other Verizon phones, 15GB a month is $10, or 50GB a month is $20. They all say unlimited, but they are not... they throttle it back.

The DR900X-2CH Plus 4K has to have an add-on LTE module which is $169ish and still no Verizon... so a Jetpack on my plan was almost a wash in cost of the device (and I can use it someplace else).

I'm not busting on your choice, just explaining how it worked out to be a wash for me with the DR900X-2CH Plus 4K.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Has anyone installed a Power Magic Battery? Screen Shot 2021-12-01 at 7.46.20 PM
 

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Been following this one and also having side text messages with @DevSecOps.

I have a similar setup as he used to run: I have the BlackVue DR900X Plus, and I also have the Power Magic Pro. My model does have the ability to measure voltage without the PMP, but I didn't realize this until after everything was all wired up and installed and I was looking at all the settings, and my time was worth more than uninstalling everything and returning the PMP.

I've had this setup for 3+ weeks now and have PMP set to 12.0v. I haven't received any notifications (I assume from FordPass?) that my battery voltage was low, and I also haven't seen any warnings of this in the car either. I've left the car parked over a weekend of non-use, and also left it outside overnight in coldish (48 deg) temps and have not had any 12v battery troubles that I know of.

Based on all the nerding out in this thread, I think I'm leaving my setup the way it is -- it seems like I should be okay, although perhaps there might be some long-term consequences for my 12v battery longevity by putting it through these type of cycles.
 

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Oh and I already had an external hotspot I just moved to the Mach E with a data plan. I don't have Verizon otherwise and not compatible with my hotspot so that wasn't an option for me. I thought the BlackVue cost was pretty outrageous for their LTE module.
 
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Assuming you have the DR750X-2CH LTE Plus, it didn't have Verizon as a carrier option when I looked that them
It's still not on the list, but there's a little thing with Verizon that's a bit of a secret... So in the future you can consider this. As long as the LTE band is one of the bands that Verizon uses it's compatible. The LTE version has 3 bands within the VZW spectrum. Therefore you just have to get them to add it. When you add something that's not in their system you have 2 options, an activated SIM card that you can just flop in or asking the rep to place a dummy IMEI on a SIM. The later is sometimes hard to find a rep to do. Once the device activates powers on it will auto-update the IMEI with VZW.

I'm not busting on your choice
I don't think you are at all. We all have different expectations and desires when it comes to mods. As an example, I don't like any of these aftermarket spoilers etc, but to each their own.

Based on all the nerding out in this thread, I think I'm leaving my setup the way it is -- it seems like I should be okay, although perhaps there might be some long-term consequences for my 12v battery longevity by putting it through these type of cycles.
As we discussed offline I think you'll be okay and if you end up hitting 12.1 and getting the DC/DC to kick in and alert you we will have a different setup as a test case. As for the cycling, we both will have the same cycling of power especially if it never gets below 12.2 (my cutoff). Lastly, we have the timer set so it should cut power if we left the car for a few days anyway and that would prevent drain. I think we are good!
 

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Not that it adds much, but I'm living a little dangerously with my Thinkware Q800Pro. Its parking mode is set to cut off at 11.9v, lol. I figure it will never get to that point anyway.
It draws 67 mA while in parking mode with radar, and on a 35 Ah battery.... that would take almost 21 days to fully discharge it. But it won't run for more than 3 days continuously at a time anyway.
 
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Not that it adds much, but I'm living a little dangerously with my Thinkware Q800Pro. Its parking mode is set to cut off at 11.9v, lol. I figure it will never get to that point anyway.
It draws 67 mA while in parking mode with radar, and on a 35 Ah battery.... that would take almost 21 days to fully discharge it. But it won't run for more than 3 days continuously at a time anyway.
I have a 24 hour cutoff and I've never had the voltage cut at 12.2 yet, so I think you're good.
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