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Product may work, but inadequate manual

Hi - I was interested in taking video of animals at night using a motion-detecting camera.  I found this and bought it:  Auto Car HD 1080P DVR Video Recorder Camera Night Vision Motion Detection 

 

On the product Specs it merely says "support" for Motion Detection Function and Infrared night vision.  The manual - such as it is, doesn't mention these anywhere else, so I have no idea how to use these supported functions. 

 

My first instinct was to try to get a return for incorrect description, but that isn't the actual situation.  On the other hand, I doubt that I'd be able to get any more info from the Thai seller.  If I want to try using it, I need to buy a 32GB TF card.

 

I do feel that I should at least try to use it, but the manual is really minimal junk, so I tend to feel I'll be on my own.  Any suggestions - try contacting the seller?

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Product may work, but inadequate manual

repairelectronics
Trailblazer
Best to youtube your camera and watch any videos you can find, and like you said you will need a good quality 32gb memory card, don't go cheap or your videos will suffer.

I have a dashcam that can do the same but have never set it up to motion sense - though it is in the menu settings. Mine doesn't have IR lights just a couple of bright white LED lights which I have disabled.

One thing to remember is, be it visible light or IR light you can not have the camera behind any kind of glass or the image will be washed out by the light reflecting back into the lens. This goes for any security camera.

Also, the WDR function of most of these cameras are designed to amplify all existing light to see at night, no headlights or street lights and your video will be too dark to see, I don't think the little LED on the camera will be effective for what you want.

What is the make and model of your camera?
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Product may work, but inadequate manual

Is this the $14 camera with free shipping from Thailand?
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Product may work, but inadequate manual

Yes, it is that Thai camera.

 

I'm not planning to use it in a car.

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Product may work, but inadequate manual

How does the camera work? did you test it yet? remember the on the board battery is only good for a few minutes. How are you powering the machine?
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Product may work, but inadequate manual

No - I haven't tested it yet.

 

I thought the listing implied that the battery could serve as a main power source.

 

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Product may work, but inadequate manual

Very few dashcams have an internal battery large enough to be used as a stand-alone power supply, using a cell phone type power bank should work though.

The internal battery is typically there to just keep it powered up long enough to do an orderly shutdown once the vehicle is turned off or power is abruptly removed in an accident, this prevents corrupted video files.

Your dashcam specs a 240mah battery, which is the same size in my dashcam, mine stays powered on for about 2 minutes after losing power in full video record mode, it may last longer in park mode as you intend to use it as.

If a typical dashcam draws 500mah then a 240mah battery should last about 30 minutes in record mode, It should last much longer in standby motion detect mode but you will just have to test it to see. Turning on the twelve IR LED's may reduce it significantly.

I also doubt a $14 camera is using high-quality parts, mine was $150 and the battery time is getting shorter every day.

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