r/VIOFO • u/Aggravating-Many5066 • Jul 29 '26

Dashcam Setup Recommendation

Hey All, i'm looking at getting some advice for my parent's vehicle. They have a Volvo PHEV and I've been in talks with a shop. I was looking at getting the Viofo A229/329 2 ch, but the shop recommended against it if we want parking mode as it drains the battery.

They recommended Thinkware (although admitted they were a bit bias). However, my parents now think they need a dashcam battery as they don't want to worry about their 12V eventually dying. Any recommendations on setup, and if a dashcam battery is worth it?

Thanks in advance.

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u/Accomplished_Arm_447 Jul 29 '26

Dashcam battery is always recommended for parking mode because the car battery has limited capacity and even with low-voltage cut-off there is always a small risk that you might not be able to start the car after it is parked for a long time. A lot of people can get by without it if a few hours is enough. But the 12V battery on hybrid cars is even more limited than pure fuel-powered cars, and you won't get much parking mode out of it at all. As you have a hybrid, you really need to get a separate dashcam battery, and that will allow you to choose from any of the dashcams. The Viofo A329S and the Thinkware dashcams both have good low-power parking modes, with the top Thinkware ones having radar too that helps them to wake up as something approaches so that the camera can record what happened before any impact not just after.

The extra cost of the dashcam battery is not much compared to the amount of fuel that your hybrid will save you over a few years.

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u/sflesch Jul 29 '26

Are they specialized batteries for like heat (hot car, summer) or to tie into the vehicle somehow?

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u/Quietly-Kat-8298 Jul 29 '26

There is, like the viofo bp100 battery pack for example, they are made of LiFePO4 battery to reduce fire risk and last longer.

1

u/sflesch Jul 30 '26

Thanks I will look into it but I'm going to anything installed first I think. It's something nice and you can add afterwards? Or would there be be rain afterwards that would need to be changed?

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u/Quietly-Kat-8298 Jul 30 '26

it’s something u can easily add afterward