dashcam GPS radar detector = dead 12v battery

this morning I went out to my 2011 model 2 and the battery was stone dead, I recently acquired some new electronics Valentine One radar detector a Cobra CDR 900 dash cam and a Garmin GPS, I have a funny feeling that the amount of voltage and amperage being drawn by these three devices has something to do with the battery being dead this morning, assuming like other vehicles that the battery is constantly being charged while driving and that these electronics would not create a problem, I tried to get some answers from Toyota both corporate and my local dealership but nobody really seemed to know, I'm just kind of curious if anybody else has experienced this type of problem or if anybody has a solution for this, I'd love to communicate with somebody that has a better understanding of the 12V charging system for this car.

Thanks, Sam

 

I have all three plugged into the 12V outlet under the Council opening via a multi outlet adapter so when the vehicle is turned off I'm assuming there's no power drain, I used a smart battery charger to charge the cars 12V system, after charging everything seems fine, drove the car around it started just fine, I'll see what happens today the only thing I currently have plugged in is the Valentine One, this is the first push button start vehicle I've owned, regular key start vehicles usually give you some indication by either cranking slowly or in some cases making a clicking sound that the battery is either low or too low to start, I do understand that these batteries tend to last three to five years but I drive this car everyday in the two years I've owned it I've put 38,000 miles on it, in a non hybrid car where the engine is constantly running the battery is constantly being charged up, when you drive a vehicle everyday the battery life expectancy tends to goes way up, now in a vehicle like this with such a small battery and the engine not Constantly running I just have no idea what to expect, it could just be that the combination of things the age of the battery the size of the battery and the drain from these electronics were the problem, I guess I'll just have to play with it and see, the cars just been so dependable I guess it kind of shocked me when it wouldn't start.

 

Well, it's been a few days I'm only running the V1 and the cobra dash cam but haven't had any issues, I'll wait another week then plug up the Garmin, I've got My charger handy and at least I know how to charge it now.

 

I've been checking everything since the battery went dead.

 

I picked up a set of pry tools to hide the wires, three dollars on,Ebay

 

yes,everything turned off

 

so far it's working fine, the reason I bought it is some months ago I received a ticket for running a stop sign, I went to court and thank goodness the officer didn't show up but if he had that ticket would have cost me $300 and it would have been my word against his.

I was in frys electronics and they had an inexpensive one, a real cheapy but I tend to buy quality items this Cobra CDR 900 was selling for $269 at Frys it has some great features 160 degree view wifi an app for your phone you can hook it right up to your HDTV and review everything its pretty much plug and play,

frys will meet internet prices so I checked on Amazon and the price on Amazon was $89 free shipping Fry's didn't feel like meating it so I just bought it from Amazon.

I will tell you that dealing with cobra is a pain in the you know where, I called them for some technical information nobody ever called me back waiting on hold every time for at least 20 minutes to a half an hour, one of the features listed is GPS ready the unit has been on the market for over a year when I asked them about that they didn't have an answer, after calling back many times I talk to the manager of customer service he pretty much told me he doesn't think that item will ever be available.

the unit comes with a one year warranty and so far the unit works fine for the price and the features it's hard to beat.

 

Well, the car had 38,000 miles on it when I bought it and it was 2 years old so it didn't sit around prior to my ownIng it and I put another thirty eight thousand on it in the last two years that I've owned it.

obviously the battery is now 4 years old and that puts it right about in the middle of their prediction between 3 to 5 years I think my problem her is I've had no experience with this particular type of battery, my expectations come from my experiences in the past which really aren't relevant here,

at this point the car is working fine and I have two of the three items plugged in I'll let it go for another week or two before I plug the GPS back in and see what happens

but when you think about all of the things that we use every time we drive the car headlights, interior lights, radio, electric windows up and down and then you start piling on other electronics I'm sure there's a limit to everything.