HK4 Hardwire Kit Wires?

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kiakiatortilla

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Hey guys,

I'm not too experienced with wires and wire quality... however after some research I've figured that as the gauging number of the wire is lower, the more current it can handle. Currently, pretty much all of the fuse taps I've come across are 16 AWG wires, which on the box it says 2-10A fuse recommended but online I found that the max recommended amperage for 16awg wires is 7.5A. If someone can explain that discrepancy I'd really appreciate it.

However, the main point of this thread is that the battery and acc wires in the HK4 hardwire kit come with 20 awg wires..... which in the online datasheet it says are rated for max 3A. So wouldn't this be a hazard, considering most of us probably have 5A fuses on them?

I also haven't crimped the two together yet, but I'm not sure if trying to crimp a 16awg wire with the 20awg using the blue butt connector is safe, since the blue connector says it's for 16-14awg wires.

Thanks.
 
Welcome!... I would recommend 2-5A fuse for the tap. And you can easily crimp a 16awg and a 20awg wires with either a blue or red butt connector. However, soldering is always best.
 
kiakiatortilla said:
Hey guys,

I'm not too experienced with wires and wire quality... however after some research I've figured that as the gauging number of the wire is lower, the more current it can handle. Currently, pretty much all of the fuse taps I've come across are 16 AWG wires, which on the box it says 2-10A fuse recommended but online I found that the max recommended amperage for 16awg wires is 7.5A. If someone can explain that discrepancy I'd really appreciate it.

However, the main point of this thread is that the battery and acc wires in the HK4 hardwire kit come with 20 awg wires..... which in the online datasheet it says are rated for max 3A. So wouldn't this be a hazard, considering most of us probably have 5A fuses on them?

I also haven't crimped the two together yet, but I'm not sure if trying to crimp a 16awg wire with the 20awg using the blue butt connector is safe, since the blue connector says it's for 16-14awg wires.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
1691113817436.png20AWG can support 5A, not just 3A at most. Please rest assured that our hardwire kit has been tested by professional engineers many times before mass production.
 
Thank you guys!

I did take the advice on soldering. I bent the wires of the hardwire kit on themselves once to thicken them a little bit, and I will be soldering them today before I crimp them.
 
kiakiatortilla said:
If someone can explain that discrepancy I'd really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
It depends on how much voltage drop you are prepared to accept along the cable, if you are wiring a house with house length cables then you will want far less than if you just have 30cm of cable from the fusebox to HWK, also the HWK contains a voltage regulator that does not need the full 12V, it will probably be happy working on only 9V and will still output exactly 5V for the camera.

So, as Viofo says, nothing to worry about, a 3A or 5A fuse will protect the cable from fire in the event of a short circuit.
 
5A fuse is all you need. Your camera will work perfectly fine even with a 26 awg, it's just the power losses into heat your are willing to accept. The fuse is there mainly if anything shorts in the wire or the camera.

I've had a long beef with viofo hardwiring kit (hk3) but the hk4 is currently the best thought out design you can get on the market, and if their claim of 20awg on power lines is true, there is nothing to worry about. Competitors offer 24 or 22awg at best, which is saving pennies on a dime, at the expense of performance.
 
bobcat said:
it's just the power losses into heat your are willing to accept.
Click to expand...
Given the length of the cable between the fuse and the HWK, those power losses will be negligible with any of these wire thicknesses.

bobcat said:
The fuse is there mainly if anything shorts in the wire or the camera.
Click to expand...
The fuse is not to protect the camera, there is a separate current limit in the HWK which does that.and which will always operate before the fuse. The fuse only protects the wire between the fuse and the HWK.
 
Nigel said:
those power losses will be negligible with any of these wire thicknesses.
Click to expand...
Those power losses are not negligible on HK3 and cause 0.5v+ voltage drop across its 24 AWG wires. In rare cases enough to cause issues with the camera. Plenty of information on this in the older posts.

Nigel said:
The fuse is not to protect the camera
Click to expand...

I never said that. Fuses are there to protect the car from the camera and hardwire kit malfunction.
 
bobcat said:
I've had a long beef with viofo hardwiring kit (hk3) but the hk4 is currently the best thought out design you can get on the market, and if their claim of 20awg on power lines is true, there is nothing to worry about. Competitors offer 24 or 22awg at best, which is saving pennies on a dime, at the expense of performance.
Click to expand...
So i was sent the wrong wiring kit for my 2 camera A229 pro , and the installer didn't notice it and fully installed it. Now I'm trying to work out what to do, i was just going to get an adapter, mini usb to usb C. what difference do you see in the 2 wiring kits?
 
Quozlator said:
So i was sent the wrong wiring kit for my 2 camera A229 pro , and the installer didn't notice it and fully installed it. Now I'm trying to work out what to do, i was just going to get an adapter, mini usb to usb C. what difference do you see in the 2 wiring kits?
Click to expand...
Hi there. The older kit is supposedly rated for lower currents, has thinner wires going to the camera and overall designed for older, less power hungry dashcams. Some of the older hk3 kits have a faulty chip that regulates power output, so there is element of a gamble as well.
I'm almost certain nothing bad is going to happen if you get a high quality adapter (properr adapter with cc lines logic), but if I were you, I'd prefer as little uncertainty as possible when running aux power devices in the car and would reinstall the new kit.
 
Thanks fore the extra info and clarification about the wire thickness and the faulty chip.

This has been such a massive screw up for us. my wife wasn't interested in getting the dashcam, wasn't thrilled with the quality of work done installing it, and now me having to spend more money to buy a new kit, she's gonna have a fit.

I have a hard time understanding why a compony would ship the wrong cable even if i made the mistake in ordering. like do you not think that making sure the parts go together is important? a simple email to double check would have saved me huge.

and now our lives are in turmoil as my father in law is in the hospital with life threatening health issue, and I've got this piddly little issue with my dashcam for her to worry about. so frustrating!!!!!!!!!
 
Karagandinez said:
HK3
View attachment 70072
HK3-C
View attachment 70073

HK4
View attachment 70074
Photos from the official website of Viofo.

Where is their difference in currents?
Click to expand...
They may output the same current but the HK4 comes with thicker power wires running to the camera (20AWG if I recall correctly) which improves efficiency and current delivery capabilities. Hence yes, the HK4 kit is rated for higher current cameras and is a better kit for A229 Pro, otherwise why bother having HK4 when HK3-C is available.

As far as I understand, the issue that the person above had was they installed regular HK3 with mini-usb output - adding another adapter in the loop while most likely will work, would not be ideal as it introduces another non-automotive mechanical connection and resistance choke point.
 
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bobcat said:
They may output the same current but the HK4 comes with thicker power wires running to the camera (20AWG if I recall correctly) which improves efficiency and current delivery capabilities. Hence yes, the HK4 kit is rated for higher current cameras and is a better kit for A229 Pro, otherwise why bother having HK4 when HK3-C is available.
Click to expand...
Do you know what is the difference between HK4 and HK3-C?
The HK4 has an angled plug, while the HK3-C has a straight plug.
I have them installed in my car, otherwise I would show you that they have the same cables.
My A229 Pro works great with HK3-C.
 
The HK4 and HK3-C were both "optimized" (to use VIOFO's wording) during 2023 to have "20AWG+24AWG" USB cable wiring vs only having 24 AWG USB wiring prior to that point in time.

If you're upgrading from an older VIOFO dash camera which was powered by one of the older (24 AWG USB cable) HK3-C or HK4 hardwire kits, I would recommend obtaining a new "optimized" hardwire kit as well to make sure the hardwire kit can provide proper power to any of the newer VIOFO two or three channel dash cameras.

Currently, the only difference between the HK3-C and the HK4 is that the HK3-C has a straight USB-C connector and the HK4 has a 90-degree USB-C connector.
 
Karagandinez said:
Do you know what is the difference between HK4 and HK3-C?
The HK4 has an angled plug, while the HK3-C has a straight plug.
I have them installed in my car, otherwise I would show you that they have the same cables.
My A229 Pro works great with HK3-C.
Click to expand...
I only had regular HK3 and HK4, but I belive only the hk4 had 20awg power lines, and not the hk3-c when it came out a few years ago.

The cabling was an issue for me back when I was developing my custom hardwire kit based on hk3 wiring. It was losing about 0.5v under load at the camera end. This was no longer an issue with 20awg.

Per rcg530 comment above it sounds like they may have upgraded hk3-c to come with 20awg as well. If that's the case, the difference is indeed only in plug angle.

PS. All this time I was referring to the wire running from hk kit to the camera (you can only see those if you slice open the device or the wires), not the wires running from fuse taps to the HK kit, those are thick and are not causing any issues.
 
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The HK3-C with straight plug went on sale on the Viofo website in early 2021, along with the release of the A139 model.
HK4 with an angled plug went on sale on the Viofo website at the end of 2021, along with the release of the T130 model.
Their optimization was, as written above, in 2023.
 
Here a picture of the original/older HK3-C/HK4 24 AWG USB cabling and the "optimized" HK3-C/HK4 20 AWG + 24 AWG USB cabling

1704651818295.png
 
Here is my product improvement suggestion to @viofo

These archaic HK3/HK4 cables with relatively large voltage regulator, usually not easily accessible, need to be replaced altogether.

Voltage regulator module (much smaller version) should be housed inside DVR, and cut-off voltage should be adjustable through App in a wider range, including no cut-off for the dedicated parking battery with its own protection.
Then you can run 12V directly to DVR using 28AWG wires in a small diameter 3-wire cable.
It will be easier to rout thru a narrow places and hide.

For reference, the current through a 12V cable is less than half (0.8A vs 2A) that of a 5V cable for the same power transfer.

Side advantage - since car electrical system is 12V, we can pick up that 12V anywhere in the car where it is ACC activated, for example digital rear mirror, instead of running long cable to cigar lighter.
 
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