Hard wire kit with manual button?

davidr

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Dash Cam
Viofo A119
Hello guys!

I have lurked around in this forum for a long time and I am running a Viofo A119 for over a year now. As my next upgrade, I will purchase a A119S for a dual cam setup.

Now I wanted to hard wire those, with a more specific setup:
My car is a Diesel with a pretty old battery, so all of those generic low (~11.8V) cutoff kits won't work for me. Now I could connect them to an ACC+ fuse, but sometimes I want to leave the dashcam running when parking for a few hours, but not always, like overnight at home.

Now I thought of connecting some generic hard wire kit to a continuous fuse and add a switch myself. Has anybody done something like this around here? Also I found the Lukas LK-290 which has this functionality built in. It would be the perfect kit for me but sadly, I have not been able to find it anywhere whithin Europe. I already made a thread in the Lukas subforum but I thougt I'd ask here aswell.

So is there another kit with a similar button that can manually put the cam to work just as I need? Another kit that would do this is the Vicovation Vico-Power PLUS but that one has so many more features that I don't need and I don't want to spend $75 just for a wiring kit.

Thanks in advance!
David
 
Lukas LK-290 which has this functionality built in. It would be the perfect kit for me but sadly, I have not been able to find it anywhere whithin Europe. I already made a thread in the Lukas subforum but I thougt I'd ask here aswell.
And here: http://shop.lukasdirect.com/lk-290 you have probably looked?
 
Power Magic Pro recommended by Blackvue for their cameras would work for you.. if your camera is supplied with ~12 volts. Essentially it is just switch that supplies power from the ACC supply or a source on all the time depending on settings for time or voltage. It has a manual off and on switch that you would use when you want a couple of hours (and if you forgot.. it would shut off on its own depending on your settings) https://www.amazon.ca/gp/B008B8ERIO
 
Power Magic Pro recommended by Blackvue for their cameras would work for you.. if your camera is supplied with ~12 volts. Essentially it is just switch that supplies power from the ACC supply or a source on all the time depending on settings for time or voltage. It has a manual off and on switch that you would use when you want a couple of hours (and if you forgot.. it would shut off on its own depending on your settings) https://www.amazon.ca/gp/B008B8ERIO

Thanks for the recommendation. Seen that one aswell, while it has all the functionality I need, sadly my cam runs with 5 volts. I'll still keep it in mind, maybe I just connect it to a cigarette USB adapter, although that might end up a bit messy.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. Seen that one aswell, while it has all the functionality I need, sadly my cam runs with 5 volts. I'll still keep it in mind, maybe I just connect it to a cigarette USB adapter, although that might end up a bit messy.
Lots of room under the dash on most vehicles to hide all that "messy" stuff. Output the PMP to your cigarette lighter adapter.. plug in your camera adapter.. tape the whole assembly so it wont come loose and tuck it out of sight..
 
Here's something I've thought about... a timer. I found this relay that can be set to turn off a set time after the switch connector loses power http://www.ezautomation.net/eztimer...MIi8Pt2p7T2wIVirXACh20lAHkEAQYAiABEgKdpPD_BwE

I don't like the idea of manually switching because when you forget to switch off, you go back to your car and all your video is overwritten by footage of your garage
But I can't find what the time range is. Can you set it for a couple hours? I don't know
 
Lots of room under the dash on most vehicles to hide all that "messy" stuff. Output the PMP to your cigarette lighter adapter.. plug in your camera adapter.. tape the whole assembly so it wont come loose and tuck it out of sight..

Absolutely, it's just a tight fit in my car. The fuse box is at the side of the drivers door and I wanted to route it directly up along the A-pillar. But it looks like there's some space I could fit the adapter in.

Here's something I've thought about... a timer. I found this relay that can be set to turn off a set time after the switch connector loses power http://www.ezautomation.net/eztimer...MIi8Pt2p7T2wIVirXACh20lAHkEAQYAiABEgKdpPD_BwE

I don't like the idea of manually switching because when you forget to switch off, you go back to your car and all your video is overwritten by footage of your garage
But I can't find what the time range is. Can you set it for a couple hours? I don't know

Good point! Actually, that relay goes down to 0.001 seconds, so that's way more precise than I need it to be. I found another one within Europe that is cheaper and has the range I'd need: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B019XK1NR6
Thank you for pointing that out. Never thought of using a relay, but adding that I could basically just use my simple hardwire kit I already have lying around. If I'm calculating this correctly, 2 hours of usage would use at most 0,41 Ah of my 70 Ah battery. No need for any voltage cutoff then.
 
One thing you could do with a timer relay is have it wired to constant power and accessory power swtiching like normal, plus have a manual toggle switch to choose whether the camera gets power from the relay or accessory power.

In position A, the switch would feed the dashcam the power from the relay and stay on for a couple hours.

In position B, the dashcam is only getting power from the accessory line so it shuts down immediately.

So if you go to a store you leave it on A and it will run for a few hours which should cover you. But when you go home you switch it to B. But even if you forget it on A, at least it won't run for 30 hours
 
One thing you could do with a timer relay is have it wired to constant power and accessory power swtiching like normal, plus have a manual toggle switch to choose whether the camera gets power from the relay or accessory power.

That would result in exactly the functionality I want.

I've put together a crude schematic, I'm not very well versed in electronics, but this should work and not blow things up, right?

chrome_2018-06-15_17-05-21.png
 
...this should work and not blow things up, right?
A good idea, but it seems to me that you need to make some minor corrections to the connection diagram
corrected circuit.jpg
Wish you a successful solution in your experiments :)(y)
 
I've been learning about time delay relays and figured out what kind is needed... Off Delay. You apply trigger and the device turns on, and when trigger turns off, the countdown begins.

The types of relays are explained here:
https://www.macromatic.com/products-main/time-delay-relays

The Macromatic currently sold units are explained here:
https://www.macromatic.com/blog/relays/tr-6-time-delay-relay-redesign

I think this is what we need:
https://www.macromatic.com/products-main/time-delay-relays/encapsulated/ths-series
 
Seems that installing something like the Power Magic Pro would be easier. In looking at your schematic and links .. make sure that the relay you pick can handle the full load of your cigarette lighter. Your camera wont draw much but you could.. plug something into your lighter socket that draws more power..
 
Seems that installing something like the Power Magic Pro would be easier. In looking at your schematic and links .. make sure that the relay you pick can handle the full load of your cigarette lighter. Your camera wont draw much but you could.. plug something into your lighter socket that draws more power..

Yes some are only 1amp. I just looked up the Power Magic Pro... I didn't know it had a timer, I thought it was only a voltage cutoff. But the minimum is 6 hours. The industrial relays have wider timing ranges
 
This type of digital timer would be perfect because you could mount it on your dash and set the time delay as needed. But I can only find a few digital models. One needs a minimum of 24 volt, one takes 85V, and the other has a max temperature of 122F which isn't high enough for use in a car

This is the 12v one that is only rated to 122F
https://cdn.automationdirect.com/static/specs/koyodigitaltimers.pdf
 
I ordered LT4H-DC24VS which is the 12-24v model with screw terminal mounts. I'm going to try to find a place to mount it in my dash. One thing about that unit is it has a rocker button for each digit, so it should be easy to keep the minutes set to 5 and when necessary press the hour rocker to leave it running when you go in a store etc
 
That panasonic timer can't be switched directly with vehicle ignition power, it needs two terminals bridged, IE with a simple switch. So I ordered a train relay http://www.azatrax.com/track-power-relay.html

But I'm also thinking about whether it's possible to use a relay that has a specific cutoff voltage like 13v. That way when the car is switched off, voltage drops and the relay disconnects, which causes the timer to start counting. The advantage would be fewer wires required
 
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