Camera install killed my car, how to prevent it?

AceM

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I have a Peugeot 3008 2019, i had my camera installed along with parking mode around Sep 2019 by a local alarm shop, it worked fine and no issues, i occasionally used a trickle charger to keep the battery maintained. Around Dec 2020 i had problems with my battery dying and nothing would get it to work, portable charger didnt work, using another car, nada, my trickle charger would stop charging too, tow truck came and they couldnt get it to work either, so the car was towed to the dealer. They replaced the battery but about 72 hrs later exact same issue.

They said the camera was not installed properly, it damaged the fuse box and wiring and was short circuiting. They ordered a part from France since it wasnt available locally.

The dealer did reinstall the camera but no parking mode as they said that was the original problem.

This was the kit i have https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07HMBV3H3The fuses that were included in the kit were not used by the shop. Is the fuses all that is need for the parking mode to work and not ruin the car wiring again? Why did it work fine for about 15 mth?

This is a pic the dealer sent me:

wappimage.jpeg
 
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They said the camera was not installed properly, it damaged the fuse box and wiring and was short circuiting.
hard to imagine how something could work for 15 months and then become an installation problem, unless a cable had rubbed through or similar, that should cause it to blow a fuse though, ask for more detail, what you've been told doesn't make sense, best to find out what they're not telling you
 
I believe you have two separate problems. I have done a lot to my car, even pulling apart the fuse box. You will be surprised what's inside them.

The camera installation may have been a quick job, but cars are fused & then there are primarily fuses above that for groups of major circuits.

Secondly I would only connect the parking mode to an auxiliary battery. The typical starter battery in cars these days is too under sized for all the electronics. Cars go in to increasing degrees of hibernation to refuse standby losses.
 
I have a Peugeot 3008 2019, i had my camera installed along with parking mode around Sep 2019 by a local alarm shop, it worked fine and no issues, i occasionally used a trickle charger to keep the battery maintained. Around Dec 2020 i had problems with my battery dying and nothing would get it to work, portable charger didnt work, using another car, nada, my trickle charger would stop charging too, tow truck came and they couldnt get it to work either, so the car was towed to the dealer. They replaced the battery but about 72 hrs later exact same issue.

They said the camera was not installed properly, it damaged the fuse box and wiring and was short circuiting. They ordered a part from France since it wasnt available locally.

The dealer did reinstall the camera but no parking mode as they said that was the original problem.

This was the kit i have https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07HMBV3H3The fuses that were included were not used. Is the fuses all that is need for the parking mode to work and not ruin the car wiring again? Why did it work fine for about 15 mth?
Thoughts

1. You had a parasitic draw (electrical issue) either caused by the camera or another issue. Which could have caused your battery to go bad and resulted in other issues. A bad battery can make a lot of things act erratic. When my battery had a bad cell, my cameras were acting unreliably. When I had the hardwire to a fuse that didn't mark it was tied into my alarm, every time i locked my car, my cameras turned on. Had to switch fuses.

2. Second possibility is they tied into a safety system or module and the hardwire didn't play nice.

3. You have unrelated issues that the dealer is using to bilk money out of you by claiming the camera was the culprit.
 
One thing dealers never divulge is that they often update cars software, on manufacturers instructions. These updates can cause problems.

A 'secret' software update to my Xantia, a few decades ago, trashed an auto box as it was occasionally changing gears the wrong way. Cost them a new box.

Car electronics these days are protected and maybe the dashcam wiring is now being detected as an overload on that circuit.
 
I was trying to focus on the "bypass" adapter but the only thing I see is the broken insulator for one of the wires. :D

@AceM Don't know about you but i don't see any damage to the fusebox in that picture, nor shortcircuit, I'm not even sure which part of fusebox is it... To be honest, despite Viofo's HK3 has it's own issues, you should rather also look up the issue in Peugeot forums. For example, my 308 (2007) was notorious for wire problems, especially at taillights, where the ground pin in the connector was underrated, causing the pin to melt/blow.(everything within the rated load of the fuse...).
Btw: I found some mentions about wire issues for Hybrid 3008 (2019-2020), even recalls.

However, it can also be a bad installation. Untightened ground screw loosened overtime, oxidation, etc.
 
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I noticed the damaged insulation on that wire too. It does not appear to have melted due to overheating from a short, but has been damaged physically. The two electrical terminals visible do appear to have overheated. Could be from a poor connection or over-current.

Not knowing how the HWK install was done I can't comment on causes, but I do know that it is standard procedure for car dealers to do everything possible to avoid having to turn in work under warranty as that pays them less than customer-paid work does.

Phil
 
Agree with HonestReview on all points, seems like your dealer is shady, and latching onto anything they can to try and avoid spending time and money actually fixing your car...

Have you talked to the shop that installed it? Also, did the dealer do any troubleshooting besides replacing the battery? Did they check the terminal and ground points? Check the generator/alternator/whatever Peugeot calls it? Check for other parasitic draws?

To be honest, your symptoms sound like a lot of the same "...electrical failure out of nowhere..." threads I read about on Corvette and Dodge forums, and usually ends up being one of these kind of things. So much electrical stuff on modern cars that a simple loose ground can wreak havoc. The other end of the spectrum could be a failed or shorting electronic module. Either way, if all the dealer did is throw a new battery at it then blame your dashcam, I submit that you need to find a more knowledgeable shop to check out your car...
 
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I don't know what caused the problem here but the wire with the damaged insulation looks a bit familiar. Where I live it is not entirely uncommon to discover that a mouse has chewed the insulation on wiring in a vehicle or even inside the walls of a house. I once had trouble with a telephone line in one of the bedrooms in my house and after all kinds of frustrating troubleshooting discovered that a mouse had chewed the wire going to the bedroom near where the wiring enters my basement. Another time I found that mice had been living in the heater duct in my truck when I went to change the cabin air filter. Sometimes a chewed wire turns out to be the explanation for a failure or short circuit that seems to come out of nowhere. I would suggest checking this vehicle's wiring over for other possible signs of rodent damage just to rule it out.
 
Agreed with the complexity of today's cars. One guy I work with just spent $5K at the Chevy dealer on a 5- year old Camaro to fix an intermittent stalling problem which was also eating up alternators and batteries. They'd say it was fixed, he'd pay another $1.5K bill, and a week later it's dead and gone back to their shop getting something else replaced. At least now they've replaced so much that the car is half-new and they've given him a 6 month warranty on all the work they've done plus anything electrical which fails in that time which hadn't been replaced. BTW, the dealer had the car for 6 months trying to source the parts to do the work which is why he got a 'bonus' warranty from them.

In the meantime he bought a Charger. I told him to sell the Camaro while it was still running...

Phil
 
I noticed the damaged insulation on that wire too. It does not appear to have melted due to overheating from a short, but has been damaged physically. The two electrical terminals visible do appear to have overheated. Could be from a poor connection or over-current.

Not knowing how the HWK install was done I can't comment on causes, but I do know that it is standard procedure for car dealers to do everything possible to avoid having to turn in work under warranty as that pays them less than customer-paid work does.

Phil

Good Eye! A physically damaged wire can cause things to short out, too. If it's drawing inconsistent current and causing voltage spikes.
 
Agreed with the complexity of today's cars. One guy I work with just spent $5K at the Chevy dealer on a 5- year old Camaro to fix an intermittent stalling problem which was also eating up alternators and batteries. They'd say it was fixed, he'd pay another $1.5K bill, and a week later it's dead and gone back to their shop getting something else replaced. At least now they've replaced so much that the car is half-new and they've given him a 6 month warranty on all the work they've done plus anything electrical which fails in that time which hadn't been replaced. BTW, the dealer had the car for 6 months trying to source the parts to do the work which is why he got a 'bonus' warranty from them.

In the meantime he bought a Charger. I told him to sell the Camaro while it was still running...

Phil

How old was his Camaro? Spending $5k and the issue not being resolved and dealer wanting another $1.5? I'd be very pissed off as that dealer seems shady as hell.
 
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hard to imagine how something could work for 15 months and then become an installation problem, unless a cable had rubbed through or similar, that should cause it to blow a fuse though, ask for more detail, what you've been told doesn't make sense, best to find out what they're not telling you
This was there response when i asked for more details: the problem with the dashcam was that the camera itself was connected directly to the power fuse box, so this box was always in operation when it should stop working when you close the switch


Would that cause an issue?
 
They provided me with this pic but i personally dont find anything visibly wrong, the dealer is in Mexico so they might not be explaining thing well enough in ingles, and i myself am not bilingual, this is the only dealer for about 2 hrs, and most shops dont deal with French cars, i havent talked to the alarm shop yet as i was trying to gather more information since the dealer is saying it was not installed properly

I had no other work done to the car, and i barely drove it, had about 8000 km in 2 yrs, and when it was parked at home in my driveway i disabled parking mode, i did post in the Peugeot forums to check if they would know any more
 

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This was there response when i asked for more details: the problem with the dashcam was that the camera itself was connected directly to the power fuse box, so this box was always in operation when it should stop working when you close the switch


Would that cause an issue?
not sure I understand their response
 
This was there response when i asked for more details: the problem with the dashcam was that the camera itself was connected directly to the power fuse box, so this box was always in operation when it should stop working when you close the switch


Would that cause an issue?

That's how it should be setup. Accessory fuse (Active when car is started) and always on fuse (battery). A voltage cutoff is used to prevent the complete drain of the battery.

12.6 = 100%
12.4 = 75%
12.2 = 50%

etc. Usually set at 12.2 to prevent the battery from going too low.

Sounds like your dealer is playing you for a fool. Their explanation is nonsense. If you had a voltage cutoff, then the camera wouldn't drain the battery completely. What you do have is a DAMAGED wire on your hardwire kit that could be causing over volting / under volting and erratic current flow.
 
They provided me with this pic but i personally dont find anything visibly wrong, the dealer is in Mexico so they might not be explaining thing well enough in ingles, and i myself am not bilingual, this is the only dealer for about 2 hrs, and most shops dont deal with French cars, i havent talked to the alarm shop yet as i was trying to gather more information since the dealer is saying it was not installed properly

I had no other work done to the car, and i barely drove it, had about 8000 km in 2 yrs, and when it was parked at home in my driveway i disabled parking mode, i did post in the Peugeot forums to check if they would know any more

Are you living in Mexico or the USA? I don't understand your explanation. If you are in the USA, why are you traveling to Mexico for an Audio Install? Especially if you are not bilingual in Spanish?
 
That's how it should be setup. Accessory fuse (Active when car is started) and always on fuse (battery). A voltage cutoff is used to prevent the complete drain of the battery.

12.6 = 100%
12.4 = 75%
12.2 = 50%

etc. Usually set at 12.2 to prevent the battery from going too low.

Sounds like your dealer is playing you for a fool. Their explanation is nonsense. If you had a voltage cutoff, then the camera wouldn't drain the battery completely. What you do have is a DAMAGED wire on your hardwire kit that could be causing over volting / under volting and erratic current flow.

Yea i did have that set, and i used a battery maintainer to keep it at optimal voltage

I am from the USA, moved to Mexico, Peugeot is only sold in Mexico

I am basically saying the dealer might not be explaining it properly over text i am not entirely sure

So that damaged wire, could it have caused the fuse box to be completely damaged and thus killing new batteries?
 
So that damaged wire, could it have caused the fuse box to be completely damaged and thus killing new batteries?
If you mean the wire with broken insulater the answer is "no, until a second opened wire or exposed metal is present as well..." or "in case of damage which cuts through the wire, effectivelly reducing cross section of the conducter"(but that would mean increase of resistance and could cause excessive heat).

It looks like your dealer doesn't know or can't understand you have HK with cut-off.
 
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Yea i did have that set, and i used a battery maintainer to keep it at optimal voltage

I am from the USA, moved to Mexico, Peugeot is only sold in Mexico

I am basically saying the dealer might not be explaining it properly over text i am not entirely sure

So that damaged wire, could it have caused the fuse box to be completely damaged and thus killing new batteries?

Make sure the wire (with broken insulator) isn't damaged, bent, etc. If the wire itself is "OK", you could put a piece of electrical tape around it, to protect the wire. If the wire is damaged, it could cause current issues. Think of a shorted out headphone jack. You bend it and one side of the ear piece cuts out. Damaged wire prevents current from flowing. Now if you have metal touching the exposed wire, it could cause the current to flow elsewhere.

I'm not sure your dealer has much a clue what's taking place, or they do, and are trying to confuse you out of money.

So you live in Mexico and don't speak Spanish? That's got to be a son of a bitch to communicate.
 
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