'15 Suzuki Swift Hardwire Help Needed

[MedicalFlyer]

So I recently changed my old Kia battle wagon for a 2015 Suzuki Swift. Having taken out my DC Pro it's been sat in its box for a couple of months and now needs to be put in its new home.

Thought I'd poke around the Swift to come up with a plan for installing before digging in to the wire routing and such.

Have come across a slight snag. The interior fuse box is in the driver's footwell and has a flush fitting cover to protect things. I can't see any way to route the extra wires out or even have the piggy back fuses installed with the cover in place.

I could leave the cover off but that would leave the fuses exposed. I'd rather not put any holes in the cover either or chop in to any of the wiring.

If anyone has some experience on these (maybe other Suzuki models are similar?) I'd be grateful of your thoughts.

One idea would be to try and get a pair of covers, cut out the top of one and glue them together to create a double height on that still clips in I could them butcher it a bit to feed the wires out.

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[SawMaster]

I've long ago seen "Fuse taps" which were a thin piece of sheet copper with a wire attached; you pull the fuse, stick the tap in, then reinsert the fuse which holds it in place. Downstream of that use an inline fuse. I make my own now from a junk brass feeler gauge I had by cutting a blade to size and shape then soldering a wire on. Can't remember where the 'store-bought' ones came from' but maybe you can use the idea and do your own or maybe find them.

Phil

 

[Leonauto]

In your case, apparently one of the ways is to connect directly to the desired wire. There are two types of these splitters.

This is often used when installing wiring at GM


Example 1
Example 2

 

[SawMaster]

Although those "scotchlock" type wiretaps are commonly used, they are prone to fail over time giving an intermittent connection, especially if there's any movement of the wires. They must also be sized correctly or they will cut wire strands or not make good contact if too large. With age or heat the cover sometimes refuses to stay closed, exposing the metal piece where it can be accidentally shorted. I've seen these melt around the metal under high loads and where they began corroding causing extra resistance. Much better to use solder and heat-shrink tubing if you have to tap a wire like this.

Phil

 

[MedicalFlyer]

Thanks for the suggestions so far but neither seem too great to me. I'm not a fan of needless hacking about with car wiring, and a proper solder and shrink job would be how I'd go if I was to. I like to do things in an easily reversible way

Luckily, being that I have the sport model, there are many of these to be found that have had unfortunate run ins with other objects (quite quick for a 1.6 biscuit tin) so there are plenty being broken on eBay. Hopefully I can get a couple of covers cheapy and make up a suitably tall one with some grommeted wire holes in.

Would still like to hear from anyone with a similar model/fuse box and how they got round the issue.
If I recall @kamkar has a Suzuki (Splash?).

 

[kamkar]

Yeah needed something a bit taller, after having a 4X4 pickup and then a SUV ordinary cars feel like go-carts, go-carts too small for me to get down into and out of.
But some days i am also moaning getting out of the Splash.
The swifts and my splash too have fuse boxes that are much alike as i recall, and make sense no reason to have a different fuse box for each of your car models.
Mine have empty slots as it is a bottom of the barrel model that dont even have aircon, i even had to put in a radio myself as i recall.

I have not put my fuse box cover on again, after playing contortionist accessing the fuse box i just want to get out there ASAP, so the fuse box lid are in my boot i think,,,, maybe it have already been thrown out.

 

[MedicalFlyer]

Yeah needed something a bit taller, after having a 4X4 pickup and then a SUV ordinary cars feel like go-carts, go-carts too small for me to get down into and out of.
But some days i am also moaning getting out of the Splash.
The swifts and my splash too have fuse boxes that are much alike as i recall, and make sense no reason to have a different fuse box for each of your car models.
Mine have empty slots as it is a bottom of the barrel model that dont even have aircon, i even had to put in a radio myself as i recall.

I have not put my fuse box cover on again, after playing contortionist accessing the fuse box i just want to get out there ASAP, so the fuse box lid are in my boot i think,,,, maybe it have already been thrown out.

Thanks for the reply kamkar.

I have a couple of empty slots, might have a see if they're wired in at all.
It's a bit of an awkward place for sure. Brings back memories of being upside down in the footwell of my old Corolla trying to fish out a pollen filter.

Hopefully will work something out soon and get a dray day to get it done. Been a a camera for about 6 years now and feels odd without one.

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[country_hick]

You can pull a fuse and add a complete circuit including the original fuse by using one of these.
Make sure you get the right size fuse holder for your car. Mini fuses are just one style of car fuse.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254769364994

 

[MedicalFlyer]

You can pull a fuse and add a complete circuit including the original fuse by using one of these.
Make sure you get the right size fuse holder for your car. Mini fuses are just one style of car fuse.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254769364994

The favourite and easy option. And they don't fit under the cover.... Yet.

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[country_hick]

The favourite and easy option. And they don't fit under the cover.... Yet.

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Grab some duck tape. Tape the cover 1" higher than factory and you will have protection and the add-a-fuse.

 

[richx]

I just leave the cover off and keep it in the glovebox or somewhere else in the car, due to the fuse map being stuck or embossed on them. I rather have a proper piggyback fuse connection than either a wire tap (which damages the insulator permanently, and you can never undo it - important for cars under warranty over here), or have a wire coming out from a fuse body (which may break easily and there's no quick and reliable way to replace or repair that connection). This is a typical problem for low profile mini fuse, the cover has very little clearance, even 3-4 mm may not clear it sometimes. So I decided to just not bother about the cover being on.

 

[MedicalFlyer]

Finally installed the camera

Finally got my SG DCPRO back on the go after two months.

The fuse cover in my Suzuki Swift is too small to reinstall after putting in the fuse taps, should be fine without it though (oh for access to a 3D printer).
Took a fair bit of being upside down the the footwell with both arms wedged in to get at things but fairly tidy one installed. This was my 7th camera install I think and the common sense approach to selecting fuses to tap didn't work here. Usually I'd go for something like the dome light for permanent live and mirror controls/fog light for the switched. I think as a result of the keyless ignition system certain circuits do odd things. Some that are off when you first get in the car are kept live after the engine is switched off. Found a working pair in the end to get the parking mode working right.

I think I had to use a different fuses in the end for connections, spent a good while in the footwell switching them in and out.

I mounted the little switch box from the hardwire kit somewhere I can just reach should I need to adjust the cut off setting

Power goes up the A-pillar and along the headliner to the camera. First time I've use the little cable cover piece, works well when you can fit it.
GPS is hidden in the other A-pillar which I forgot to get a picture of.

Driver's view. The hanging wire at the back is for the rear cam as I wasn't able to make it any tidier annoyingly.

Rear cam stuck to tailgate. I would've loved to route the cable up that rubber piece on the left and out of the grommeted hole but the connector was too big to go through the tube. @jokiin is there anything special about the cables (other than shielding) or could I replace it with one I could fit through? Or use a suitable extension to feed it through and join up?

From outside it's barely noticeable. Unless you get up close of course.

Thanks to the heavily tinted glass and position the rear came is virtually invisible from outside.

I did experiment with having the rear cam mounted to the headlining using some old harddrive magnets. Looked like it would've sat really well but routing the cable wasn't too neat and kept pulling it at an odd angle.
You can see the pictures of that HERE