A129 3-wire kit

[Kerberos]

Hi, didn't know where to ask for but I've ordered a 2 wire hardwire kit for 119 and it was meant to be only ACC and GROUND wires, received 3 wire instead, the one with POS wire. Since I don't use parking mode, would it, leaving the POS yellow wire not plugged to anything, let the camera work anyway? I mean just with ACC and GND?

 

[Nigel]

Hi, didn't know where to ask for but I've ordered a 2 wire hardwire kit for 119 and it was meant to be only ACC and GROUND wires, received 3 wire instead, the one with POS wire. Since I don't use parking mode, would it, leaving the POS yellow wire not plugged to anything, let the camera work anyway? I mean just with ACC and GND?

No.

I would connect both ACC and POS wires to the same fuse rather than leave 1 disconnected, then it will work with all cameras (including those with parking mode), but for cameras that don't support 3-wire parking mode you only need POS and GND connected, ACC can be left disconnected, or connected to the same fuse as the POS. And yes, if you don't want to use parking mode then connect the POS to a fuse that is only on when the key is on (i.e. an ACC fuse!).

 

[Kerberos]

No.

I would connect both ACC and POS wires to the same fuse rather than leave 1 disconnected, then it will work with all cameras (including those with parking mode), but for cameras that don't support 3-wire parking mode you only need POS and GND connected, ACC can be left disconnected, or connected to the same fuse as the POS. And yes, if you don't want to use parking mode then connect the POS to a fuse that is only on when the key is on (i.e. an ACC fuse!).

Gotcha! Thanks for that. I'll just join them together in one piggyback fuse and put it together

 

[nav2014]

I am looking into ordering this kit along with A129. Are there any instructions or better still videos on how to plug this into a 2006 Odyssey EX-L RES. I can locate the fuse box using this video https://www.carcarekiosk.com/video/2006_Honda_Odyssey_LX_3.5L_V6/fuse_interior/replace
But not clear how to install it. Did not find any written instructions on Viofo site either, but couple of you here in this forum seem to know lot more, so any guidance will be much appreciated.

Support

support.viofo.com

 

[Devilment]

Having pondered on my proposed wiring for a physical switch, I've come up with the following improvement, based on a comment @Nigel made a while back in this thread.



Toggling between position I and position II with the ignition off should not confuse the dashcam, because you're just giving it 12V or not. In this situation, there is no difference between position I and position O.
However, with the ignition on, when toggling between position I (12V from ACC circuit) and position II (12V from permanent circuit) there is a chance that the dashcam notices a temporary loss of power and goes into shutdowm mode or parking mode. The capacitor will keep the power constant during toggling and the dashcam should be none the wiser. The diode is there to prevent the capacitor from feeding back into your car's circuits when the ignition is off.

All diodes cause a voltage drop. For a Schottky diode, this can be about 0.2V. Therefore you might want to set the voltage selector on the HK3 one notch lower to compensate for this. For example, if you have the HK3 set to 12.4V, set it to 12.2V, otherwise you may find that the dashcam is shut down when the car battery is at 12.6V.

 

[kevindd992002]

I'm getting really convinced now that this hardwire kit is defective. I left the car parked for around 24 hours and when I got back the wire voltage going to the kit is 12.06V. That's way too off from the 12.4V cutoff voltage. That's 340mV and that's out of the error tolerance already unless you're using a cheap knockoff voltmeter.

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[pegasusx]

I'm getting really convinced now that this hardwire kit is defective. I left the car parked for around 24 hours and when I got back the wire voltage going to the kit is 12.06V. That's way too off from the 12.4V cutoff voltage. That's 340mV and that's out of the error tolerance already unless you're using a cheap knockoff voltmeter.

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I have a crazy theory today about the voltage. But can I ask if you are parked any where near a power source / under high voltage wires?

I noticed today that when at work in a car park. It went into park mode AND the cut off actually cut off at 12.38 when set at 12.4v in park mode. Working 100%


When I got home and parked where I usual park. I checked tonight the cam is still running in drive mode. i.e. thinks ACC is on. But the car has been off for 4 hours.



Couldnt figure it out till it dawned on me that I was parked next to a substation... could the wires coiled be causing a voltage difference? enough to confuse the circuit?
Seems like it as every time I get home the battery goes flat in a few days

 

[Sergiosmvc]

Did not you hear the beeps when the camera went into parking mode?

So, when ACC is on the cutoff wont work, right?

 

[RavenManiac]

I have a crazy theory today about the voltage. But can I ask if you are parked any where near a power source / under high voltage wires?

That's not crazy. That stuff puts out some major EMF. In fact, my wife and I were out looking at new homes and one builder was trying to sell retirement homes near high tension power lines. Of course, they said it was safe, but all of my research indicated that was not the case.

If you haven't done so already, you may want to submit a ticket to Viofo. They're usually very good at getting back to you. Here's the URL: https://support.viofo.com/support/tickets/new

 

[kevindd992002]

I have a crazy theory today about the voltage. But can I ask if you are parked any where near a power source / under high voltage wires?

I noticed today that when at work in a car park. It went into park mode AND the cut off actually cut off at 12.38 when set at 12.4v in park mode. Working 100%
View attachment 46259

When I got home and parked where I usual park. I checked tonight the cam is still running in drive mode. i.e. thinks ACC is on. But the car has been off for 4 hours.

View attachment 46260

Couldnt figure it out till it dawned on me that I was parked next to a substation... could the wires coiled be causing a voltage difference? enough to confuse the circuit?
Seems like it as every time I get home the battery goes flat in a few days

View attachment 46261

Not at all. I park at home and at work and are nowhere near any high voltage sources. Also, if your problem (when parked at home) is that it doesn't go into park mode and thinks that ACC is still active when the car is turned off, then that's a whole lot of a different story that the issue I'm having. My parking to drive and drive to parking modes are working flawlessly (with the beeps and all when changing from one mode to another) but the cutoff voltage doesn't work anywhere I park.

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[Billyboy]

Having pondered on my proposed wiring for a physical switch, I've come up with the following improvement, based on a comment @Nigel made a while back in this thread.

View attachment 46245

Toggling between position I and position II with the ignition off should not confuse the dashcam, because you're just giving it 12V or not. In this situation, there is no difference between position I and position O.
However, with the ignition on, when toggling between position I (12V from ACC circuit) and position II (12V from permanent circuit) there is a chance that the dashcam notices a temporary loss of power and goes into shutdowm mode or parking mode. The capacitor will keep the power constant during toggling and the dashcam should be none the wiser. The diode is there to prevent the capacitor from feeding back into your car's circuits when the ignition is off.

All diodes cause a voltage drop. For a Schottky diode, this can be about 0.2V. Therefore you might want to set the voltage selector on the HK3 one notch lower to compensate for this. For example, if you have the HK3 set to 12.4V, set it to 12.2V, otherwise you may find that the dashcam is shut down when the car battery is at 12.6V.

Hi, did you manage to get your design working successfully and if you did, what type of switch etc have you used. Thanks.

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[RavenManiac]

Hey BillyBoy, I'm getting ready to wire a SPST switch up to the constant power side of the HK3 kit this weekend. I couldn't decide which color I wanted, so I ordered both options: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07NTQJ89N In my opinion, the DPDT switch wasn't necessary, at least for me.

 

[Billyboy]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. Hope it all works out for you, be interested if you could post the results. Thanks for the link but it seems to go to magic sets in Amazon [emoji23] Cheers

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[RavenManiac]

Thanks for the link but it seems to go to magic sets in Amazon [emoji23] Cheers

Yeah, those are the switches I ordered. I was going to get an illuminating switch, but I decided to keep things simple.

 

[Devilment]

Hi, did you manage to get your design working successfully and if you did, what type of switch etc have you used. Thanks.

Did you come over from the official VIOFO forums? There was a comment on a thread over there about adding a physical switch.

I haven't wired a switch in place yet. I only received my A129 Duo this week. I'm hoping to install the dashcams this weekend, but British weather may let me down and I don't have a garage to take shelter in.

The diode and capacitor may be surplus to requirements; it all depends on how tolerant the main camera is to a temporary loss of power. I'll update in this thread with my findings.

The switch was one I got off eBay for £1.99. If you do decide to go down the DPDT switch route, make sure that it's latching or maintained in the I/II positions. A lot of the eBay listings were for momentary switches. You don't want to be driving around having to hold your finger on the switch

 

[Billyboy]

Sorry guys, got you two mixed up in replies[emoji849][emoji849]!!

Devilment, I've been following various threads. I've got a 129 duo and the 3 wire hardwire kit, and was particularly interested in 'parking mode' but wanted the ability to easily switch parking mode on/off if I wanted to leave the vehicle unused for days in a safe location, hence the switch. I saw some info about people fitting switches but one problem seemed to be you had to switch the permanent 12v on everytime you started the car otherwise the camera would not kick in at all. I presume that's what you are trying to resolve with the addition of a diode and capacitor?

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[Billyboy]

Don't know if you're aware, Viofo are developing a buffered parking mode which should be great when they get it sorted.

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[Nigel]

Having pondered on my proposed wiring for a physical switch, I've come up with the following improvement, based on a comment @Nigel made a while back in this thread.

View attachment 46245

Toggling between position I and position II with the ignition off should not confuse the dashcam, because you're just giving it 12V or not. In this situation, there is no difference between position I and position O.
However, with the ignition on, when toggling between position I (12V from ACC circuit) and position II (12V from permanent circuit) there is a chance that the dashcam notices a temporary loss of power and goes into shutdowm mode or parking mode. The capacitor will keep the power constant during toggling and the dashcam should be none the wiser. The diode is there to prevent the capacitor from feeding back into your car's circuits when the ignition is off.

All diodes cause a voltage drop. For a Schottky diode, this can be about 0.2V. Therefore you might want to set the voltage selector on the HK3 one notch lower to compensate for this. For example, if you have the HK3 set to 12.4V, set it to 12.2V, otherwise you may find that the dashcam is shut down when the car battery is at 12.6V.

I don't see the need for the diode, at the time you need to use the power in the capacitor for the camera, there is no connection to the car's circuits, at other times it doesn't matter if it does feed power back.

 

[Devilment]

Sorry guys, got you two mixed up in replies[emoji849][emoji849]!!

Devilment, I've been following various threads. I've got a 129 duo and the 3 wire hardwire kit, and was particularly interested in 'parking mode' but wanted the ability to easily switch parking mode on/off if I wanted to leave the vehicle unused for days in a safe location, hence the switch. I saw some info about people fitting switches but one problem seemed to be you had to switch the permanent 12v on everytime you started the car otherwise the camera would not kick in at all. I presume that's what you are trying to resolve with the addition of a diode and capacitor?

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Ah, no. Diode and capacitor was a thought I had about not letting the voltage drop to the A129 main camera when switching between the two modes. If the rocker switch is switched quick enough, the A129 may not even be aware of the switch-over in power. This will require testing to see if diode/cap are required.

Onto my thinking about using a DPDT (double pole/double throw) switch to resolve the issues others were having with a SPDT or SPST switch.

With the SPxx set-ups, the ACC wire to the HK3 unit was permanently powered. From their testing, the HK3 unit does not like to see power on the ACC wire before the 12V is powered and this seemed to confuse the parking mode detection. With my proposed solution, the ACC wire to the HK3 unit would only receive power if the switch is in position II and the ignition was on. The ACC source from the fusebox is doing double duty. In position I, it's powering the A129 unit; in position II, it's being used for its true purpose to send a signal to the A129 unit for parking mode activation.

Position O:
No power from any source to the A129 unit.

Position I:
Ignition off, no power to the A129 unit.
Ignition on, A129 is powered from an ACC source in the fuse box to the 12V into the HK3 unit.
Drive to the supermarket and park up.
Switch off ignition, power from ACC source goes away, A129 shuts itself down.
Basically, position I behaves like you were running from the 2-wire kit or cigarette lighter port.

Position II:
Ignition off, A129 is powered by permanent live.
Switch on ignition, A129 now senses power on the ACC line.
Drive to the supermarket and park up.
Switch off ignition, A129 detects lack of power on the ACC line and activates your desired parking mode.
Basically, position II should act as if the HK3 is wired normally and there was no physical switch in place.

 

[Billyboy]

Sounds sensible, will watch your progress with interest. Thanks for the feedback. Cheers

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