SourceVG
New Member
Hi. I currently have a Viofo A129 Plus Duo installed in my Volvo S90 with a 2-wire hardwire kit from Amazon. Note: I do not care about parking mode, I would rather save the life of my battery. The kit is connected to passenger side heated seat (ACC) fuse. The kit also has a 11.6V cut-off built in. See picture of kit below.
However, the issue I have with my setup is the dashcam reboots when the engine starts up in the auto start/stop sequence. This causes me to lose 6-10 seconds of footage after starting from a stop. Of course, if I temporarily disable auto start/stop or drive on highway there is no issue with the dashcam running. I'm not sure if this is due to momentary drop in voltage when the car transfers power during this process, or if it is caused from the 11.6V cut-off in the hardwire kit, or something else.
I have two possible approach I would like to get opinions on to see if they would fix this problem.
1. Remove the current hardwire kit and replace with a female cigarette lighter to fuse tap adapter. See pic below. Then I can insert the included Viofo cigarette lighter USB-A adapter, then plug the included USB-A cable from the adapter to the Dashcam. The flow is:
Fuse -> Cigarette lighter socket -> Viofo cigarette lighter USB adapter -> USB to Dashcam
Basically, this would remove the electronics (11.6V cut-off) from the current 2-wire kit if that was causing the issue.
2. Remove current hardwire kit and replace with Viofo HK3 kit. Wire the kit as expected, with red to VCC and yellow to ACC, etc. This should probably fix the issue because the dashcam will be running on permanent fuse power, so should not be affected by auto start/stop behavior. And I would disable parking mode in the camera settings. However, I do have concerns:
a.) How will the auto-sense of yellow ACC affect the dashcam parking mode with auto start/stop? Will it try to enter parking mode whenever I start engine after stop?
b.) I have seen many reliability issues brought up with HK3 kit in the forums where the ACC detection does not work and the dashcam will continue to run from the car battery via the permanent fuse. Additionally, many people are reporting the voltage cut-off feature is not accurate or working at all. This is a concern for me with this kit because it is connected to permanent fuse and do not want battery draining and reducing life, or possibly even preventing start. This car sometimes may not be driven for a week period so if there was a malfunction of the kit, it could likely drain.
c.) The ferrite choke looks large and is not close to the end of the cable. How will this fit under the headliner?? Wont it just be sticking out and visible on the top of windshield?
3. Combine current setup or Option #1 with a CAN-Bus latch. https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/signal-triggers/ign-3
This has the same pitfalls as option #2 using HK3 kit of possibly draining battery if malfunctioned because it is connected to permanent fuse. But this may also be more reliable.
Can anyone offer feedback on these options? Thanks.
However, the issue I have with my setup is the dashcam reboots when the engine starts up in the auto start/stop sequence. This causes me to lose 6-10 seconds of footage after starting from a stop. Of course, if I temporarily disable auto start/stop or drive on highway there is no issue with the dashcam running. I'm not sure if this is due to momentary drop in voltage when the car transfers power during this process, or if it is caused from the 11.6V cut-off in the hardwire kit, or something else.
I have two possible approach I would like to get opinions on to see if they would fix this problem.
1. Remove the current hardwire kit and replace with a female cigarette lighter to fuse tap adapter. See pic below. Then I can insert the included Viofo cigarette lighter USB-A adapter, then plug the included USB-A cable from the adapter to the Dashcam. The flow is:
Fuse -> Cigarette lighter socket -> Viofo cigarette lighter USB adapter -> USB to Dashcam
Basically, this would remove the electronics (11.6V cut-off) from the current 2-wire kit if that was causing the issue.
2. Remove current hardwire kit and replace with Viofo HK3 kit. Wire the kit as expected, with red to VCC and yellow to ACC, etc. This should probably fix the issue because the dashcam will be running on permanent fuse power, so should not be affected by auto start/stop behavior. And I would disable parking mode in the camera settings. However, I do have concerns:
a.) How will the auto-sense of yellow ACC affect the dashcam parking mode with auto start/stop? Will it try to enter parking mode whenever I start engine after stop?
b.) I have seen many reliability issues brought up with HK3 kit in the forums where the ACC detection does not work and the dashcam will continue to run from the car battery via the permanent fuse. Additionally, many people are reporting the voltage cut-off feature is not accurate or working at all. This is a concern for me with this kit because it is connected to permanent fuse and do not want battery draining and reducing life, or possibly even preventing start. This car sometimes may not be driven for a week period so if there was a malfunction of the kit, it could likely drain.
c.) The ferrite choke looks large and is not close to the end of the cable. How will this fit under the headliner?? Wont it just be sticking out and visible on the top of windshield?
3. Combine current setup or Option #1 with a CAN-Bus latch. https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/signal-triggers/ign-3
This has the same pitfalls as option #2 using HK3 kit of possibly draining battery if malfunctioned because it is connected to permanent fuse. But this may also be more reliable.
Can anyone offer feedback on these options? Thanks.
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