cheapest way to hardwire dash cam.

[Patdom]

Hi there, this is my first post on the forum, can a dash cam charger be safely adapted and used for hardwiring to car fusebox, by splicing the positive wire, and addiing a proper fused tap in wire, and use the negative wire to a groung bolt or screw, there must a lot of dash cam cigarette chargers lying around, not good for the enviroment, plus buying a hardwire kit can be expensive, has anyone done this before, would like there input, and opinion regards my post, thanks, hope to hear from you guys out there.

 

[Ralph2]

Sure.. but your best bet is to install a female cigarette lighter plug and then plug the male cigarette lighter that came with the camera into that. That way you will ensure you send the correct voltage to the camera, "some" cigarette plugs incorporate voltage reduction electronics in the plug. And, mind you wire into an ACC circuit or.. be diligent with a switch to save yourself from a dead battery.

 

[kamkar]

Some cameras have the 12 - 5 V converter in the 12 V plug, so if you cut that and wire into a fuse you will send 12 V into a 5 V camera.
Best here is to get a female 12 V plug and wire that into the fuse box, just remember the 2 might wiggle loose as they after all do not fit that good together, so you might want to tape the 2 parts together to make sure the plug dont slide out.

This in many cases will not give you parking guard features, but will keep your dash / console 12 V socket free for other stuff.

 

[Kremmen]

Exactly what I've done with my Garmin SatNav. Wired in a female power socket under dash to hide the wiring.

Never bypass the plug, as mentioned above, as it's a voltage converter.