Dashcam hardwiring help, need to unplug and replug fuses to draw power every time

[raspberry01]

Hello, I have the A129 Plus Duo and I purchased a hardwire kit to install along with it for parking mode. Everything seems to have worked fine once I finished, except the dashcam is only powered for the the first one or two times I start my car. By that I mean, my car is off initially while I installed it, then I started the engine to see everything working, when I turn off the engine, the REC led starts blinking indicating parking mode is working correctly. Then it continues working after I start my engine again but if I turn off the engine this time, the dashcam will stay off and will not power on again. The only way I've managed to get it working again, is to unplug the fuse taps I added and plug them back in. Then it will be able to draw power but then the same thing happens all over. More specifically, it seems to be the always-on (batt) fuse tap that I have to reconnect for it to start working again. I initially only unplugged the acc fuse tap and plugged it back it, started the engine, still no power. But after I unplugged and plugged the batt fuse tap, it started working again. It confuses me because I thought the acc fuse tap is meant to power the dashcam when the engine is on.

Does anyone have any idea as to why this is happening?

 

[raspberry01]

Also some additional info, I did use a multimeter and test the car fuses to see which was the load and non-load sides for both the acc and always-on fuses. For the acc fuse, I added the fuse tap onto the rear passenger window and the always-on fuse tap onto the front accessory power. I've used a multimeter to verify that one does only turn on with the engine on and the other is always on. I believe I plugged the fuse taps in correctly. I understood the fuse prong closest to the wire of the fuse tap is the non-load side and plugged it in accordingly. I believe I did all of this correctly, hopefully.

I have the Viofo HK3 hardwire kit. I have the voltage cutoff protection set to 12v. I used a multimeter to test the voltage of my car battery in case the voltage protection was what was causing it to power off completely but my car battery starts at 13.08v when I turn off my engine then it's at 12.64v when I notice it's no longer powered, so I'm not sure if that's is the culprit.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

The yellow wire does not power the camera, the red wire does. The yellow wire is simply a trigger wire to tell the camera when the car is on and off.

Once you turn off the car, how long does it take for the camera to enter parking mode? Also, are you confirming that it is actually entering parking mode?

What parking mode did you set it to? Low Bitrate Mode?

 

[raspberry01]

I can't remember the specific setting names but I have it set to turn off after 90 seconds. I have parking mode set to auto detection with parking motion sensor on, so after the dashcam turns off, it changes from a solid led for recording to blinking. I've tried moving in front of the dashcam during this period and it will start recording. But again, this only works for the first couple of times I start the engine. Eventually the dashcam will just stop turning on completely, it won't turn on when the engine starts, and of course it won't enter parking mode either. Until I unplug and plug the fuses back in.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

When you say

I have parking mode set to auto detection with parking motion sensor on, so after the dashcam turns off, it changes from a solid led for recording to blinking.

I assume you mean the camera switches to parking mode, not that it actually turns off, correct?
So 90 seconds after you turn the car off, the camera enters parking mode?

FYI, there is a 90 second delay from when the kit senses voltage below the set point and when it actually shuts off power to the camera. Just want to be clear with what your saying. The camera will enter parking mode after 90 seconds and stay in parking mode (camera is on, but REC light is blinking) correct?

How old is your cars battery?

Have you tried setting the boot delay to 10 seconds?

 

[raspberry01]

When you say

I assume you mean the camera switches to parking mode, not that it actually turns off, correct?
So 90 seconds after you turn the car off, the camera enters parking mode?

FYI, there is a 90 second delay from when the kit senses voltage below the set point and when it actually shuts off power to the camera. Just want to be clear with what your saying. The camera will enter parking mode after 90 seconds and stay in parking mode (camera is on, but REC light is blinking) correct?

How old is your cars battery?

Have you tried setting the boot delay to 10 seconds?

Right, after I turn off the car, and 90 seconds has passed, the red solid led changes to a blinking one.

The car battery is a little over a year old. It shouldn't be an issue with the battery since I've tested it with a multimeter.

I haven't tried setting a boot delay, I can give it a try but I'm not sure if that will help. There's just no power at all for the dashcam when it does lose power. When it loses power, there's no led of any kind, and even with the engine on and holding the power button, it won't turn back on. The hardwire kit has an led to show when it has power I think and I don't see it ever turning on when this happens.

So I had some errands to run today and I had to turn on and off the car multiple times. The dashcam again lost power but this time reconnecting the fuses hasn't fixed it. It sounds like an electrical issue right? Maybe I picked a bad ground point? Could that be a cause?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

The hardwire kit has an led to show when it has power I think and I don't see it ever turning on when this happens.

Correct, the kit has a red LED inside. If it's not on, that means either there is no power being supplied to the red wire or the kit has sensed voltage below the set cutoff. Could be a defective kit as well, but I would try some different fuses for the red wire first (if the red LED in the kit is indeed off when it should be on). Recheck your connections as well. Make sure your crimps are solid.

 

[raspberry01]

Correct, the kit has a red LED inside. If it's not on, that means either there is no power being supplied to the red wire or the kit has sensed voltage below the set cutoff. Could be a defective kit as well, but I would try some different fuses for the red wire first (if the red LED in the kit is indeed off when it should be on). Recheck your connections as well. Make sure your crimps are solid.

Yeah trying different fuses was my first solution. I thought it fixed it but then the same thing kept happening. I'll double check the crimps as well next time I'm able, thank you for the suggestions.

 

[raspberry01]

So I ended up redoing my fuse taps. I initially used pliers to crimp it so I guess there could have been a bad connection. I picked up a crimper and stripped some of the wires to redo both wires. It seemed to be working fine but today the same thing happened again. Lost power and can't turn it back on.

Just to make sure I have this correct, the extra fuses I put in should be a lower rated fuse than the original, correct? The way I have it now is the original fuse goes into the fuse tap slot that is closest to the prongs, and then a 5v fuse on the top slot. The yellow fuse was a 20v and the red fuse was a 15v. Is all of that okay?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Just to make sure I have this correct, the extra fuses I put in should be a lower rated fuse than the original, correct? The way I have it now is the original fuse goes into the fuse tap slot that is closest to the prongs, and then a 5v fuse on the top slot. The yellow fuse was a 20v and the red fuse was a 15v. Is all of that okay?

Sounds correct.

 

[JosephLegrand]

I am sorry I am not a expert with dashcam. That is why I can't help you with this. But yes, if you want to write an assignment on any topic for example if you want to write your essay on history then you can visit https://www.topessaywriting.org/samples/history here to read essay examples for free. I also use that website so you don't need to read reviews because I have researched it and they all are very good.

 

[viofovibes]

My hardwire kit switches off also. The set voltage was 12.4v and the battery is 12.5 to 12.45 depending on the temp (14F). The led will turn off. I redid the taps and crimps and did not change. Now I am trying a lower set point as it would be that the voltage detection is not accurate. The kit does not reset despite the voltage is 14.7V. Is this typical or normal for the kit?

 

[viofovibes]

Retested and the circuit is fine. The kit switched off and will remain off despite voltage increase. So during winter with battery charge at 100% at 12.5v the kit is incapable of distinguishing the difference and switches off at the 12.4v set point.

Setting at 12v allows to remain on. But if it cannot figure out +0.5v it most likely cannot figure out -0.5v. That means the kit can only safely be set at 12v. Any lower and the battery would be depending on the load, time etc definitely drained to 11.x V which would may not allow the car to start depending on your car.

 

[bobcat]

Hey hey guys! Welcome to the club! There were a lot of nay-sayers when I first brought up this issue, but it is a manufacturing defect and Viofo is not ready to acknowledge. I have 2 kits fail in exactly same way!

They fail occasionally even if both Red and Yellow are attached to Hot on Run fuse (i.e. no park mode). The camera would just shut down until next power cycle randomly while I'm driving. Please reply back to my original thread if you can to raise awareness. Looks like there are a lot of defect kits out there.

Here is my thread for this: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/viofo-hk3-kit-fails.46207/

 

[viofovibes]

If it shuts down during the drive the alternator is not working correctly or there would have to have massive draw or the setting on the voltage selector is set high enough which is causing it to switch it off based on the voltage during the car when running. If it’s two kits at 0.5v the error would have to be enormous to **** down during the car running.

 

[bobcat]

If it shuts down during the drive the alternator is not working correctly

how about the hardwire kit with no name chips on it not working correctly? not an option?

 

[viofovibes]

It can but I am giving them benefit of doubt, else need to look for another manufacturer for a hardwire kit and you need another camera too as they don’t work together.

Hopefully Viofo can re tool the kit.

 

[viofovibes]

The kit switched off at 12V setting despite the car battery, according to the chart on this main dashcam site, at full capacity. Car at 32F was 12.73V. Overnight dropped to 12.43V at 40F. Kit let the cam turn on. On the second trip the kit switched off with no led light so it had tripped. Post trip voltage was 12.53V. I did not remove the taps to reset it as the car worked in one trip but not the other as the switch must have tripped due to the 0.5V failure. Instead I removed the hardwire.

Not worth the hassle as I don’t need the parking mode at this time (wanted it as an on demand) so I have returned it and gone back to the cigarette lighter usb. Viofo did not respond and Amazon techs don’t have the range of experience to return a qualified answer.

It’s not clear that the switch would have this level of voltage sensing by design as it would need to be engineered with a much higher level of refinement to distinguish the advertised measured differences. The 0.5V failure in one kit is too much of a difference to be an error.

Will measure if this switch was a power parasite also as I will check it from for a couple days with no hardwire.

 

[Kremmen]

Reading the symptoms it sounds to me like a very similar scenario to the multiple issues encountered with stop/start vehicles.

The dashcam will happily power up from zero power but will often fail to power up when the starter motor is cranked. A lot of devices will detect a loss of power and go into shutdown mode. Then the power is restored during shutdown mode so the trigger to power up is not active when power is restored.

Assuming this is the problem your only solution is to find a circuit that doesn't lose power when the starter is cranked.

 

[viofovibes]

@Kremmen The A129pro in my case will not power up with no power from HK3. The unit when receiving power from the hk3acc only will power up and remain on.

The HK3acc is unpredictably switching itself off. Led off and a129pro off. The constant power tap is on and remain on. In my case I need HK3 to see 0V to tell it to reset. That’s not a good idea. Then when HK3 comes within 0.5v or less sometimes it again powers off. The voltage window to trigger the shutoff is useless. In @bobcat it seems the voltage window is larger than that.

Unless a vehicle as in bobcat’s situation is migrating the power distribution the scenario you posted may happen. I am not a vehicle engineer but switching off power to circuits during the car running would not be a sound idea. Do you have examples of vehicles and circuits in those vehicles that power off post ignition and during the use/ride?