Dashcam installer: "It doesn't matter that we installed the fuse tap backward"

[VisualCSharp]

I own a 2015 Honda Odyssey. I recently bought a Street Guardian SG9665GC dashcam and attempted to hardwire install it myself. All went smoothly until I reached the passenger-side fuse box, where I discovered that only the inner row of fuses were switched (see attached image).



I've read several sources that say pigtail orientation matters--in one orientation, current will pass over the tap fuse and out the tap wire, and in the other orientation it won't pass over the fuse. Knowing this, I used a multimeter and tested both prongs in an empty socket of the inside row. Unfortunately, the line prong of each socket is the outside prong (right-hand side of the left row in the attached image), which means that for current to flow over the fuse in a pigtail I would have to orient the pigtail such that the tail hits the raised part of the fuse box. I searched high and low for a different style of tap that would allow me to correctly orient the tap but found nothing. By this point, I was getting frustrated with the project so I decided to call a highly-rated Knoxville-area shop that does dashcam installs.

They did the install today, and I discovered they made at least two mistakes:
1. They installed two 15A fuses into the pigtail when the car's electrical system calls for a 7.5A fuse for socket 23. Now, there was no fuse in this socket before so it's possible that by installing a car-side fuse they created a circuit, and if that circuit draws more than 7.5A for any reason, a fire could start.
2. They installed the pigtail such that the line side of the fuse socket connects to the inside prong of the pigtail, which, from my research, means the current will pass directly over the wire un-fused.



The installer claims there "should" be a fuse in the dashcam itself. I do not know how they got that information; I have been unable to find any information about whether there is an internal fuse in the SG9665GC or its power cable. I realize the electrical components of the dashcam "should" fail under high current long before the wires catch on fire, but it's the principle of the matter: They installed a potentially un-fused circuit into the car, and also installed a fuse where there likely wasn't one before. I know I can remove their car-side fuse from the pigtail easily so I'm not making a big deal of that.

Am I in the wrong here? Is all the info I've read about fuse tap orientation incorrect? Should I take their advice that there "should" be a fuse in the dashcam so the issue is irrelevant?

 

[jokiin]

The installer claims there "should" be a fuse in the dashcam itself. I do not know how they got that information; I have been unable to find any information about whether there is an internal fuse in the SG9665GC or its power cable. I realize the electrical components of the dashcam "should" fail under high current long before the wires catch on fire, but it's the principle of the matter: They installed a potentially un-fused circuit into the car, and also installed a fuse where there likely wasn't one before. I know I can remove their car-side fuse easily so I'm not making a big deal of that.

Am I in the wrong here? Is all the info I've read about fuse tap orientation incorrect? Should I take their advice that there "should" be a fuse in the dashcam so the issue is irrelevant?

there is no fuse in the camera, it's 5V not 12V, the power cable needs to be fused, check the cig power supply and you'll see there is a fuse in the tip

 

[VisualCSharp]

I cut off the cigarette lighter adapter in order to hardwire the camera. It sounds like they did create an un-fused circuit in the car, then, assuming my information about the tap's orientation is correct.

 

[Nigel]

Your fuse tap has a fuse which protects the wiring to the camera, should probably be a 5A, or maybe 7.5A fuse, not the 15A one you say is there. The other fuse should be as specified for the car, so 7.5A. Based on what you said, you actually have the two fuses in series doubly protecting your cable to the camera.

 

[VisualCSharp]

@Nigel Well, it would be protecting it, if it were installed in the correct orientation. And yes, when I called them after the install I told them a 7.5A fuse should've been used on the car side with at most a 7.5A fuse--preferably a 3A or 5A fuse--installed for the dashcam.

Can you tell I'm not impressed with their professionalism and experience? They should've known this considering I learned about it in a matter of hours. I was just hoping they had a way of solving the pigtail orientation problem, what with them doing car electrical work for a living...

 

[Nigel]

Doesn't matter about the orientation, that only effects if it is singly or doubly protected.

 

[VisualCSharp]

That's at odds with several source I've found, including the packaging on a pigtail box. You can see one such source here:

 

[VisualCSharp]

Just found this thread, which I'll be reading now: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/piggy-back-fuseholders-a-right-way-and-a-wrong-way.7524/

 

[Nigel]

I'll be reading it now...

That will take a while, especially if you try to understand it ...

 

[VisualCSharp]

Nigel, I see you have several replies in that thread. Unfortunately, I think you're incorrect in your assertions, especially in my case. My fuse socket did not originally have a fuse. Installing the tap backward means that I suddenly need a fuse that connects the car to the battery for that socket. Optimally, that new circuit should not exist; I should only have a circuit created for the dashcam. I know that it will "work" in both orientations (in that electricity is flowing to the dashcam) but there is a clearly superior way: line voltage entering the pigtail from the outside prong.

 

[Nigel]

If you car doesn't have any wiring for that circuit then it makes no difference other than you needing two fuses. If it does have wiring, still doesn't really matter!

If you can find a fuse tap built the other way around then yes, it would be a better choice, but I don't see that it matters, other than wasting a tiny amount of fuel to carry that extra 1g fuse around unnecessarily.

 

[VisualCSharp]

While you were replying I was testing that very thing. I inserted one of the 15A fuses into the socket, turned the car on, and tested with my multimeter. No voltage. So, while suboptimal, it's a perfectly acceptable solution.

 

[VisualCSharp]

I'd like to close this thread out by saying that @Nigel is correct in his assertions on the megathread from a year ago. I encourage anyone confused about tap orientation to please read the thread I linked in post #8. It makes complete sense that the fuses in a car are designed not just to protect the forward devices--the devices beyond the fuse--but also the backward devices, all the way back to the battery, from excessive load.

Thank you, Nigel, for your persistence.

 

[jokiin]

fuses are there to protect the vehicle, not the device

 

[kamkar]

Indeed, a fuse are there to make sure a fault in a thing connected to it dont cascade onto other things in the vehicle.

 

[Nigel]

Their main purpose is to protect the wiring, because in a car there is a high risk of short circuits caused by insulation wearing through due to vibration. It is normally the wiring that catches fire if the fuses are incorrect, and the fire then destroys the entire car. Most car power is supplied through relays, and the fuses also protect the relays, although that function is not so important since an overloaded relay will probably just melt rather than destroying the car with a fire.

The fuse does not protect the camera in any way other than by preventing fires.