Dashcam is rebooting randomly and blowing fuses

[necrodiety]

Bought my unit July last year and it was working flawlessly up until a month ago. It started rebooting randomly while driving. Recently, it started blowing fuses. I went from 15 amp to 20 amp and it blew. Then it blew a 25 so I went to 30. That hasn't blown but it still reboots. I don't want to keep a 30 amp fuse on that circuit unless I have to. What could be going wrong with my cam to cause these power issues?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Are you using the included cig power or a 3rd party hard wire kit?

What is the serial number of your camera off the back?

I've never had a report of blown fuses before.

Can you try running off just the cig power as a test to rule out shorted fuse panel wires?

 

[Nigel]

There is no way a dashcam would burn out a 25 amp fuse without turning into a cloud of smoke!

Must be a loose wire or cut insultation before the 12-5volt adaptor, probably close to the fuse or you would have smelt the problem by now.

 

[necrodiety]

I'll check for the serial number when I get back home tonight but I am running off the supplied cig power. I have the hardwire kit but haven't installed yet.
At first I thought it might be my anker usb charger so I unplugged that too but it still reboots randomly.

If it helps, I ordered from Amazon in July last year. I can get you the order number if you need it.

 

[Dashmellow]

I would agree with @Nigel. The only time I've ever experienced a dash cam blowing fuses (not a Street Guardian) the problem was traced back to the 12V-5V power supply, not the camera itself. This sounds more like a short (possibly intermittent) in your cable. One thing to try if you can is to see if a different cable and 12V-5 cigarette lighter from another camera or similar mini-B plug 5V power supply yields the same problem.

 

[necrodiety]

I don't have any car adapters long enough to try that. I might try installing the hardwire kit I bought. I gotta order a piggy back fuse first.

 

[Dashmellow]

I don't have any car adapters long enough to try that. I might try installing the hardwire kit I bought. I gotta order a piggy back fuse first.

If you have one with a shorter cable you don't need to have the camera mounted all the way up there on your windscreen just to test it out.

 

[necrodiety]

Hmm.. Yeah, I guess I can try that. It wouldn't have the GPS attached but that shouldn't be causing the reboots or blown fuses. It's just an antenna.

 

[Dashmellow]

That's right, the GPS should have nothing to do with your problem.

 

[necrodiety]

I'll try an older adapter tomorrow and see if it works ok. If it's good then I'll just switch to my hardwire kit.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Ok let us know how the testing goes. Please confirm serial number too off the back when you get a chance.

 

[CCClarke]

It started rebooting randomly while driving. Recently, it started blowing fuses. I went from 15 amp to 20 amp and it blew. Then it blew a 25 so I went to 30. That hasn't blown but it still reboots. I don't want to keep a 30 amp fuse on that circuit unless I have to. What could be going wrong with my cam to cause these power issues?

The purpose of a fuse is to protect a circuit from an over-current condition. When a fuse blows, (opens) it indicates too much current is being drawn through the circuit. The problem is almost always caused by the supply voltage being re-routed to ground, drawing excessive current and blowing the fuse when it heats up. The one thing that is working here are the fuses.

Your troubleshooting methodology passes the Stupid Test with an A+ for effort. Changing the rating of the fuse from 15 to 30 amps is not only foolish, it's dangerous if you don't know the rating of the supply voltage wire. An improperly-rated fuse can destroy equipment, or start a fire if the circuitry or wiring burns before the fuse blows. Thirty amps is a lot of current! (A tenth of an amp can kill you if it goes through your heart.)

The camera may not be faulty, but the power path supplying it could be disrupted, causing it to power-up repeatedly. Divide the power circuit in two by testing the camera with the cigarette lighter cable in another vehicle; this should give you a starting point to determine where the problem lies.

Be safe!

 

[ddnut]

Do you have constant 12V on your cig power, where you have to insert/remove the adapter frequently? I had an infrequent issue with blowing the 20A fuse when inserting the adapter for my radar detector or cell phone. I was not able to isolate the cause so I just kept a few spare 20A fuses on hand. When I got the dashcam I changed the circuit to switched 12V so I no longer have to insert/remove the adapter.

 

[necrodiety]

Ok, so here's an update. Been running for two days straight with no issue while plugged in with my old usb car charger. I noticed that the screw cap at the end of the supplied car charger was loose and when I opened it some broken pieces of black plastic fell out. I bet my charger is defective. I'm going to yank that out and work on putting in the hardwire adapter (as well as going back to a 20 amp fuse). Shouldn't be too hard.

@ddnut, my cig power goes off when the car shuts off so it's not constant (or else I'd have some serious battery issues).

I'm betting something somewhere is shorting out. My main suspect is that cig power plug. I'll inspect it after I replace it. Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[Street Guardian USA]

We can send you a new power supply no problem. Please send me an email or private message with your name, shipping address, email, and original order number (so I can link our system to it)

 

[flip9]

Theres a 1A glass fuse (3AG) inside the standard cig adapter. It should have blown that first if its the dashcam causing the fault.

Just to repeat the safety warning. You should never increase the fuse amperage than what its rated for!!

The rest of the circuit is not designed to handle the amps. If the wiring on your vehicle is rated for 15amps and you push 30amps, it will turn them turn into heating elements.