Dealership unplugged dashcam while recording, now my external battery wont charge correctly

[AJdarkfire]

Hey guys, I took my 2023 Prius to the dealership the other day and they thought it'd be cool to just yank all my wires from my dashcam while it was recording. After I picked it up, I had to put all of the wires back in. I thought it wasn't a big deal until I started driving down the road and my dash cam started cycling out of nowhere out of random off an on. Then today, it didn't shut off once.

I have a Viofo A229 Pro 3 channel with a iVolt Mini both hooked up and didn't have any issues till post dealership visit.

As I'm looking at my battery app, the battery doesn't seem to be charging and continues to slowly drop.

While my car is on, my input is showing
10.5V/8.5A
Output is
12.6V/0mA

I physically checked fuses and didn't see anything blown, I haven't used a multimeter yet to check. Would it be possible to have a bad fuse to cause it to not charge? My external battery is set to high the rear.

Thanks!

 

[EricSan]

If they weren’t careful with wires they pulled, or how hard they pulled them (were they mad you had installed extra stuff?) it’s likely that wires or wire crimps, or other connections were simply broken. This would lead to intermittent connections. If you don’t have a USB power meter to check with, i would recommend redoing all of the connections. Then go back to the dealership and make a bunch of noise about how they broke your wiring.

 

[AJdarkfire]

If they weren’t careful with wires they pulled, or how hard they pulled them (were they mad you had installed extra stuff?) it’s likely that wires or wire crimps, or other connections were simply broken. This would lead to intermittent connections. If you don’t have a USB power meter to check with, i would recommend redoing all of the connections. Then go back to the dealership and make a bunch of noise about how they broke your wiring.

I don't know man, I called up and started to raise hell and the SVC guy was like "We tell you that we have to disconnect everything!" and I was like "Well, nobody told me that!", let alone just yank cables out while the damn thing is recording. It was just a simple 20,000k follow up and the apparently "Don't allow" recording from dash cams. I don't know how hard they yanked the cables, but it was just the Rear Camera and both sides of the Cabin Camera, lol?.. So they didn't yank any of the wiring tucked itself. They just unplugged the cables they could reach. They couldn't reach the power cable because it was tucked perfectly under the Toyota Radar sensor up top so it still recorded some of 1 channel stuff and I could see the non stop off an on footage of "1 channel started, 1 channel started, 1 channel started". I'm sure the person driving my car got irritated as hell after it started spamming messages after he unplugged the cameras. It seems a little loose though, so I have no idea if that's normal or not. You can hear one of the guys after they dropped my car off in the parking lot say "I bet they didn't like that!" before it shuts off after a few seconds.

 

[rcg530]

You stated you have an iVolt Mini and you used an app with it. My iVolt Mini (BAB-50) does not have any Bluetooth support to monitor with the Thinkare iVolt battery app. I don't see it having that feature added in the list of features on the Thinkware website. I'm guessing you have an iVolt Xtra (BAB-95) if you're using the Thinkware iVolt app with it.

As others have stated, when the tech removed the wires from the fuse box, they could have damaged them or even the ground connector could have been impacted by their actions (if they removed it too). If the iVolt app is showing 10.5V/8.5A input, there's either a poor power/ground connection or your vehicle's battery/charging system is not working. I'm assuming the rest of the vehicle is working okay, so it's most likely something related to the fuse tap/wires they removed.

 

[EricSan]

So, it sounds like they dont like cameras and were likely extra forceful while unplugging things with the intent of “teaching a lesson.”

While playing with my camera install, the rear camera stopped recording at one point. I had to unplug and replug everything before the rear camera started recording again. Alternately, pulling on plugs that go into equipment can break the electrical connector loose from the PCB. This takes some careful work with a soldering iron to reflow the broken joints after removing the case.

 

[Hack_man]

Note to self: remove camera before dropping off car at service station 😳

 

[AJdarkfire]

I get a USB tester and a box of fuses just in case later today so I can check to see what's going on.

 

[mentadent]

I don't think I've ever been asked to unplug a dashcam when having a car serviced or repaired.

Unplug and re-plug every connection just in case.

What USB tester did you get?

 

[AJdarkfire]

I don't think I've ever been asked to unplug a dashcam when having a car serviced or repaired.

Unplug and re-plug every connection just in case.

What USB tester did you get?

I got a FNIRSI one off of Amazon.
Checked all my fuses that are tapped into my fuse box for continuity and they were all good with zero resistance. Checked the power of the plug going into the battery for power and it's displaying 13.7v... so more likely thinking I have a faulty battery. Taking it to dealership today for a recall, but they're going to look into fuse box anyways because I complained, so we'll see. External battery fully dead now so my dash cam isn't turning on at all now.

 

[Nigel]

While my car is on, my input is showing
10.5V/8.5A

Sounds like you may have a GND issue on the connection to the battery, check that the 0V wire from the battery is contacting the chassis/earth point properly...

 

[EricSan]

Tracking down this problem is a simple (though, perhaps lengthy) process of elimination. Start so that things are configured as simply as possible. Check to make sure that your camera works just with one channel recording and power being supplied through the USB wire. If you can use a 12v to 5v cigarette lighter adapter with a USB cable to the camera, start with just that.

Then connect your second camera. Then your third camera. Then try with your parking battery and make sure it's receiving voltage so it can charge. Then connect the camera to the battery.

Just be systematic. Make it work with as minimal of a setup as possible. Then change only one thing at a time, testing each step along the way. Make sure that your wires are good and don't have broken connectors, etc. One change at a time. You'll find it!