I recently had the Mini hard wired into my car (BMW 5 series). The parking guard function works fine and I even managed to get most of my DAB radio channels back by adding several ferrite snap-ons to the rear camera cable.
The only issue I have is that when the car engine auto switches off when I'm stationary in traffic, the Mini powers off completely after approximately 5-10 seconds. It then powers on again a few seconds after the engine switches back on and car starts moving. For obvious reasons, this cycle gets annoying when I'm in traffic and more importantly will make having the camera redundant if I'm involved in a collision.
The camera works fine if I disable the stop/start engine function but I'd rather use it to cut my fuel consumption and car emissions. The other option I've tried is to connect the camera using the lighter socket when driving, which doesn't cause any issues when I use the stop/start function. I then switch back to the hard wire connection when I want to use the parking guard.
At the moment I'm considering getting the lighter socket wire properly installed so I can use both power connections. Would it be fine if I connected the front cam to both the hard wire and lighter socket at the same time via the two micro USB connectors or is it best practice to switch between one or the other?
If anyone has a better suggestion to solve the stop/start issue, I'd love to hear it.
The only issue I have is that when the car engine auto switches off when I'm stationary in traffic, the Mini powers off completely after approximately 5-10 seconds. It then powers on again a few seconds after the engine switches back on and car starts moving. For obvious reasons, this cycle gets annoying when I'm in traffic and more importantly will make having the camera redundant if I'm involved in a collision.
The camera works fine if I disable the stop/start engine function but I'd rather use it to cut my fuel consumption and car emissions. The other option I've tried is to connect the camera using the lighter socket when driving, which doesn't cause any issues when I use the stop/start function. I then switch back to the hard wire connection when I want to use the parking guard.
At the moment I'm considering getting the lighter socket wire properly installed so I can use both power connections. Would it be fine if I connected the front cam to both the hard wire and lighter socket at the same time via the two micro USB connectors or is it best practice to switch between one or the other?
If anyone has a better suggestion to solve the stop/start issue, I'd love to hear it.