Hardwire a Dashcam - How easy is it?

[CAD]

Hi All,

Not logged in for a while, very hectic (changing jobs, expecting our first child etc. etc.)

Anyway, my wife has just been put onto the insurance and is currently learning to drive (wants to get extra practise in my car before taking her test in a few weeks). As such I am looking to purchase a dashcam for this car.

I think i've decided on the A119 (unless someone can suggest a better alternative) as I like the wedge shape (best for me as it's more hidden).

In the past I have the wire plugged into the cigerette lighter in the rear of the car. However, with a child on the way I want to install it properly and get it hardwired into the fuse box (so that I still have us of my cigerete lighter at the front of the car and the one in the rear remains unused).

So I have some really silly beginner questions:

- What do I need to purchase along with the dashcam in order to wire it to the fuse box;
- I think I will have no issues with the actually wire placement around the car just the actual wiring into the fuse box and which fuse to use, is this fairly straight forward or should I pay someone to do it for me?

I could buy one from Halfords and have it fit there but their prices are mad and the choices available arn't great.

I know how to access my cars fuse box and remove fuses etc. it's the actual electronics I am not sure about.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kamkar]

You can find videos on youtube about how to install dashcams, with regular install or hard wire.
The basics are the same with all dash cameras.

You will need a BDP ( Battery Discharge Preventer ) and then a dashcamera.

You do not want to tie into things like airbag fuses, but some of the lower level things in the car should be good.

I am tapped into the fuse for the entertainment system, and if my memory serve me right seat heaters.
Any 10A or so fuse will be fine i am just tied into some of the larger ones as i have the option to use more things on that connection.

 

[Harsh]

- What do I need to purchase along with the dashcam in order to wire it to the fuse box;

A hardwire kit and fuse tap(s) that match the profile of the fuse you intend to tap.

 

[kamkar]

Yeah the fuses come in 3-4 sizes so something to look out for.
Also it is not uncommon a car use 2 sizes of fuses, at least mine do, regular size and mini size, but i am just using the mini ones as thoy are the most plentiful ones in my fuse box.

 

[micha_dk]

Hi CAD,
I've used one fuse tap in the rear-wiper-circuit for 12V-Acc. (power when the ignition is on) and a second in the sound-amplifier-circuit for 12V from battery (power when the ignition is off). The car is a Skoda Octavia 5E.

 

[Ralph2]

Depends.. on how "fancy" you want to get. If, all you want is to duplicate what you had. Purchase one of those "add a cigarette lighter plug" and a piggy back fuse. Attache that assembly to cigarette lighter fuse.. Tuck that whole assembly up under the dash.. plug your dash cam into that new cigarette lighter plug.. make sure it seats well and tape it in position with electrical tape.. hide the wires from there to the camera by tucking it into cracks along the molding. Done.
Want to have the camera run while the car is off (as in what is known as parking mode) then you will need to wire in one of the options mentioned above. BUT.. that choice will depend on the camera purchased. Those gadgets that monitor time and voltage are matched to the camera and are not.. interchangeable.

 

[Submariner Gold]

Depends on where the dashcam is to go, where is your current power source located?, is your camera powered by a usb cable, does your car have USB charging ports already?, if to be hardwired, do you need to install a custom 12V to USB charger.
Where the cable runs are to go, and above all how “tight are your trim panels along that route”.
I think the main thing once you have designed the schematic is to plan the cable route, warching contraints like USB cable lengths.
E.g. taking the required usb cable from front to back, partly so the other rear camera could run from the second slot in the custom USB charger port; using a 4 meter USB cable. I could not avoid this piece of immensely tight trim, must be some major securing bolts underneath that etc.

So sadly for about 50mm this “exposed 4.2mm dism USB cable-wire” is on display, albeit its on the bottom edge of the centre console, right by the front of the front seat. Rather spoils it ... but to get someone to strip out the centre console ... ££ £ hundreds I guess.


Took me about a day elapse time, over 8 days, as it was a lot of researching and had to be done outside, rain etc.
A lot of the time was discovering one needed this crimp connector, or the power wire sent was too thin, or hunting for a heavy duty USB charging cable to compensate for the long run, and waiting for Amazon and Ebay deliveries Etc.

 

[DashcamDPR]

You won't need a battery discharge preventer if you're using a fuse that isn't permanent live, meaning the dashcam will switch off with the ignition

 

[Hillbilly]

Buy a Power magic and two addafuses. last one I installed took half an hour and 10 mins to install the front camera and 30 mins to run the cables completely behind the trim to the rear camera
I used spare fuse slots that in these cars have power to one side of the slot.
Car is a VW Passat wagon