Hardwiring a dashcam
- Thread starter Broadsman
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An alternative is to use a fuse adaptor like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B00SUX9V4KI have a general question.
I bought rexing hard wiring kit (I went with that because it comes with angle/elbow USB connector), it has a fuse (15A) attached to the red wire.
Can I simply remove an existing fuse and install this there to get the power? Or do I have to use an empty slot?
Ground is readily available, there is a bolt that we can use.
At first I want to use a switched power, later I want to upgrade to constant on and use low voltage protector in between.
Any suggestion/guidance would be extremely helpful and appreciated.
Thanks everyone.
They have two slots so you can replace the existing fuse and have a different rated one for the accessory. A dash cam doesn't need 15A!
Thanks AstroKat but the fuse panel is very tight (and it's on the floor, on foot rest) there is no room to add one of these. So I am planning to find an unused slot (missing optional equipment, for example) and use that instead.
It appears that some clarifcation is required concerning fuses, and what to use.
The first point is, a fuse is put into a circuit to protect the cable following it NOT what is connected at the end of the cable. If what is connected to the cable needs protecting it should include local protection.
Secondly, there are many types of fuses all with different characreristics. The most common type is the wire fuse. This will carry the rated curent indefinately and will fuse at twice the rated currently immediately. At currents between rated and twice the fusing time will decrease to zero at twice the rated current.
The first point is, a fuse is put into a circuit to protect the cable following it NOT what is connected at the end of the cable. If what is connected to the cable needs protecting it should include local protection.
Secondly, there are many types of fuses all with different characreristics. The most common type is the wire fuse. This will carry the rated curent indefinately and will fuse at twice the rated currently immediately. At currents between rated and twice the fusing time will decrease to zero at twice the rated current.
Thank you, I understand now. Since I hope to find an empty slot, there will not be anything connected to that line (I won't have the equipment there) so the power will travel straight to my wire through the fuse plugged there.
You are right, I've been trying to find switched source on my fuse box so i don't have to worry about draining the battery, it's been difficult but there are some switched fuses in a different fuse box.
So I will plug the fuse from my dashcam hardwiring kit directly to an empty slot. If I can't find a switched empty, then I would have no choice but buy an add-a-circuit, which would mean getting a fuse added to the connection in order to protect both the car's equipment and the dashcam I am wiring. I watched this video on this which was extremely helpful:
My only question now is does it matter if we plug the fuse first or the ground first when installing a new equipment? Let's say I am using a permanent on (which means there is power even when car is off), when I plug a fuse in, the line will be live, I suppose I can plug the fuse into my car's fuse box, then connect the ground to a bare bolt, now I have 12V, through a 5V converter which has a Mini USB, and I plug that on my dashcam. I don't want to short anything so I wanted to double check if ground is first or fuse is first?
Thanks again
Ralph2
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Finish the all the wiring first.. then plug your fuse in.
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need to find a circuit that remains active when the car shuts off
Ralph2
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Guessing you are connected to a fuse that turns off when the engine is off.. I would think the brake circuit would be a good choice to tie into for an always on source.
Thanks, but I don't want it to drain my battery when parked, so I wanted to use switched fuse.
Things like Radio does not turn off when the engine is off (the vehicle is running but the auto start/stop turns off the engine, while many things keep running while vehicle is off) I will check if I can use those because this is pretty annoying.
Thanks for the suggestions.
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I wasn't suggesting you connect to permanent power, just to a fuse that doesn't cutoff when the car cuts off due to the start/stop functionality, some accessory circuits stay active, some don't
I read that some vehicles drop the voltage, but not cut off completely, while on-board equipment has protection and can sense/keep working, external stuff like dashcams lose power when voltage drops out of nowhere. If this is true, no matter what we tap into, we'll lose dashcam power with Auto Start/Stop.
