I have temporary access to a multimeter - is this all the information i need to hardwire?

JoshFromNZ

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Hello :)

I received a Viofo A119 v3 for Christmas (really happy!), and have finally gotten around to hard wiring the dash cam into my vehicle (subaru outback 2012), I have watched various videos on youtube in regards to correctly and safely hardwiring my dashcam into my fuse box, and borrowed a multimeter over the weekend from work. unfortunately finding the correct add-a-circuit fuse-tap was difficult where i live, so i had to order one through a shop, should be here in a few days so i can actually start the install!.
My question is that i dont want to borrow the multi meter again, however I understand it is important to have one for the installation process.
here is a small drawn on picture (apologies it was done on phone) of what i have tested myself, i have found two fuses (labelled bat(seat heater relay)/acc(audio navigation)) and i pulled the fuses and also marked the current flow (green + and -) next to the fuse.
fusebox.jpg
what i have done is
  • found my accessory (fuse 24) and battery (fuse 9) fuses
  • found the direction of flow in each fuse (actually happens to be swapped in my car!) so i know what orientation my fuse taps will have to go in order to correctly align the fuses.
is this all the information i need in regards for multi meter use, so next weekend i can hardwire my dashcam without the multi meter?

Big thanks!

Josh
 
Welcome to DCT Josh :)

It seems to me that you're all good with those fuses now, and everything should work just fine.

Some cars now use a computer-controlled power scheme which can drop power to circuits after the car has been parked awhile but IIRC I haven't heard of a Subaru doing that.

Phil
 
That is all the info you need but it might be worth checking the taps after a few hours in case the car switches things off after a certain time. So I’m m car for example the accessory port goes off after around 10 minutes so if I checked that fuse it would give me the false impression that I can use it as the constant 12v.
 
That is all the info you need but it might be worth checking the taps after a few hours in case the car switches things off after a certain time. So I’m m car for example the accessory port goes off after around 10 minutes so if I checked that fuse it would give me the false impression that I can use it as the constant 12v.

To do this check you need to leave the meter where it's visible from outside the car since opening or unlocking a door will reactivate the system giving you a false result. I think the OP's chosen fuses are OK but it wouldn't hurt to check anyway. It's not a simple world anymore :(

Phil
 
@SawMaster @IAmATeaf

First off thanks heaps for the responses, glad to know that i hopefully wont need to borrow the multimeter again!
I actually did come back the following morning without starting the engine (however i did have to open the door), and the battery fuse was still reading 12v, which is what's important i assume?
parking mode isnt too high on the priority list for me as i dont think itll be very useful for me anyways - i dont reverse into parks usually and i only have a single forward facing camera, however ill still make use of it!

Cheers guys, appreciate the help
 
I actually did come back the following morning without starting the engine (however i did have to open the door), and the battery fuse was still reading 12v, which is what's important i assume?

It's a good sign of the circuit being one you can use, but not a certain sign. With most of the computer-controlled power schemes, opening a door (or unlocking the car) will 'wake' the system from it's dormant state, thus it would show power afterward even if it had none previously. Again as far as I'm aware, Subaru doesn't act like this, but many German cars (and a few others) do, and that list is growing.

Give it a try and I think you'll be OK. Worst case will be that you may need to find another fuse to tap into which can be found through trial and error; there are only a few other good candidates to try so even with that it won't be tough. And you probably won't need to go through that so don't worry.

Phil
 
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