New A139 hardwire install - erratic behaviour in parking mode

garyj

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Have just had my A139 2 channel dashcam fitted with the HK3-C hardwire kit and fuse taps. The camera doesn't immediately go into parking mode when the ignition is turned off. It carries on recording in normal 2 channel mode for 5 minutes then announces it has gone into parking mode. I am using low bit rate recording parking mode currently and have upgraded to firmware v1.5 and done the cameras reset, card format malarkey but to no avail. I've tried setting the timer to 30 minutes but the keypad is locked when I return to the car which is apparently normal for the A139 (after finding this out accidentally from reading this forum!). However when I then turn the ignition key to the accessory position, the camera does not announce it is going back into normal 2 channel mode, so the A139's keypad remains locked, in effect freezing the camera. I have to resort to pulling the power plug in order to reboot it. The parking recordings are present, so the camera does seem to record once entered into parking mode.

I've tried turning parking mode off in settings, and I assume the camera should turn off when I turn off the ignition, but it just stays running in normal 2 channel driving mode. (not sure for how long as did not want to flat my battery)

As for the install, the yellow (acc) wire connects to fuse 1 which is labelled as the accessory fuse in the Honda manual. The car is a Honda Civic Sport 2020, I've seen at least two posts where owners of Honda Civics have used fuse 1 for the (acc) wire with success, albeit with different cameras.

The red (battery) wire connects fuse 4 which is the audio fuse. I've seen other Honda Civics owners use Fuse 16 for door locks, but I would think the audio fuse would be fine also?. This was installed by a dash cam installer and he probed the fuses etc, so I'm assuming he knew what he was doing.

I've read on the Viofo forum of a case where the wires on the hardwire kit, whilst labelled yellow (acc) and red (battery) had actually been reverse fitted on the HK3-C hardwire kit from the factory. This was for an A119 V3 camera with the HK3 hardwire kit. When the owner re-fitted his fuse taps in the reverse orientation everything worked fine. Apparently he ended up with two hardwire kits from Viofo wired wrongly in this way.

I wonder whether this could be the cause of my woes. If this is the case, I presume I now have power permanently connected to the accessory side of the hardwire kit via fuse 4 for the audio connection, and power to the battery side of the hardwire kit only when the ignition is turned on. Is this a reasonable explanation for the symptons described above? Would reversing the connections be advisable to test this assumption, or would that cause me a bigger headache and sparks?

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated, as my head is spinning with all the variables I've had to suss out over the last few days.
 
Do you have any way to monitor the voltage at the fuses used? The camera not entering parking mode for a while sounds like the acc fuse remains active for a short while after turning off the ignition.
This is the case for the fuse I used on my car because I chose one that did that.
It’s possible that on unlocking the car this fuse then powers back up so would then already be out of parking mode by the time you get in the car.
Can you confirm from the videos recorded that when you get in the car it is still recording parking mode videos and not driving mode?

If it was wired backwards you wouldn’t get the symptoms you have so that shouldn’t be the case.
 
Do you have any way to monitor the voltage at the fuses used? The camera not entering parking mode for a while sounds like the acc fuse remains active for a short while after turning off the ignition.
This is the case for the fuse I used on my car because I chose one that did that.
It’s possible that on unlocking the car this fuse then powers back up so would then already be out of parking mode by the time you get in the car.
Can you confirm from the videos recorded that when you get in the car it is still recording parking mode videos and not driving mode?

If it was wired backwards you wouldn’t get the symptoms you have so that shouldn’t be the case.
Hi thanks for your input. I don't have any way to monitor the voltages, it was a dashcam installer that did the install. He chose the accessory fuse after probing and wasn't interested in my fuse board diagram so I've assumed this fuse is valid as tested. The car goes into parking mode pretty much 5 minutes after ignition switched off, so would your suggestion not mean if this is the case that the accessory fuse loses power after 5 minutes from ignition off? . I set the record timer to 30 minutes, went back to the car and the lights were all on the cam. turned on the ignition and the camera was frozen. Disconnected the usb power cable and rebooted. Logged back in on wifi and the car had been recording in parking mode for that 30 minute period. If my accessory connection has a 5min delay on it turning power off and that's the only issue then wouldn't everything otherwise behave normally once parking mode gets activated. Cam shouldn't freeze after turning back on to the accessory position, and when parking mode set to off in the settings, the cam should turn off after a 5 minute delay once I turn off the ignition (if there is a delay on my accessory fuse). I can try and set parking mode to off in settings and wait the 5 minute period and see if it then turns the cam off or reverts to parking mode.
Maybe that will help the troubleshooting. I read somewhere that if the accessory side of the circuit is getting permanent power the unit will go into parking mode after 5 minutes, so ties in with my theory that the hardwire kit is wired incorrectly from the factory, because my installer probed the fuses and other Honda civic owners are using fuse 1 on the accessory side of their dashcams with no issues. I can't see how fuse 1 will be supplying permanent power, maybe at best a delay perhaps.

I'm beginning to lose the will!
 
Sorry meant to say, I can try and set parking mode to off in settings and wait the 5 minute period and see if it then turns the cam off or carries on recording in normal 2 channel driving mode
 
There was a bit of an issue with the buttons still being locked after parking mode, I can’t remember is it stopped in fw 1.5 or 1.6 but it was spurious rather than every time.
On my setup I have a 1 hour parking mode timer, 10s delay on camera start up after acc trigger.
Yes worth monitoring with parking mode off as you suggested, there’s a chance of the acc does drop off after a delay it might drop faster after locking the car than with it unlocked.
 
I've seen many UK installers, especially Halfords, just probing for an IGN fuse. They don't check whether that fuse is still live during starter motor cranking and this causes issues.
 
Sorry meant to say, I can try and set parking mode to off in settings and wait the 5 minute period and see if it then turns the cam off or carries on recording in normal 2 channel driving mode
Ok, tried the above, went back to car after 20 minutes, and the camera still happily recording in normal driving mode, suggests to me the camera is still getting full time power on the accessory side.
I've seen many UK installers, especially Halfords, just probing for an IGN fuse. They don't check whether that fuse is still live during starter motor cranking and this causes issues.
Didn't use Halfords for that reason. Have now found at least four reports on the web of the Honda Civic using Fuse 1 on the accessory side and Fuse 16 for the battery side, no issues with this reported. I'm satisfied after my troubleshooting that the accessory side of the circuit is still receiving full time power with ignition off. I'm 99.9% certain it can't be coming from fuse 1, albeit I haven't probed that fuse myself to be 100% certain. This would seem to leave the alternative that the hardwire kit came from the factory with the cables in reverse orientation, as seen reported by others with a HK3 kit. It seems the easiest way to eliminate this as the cause would be to switch the cables over and see if this resolves the issue. Presumably this is safe to do, as both sides of the circuit are capable of receiving power in any case, and is probably the mode it is wired in currently.
 
Ah, glad you mentioned Honda Civic.

There is a 100% solution, use the dedicated Honda 'Option Connector'. That port is designed to provide smooth power that is not affected by the starter motor or anything else. I've had the option connector in a 8G, 9G and MK4 Jazz and no issues whatsoever.

They can be obtained here :

 
Ah, glad you mentioned Honda Civic.

There is a 100% solution, use the dedicated Honda 'Option Connector'. That port is designed to provide smooth power that is not affected by the starter motor or anything else. I've had the option connector in a 8G, 9G and MK4 Jazz and no issues whatsoever.

They can be obtained here :

ok, cheers, But presumably my hardwire kit would be wired into this and if I'm right and the connections are the wrong way around on the hardwire kit then I'm still going to end up with the same result. Looks like I need to get to the bottom of this bit first.
 
The acc signal is only a trigger and the power runs the camera so if the power was to the acc the camera should cut off abruptly when the acc drops I believe.
I think at this stage it would be worth obtaining a cheap multimeter to monitor the voltages at the fuses used, I’m not a big fan of cheap multimeters but it would be fine in this situation.
The adaptor mentioned by kremmen sounds a really good option if you find the cars power management is causing the issue.
 
The acc signal is only a trigger and the power runs the camera so if the power was to the acc the camera should cut off abruptly when the acc drops I believe.
I think at this stage it would be worth obtaining a cheap multimeter to monitor the voltages at the fuses used, I’m not a big fan of cheap multimeters but it would be fine in this situation.
The adaptor mentioned by kremmen sounds a really good option if you find the cars power management is causing the issue.
Thanks for this that helps to know the acc is a trigger. Would eliminate my theory that the hardwire kit is wired back to front I guess. May have to resort to the multimeter but didn't really want to be doing this myself, might just get the installer to take another look, but I suspect I'll be told its faulty hardware. I'll consider the option plug also. I guess its possible the trigger acc side of the circuit is faulty in the hardwire kit. So in effect I'm only only getting power on the battery side, that would seem to tie in with my symptons. Viofo has offered a replacement hardware kit it so have that option also. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
ok, cheers, But presumably my hardwire kit would be wired into this and if I'm right and the connections are the wrong way around on the hardwire kit then I'm still going to end up with the same result. Looks like I need to get to the bottom of this bit first.

No, you're hardwire kit won't be wired into this because the option connector plugs are only available from Japan but a member at Civinfo bought a job lot.

Here is my old 9G plug for example :

eN6HgS5.jpg


And here it is installed with 2 wires, one for my dashcam and one for my Garmin DS61 :

EyJpudQ.jpg
 
No, you're hardwire kit won't be wired into this because the option connector plugs are only available from Japan but a member at Civinfo bought a job lot.

Here is my old 9G plug for example :

eN6HgS5.jpg


And here it is installed with 2 wires, one for my dashcam and one for my Garmin DS61 :

EyJpudQ.jpg
Ok, thanks, I'll give that a look. Still confused how my usb cable ends up connected to that if it doesn't use my hardwire kit
 
Most installers just piggyback off any fuse that appears to work, either permanent power or ignition power depending on owner requirements.
 
1634024786192.png

Unfortunately, contrary to the title in this forum, it appears the option connector can't be used to wire a dashcam in the Honda Civic 10g.
 
Have just had my A139 2 channel dashcam fitted with the HK3-C hardwire kit and fuse taps. The camera doesn't immediately go into parking mode when the ignition is turned off. It carries on recording in normal 2 channel mode for 5 minutes then announces it has gone into parking mode. I am using low bit rate recording parking mode currently and have upgraded to firmware v1.5 and done the cameras reset, card format malarkey but to no avail. I've tried setting the timer to 30 minutes but the keypad is locked when I return to the car which is apparently normal for the A139 (after finding this out accidentally from reading this forum!). However when I then turn the ignition key to the accessory position, the camera does not announce it is going back into normal 2 channel mode, so the A139's keypad remains locked, in effect freezing the camera. I have to resort to pulling the power plug in order to reboot it. The parking recordings are present, so the camera does seem to record once entered into parking mode.

I've tried turning parking mode off in settings, and I assume the camera should turn off when I turn off the ignition, but it just stays running in normal 2 channel driving mode. (not sure for how long as did not want to flat my battery)

As for the install, the yellow (acc) wire connects to fuse 1 which is labelled as the accessory fuse in the Honda manual. The car is a Honda Civic Sport 2020, I've seen at least two posts where owners of Honda Civics have used fuse 1 for the (acc) wire with success, albeit with different cameras.

The red (battery) wire connects fuse 4 which is the audio fuse. I've seen other Honda Civics owners use Fuse 16 for door locks, but I would think the audio fuse would be fine also?. This was installed by a dash cam installer and he probed the fuses etc, so I'm assuming he knew what he was doing.

I've read on the Viofo forum of a case where the wires on the hardwire kit, whilst labelled yellow (acc) and red (battery) had actually been reverse fitted on the HK3-C hardwire kit from the factory. This was for an A119 V3 camera with the HK3 hardwire kit. When the owner re-fitted his fuse taps in the reverse orientation everything worked fine. Apparently he ended up with two hardwire kits from Viofo wired wrongly in this way.

I wonder whether this could be the cause of my woes. If this is the case, I presume I now have power permanently connected to the accessory side of the hardwire kit via fuse 4 for the audio connection, and power to the battery side of the hardwire kit only when the ignition is turned on. Is this a reasonable explanation for the symptons described above? Would reversing the connections be advisable to test this assumption, or would that cause me a bigger headache and sparks?

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated, as my head is spinning with all the variables I've had to suss out over the last few days.

What year Honda Civic? I Just hardwired a dash cam to family members 2014 or 2015 (forgot year) Honda Civic.
 
Just to update on my issue with my camera not going into parking mode. After extensive troubleshooting and the help from forum members here (which is much appreciated), I came to the conclusion my hardwire kit was faulty. I got the installer back to check the existing installation and after some frenetic fuse pulling , he came to the same conclusion. The replacement hardwire kit (obtained from Viofo tech support) I had already tested with a separate 12v battery and was switching the camera in and out of parking mode no problems. My installer then replaced the hardwire kit, and (touch wood) everything seems to be working ok. I did have a moment of despair when the camera turned off during parking mode after 2 or 3 minutes even though the timer was set to 30 minutes. the camera wouldn't then then power back on. I figured that as my car had been sat on the drive for a long length of time recently, the hardwire kit battery cut off may have kicked in (set to 12.4v). Took the car for a spin, parked up and the camera, much to my relief, did a 30 minute parking recording as programmed in the settings no problem. Seems to be going in and out of parking mode with the ignition switch ok, so I'm hoping my woes are over.

However, I have a couple of residual questions if anyone can help.

1) Firstly I noticed after the hardwire kit was replaced, a 30amp fuse has been placed by the fitter into fuse 32 - front seat heater. Previously this should have been a 20amp fuse as per the Honda manual. Strangely, I took a picture after the first hardware kit install and fuse 32 hadn't been re-fitted, there was an empty slot.

So it should have a 20Amp fuse in that location according to the Honda manual and this accords with other pictures I've seen of the Honda fuse board, but it is now occupied by a 30amp fuse. Can I just confirm that I can leave this 30amp fuse in place as its a circuit for a 'option' front seat heater which I don't have in any case?

2) I'm also curious to know that if my camera for whatever reason failed to go into parking mode, and stayed in normal driving mode with ignition off, would the hardwire kit 12.4 v cut off still kill the power to the camera?

Any help appreciated.
 
I'm not trolling (for once), why not ask the person who fitted it to fix their mistake?
 
All recent Hondas since at least 2006, have a dedicated accessory power socket in the fusebox. This is known as the 'Option Connector' and is designed to provide smooth uninterrupted power exactly as expected and avoids the often problematic fuse taps.

See my post #12 above for my 2013 Civic Option Connector image.
 
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