Pre-purchase questions

BenS

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Hi there,

I’d like to hard-wire a SGGCX2PRO to keep the cabling tidy but I don’t want parking mode or any battery drain when off.

Is it possible to not use parking mode when wired in? I couldn’t see an option for this in the user manual.

Also, loop recording is set to 3mins by default but I don’t understand what this means sorry. Does this mean it saves a separate video file every 3mins?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Ben
 
Yes I am almost certain you can disable parking mode, if you're just worried about parking mode draining your battery it wont. But if you cant turn off parking mode you can just have the two fuse taps set to switched lives, and as for loop recording, the camera will record in 3 minute segments and when the card gets full it starts overwriting the oldest files, theres a button on the camera to lock files so they arent overwritten
 
You can hardwire to the car fuse box by using supplied cigarette lighter charger. Just cut away the cigarette lighter plug below the transformer/adapter (black square box) and use red wire to hardwire to the Accessory (switched) fuse, black wire to the ground (car body).
Yes, it saves separate files, but when using Street Guardian playback software it plays files continuously without gaps.
 
Ive seen some people damage cameras as the cables dont have a voltage converter andi t puts too much power into the camera, would this not be the case with this?
 
Ive seen some people damage cameras as the cables dont have a voltage converter andi t puts too much power into the camera, would this not be the case with this?

This is the case where the voltage converter is built into the cigarette lighter plus. With Street Guardian it is built separately into the small square box. You are OK to cut away the cigarette lighter plug and hardwire it to the fuse box.
 
Welcome to the forum BenS

As said cut wire at the plug on the 12 V side of the PSU box, buy one add a fuse adapter of the size your car use, or a inline fuse style adapter if you tab into the middle of a wire, put a 5 A fuse in what ever adapter you got, and then install it all.
There are just 2 wires in the wire you cut to get access to them. Red wire +12 V / Black wire ground -12 V ( you of course want to wire the +12 V into a ACC fuse that is only on when your car is running )
You do not need the hard wire kit with any SG camera if you do not want to use parking guard, you can instead modify the provided one and so keep your in dash 12 V socket free for other stuff.
The camera will just act like normal

SGPSU.jpg

It is normal for dashcams to record in smaller segments, 3 minute is what most use, but you have a few shorter and longer options in the menu.

If you want to stitch more clips together into one large video that is easy in any editor, here is a example using power director, but it is much the same in other editors.

 
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Wow, great community, thanks for all the answers - very helpful.

So as I understand things, the power kit allows the camera to function after the ignition is off. But by modifying wiring-in the cigarette lighter directly, then the camera will only operate when the ignition is on - correct?

I haven’t done any auto wiring before but you guys seem knowledgeable - is it something you guys could help with? I’m not sure how to locate where to wire it Into.

Cheers and thanks for all the help, much appreciated.

Ben
 
No the provided kit only work when the power is on, or that is if you use it on a circuit that is always on then the camera will also be always on, but there are no low voltage cut off in the provided kit, those things only come with the 3 wire hard wire kit used for parking mode.

The separate hard wire kit is 3 wires, it have 1 +12V ACC wire, which you could say is the control input, telling the camera to cone on ( if off ) or change to / from parking mode.
The wire that actually power the camera when the hard wire kit is used is the always live +12 V wire, and then of course last you have the shared - 12 V / GND wire.

So as the provided power source only have the 2 wires, this is why you must wire it to a fuse / circuit that are ACC and so only on when your car is on, otherwise the camera will be on and recording all the time and it will run your car battery totally flat, which is very bad for a lead acid car battery's lifetime.

My recommendation is to wire into the fuse box with a add a fuse adapter, which simply put piggyback in a existing fuse / circuit just parallel to it.
So to get one of those you need to figure out what kind of fuse your car use, these are most likely "blade" type fuses called ATO fuses, but they come in a few different shapes.

ATO fuse models.
iu


My personal Suzuki car use the mini type, one thing to tell them apart ( a few are pretty much same size ) is the 2 letgs, some are blunt point some are pointy.
Your car manual might say what fuese your car have, some times there are also a couple of spare ones in the fuse box you can bring to the store to get a add a fuse adapter.

The add a fuse adapters pretty much all look the same no matter what fuse they are fore, they generally look like this.

iu


The fuse in the picture here is the new fuse for the camera, it go in what i call the top slot, for any dashcam a 5 A fuse will be fine.
The lower slot that is where the original fuse go you pulled out to be able to install the add a fuse adapter.
The little piece of wire is where you connect your new stuff ( +12 V )
When installed it look something like this in the fuse box.

iu


In general you want to tap into a higher AMP fuse, but the smallest ones are often 10 A and that will be fine.
What you have to be careful with is to not go for the "mission critical" fuses like the one for airbags and engine management ASO
Things like accessories - heated seats - cabin light . rear window defroster ASO are open game.
Some cars not least new ones have smart electrical circuits in which case installing a 3 wire hard wire kit to get parking guard can be tricky, this is due to the smarts in the wire harness, so a wire that appeared to be always on when you installed the camera are not that after all.
Good thing is the add a fuse adapter are fairly easy to move to a new fuse, just pull the original fuse out of it and put it back here it belong, then pull another fuse put that in the bottom slot off the add a fuse adapter and then put that in the new empty fuse location.

BUT as you just have the 2 wires to deal with, you just have to find and use a ACC fuse that is only on when the car is on, so the dashcam should turn off when you turn off the car, and likewise come on when you turn on the car.
Some circuits in newer cars can have a delay, like you maybe have seen cabin light or headlights being on for a little while after the owner have left & locked the car, so when you have done your install just be sure the camera go on / off as it should, if you are on a always on fuse the camera will be on always too, and that is no good with the provided power supply.

On youtube there are many videos on how to install dashcams ( it is much the same no matter the brand of dashcam or the brand of the car )
There are also videos on how to hard wire dashcams, these guide will probably be for 3 wire hard wire kits for parking guard, as you dont go there all you need is to identify a ACC fuse for your one +12 V wire

Too bad you are on the other side of the world, i am always available for people if they need help installing a dashcam, but that only go for within reasonable distance in Denmark

Of course you also need to figure out where your fuse box is in the car, that is normally in the manual / quick start guide for the car,,,,,, mine is in a horrible place, where you need to be a contortionist and i am a 55 YO stiff old SOB.

A mistake some make is to use a not suited bolt / screw for the -12 V GND connection, but usually there also is a factory GND connection point near the fuse box


Of course you can also spend money on the hard wire kit and not use the parking guard option, but then you just have 1 more wire to deal with and 1 more fuse to find and use.

PS: A cheap 12 V LED probe / circuit tester from the dollar store are nice to have, i use a dirt cheap one myself, newer cars need LED, older testers just had a regular bulb in them which was fine back then.

iu
 
Amazing - thank you, I pretty much understand everything you wrote! I have a Toyota Hiace (van) which uses the low profile mini fuses.

Will purchase the camera and might be back for installation advice but your answer makes complete sense at this point.

Cheers

Ben
 
If there is issues finding the right fuse the SG boss jokiin have a tech to ask, but he have been out on medical leave for a while, but we are all hoping to have him back soon.
If there are problems we also have the other resellers of the SG products that can fill in, but the boss generally handle Oceania questions himself.

Have no fear we will get you up and running with your SG product.

PS: i am just a affiliate of SG.
 
Hi Guys, looking to install the dash cam in the coming days and just had a quick question re the fuse adapter.

Is it OK to install the adapter into an empty/spare fuse slot? Or will there be no power to spare slots?

With the position of the fuse box in the passenger foot-well and the depth of the cover, I really need to install the adapter in certain fuse locations if I want the fuse cover to fit back on.

And if it is OK to use an empty slot, what do I need to be aware of?

Cheers, Ben
 
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I think that will be fine to do.
I did not put the lid back over my fuses when i tapped into them, but my box are very deep up under the dash in the driver foot well so no one will know.
 
Is it OK to install the adapter into an empty/spare fuse slot? Or will there be no power to spare slots?
According to my owner's manual, there are two slots in my fuse box (out of 46) that show no amperage rating and no circuit listed, but when I tested them they were both switched. Depending on the model of your car some circuits always have power, some have power only when the key is on, some have power for a few seconds after the key is turned off, some have power for up to 10 minutes after the key is turned off, and sometimes attaching a dash cam to a circuit may cause problems with the other things on that circuit, etc. That's why I asked @Street Guardian USA to check with his technician on which fuses to use in my 2016 CR-V with their hardwire kit. His suggestion to use Battery (yellow wire, unswitched) to fuse 41 (door locks) 20A, and the red Accessory wire (switched) to fuse 19 (ACC) 7.5A worked great.

Edit: Since you're in New Zealand @niko might have a better idea which fuse slots to use in your Toyota Hiace (van).
 
Thanks guys, have gone for the rear washer/wiper fuse 10A (with 5A fuse for the camera).

Just a quick question about the wiring, where does the negative get wired-in to?

I purchased a connector for the fuse adapter (see attached) but can only see a place to solder one wire. Hope that makes sense, sorry if this is easy - never done car stuff before. Cheers and once again, thanks for all the help and advice, much appreciated.

11F6129B-193C-402F-AE7A-A90F599FCAD8.jpeg
 
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Sorry, I guess I just find a ground point near the fuse box - yes?
 
Sorry, I guess I just find a ground point near the fuse box - yes?
Yes, but be sure it's a good ground as a lot of bolts won't be into the chassis providing a good enough ground path. Many cars will have a factory grounding point near the fusebox; I always look for that and use it when possible.

Phil
 
Thanks Phil, yes, use a factory ground. Cheers
 
Hi Guys, looking to install the dash cam in the coming days and just had a quick question re the fuse adapter.

Is it OK to install the adapter into an empty/spare fuse slot? Or will there be no power to spare slots?

With the position of the fuse box in the passenger foot-well and the depth of the cover, I really need to install the adapter in certain fuse locations if I want the fuse cover to fit back on.

And if it is OK to use an empty slot, what do I need to be aware of?

Cheers, Ben
Of course you can use an empty slot. You just need a test probe to test whether there is constant power or +ACC switch power. Sometimes in an empty slot there is a metal clips on one side and on the other side of the slot there isn't one so test the metal side. If it is a Toyota brand, their cars are one of the easiest to work on.
 
Thanks guys, have gone for the rear washer/wiper fuse 10A (with 5A fuse for the camera).

Just a quick question about the wiring, where does the negative get wired-in to?

I purchased a connector for the fuse adapter (see attached) but can only see a place to solder one wire. Hope that makes sense, sorry if this is easy - never done car stuff before. Cheers and once again, thanks for all the help and advice, much appreciated.

View attachment 59328
Just beware the washer/wiper fuse slot is a +IGN switch power. What that means is if you sitting in the car and have your keys on Acc the unit will turn switch off if it has no parkmode wiring or goes into parkmode if it has. But if you're happy with that it's still ok. I usually recommend using a fuse slot with +Acc switch power.
 
Sorry, I guess I just find a ground point near the fuse box - yes?
For Toyota cars, there is a 10mm grounding bolt on each side of the car under the dash behind the kick panel. And usually you will see either white with black stripes wires or black wires bolted to the bolts
 
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