Why Hardwire

[PeteTheGreek]

OK as an electrician let's explore the options.
1/ plug into cigarette lighter socket
2/ hardwire into a switched supply
3/ hardwire into permanent supply
All these options have issues.
First we plug into a cigarette lighter socket. This takes up an important socket from other uses. It's untidy and turns off when ignition is of.
If we hardwire into a switched supply, then it's no different to plugging in the cigarette lighter, but frees up the socket £70 fitting charge to free up a socket).
The final way is to hardwire it into a positive supply. With this the cam receives power all the time. Sounds like a great idea.... WRONG.
Doing it this way runs the risk of flattening your battery (unless you install some zener diodes). Also, the cam won't know when your parked up and so it will keep recording, with the screen on. Also, the battery life will depreciate from the permanent non stop charging (so the techys in the main store selling nextbase tells me).
So what's the best way of installing a dashcam. In all honesty, there isn't one. I took the liberty of visiting a main seller of nextbase. I asked the question. I won't even mention the answers as they were all incorrect.
So, I have two dashcams. One front, one rear. I opted to simply plug in a large powerbank into the glove compartment. From there, I fed my front and rear cams. I then set the screen savers.
It works a treat but in all reality the best dashcams are professionally fitted ones with a separate DVR in the boot.
In all fairness, £100 a year is not a fortune to pay to protect your insurance. So even if I have to replace them every year, it's worth the spend. One (blamed on you) crash could cost thousands on your policy so the onus of proof is on you.

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum Peter.

Most new cameras need both option 2 and 3 as they use a 3 wire hard wire kit, getting hard wire to work at least on some new cars can be a pain, but generally it is not impossible.
The EV cars do carry their own set of challenges, and may require a dedicated dashcam power bank to work, at least with parking guard too.

If you just want to wire into a fuse to have your dash socket free for other stuff, you can buy a 12 V socket ( female ) wire that into a fuse ( permanent or ACC depending on what you need ) and then you can plug your conventional dashcam plug into that instead of the 12 V socket in the dash. ( remember to get fuse adapter and fuse for dashcam )
You will be wise to make sure the two can not rattle apart under the dash, you can so that with some tape or if you zip tie your things in place down there you might also be able to do something with zip ties.

Some dashcams ( street guardian ) have the 12 -> 5 volt converter in a box a little up the wire, with those you can then snip off the 12 V plug, expose the two 12 V wires, and wire those into a fuse, THIS ! will however not make parking guard possible on SG cameras, but it is a nice option if you want to wire into fuse box to keep dash socket free as all you need is the fuse adapter and a 5A fuse for the dashcam.

If you hard wire to get parking guard, with the 5V camera there will be a adjustable low voltage cut off in the hard wire kit ( do not use under 12.2 volts for cut off )
Other dashcams are 12 V to the dashcam itself ( often plugging into the camera with a barrel style plug ) Those systems most often have the low voltage cut off in the camera itself.

Most 5V systems today use a 3 wire hard wire kit ( same brand as dashcam ) +12 V always on & +12V ACC and the common ground.
Some systems can make do with 2 wires, even 5V cameras, these then change in and out of parking guard with the G sensor VS the 3 wire systems where the +12V ACC wire work sort of as a trigger telling camera what mode to be in ( regular mode or parking guard )

 

[Kremmen]

"Why Hardwire"

Because I don't want a loose cable draped vertically across some controls and up the windscreen.

My hardwire, I can only see about 3 inches of cable from the headlining to dashcam.

 

[thomas-dash]

Because I don't want a loose cable draped vertically across some controls and up the windscreen.

Honestly, this has nothing to do with hardwiring. There's nothing to stop you from running the cable to a car charger the way you route a cable for a hardwire kit. I did this before I hooked up a hardwire kit.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

Welcome to the forum Peter.

Most new cameras need both option 2 and 3 as they use a 3 wire hard wire kit, getting hard wire to work at least on some new cars can be a pain, but generally it is not impossible.
The EV cars do carry their own set of challenges, and may require a dedicated dashcam power bank to work, at least with parking guard too.

If you just want to wire into a fuse to have your dash socket free for other stuff, you can buy a 12 V socket ( female ) wire that into a fuse ( permanent or ACC depending on what you need ) and then you can plug your conventional dashcam plug into that instead of the 12 V socket in the dash. ( remember to get fuse adapter and fuse for dashcam )
You will be wise to make sure the two can not rattle apart under the dash, you can so that with some tape or if you zip tie your things in place down there you might also be able to do something with zip ties.

Some dashcams ( street guardian ) have the 12 -> 5 volt converter in a box a little up the wire, with those you can then snip off the 12 V plug, expose the two 12 V wires, and wire those into a fuse, THIS ! will however not make parking guard possible on SG cameras, but it is a nice option if you want to wire into fuse box to keep dash socket free as all you need is the fuse adapter and a 5A fuse for the dashcam.

If you hard wire to get parking guard, with the 5V camera there will be a adjustable low voltage cut off in the hard wire kit ( do not use under 12.2 volts for cut off )
Other dashcams are 12 V to the dashcam itself ( often plugging into the camera with a barrel style plug ) Those systems most often have the low voltage cut off in the camera itself.

Most 5V systems today use a 3 wire hard wire kit ( same brand as dashcam ) +12 V always on & +12V ACC and the common ground.
Some systems can make do with 2 wires, even 5V cameras, these then change in and out of parking guard with the G sensor VS the 3 wire systems where the +12V ACC wire work sort of as a trigger telling camera what mode to be in ( regular mode or parking guard )

Hi KamKar
Thank You!
I like the idea of the three wire system. I'm currently looking at the DVR option. With this, you don't have to worry about the dashcam being stolen when parked up in some dodgy areas. There's a big market for stolen dashcams it seems. Look how many are being sold on auction sites without adapters. Can only presume anyone selling an old one would have the cabling and mount.
It reminds me of back in the day with the old car radios before coding was introduced. I wonder if anyone has done a study of dashcam theft in the UK?
The great thing about a DVR is that it can be locked in the boot or even locked via Kingston lock under the seat.
If the cams are stolen, you have the footage.
Just looking at the different options. I must admit though, the idea of using powerbank is good because it keeps the dashcam powered for days, without injury to the car battery. Will look at the three wire options though. I'm just worried about the ease of a smash and grab which seems to be occurring much more often. Thieves have clicked on that some of these cams are worth hundreds of pounds. Plus, if you have sound enabled, chances are they will listen in to hundreds of hours of private or (even intimate ) conversations. Maybe even when you make private calls to banks etc. The implications are pretty scary.

 

[kamkar]

Yes it is hard to deal with smash and grab, and some dashcams do carry a significant value.

The best protection i think is in the remote cameras, here you have 2 camera units on a wire that go to the main box you can hide deep in the car, you could probably even lock it inside something solid, though that might hamper access using WIFI,,,,,, which are sort of a must have if the main box are in a hard to reach place.

On the + side, the remote cameras can be made pretty darn small, the main box can be fairly big ( as you will not have it on the windscreen or dash ) and this mean it could have a actual cooler, enabling much better handling of heat as a result of using parking guard on a summer day, or high resolution + high bitrate footage / many cameras, and you could them also use other means of storage than little SD memory cards.

I have the dual remote SG9663DR in my car, and for side cameras i use the dual remote K2S system.

I have yet to hear about a stolen dashcam,,,,,,,,, wait ! i do recall a Danish guy getting his large Lukas system stolen a few years ago, but that was also about as not stealthy as a dashcam get.

Encryption of dashcams have often been requested, i would like that, say using the NFC of your phone to decrypt the camera, but you could probably also do something with a password in a brand / model dedicated player software.

 

[kamkar]

There's nothing to stop you from running the cable to a car charger the way you route a cable for a hardwire kit. I did this before I hooked up a hardwire kit.

I agree but here you often also have some wire draped from the foot well across center console to the plug in the lighter socket, but i have always been good with that.
Having anything dangling down from the mirror is actually illegal here in Denmark, though it is a law that is not enforced as my country are sick.

 

[PeteTheGreek]

Yes it is hard to deal with smash and grab, and some dashcams do carry a significant value.

The best protection i think is in the remote cameras, here you have 2 camera units on a wire that go to the main box you can hide deep in the car, you could probably even lock it inside something solid, though that might hamper access using WIFI,,,,,, which are sort of a must have if the main box are in a hard to reach place.

On the + side, the remote cameras can be made pretty darn small, the main box can be fairly big ( as you will not have it on the windscreen or dash ) and this mean it could have a actual cooler, enabling much better handling of heat as a result of using parking guard on a summer day, or high resolution + high bitrate footage / many cameras, and you could them also use other means of storage than little SD memory cards.

I have the dual remote SG9663DR in my car, and for side cameras i use the dual remote K2S system.

I have yet to hear about a stolen dashcam,,,,,,,,, wait ! i do recall a Danish guy getting his large Lukas system stolen a few years ago, but that was also about as not stealthy as a dashcam get.

Encryption of dashcams have often been requested, i would like that, say using the NFC of your phone to decrypt the camera, but you could probably also do something with a password in a brand / model dedicated player software.

Great idea.
I'm not sure where you are based BUT come to Liverpool in England. They sell doggy bags here complete with contents...
As long as there's a market for it....

 

[kamkar]

Im over in Denmark.
Here i doubt you will get more than a couple of grams of weed for a dashcam.
Back in the day when i was a questionable type i paid 1000 DKkr for a ICW watch worth many many many,,,,,,,,, more times than that.
Bring a +5000 DKKr brand new leather jacket stolen in a store 1 hour ago, and get 10 - 20 grams of weed or 3 - 600 Dkkr

 

[Mio NoVue]

Same boat as Kremmen here. I hate wires on show. I've still not got round to changing out my Mio for the VIOFO so at the moment the VIOFO is the rear cam with wire trailing through the car & it annoys me every time I get in the bloody thing.

The front car is hardwired so it comes on with the ignition. the 12v male is inserted in to a 12v female which is wired in to the fusebox behind the glovebox.

Not really had a bother with it as far as power is concerned. Turns on when I turn the key, turns off when I turn the car off. I don't have parking mode enabled.

That'll change with the VIOFO (parking mode) but there's a switch where you can cut power once it reaches a certain voltage so I'll just do that.