Connecting dashcam directly to battery?

[JeffersLos]

The car we use for going shopping serves it's purpose well. 

 

The power supply in the console between the seats has stopped working. It's where the dashcam was plugged into. Other chargers etc also don't get power from it.

 

The vehicle is used once a week to go to Makro.

 

Can the dashcam wire be somehow fed through to the engine compartment, the wire be spliced and connected off the car battery terminals?

 

 

[VocalNeal]

7 minutes ago, JeffersLos said:

The power supply in the console between the seats has stopped working.

 

Fuse gave up or bad connection 🤔 Should be cheap/easy to fix.

 

Yes you can connect anything you want to the battery but I wouldn't as after a while it will drain the battery down to nothing.

Edited December 13, 2023 by VocalNeal

[worgeordie]

You would have to put a fuse on the wire , just to be safe, 

or have someone look at the console , might just be a blown

fuse there.

 

regards worgeordie

[steve187]

2 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

 

Fuse gave up or bad connection 🤔 Should be cheap/easy to fix.

 

Yes you can connect anything you want to the battery but I wouldn't as after a while it will drain the battery down to nothing.

as long as its 12volts, some dashcams as well as usb are 5volts, would also need a fuse

[impulse]

Not sure I'd want to attach my dashcam directly to the battery.  Mine (and I think all dashcams) record to SD cards with finite capacity.  When it's full, the dashcam starts recording over what's already on the SD card.  You can only do that so many times before the quality of the recording starts degrading.  In fact, I swap in a new SD card about once a year just to make sure the recording quality isn't degraded.  And that's driving a few hundred hours a year, with the dashcam turned off when the car's not running- after a buffer period upon shutdown.  Connected directly to the battery, it would be recording 8,760 hours a year.  Which is do-able, but I'm not sure the image quality would be there after it's been re-recorded so many times.

 

Then, of course, there's the issue of battery drain...

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by impulse

[steven100]

a rat may have chewed the wiring under the car or a fuse is blown somewhere that supplies power to that console.

you can't just connect straight to the battery because it's a fire hazard,  if the wiring happens to short out and become excessively hot it could have potential heat consequences.  You need a fuse in the middle to protect the device from any power surge etc .... 

[digbeth]

what most installers do is connect via a 'fuse tap' where you replace one of your car's fuse with a , or if  you have an empty fuse position with this fuse tap which will will have wire coming out of your fuse box you can splice into, 

if you choose the correct fuse position to 'tap' into, it should turn off with the car's ignition and not drain the battery  

[cracker1]

It would mean your camera would be constantly ON and drawing current from your battery that would soon run flat.

Not a good idea.

[malt25]

Like others have said. Get the power to the console fixed. It will be cheaper & much safer than direct connect to battery.

[brianthainess]

23 hours ago, digbeth said:

what most installers do is connect via a 'fuse tap' where you replace one of your car's fuse with a , or if  you have an empty fuse position with this fuse tap which will will have wire coming out of your fuse box you can splice into, 

if you choose the correct fuse position to 'tap' into, it should turn off with the car's ignition and not drain the battery  

Agree I have mine connected so it only comes on with the ignition, you just have to find one fuse in yer box that does that, can buy those 'piggy back connectors' from Lazada. Be sure to get the right size as some vehicles have bigger size fuse connectors.

[Peterphuket]

Recently I did that with a car from my sister, Hyundai but the brand is not important, it actually happened by accident because I was of the opinion that the 'cigar lighter' was connected via the ignition switch.
But that turned out not to be the case, I myself had already returned to Thailand and was told that she already been to the garage twice with a dead battery, later it turned out to be the dashcam that was constantly taking power.

[300sd]

Cigarette lighter not working? Anyway if you only use it once a week to go to Macro, and obviously really want to have video, put your dumb phone on the dash turned on to video or better yet use an old dumb phone just for that one day a week. Just saying.

[Jing Joe]

The usual fuse that powers cigarette lighter sockets and consoles are typically 10 amps and is very likely an appliance/s were plugged in that took more than that or one appliance was faulty and the fuse failed.

There could be a couple of locations for the fuse and the value is stamped on them. Inside the fuse covers usually indicate a name and location. Good luck.

Dont wire directly to battery.

 

[alanrchase]

15 hours ago, cracker1 said:

It would mean your camera would be constantly ON and drawing current from your battery that would soon run flat.

Not a good idea.

A lot of dashcams have a motion detection mode to record when the car is parked. You can buy hardwire kits for them to use the car battery for power as the camera battery won't last long in that mode. 

[GoFaster]

Get a portable power bank and use that. Easy option.

https://www.lazada.co.th/tag/power-bank/?spm=a2o42.login_signup.search.2.c7b56108ahwOFA&q=power bank&_keyori=ss&clickTrackInfo=textId--1794898311143868985__abId--344807__Score--1.144606338815296__pvid--7c32ece1-a6dd-4c77-a355-fa74428fe023__matchType--1__matchList--1-2__srcQuery--power bank__spellQuery--power bank__ctrScore--0.6120910048484802__cvrScore--0.008595138788223267&from=suggest_normal&sugg=power bank_0_1&catalog_redirect_tag=true

[Henryford]

17 hours ago, cracker1 said:

It would mean your camera would be constantly ON and drawing current from your battery that would soon run flat.

Not a good idea.

 

Yes i forgot to unplug my dashcam once from the 12v socket. Within a day the battery was flat. But i am sure there is a way to connect to the fusebox so when the engine is turned off the dashcam goes off.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Henryford

[Andrew Dwyer]

10 minutes ago, Henryford said:

 

Yes i forgot to unplug my dashcam once from the 12v socket. Within a day the battery was flat. But i am sure there is a way to connect to the fusebox so when the engine is turned off the dashcam goes off.

Blimey that must have been an old piece of kit !!

Most dash cams now get their power from the 12v socket but only stop and start with the ignition.

You can buy a hardwire kit for 24hrs protection but run the risk of flattening the battery.

 

But, things are progressing quickly, my front and rear cameras can be set to run with the ignition off and only record a 5 minute video when they sense movement for up to 24hrs ( adjustable ). But the 12v battery is Lithium Iron ( not lead acid ) so the risk of flattening the battery is small.

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Blimey that must have been an old piece of kit !!

Most dash cams now get their power from the 12v socket but only stop and start with the ignition.

You can buy a hardwire kit for 24hrs protection but run the risk of flattening the battery.

 

But, things are progressing quickly, my front and rear cameras can be set to run with the ignition off and only record a 5 minute video when they sense movement for up to 24hrs ( adjustable ). But the 12v battery is Lithium Iron ( not lead acid ) so the risk of flattening the battery is small.

 

Hardwire kit is only good for cams that have parking mode.

 

Cams in my cars are powered by a blackvue ultra battery.

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Ralf001