Has anyone hard wired a car cam from the battery to the ignition switch?

[ghworker2010]

I have a new model pickup and it doesnt have the cigi lighter port but a usb. Ive tried using a car cam worth 5k but it loses power. The shop has tested it with a car using a cigarette port and it works fine.

The guy wants to hard wire the car cam from the battery to the push button ignition switch. Has anyone ever done this? Any issues?

thanks

[Don Mega]

Mine is hardwired using the Blackvue power magic pro.

Why does your guy just not hardwire it to an accesory power feed instead of going to the battery or ignition button?

What model pickup do you have that does not have an Aux power socket ?

[richard_smith237]

Careful not to allow 'the guy' to directly hard-wire into your cars battery without using power protection device such as the Power Magic Pro (Don Mega mentions above).

This device protect the Cam from draining the battery when the ignition is turned off. i.e. a Cars battery is 12v, the power protection device will automatically cut off power to the cam once the battery voltage drops below a predetermined voltage (i.e. 11.8v).

Other options are to use a fuse-tap-in which will hard wire directly to a spare channel in your cars fuse box (this is possibly the best option - the Power Protection device is still necessary).

Another issue I had with my car (BMW) was that the electrics warranty would be voided by hard wiring - thus my cam is wired through the upholstery and discreetly plugged into the 12v socket on the centre console between the driver and passengers seats.

[IMHO]

I too am curious as to what new pickup doesn't have an accessory socket (cigarette lighter) - have you checked inside the centre console @ OP?

In answer to your question - yes, you can hardwire it in, but beware that you need to hardwire the actual "cigarette lighter" dongle that came with it - these cameras do not operate on 12V.

[arthurwait]

Why don't you just wire in a cigarette lighter socket ? Straight to the fuse box as TA says.

Available from car accessory shops and a 10 minute job.

[stevenl]

I too am curious as to what new pickup doesn't have an accessory socket (cigarette lighter) - have you checked inside the centre console @ OP?

In answer to your question - yes, you can hardwire it in, but beware that you need to hardwire the actual "cigarette lighter" dongle that came with it - these cameras do not operate on 12V.

What new pickup has a push button ignition switch?

[arthurwait]

I too am curious as to what new pickup doesn't have an accessory socket (cigarette lighter) - have you checked inside the centre console @ OP?

In answer to your question - yes, you can hardwire it in, but beware that you need to hardwire the actual "cigarette lighter" dongle that came with it - these cameras do not operate on 12V.

What new pickup has a push button ignition switch?

Fortuner ?

^{I cant resist.}

[Pomthai]

Lots of these cameras are powered by 5V Dc. Yes they plug into 12V but the plug steps the voltage down. Be careful as connecting 12V Dc from your cars electrical system to you camera might fry it. USB is also 5V Dc.

[arthurwait]

You could use one like this . Cut the existing lighter plug off and put terminals on and connect to fuse box and earth.

http://www.kaidee.com/product-101238114

Or get one like this and do the same, but will obviously require mounting.

http://www.kaidee.com/product-104836870

[Ace of Pop]

I too am curious as to what new pickup doesn't have an accessory socket (cigarette lighter) - have you checked inside the centre console @ OP?

In answer to your question - yes, you can hardwire it in, but beware that you need to hardwire the actual "cigarette lighter" dongle that came with it - these cameras do not operate on 12V.

What new pickup has a push button ignition switch?

UPS Boeings

[IMHO]

I too am curious as to what new pickup doesn't have an accessory socket (cigarette lighter) - have you checked inside the centre console @ OP?

In answer to your question - yes, you can hardwire it in, but beware that you need to hardwire the actual "cigarette lighter" dongle that came with it - these cameras do not operate on 12V.

What new pickup has a push button ignition switch?

Trivia time hey?

The new Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara NP300 both have push button iginitions

[Don Mega]

well done IMHO.

My guess is the OP has the Navara.

[Bung]

I just bought some power supply adaptors that you can hardwire into a 12v supply. The cameras run on 5v i think. No need to use a cig lighter socket. They are cheap on ebay found when you search car dash cams.

[Bung]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-12V-24V-to-5V-Car-DVR-Exclusive-Power-Box-DC-Power-Cable-for-Car-Dash-Cam-/271594707937?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f3c4e5be1

[noahvail]

This may sound silly, OP, but did you check in your glove box? I've had a couple of vehicles with a cigarette-style oulet in the not-too-distant past.

Yeah, and my first car had push button ignition. It was a 1950 Mercury, 6 months older than me. My uncle bought it new in 1950 and rather than trade it in when he got a new car, he gave it to me as a birthday present.

[arthurwait]

I just bought some power supply adaptors that you can hardwire into a 12v supply. The cameras run on 5v i think. No need to use a cig lighter socket. They are cheap on ebay found when you search car dash cams.

He has tried using the USB which would probably be 5V and it wasn't powerful enough.

[Don Mega]

Iam struggling to get my head around no 12v aux power socket.... Bad move by mitsu as many people do have a real need for this power socket.

Picture below circled in green is the USB, circled in red look to be the 12v socket..... if it is not what else is it ?

[ghworker2010]

I too am curious as to what new pickup doesn't have an accessory socket (cigarette lighter) - have you checked inside the centre console @ OP?

In answer to your question - yes, you can hardwire it in, but beware that you need to hardwire the actual "cigarette lighter" dongle that came with it - these cameras do not operate on 12V.

IMHO was correct... After reading this comment I thought that I didnt have a cigi lighter socket. I found a conspicuous (2nd) glove box on the dash- on the left side of passenger. It has a cigi lighter socket.....

[NanLaew]

RTFM

[Ace of Pop]

My Thai Chum who fits them just told me,if you have Electric Seats one can piggybak from the fuse box, cause they dont powerdown when you turn off ignition.ignition. Leaving Aux or Lighter Plug free for other Tings.Still wont buy one despite his fine efforts.No intention of entering any debate with Thais.

[richard_smith237]

My Thai Chum who fits them just told me,if you have Electric Seats one can piggybak from the fuse box, cause they dont powerdown when you turn off ignition.ignition. Leaving Aux or Lighter Plug free for other Tings.Still wont buy one despite his fine efforts.No intention of entering any debate with Thais.

There are usually a few spare channels in the fuse box into which you can hard-wire with a fuse-tap.

When hardwiring, whether its as AoP mentions above (i.e. piggy-backing on the electric seats from the fuse box or another channel) the dash-cam will remain active 'You will still require a power protection device (i.e. Blackvue power magic), unless you hard-wire into an 'Ignition Off' channel.

Thus: either hard-wire the cam into a fuse channel which is completely powered down on ignition off. OR, use a Power Protection Device which means the Dash-Cam will continue to record until the Power Protection device recognises the Voltage dropping below a pre-set level and disables further power to the cam thus preventing battery drainage. Some Dash-Cams operate in Parked Mode with a motion sensor.

[Ace of Pop]

Thanks for that Richard, all to much for Me. Ive watched him wire them up.Thai Macaroni every where. door panels , head linings , carpets come out, magic boxes hidden under the dash. then the O.E. GPS and Entertainment has a Fit, no thanks ive just Mastered in Tyre Pressures after 20 years.

[sotsira]

My Thai Chum who fits them just told me,if you have Electric Seats one can piggybak from the fuse box, cause they dont powerdown when you turn off ignition.ignition. Leaving Aux or Lighter Plug free for other Tings.Still wont buy one despite his fine efforts.No intention of entering any debate with Thais.

There are usually a few spare channels in the fuse box into which you can hard-wire with a fuse-tap.

When hardwiring, whether its as AoP mentions above (i.e. piggy-backing on the electric seats from the fuse box or another channel) the dash-cam will remain active 'You will still require a power protection device (i.e. Blackvue power magic), unless you hard-wire into an 'Ignition Off' channel.

Thus: either hard-wire the cam into a fuse channel which is completely powered down on ignition off. OR, use a Power Protection Device which means the Dash-Cam will continue to record until the Power Protection device recognises the Voltage dropping below a pre-set level and disables further power to the cam thus preventing battery drainage. Some Dash-Cams operate in Parked Mode with a motion sensor.

To put it in simple terms, there is no way you can have a dash cam working for many hours when a vehicle is parked without running the battery down to a level where it won't start the engine.

A power protection device will prevent this, but only because it will switch off the camera after a few

hours, so it defeats the objective in the first place.

Even if a cam is operating in a parked mode with motion detection, it will still be drawing current from

the battery continuously as it will be switched on all the time, the motion detection only operates the

record function on/off, whereas the camera will be on all the time, reducing the battery voltage.

I would guess that 12 hours would be about all you could expect before the battery would fail to start an engine, obviously the condition of the battery, it's age, electrolyte levels etc, would play a big part

as well.

lastly, most fuse box's have numerous spare fuses that have a constant feed of 12v that can be used

to supply a dash cam supply socket, as i have used in mine, with an on/off switch so if i'm parked for a short period of time, i leave the camera running, and only switch it off when i'm parked overnight.

[sotsira]

There are many ignition controlled as well as constant supply spaces in

the fuse boxes, it's just a personal choice in how you would prefer to have

your camera operating.

Mine was to have a constant supply feed from the fuse to an on/off switch

so that i control when the camera switches on or off, this way you can leave

it running when parked for short periods of time.

I also don't like the idea that it would only operate when the engine is running

as this would mean the camera would need to switch itself off and on many

times in a day if you were on multiple short journeys which defeats the objective

in the first place.

In addition to that, if in an accident the first thing drivers do is to switch off the

engine, hence also the camera, this could lose you vital footage if anything else

would occur in the aftermath of an accident.

[thailandforumaddict]

You really want to switch if off manually everytime you leave your car ? So boring...

There are many ignition controlled as well as constant supply spaces in

the fuse boxes, it's just a personal choice in how you would prefer to have

your camera operating.

Mine was to have a constant supply feed from the fuse to an on/off switch

so that i control when the camera switches on or off, this way you can leave

it running when parked for short periods of time.

I also don't like the idea that it would only operate when the engine is running

as this would mean the camera would need to switch itself off and on many

times in a day if you were on multiple short journeys which defeats the objective

in the first place.

In addition to that, if in an accident the first thing drivers do is to switch off the

engine, hence also the camera, this could lose you vital footage if anything else

would occur in the aftermath of an accident.

[sotsira]

You really want to switch if off manually everytime you leave your car ? So boring...

There are many ignition controlled as well as constant supply spaces in

the fuse boxes, it's just a personal choice in how you would prefer to have

your camera operating.

Mine was to have a constant supply feed from the fuse to an on/off switch

so that i control when the camera switches on or off, this way you can leave

it running when parked for short periods of time.

I also don't like the idea that it would only operate when the engine is running

as this would mean the camera would need to switch itself off and on many

times in a day if you were on multiple short journeys which defeats the objective

in the first place.

In addition to that, if in an accident the first thing drivers do is to switch off the

engine, hence also the camera, this could lose you vital footage if anything else

would occur in the aftermath of an accident.

Did you read and understand what i posted?

I don't switch it off every time i leave my car!

That way i keep the camera recording when the car is parked.

I only switch it off manually when i park it at my home and leave it

overnight.

I wouldn't call that boring, i would call that common sense!

[Don Mega]

common sense would be to use a device that will the camera to continue recording but shut it down once the car battery level has reached predetermined level of discharge.

[IMHO]

common sense would be to use a device that will the camera to continue recording but shut it down once the car battery level has reached predetermined level of discharge.

Wouldn't it just be easier to power the camera from a Power Bank?

[Don Mega]

Thats great idea IMHO.

[sotsira]

common sense would be to use a device that will the camera to continue recording but shut it down once the car battery level has reached predetermined level of discharge.

Power banks are expensive and imho unnecessary when a simple on/off switch

can be used to power the camera which would give you full control in operation

whereas a power bank does not.

As i mentioned earlier in my posts, it's down to personal preference, for short term

parking in public areas a power bank isn't necessary and for long term parking a

power bank will just switch the camera off eventually anyway.