Dash Cam hard wiring question

[Dave P.]

I plan on hard wiring a dash cam into my car by tapping into the fuse box. One wire is Ground, one is switched Accessory and the other is Battery so the cam goes into parking mode when the car is turned off. The battery wire on the cam has a little inline switch where I can select how low I would be willing to let the battery voltage drop to before the cam turns off.
This I don't care for and was wondering if I couldn't just connect the "battery" fuse tap to another accessory fuse and just have the cam turn off when the car is off and not worry about some sort of malfunction that drains the battery.

 

[Leo99]

I turned parking mode off on the camera. It took me a lot of trial and error to find fuses that acted the way I wanted them to act. Many surprised me by being hot when the car was off.

 

[QwikKota]

I don't think you need to connect that battery wire at all if you aren't worried about the wake up mode for an impact when parked. I would be cautious about tapping into a critical circuit as well. Try to avoid anything involving the ignition or the fuel pump. For my Ram I found a sunroof circuit (accy) and an underhood light (constant) to tie in to.

 

[Rand]

Leave the battery wire off, or connect it to the accessory source if needed to turn on camera.
instructions with the dash cam may provide the needed info.

 

[Hall]

I agree with QwikKota - the "battery" connection is optional for cases where you want to use the parking mode option.

 

[Cujet]

Note: There are many modern vehicles that have power at the rear view mirror. Often there is a connector adapter for dash cams avial on Amazon or elsewhere.

 

[Propflux01]

Note: There are many modern vehicles that have power at the rear view mirror. Often there is a connector adapter for dash cams avial on Amazon or elsewhere.

This is the way to go if you can.

 

[sunroof]

I put a fuse jumper on the windshield washer.

 

[Hall]

Note: There are many modern vehicles that have power at the rear view mirror. Often there is a connector adapter for dash cams avial on Amazon or elsewhere.

Yeap, Dongar

 

[Marcozi]

Problem with using a circuit in the rear view mirror unit is that the camera may overload the circuit and cause the mirror's circuitry to misbehave. Modern car makers design their electrical circuit to handle a specific load without much headroom.

OT: car makers are starting to switch to aluminum wiring to reduce cost and weight.

 

[Hall]

My dash cam draws, at a maximum, 1.5A.

 

[64bawagon]

Both my vehicles are hard wired and the cameras come on if the vehicle is jarred. They often sit for a week with no issues. I dont think the draw is much.

 

[Expendable]

Problem with using a circuit in the rear view mirror unit is that the camera may overload the circuit and cause the mirror's circuitry to misbehave. Modern car makers design their electrical circuit to handle a specific load without much headroom.

OT: car makers are starting to switch to aluminum wiring to reduce cost and weight.

I've had Dashcams in 3 different cars connected to the rearview mirror with the Dongar adapter, never had a problem.

 

[Rand]

Problem with using a circuit in the rear view mirror unit is that the camera may overload the circuit and cause the mirror's circuitry to misbehave. Modern car makers design their electrical circuit to handle a specific load without much headroom.

OT: car makers are starting to switch to aluminum wiring to reduce cost and weight.

my dash cam will run on 5watts. so load is less than .5amp not worried about overloading a mirror circuit.