Hi all,

 

Before attempting to hardwire dashcam into my car again (and hopefully not upsetting my start/Stop system) I had a few questions for the technical people out there please.

 

I have purchased a 12V to 5V adaptor with dual usb connectors and soldered on a full size fuse piggyback connector.

 

 

I was planning this time on piggybacking off fuse 47 'rear window wiper' (circled yellow) but the piggyback fuse holder won't fit back in lead down and fuses to the left as it's catching on the large silver fuse 45 (circled red).

 

 

Q - I've read many times that the lead from the piggyback holder should always be running down on VAG cars. Does anyone know why? And would be be OK in this instance for the lead to run up with fuses facing right?

 

Q - am I right the original fuse should go in slot one of the piggyback holder and the new fuse for cameras goes in the second, back slot?

 

Q - I did originally trying running my older setup through a Vico power plus power monitor through fuse 48 'Assist system for blind spot monitoring'  as this is live but has no fuse in it. My car started having start/Stop system 'power consumption too high' issue so I'm guessing as my car does not have blind spot monitoring the car could see a load on this fuse that shouldn't be there. This a fair guess?

 

It's possible my Vico unit had developed an issue since I used it on my MK2, but having had start/Stop issues before I didn't want to risk it so have ditched the unit altogether. This is the reason I'm not risking running my new setup off fuse 48 although there is space there for piggyback fuse holder.

 

 

 

 

Edited 31 March, 20197 yr by JimmyUK

I have this exact device running in my car for the charge sockets. I can’t remember which fuse I plugged into off the top of my head, could well have been the main 12v socket fuse. My add a fuse runs downward but that’s more by luck than judgement. Even with a phone on charge and my phone in the factory USB for the radio it has no stop start issues.

28 minutes ago, SashaGrace said:

I have this exact device running in my car for the charge sockets. I can’t remember which fuse I plugged into off the top of my head, could well have been the main 12v socket fuse. My add a fuse runs downward but that’s more by luck than judgement. Even with a phone on charge and my phone in the factory USB for the radio it has no stop start issues.

I can't go off fuse 40 '12-volt outlet' as this is powered at all times so my cameras will keep running even when car locked. With all other fuses being used for what I'd call critical monitored systems I'm kind of stuck using fuse 47 'rear window wiper' but only if I can have the piggyback holder lead running up. I've not tested this method as I have no spare 15amp fuse if it blows and I also don't know why I've read that you shouldn't run the wire up?

Forgot about that. There’s a fuse box mod to make the 12v not permanently powered but I don’t know how to do it. It’s on this forum somewhere.

4 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

There’s a fuse box mod to make the 12v not permanently powered but I don’t know how to do it. It’s on this forum somewhere.

 

It involves moving the 12V socket fuse down half a position (so the top part of the fuse goes into where the bottom part came out of and the bottom part of the fuse goes into the socket below... this makes it a switched live)

 

The trouble is your fuse No. 40 pictured above has no terminal in the slot below (the same as the Superb)

 

What about using fuse 14 - Air blower for air conditioning,heating

Edited 31 March, 20197 yr by Gizmo

As my car is still under warranty, I didn't want to pull off trim or mess with fuses so I just fed power to my dashcam from the USB socket in front of the gear lever. This socket is powered only when the ignition is turned on (and it stays powered until about 1 minute after the ignition is turned off and the car is locked). As my phone is connected to the system by Bluetooth, (and charged from the 12v socket by the handbrake) this option works well for me. My car is one year old, bought and registered in France.

this configuration of pigtails allows me to convert the 12V plug to switched have power to the power magic pro for the Blackvue dashcam. 

Edited 5 April, 20197 yr by JohnnyType2

10 hours ago, Gasconman said:

As my car is still under warranty, I didn't want to pull off trim or mess with fuses so I just fed power to my dashcam from the USB socket in front of the gear lever. This socket is powered only when the ignition is turned on (and it stays powered until about 1 minute after the ignition is turned off and the car is locked). As my phone is connected to the system by Bluetooth, (and charged from the 12v socket by the handbrake) this option works well for me. My car is one year old, bought and registered in France.

 

Thanks for sharing. That's a fair solution but I have two USB plugs as I have front and rear cameras and really want to hide the wires.

3 hours ago, JohnnyType2 said:

this configuration of pigtails allows me to convert the 12V plug to switched have power to the power magic pro for the Blackvue dashcam. 

Thanks for sharing. For me the solution I need is to connect only one piggy back holder to minimise any drain on the system and avoid any start/Stop system issues.

On 31/03/2019 at 18:07, Gizmo said:

 

It involves moving the 12V socket fuse down half a position (so the top part of the fuse goes into where the bottom part came out of and the bottom part of the fuse goes into the socket below... this makes it a switched live)

 

The trouble is your fuse No. 40 pictured above has no terminal in the slot below (the same as the Superb)

 

What about using fuse 14 - Air blower for air conditioning,heating

Thanks, this could be a solution although would it be a heavy load on this one socket if fans are running high and the two cameras are on?

depends on your camera, but usually they don't draw much.

DDPAI 2 mini i have uses roughly 0,2A

Saw a number on a Street guardian type used even less 0,07A

So not an issue  

On 05/04/2019 at 20:25, JimmyUK said:

Thanks for sharing. For me the solution I need is to connect only one piggy back holder to minimise any drain on the system and avoid any start/Stop system issues.

 

drain the system to below 7V? what are you connecting ?

 

Blackvue do a parking mode power controller (the "Power Magic Pro") that wires to the battery and you can select how long the camera stays powered after you turn the car off. It also has a low voltage cutoff if the battery happens to be low to stop the camera running it down below a selectable voltage. They also do accessory battery packs that charge when you're driving and keep the camera running independent of the car battery when it's parked.

 

I don't know if these accessories can be made to work with other cameras but I am hopeful.

Edited 8 April, 20197 yr by Papfox

55 minutes ago, Papfox said:

Blackvue do a parking mode power controller (the "Power Magic Pro") that wires to the battery and you can select how long the camera stays powered after you turn the car off. It also has a low voltage cutoff if the battery happens to be low to stop the camera running it down below a selectable voltage. They also do accessory battery packs that charge when you're driving and keep the camera running independent of the car battery when it's parked.

 

I don't know if these accessories can be made to work with other cameras but I am hopeful.

 

I have a PMP fitted to mine. unless you are parking up for a week the dash cam wont  drain the battery. I have mine always recording and it sits from friday to monday with no issues.

1 hour ago, JohnnyType2 said:

 

I have a PMP fitted to mine. unless you are parking up for a week the dash cam wont  drain the battery. I have mine always recording and it sits from friday to monday with no issues.

I had a monitor box on my MK2 and tried fitting to my MK3. There's no way I could have let my cars record for a week. 24hrs max on MK2 and the MK3 didn't like it all.

 

My MK3 245 is pretty loaded with electric extras so maybe any change was causing the problem, or the Vico monitor was playing up?

 

 

I've now hooked up my front and rear camera using the adaptor I posted above and all is working well, I'm just missing out parking mode now. Risked it on fuse 48 and start/Stop is still working.

 

It's very possible my start/Stop system was the problem all along and a software update fixed it. It was maybe bad luck I was trying to fit cameras at the same time it playing up.

Edited 8 April, 20197 yr by JimmyUK

3 hours ago, JimmyUK said:

I had a monitor box on my MK2 and tried fitting to my MK3. There's no way I could have let my cars record for a week. 24hrs max on MK2 and the MK3 didn't like it all.

 

My MK3 245 is pretty loaded with electric extras so maybe any change was causing the problem, or the Vico monitor was playing up?

 

 

I've now hooked up my front and rear camera using the adaptor I posted above and all is working well, I'm just missing out parking mode now. Risked it on fuse 48 and start/Stop is still working.

 

It's very possible my start/Stop system was the problem all along and a software update fixed it. It was maybe bad luck I was trying to fit cameras at the same time it playing up.

Sounds like you had a faulty battery.

8 minutes ago, JohnnyType2 said:

Sounds like you had a faulty battery.

My first visit to Skoda did show a voltage difference between the battery and the monitoring module which was "adjusted". My start/Stop became more reliable but still had a daily error.

 

My second visit received a software "update" and it's been fine since.