Dashcam Installation

[Royleblue23]

I took my Next Base dash cam to Halfords today to be installed in my C-Class. They said they could not fit it because all the fuses were ignition live (I think that's what they said. It was one of the assistants I spoke to. The fitter was not there) so it would continually drain the battery.
Has anyone else come across this or have you had one fitted?

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Mines fitted to permanent live. But it has an on off switch also. I turn it off when I park up. It auto switches back on when I start the car.

 

[Trickythemerc]

If you use the nextbase hard wire kit you will not have a problem. They are designed to use a permanent live feed and use low voltage protection to prevent flat batteries. I have one on my CLK and have left it parked up for three weeks with no problem.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Having a permanent live also helps keep recording going should the car be hit or attempted break ins. The interior batteries don't record for long usually 30 seconds.

 

[richard]

W205 (and all the new ones, W253, W213, etc) are incredibly sensible to battery drain. I run a Blackvue with Powermagic. Its set at 12.5V and runs for about 5 minutes. When set to 12.0V, it runs for a couple of hours, but then stop start doesn't work for a long while (although some may like that). The reason it is a couple of hours is that the battery management senses the load and then cuts the power to everything in the car to try and reset any ECU that is stuck and draining power. With the power-drop from that power magic turns off.

The reality is you need to run a battery pack for the dash-cam if you want to run for a decent time.

Richard

 

[John N]

I took my Next Base dash cam to Halfords today to be installed in my C-Class. They said they could not fit it because all the fuses were ignition live (I think that's what they said. It was one of the assistants I spoke to. The fitter was not there) so it would continually drain the battery.
Has anyone else come across this or have you had one fitted?

What Year is your C300d?

 

[Royleblue23]

What Year is your C300d?

2019

 

[John N]

2019

Reason for asking:

My 2017 C Class 250d had a Fuse Box located at the RH End of the Dashboard where the Drivers Door Butts up against it, the Cover is a Bu&&er to remove as it’s a tight fit, the use of Plastic Trim tools is a must as anything else will damage the Plastic Cover.

There are many Fuses that can be "Piggy Backed" from, Constant Live and Ignition Live!

 

[Royleblue23]

Thanks for your replies. I'll see if there are any proper autoelectricians in the area and see what they say. Clearly the guy in Halfords didn't know what he was talking about.

 

[AltonAnt]

Thanks for your replies. I'll see if there are any proper autoelectricians in the area and see what they say. Clearly the guy in Halfords didn't know what he was talking about.

He was right and just may not have known that Mercedes often have multiple fuse box locations.
None of the cabin fuses are switched on mine so I used one in the boot.

 

[esscee]

Be honest there are not many Halfords people that know much about the more complicated cars. Many are keen etc., but apart from doing the simple and obvious tasks would not have any of them doing any intense work. Maybe some will contradict but that is my findings over time.

 

[SG94]

I wired my dash cam in my c class to a live in the gubbins above the rear view mirror.
However, as stated above, they are very sensitive to battery level, so I just pulled the plug out from the camera every night.

 

[stubax]

I wired my dashcam from the fuse holder located at the right side end of the dash. There are differing fuses, ie permanent live or ignition on live. On my cars there was an empty fuse slot that is ignition on live, as no fuse I used a flat spade connector pushed in, never had an issue on past 3 cars.

 

[Gazwould]

Wire live / battery pack or G Shock wake up camera is a must in the most vulnerable environment .

 

[penfold2105]

If you use the nextbase hard wire kit you will not have a problem. They are designed to use a permanent live feed and use low voltage protection to prevent flat batteries. I have one on my CLK and have left it parked up for three weeks with no problem.

I too have a clk but can't find a non live fuse in the fuse box next to the steering wheel. I believe the camera turns off wifi when connected to the b wire so saves power. Not sure what to do as I don't have time low voltage protection thingy.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

I too have a clk but can't find a non live fuse in the fuse box next to the steering wheel. I believe the camera turns off wifi when connected to the b wire so saves power. Not sure what to do as I don't have time low voltage protection thingy.

Last Merc I had ,I took the switched live from the glovebox interior light. Luckily my new Glc coupe has a switched live on drivers side panel.

 

[richard]

If you use the nextbase hard wire kit you will not have a problem. They are designed to use a permanent live feed and use low voltage protection to prevent flat batteries. I have one on my CLK and have left it parked up for three weeks with no problem.

But remember the new cars (205/213 onward) Stop Start is very sensitive to low battery, so if the dashcam records when ignition is off for a while, you'll find stop/start not working for a while until battery charges up.

 

[Benz17]

W205 (and all the new ones, W253, W213, etc) are incredibly sensible to battery drain. I run a Blackvue with Powermagic. Its set at 12.5V and runs for about 5 minutes. When set to 12.0V, it runs for a couple of hours, but then stop start doesn't work for a long while (although some may like that). The reason it is a couple of hours is that the battery management senses the load and then cuts the power to everything in the car to try and reset any ECU that is stuck and draining power. With the power-drop from that power magic turns off.

The reality is you need to run a battery pack for the dash-cam if you want to run for a decent time.

Richard

This is absolutely true as far as my W213 is concerned. In parking mode after a few hours it would switch off, regardless of what fuse one uses to piggyback off. Battery pack is the only solution sadly.