Hard wiring a dash cam

[littleowl]

My car does not have a fusebox at the side of the instrument panel as described in the handbook, as far as I can see (just an empty space). So I assume a dash cam needs to be hard wired into the fusebox in the boot - has anyone done this and which fuse have you used? I'm a bit concerned as there are so many functions of the car that stay live for a while but then cut out.

 

[Moleshome]

I've just played the same game Littleowl. I fitted the power adapter in the gap on the right hand end of the dash and ran the wires through the foam behind the engine bay fusebox.

 

[R129mine]

I hard wired it to the constant car radio power and then installed a
Pittasoft BlackVue Power Magic Pro to stop it from draining the battery when engine is off (and dash cam is in parking mode)

works great

 

[Ted]

You could splice it into the fag lighter and hide the wires behind the dash.

 

[littleowl]

I've just played the same game Littleowl. I fitted the power adapter in the gap on the right hand end of the dash and ran the wires through the foam behind the engine bay fusebox.

Which fuse did you use?

 

[brucemillar]

Look for the cigarette lighter fuse in the engine bay. Use a piggy back fuse holder and feed your wires through above the pedals using a plant stick or down through the SAM using the same stick.

 

[Moleshome]

17 for a permanent live and 10 for the switched feed

 

[AltonAnt]

From what I understand of fuse taps they use two fuses, The top one for the item you wish to power and a bottom one for the original intended purpose.

Could you choose an unused fuse position and just fit the top fuse?

Also is there a recommended route from an S203 rear fuse board without too much dismantling involved. I want to use an unused microphone cable from a Parrot system I have removed which was routed up to the interior light from under the glove box area to pull the USB power up if I can.

 

[Moleshome]

From what I understand of fuse taps they use two fuses, The top one for the item you wish to power and a bottom one for the original intended purpose.

Correct

Could you choose an unused fuse position and just fit the top fuse?

Assuming that the unused position is powered and you fit the fuse tap the right way round, yes.

Looking at the fuse tap there will be two contacts which plug into the fuse holder and a wire coming out of one side. The fuse tap needs to be fitted so that the contact farthest from the wire goes to the live side of the fuse holder.

 

[AltonAnt]

Thanks Moleshome. I used empty fuse 7 which is a switched live. I ran the cable around the door seals which was straightforward. All sorted.

 

[raycannon]

I used the add-a-fuse connectors exactly as described above to wire a Blackvue 2 camera system and power magic pro into the fusebox in the boot area of a cls shooting brake, all works perfectly from day one and keeps the cameras running in park mode. Does anyone know what the original connectors are in the fusebox or where I can get them from, if I can get the right style connectors to fit in the spare fuse spaces i will be able to use the two spare spaces I need just by putting a fuse in the slot, sorry if that's a bit OTT but would give a really neat installation. perhaps I need to get out more.

 

[micron]

Hi,
has anybody successfully used a fuse tap on fuses 457 or 458 in the rear fusebox on a w213?

These are the fuses for the interior cigarette lighters and I have read many suggesting to use these. However for me the fuse tap does not go in far enough, is there a particular method to getting these in or are there different sizes for the "standard" fuse tap, see my pictures. It seems it won't go in far enough due to the surrounding of the fuse holder coming in contact with the first fuse in the piggyback block...

 

[garycat]

You could splice it into the fag lighter and hide the wires behind the dash.

Thats what I did too.