For the electrically challenged amongst us i.e. Me. Could some kind person post a pic of said dash cam installed in their motor please.
Tyvm.
Would be happy to, but its not going to show you any of the electrics, because they are all hidden!
The most difficult aspect of hard wiring a dashcam into your car is finding a 12 volt supply that switches on and off with the ignition.
Simply connecting the thing to the battery will have it recording 24/7, something you don't want because it will run down the battery for one.
So, in order to find a 'switched' 12 volt supply you need to be handy with a multimeter (voltmeter) and undertake two tasks. You can pick one up on ebay for less than a fiver. Try this cheapy:
LCD AC DC Voltmeter Multimeter Ammeter VOLT OHM Meter Voltage Tester Digital New | eBay
(You will also need to buy 2 alligator clips to fit on the ends of the 2 'probes').
Next start removing panels one by one to expose the wiring in the car. Try the driver's foot well and remove the top panel above the pedals. There should be plenty of wires to choose from!
Clip the black lead of your new multimeter (negative) to something metal. It must be shiny metal, without paint, to ensure an electrical contact. A door bolt is ideal.
Remember that most cars have their entire chassis earthed (Let's keep this simple guys...), so any exposed metal bit of the car should be an earth.
Now switch the multimeter to "20 volts DC" (or similar - ie more than 12v). You are now ready to measure/locate 12 volts!
Now the clever bit.
Take a Stanley knife or similar and clip the red multimeter lead on to the blade. With this crude setup you can puncture every wire's coloured insulation without causing harm, but at the same time make contact with the copper wires inside, thus making an electrical contact.
You have to push the blade in to the centre of the wire being tested otherwise you risk 'missing' the copper inside, but after 5 minutes you'll be an expert at it. (And you will have learnt how the blade cuts your fingers
)
Notice a few things.
1. The red lead from the multimeter is clipped to the metal blade.
2. The blade is pushed in quite deep; enough to find the copper wire inside
3. The blade runs length-wise along the cable.
Point 3 is important, because after you remove the blade the insulation just closes up and the wire is not weakened significantly or exposed.
Using this technique you can test a dozen wires in a minute or two. (It helps if you have someone to switch the ignition on and off whilst the blade is
in the wire. That way you can differentiate between 'always on' 12 volts, and 'switched' 12 volts - what you want).
So, with the ignition on find a wire that reads 12 volts (approx). Then switch the ignition off and see if the voltage changes to zero. If it does you have found a 'switched' 12v supply. Hooray :bannana:
If not, move to the next wire and test again....
Once you have met with success, there is the easier of the two tasks; find a negative or earth. You can take the key out for this as what you want will always be an earth.
First go searching with your blade for a
zero volt wire (usually black). Once found, test it again, but with the multimeter's continuity feature (that's the one where you touch both multimeter leads together and the multimeter squawks!)
Do this as the final check that you HAVE found an earth (ie. blade in wire, black lead on shiny bolt).
Once you have found a switched 12 volt wire (and found an earth/negative) use a couple of "Quick splice scotch lock" connectors to hook up your 12 volt to 5 volt adapter than came with the camera.
They slip over the car's wire and you insert the dashcam wire. Red to red; black to black!
(You should really wire an 'in-line fuse' in to the red wire (have it start from the Quick splice connector) if you want your electricians badge).
Ebay or Halfords sell the Quick splices and the fuse, plus crimp fasteners if you don't have a soldering iron.
Quick splice scotch connector:
In line fuse:
Crimp connectors:
Heatshrink Butt Connectors, In Line Straight Through Heat Shrink Crimp Terminals | eBay
You want small (red); use pliers if no crimping tool is available, and a hair-dryer!
For those who are 'getting this' clearly, you could always check your work by testing for 5 volts at the dashcam's power plug
But be careful, a moments short circuit and you could blow the 12 to 5v adapter (Replaced for £5 on ebay, by the way...).
Anyway, in less time than it has taken me to write this and insert the photos etc, you should have the job done.
Cheers
Robert
but I've gone for a UK seller with good feedback.
