Best dash cam power source?

[s.stringer4001@hotmail]

Where is the best place to get 12V switched supply fo a dash cam?

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[tbrumleve]

From the USB port behind the rear view mirror.

Dongar Dashcam Power Adapter... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1WSPCN2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

The adapter mentioned above, or tap a switched fuse and run the wires down to it, or FitCamX which uses the mirror power source as well.

 

[meltykiss]

I don't know if it's the same experience but my VIOFO A229 Pro dashcam randomly stops working (it would just shut off randomly - sometimes within seconds of powering on) when I used a mirror power cable adapter. Working with VIOFO's customer service, it looks like their dashcam doesn't get enough power from that and the issue fully went away once I started using the actual USB-C port / cigarette lighter adapter. It should also work with the fuse box adapter, but I haven't had a chance to set that up yet.

 

[ah38k]

I used a fuse tap to a switched fuse in the passenger foot well, along with a battery pack under the passenger seat. This way I'm not pulling any power from the car's 12v battery when it is parked but the dash cam can still run in park mode.

 

[kamorela]

I don't know if it's the same experience but my VIOFO A229 Pro dashcam randomly stops working (it would just shut off randomly - sometimes within seconds of powering on) when I used a mirror power cable adapter. Working with VIOFO's customer service, it looks like their dashcam doesn't get enough power from that and the issue fully went away once I started using the actual USB-C port / cigarette lighter adapter. It should also work with the fuse box adapter, but I haven't had a chance to set that up yet.

I also have a Viofo A229 Pro and have it hardwired into the fuse panel in front of the passenger foot well. Never had any issues.

Note: one oddity, I also have it tapped into a separate unswitched fuse for parking mode, so have both switched and unswitched power taps. The switched powers it up at start, and the unswitched takes over when car is 'off'. But I don't need or want dash cam footage of the inside of my garage so I used to reach up and turn off the dash cam using the camera's buttons. After a few instances of getting in my car and finding the camera still recording in parking mode after having turned it off, I decided to put in a kill switch inline with the unswitched power wire. This positively shuts off power to the camera with the car parked and off. Not sure how the power circuit is controlled inside the camera but clearly it's not perfect. You can avoid all that by simply not wiring it up for parking mode.

 

[kamorela]

I used a fuse tap to a switched fuse in the passenger foot well, along with a battery pack under the passenger seat. This way I'm not pulling any power from the car's 12v battery when it is parked but the dash cam can still run in park mode.

Having an external 12v battery pack is a good idea, takes the worry out. I presume it's rechargeable, how do you have it wired...is it also on a switched power tap? I toyed with that idea too, but went with the battery cutoff module that comes with the camera's hardwire kit. I have the cutoff voltage set at 12.4v which, if/when reached, cuts of camera power (hopefully). But technology being imperfect, as I noted in my other post, I also installed a BT battery monitor so I can check on my 12v SOC. So far, so good. A dedicated under-seat battery seems the more practical.

 

[stoopid]

I'm using the original cigarette lighter power adapter under the arm rest/cubby area. The door for the cubby is cracked open a few millimeters for the wire to exit. The fear of taking things apart on a leased vehicle exceeds my twitchiness over aesthetics. Running wire is easily reversed and doesn't muck with the car's power in any unintended way.

But the idea of using the existing power source at the rearview mirror is solid as long as the dashcam doesn't pull too much power.

 

[HuntingPudel]

My FitcamX (front and rear setup) attaches to two points in the passenger footwell fuse box: One is switched, one is unswitched power. It does not draw power when the car is not in run or accessory modes.

 

[jtmyrand]

From the USB port behind the rear view mirror.

Dongar Dashcam Power Adapter... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1WSPCN2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

This adapter does not fit in my 2023 Mach-E GTPE. This adapter is a 5 pin. My car has a 6 pin.

 

[ah38k]

Having an external 12v battery pack is a good idea, takes the worry out. I presume it's rechargeable, how do you have it wired...is it also on a switched power tap? I toyed with that idea too, but went with the battery cutoff module that comes with the camera's hardwire kit. I have the cutoff voltage set at 12.4v which, if/when reached, cuts of camera power (hopefully). But technology being imperfect, as I noted in my other post, I also installed a BT battery monitor so I can check on my 12v SOC. So far, so good. A dedicated under-seat battery seems the more practical.

The camera hardwires into the battery pack and the battery pack runs off the switched fuse tap. The battery pack signals the camera the car is parked when the switch power supply shuts off to run in parking mode. Since I have a 90 mile round trip commute 3 days a week and only have the camera running in timelapse mode for 4 hours after I turn the car off I don't run into any issues with keeping the battery pack charged.

 

[jtmyrand]

This adapter does not fit in my 2023 Mach-E GTPE. This adapter is a 5 pin. My car has a 6 pin.

Cancel my quote above. I was looking at the wrong pin

 

[DeusEx]

I don't know if it's the same experience but my VIOFO A229 Pro dashcam randomly stops working (it would just shut off randomly - sometimes within seconds of powering on) when I used a mirror power cable adapter. Working with VIOFO's customer service, it looks like their dashcam doesn't get enough power from that and the issue fully went away once I started using the actual USB-C port / cigarette lighter adapter. It should also work with the fuse box adapter, but I haven't had a chance to set that up yet.

I have a 3 channel a229 pro setup and haven't had any issues tapping into the mirror with my dongar adapter. It's fully up to date with the latest Viofo updates.

Watch me jinx it now.

 

[meltykiss]

I have a 3 channel a229 pro setup and haven't had any issues tapping into the mirror with my dongar adapter. It's fully up to date with the latest Viofo updates.

Watch me jinx it now.

I am really confused as it seems like the mirror power adapter works for everyone (only complaints I read were when the dashcam was faulty). I even went through and got an RMA on the mirror power adapter and the replacement one exhibited the same issue.

At the end of the day, it was just easier to have a wire going into the cig outlet since VIOFO's CS documentation has them recommend to not use the mirror adapter for their 2/3 channel cameras.

 

[tbrumleve]

This adapter does not fit in my 2023 Mach-E GTPE. This adapter is a 5 pin. My car has a 6 pin.

No, all Mach E’s with dimming rear view mirror regardless of year or trim have a five pin connector. This will work.

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