Any Auto Electricians Out There?

[SH20]

Fitted Nextbase 512GW dash cam to my GS450h today.  Fitted the optional rear camera too and all works well.  Good software for reviewing the 3 minute video clips on a PC.

Decided to fit a hard wire kit so all cables can be hidden and used the Nextbase hard wire kit.  It recommended an ignition only circuit no greater than 20 amps so the dash cam will switch on and off automatically through the ignition.     The fuse box in the driver side foot well has  13 circuits fused at 20 amps or below out of a total of 21 circuits.   Using the hand book I looked for a circuit that should only be live with the ignition on and yet the 5 circuits I tried one after the other  turned the dash cam on immediately the connection was made BUT WITH THE IGNITION OFF.    The hard wire kit comes with a piggy back adaptor with a 2 amp fuse for the dash cam and allows for the original  fuse protecting the circuit to be used. 

So far I've picked the electric tilt and slide steering column circuit, the multimedia circuit, the steering lock circuit, the front auxiliary outlet circuit and power window master switch  circuit and the dash cam came on each time I connected the cable to the fuse box.    

The two cameras are great and unobtrusive and with all cables hidden behind  the headlining and pillar trims it was worth doing given I have had two no fault accidents which were both disputed by the other bloke's insurance company. The other bloke lied through his teeth and both claims took over 4 months  to settle liability in my favour,  hence fitting front and rear cameras.     So if anyone can educate me on where a 20 amp or less fused circuit is located and will only  work with the ignition on I would be grateful.  

    

  

[Herbie]

First of all, buy yourself a multimeter. Cheap ones can be had for a tenner or less and even good ones can be less than £30. Once you have it you can use it for all manner of things both car and household, so it's a very worthwhile investment.

Using said multimeter, turn the dial to the 20VDC range, connect the black probe/croc-clip to any handy earth point and then use the red probe to touch the metal contacts on the tops of the fuses in turn, first with IGN OFF then with IGN ON.

If you do indeed find that all circuits in that fuse box are energised even with the ignition off, you'll need to find a different fuse box and go through the process until you find a suitable fuse. I think the cigar lighter is usually switched by the ignition but may be wrong.

[Richiano]

The cigar lighter in my MK3 GS300 is only live with the ignition on as i am going to piggy back off the 15a fuse for it when i get round to putting a dash cam back in. The fuse is also located in the drivers side foot well. 

[SH20]

Thanks Herbie and Richiano for feedback 

 

Don't have a cigar lighter only an auxiliary socket in the centre console,  thought it would have a cigar lighter but as a non smoker never bothered me yet car has ash trays in rear doors.

I'm thinking of using the brake light fuse at 7.5amp which has to be ignition on to make them work I hope.   I'll try of course to see if pressing the brake pedal with ignition off does or doesn't  light up the lamps.    Might have to use the fuse box on in the passenger footwell even though I have run the cables to the right hand side fuse box at present. 

I only want this dash cam to come on and go off when I start up and turn off the engine.   I'll keep plugging away though.

  

[SH20]

Sorted the fused pick up by using the ignition controlled circuit of the windscreen washers.  Fuse number 9,   20amp right hand lower footwell fuse board.  Dash cam comes on when starting car and then switches off turning car off.    Quality of the mini videos when viewing on the laptop are very good.  Would recommend the Nextbase 512GW model.