Ignition live in passenger side fuse box ?

[phunt]

I recently purchased a nextbase front and rear dash cam and hardwired it to a permenant live in the fuse box (sunroof fuse as I don't have a sunroof), but two weekends running after the car was sat for 2 days it flattened my Battery and the car wouldn't start. So i now want to try an ignition live but all the fuses seem to show perminant live at the fusebox even if the accessory isn't preminantly live , cigarette lighter for example . Has anyone had any experience with this ? Cheers 

[Herbie]

Dashcams are designed to come on with the ignition and go off (or into parking mode if it has one) when the ignition is turned off, so you definitely need a supply that is only live when the ignition is on.

How are you testing for power?

I ask because in most Lexus cars the cigarette lighter is only powered when the ignition is on, so that fuse is a perfect choice for a dashcam. It's also the reason why you can't plug a solar charger into the cig lighter because with ignition off, there's no path for the output of the charger to get to the Battery.

[phunt]

1 hour ago, Herbie said:

Dashcams are designed to come on with the ignition and go off (or into parking mode if it has one) when the ignition is turned off, so you definitely need a supply that is only live when the ignition is on.

How are you testing for power?

I ask because in most Lexus cars the cigarette lighter is only powered when the ignition is on, so that fuse is a perfect choice for a dashcam. It's also the reason why you can't plug a solar charger into the cig lighter because with ignition off, there's no path for the output of the charger to get to the battery.

The manual for the nextbase hardwire kit says you can use a perminant live . This is because the cams internal Battery doesn't last very long so there is a risk of missing footage if the Battery on the cam dies whilst the car is off. As for the cigarette lighter , that was my whole point , I'm testing the fuse for it with a multimeter at the fuse box and it stays live even with the ignition off even though the cigarette lighter is not powered . Its like the ignition power cut off for it is between the lighter and the fuse somewhere and not at the fuse itself.

[Andrew888]

Thats strange, When I measure for IGN live the cigarette lighter is always off when the car is off if you know what I mean. I actually beeped out a few ign live fuse outlets (used and unused) Can't remember which ones as I didn't take note as the most obvious was the 12v outlet.

 

[Herbie]

10 hours ago, phunt said:

The manual for the nextbase hardwire kit says you can use a perminant live . This is because the cams internal battery doesn't last very long so there is a risk of missing footage if the battery on the cam dies whilst the car is off.

That is correct, it's called 'parking mode' but I suspect you've either not got the correct hardwire kit or you haven't set the camera up correctly. To use parking mode the camera needs two supplies - one ignition-switched for normal operation and one permanent for parking, as in the photo below. The camera itself (or the hardwire kit) will have voltage sensing so that it doesn't completely drain the Battery - you can see on the photo that the voltage threshold is adjustable on my hardwire kit.

 

Quote

As for the cigarette lighter , that was my whole point , I'm testing the fuse for it with a multimeter at the fuse box and it stays live even with the ignition off even though the cigarette lighter is not powered

If that really is the case then I think you must have a fault somewhere, or is it possible that you're testing the wrong fuse? I think you should be able to use one of the IGN fuses as an alternative anyway.

[matt8]

5 minutes ago, Herbie said:

The camera itself (or the hardwire kit) will have voltage sensing so that it doesn't completely drain the battery

I've not seen a hardwire kit with such a feature, so thanks for the photo.

Not all dash cameras with parking mode have a voltage sensor either. In fact it was a rarity when I fitted mine (albeit a number of years ago now) to have such a feature. I basically had a choice of a Blackvue with a £200 add on, or a Thinkware with it built in.

I'm sure the trickle down of technology means it's built into more cameras now, but is it common? I am not so sure.

[phunt]

24 minutes ago, matt8 said:

I've not seen a hardwire kit with such a feature, so thanks for the photo.

Not all dash cameras with parking mode have a voltage sensor either. In fact it was a rarity when I fitted mine (albeit a number of years ago now) to have such a feature. I basically had a choice of a Blackvue with a £200 add on, or a Thinkware with it built in.

I'm sure the trickle down of technology means it's built into more cameras now, but is it common? I am not so sure.

The voltage sensor is in the hardwire kit not the camera but like I said , even with that fitted mine has flattened my Battery twice now. So frustrating .

[Herbie]

47 minutes ago, phunt said:

The voltage sensor is in the hardwire kit not the camera but like I said , even with that fitted mine has flattened my battery twice now. So frustrating .

It must be faulty then. The whole reason for the voltage sensing circuit to exist is to turn off the camera at a certain threshold so that it doesn't flatten the car Battery.

If you're sure of your wiring then I'd be returning it for a new one.

[phunt]

59 minutes ago, Herbie said:

It must be faulty then. The whole reason for the voltage sensing circuit to exist is to turn off the camera at a certain threshold so that it doesn't flatten the car battery.

If you're sure of your wiring then I'd be returning it for a new one.

I'm wondering if the voltage it's set at is ok for regular cars but no good for hybrids with a smaller Battery ? I think it's 11.4v.

[Herbie]

1 hour ago, phunt said:

I'm wondering if the voltage it's set at is ok for regular cars but no good for hybrids with a smaller battery ? I think it's 11.4v.

It should be much higher than that:

[matt8]

4 hours ago, phunt said:

The voltage sensor is in the hardwire kit not the camera but like I said , even with that fitted mine has flattened my battery twice now. So frustrating .

On my dashcam, I have no such voltage detection on the hardwire, it's all software driven. I set the voltage in app. Thinkware F770.

[Mr Vlad]

Paul. How have you hardwired your nextbase? Did you use a genuine nextbase hardwire kit or a copy/universal?

I have the 322GW in my is250. When I bought it I also got a none genuine hardwire kit. That kit was a waste of money and got sent back. I then bought a genuine nextbase one and all is fine and dandy. 

Look in your handbook in the fuses section and find one which is 10 amps and ignition powered on. Aircon, sunroof is the one I use.

[phunt]

1 hour ago, Mr Vlad said:

Paul. How have you hardwired your nextbase? Did you use a genuine nextbase hardwire kit or a copy/universal?

I have the 322GW in my is250. When I bought it I also got a none genuine hardwire kit. That kit was a waste of money and got sent back. I then bought a genuine nextbase one and all is fine and dandy. 

Look in your handbook in the fuses section and find one which is 10 amps and ignition powered on. Aircon, sunroof is the one I use.

Its the genuine next base one . I originally fuse tapped into the sunroof fuse but my car Battery ran flat twice if left for more than 2 days so I wanted to put it into an ignition live but like my original post says all the fuses seem to be preminantly live . Even the ones that control things that don't work without the ignition on i.e the cigarette lighter . Its all very weird. I'm on leave now so I'll have a little more time to investigate. I have the 422gw and the rear view cam aswell but I'm not impressed at all . I bought it essentially for parking mode hence the need for perminant live but it's so random. Some days I'll check the footage from through the night and it's full of protected 30 clips and fills the SD card, and other days nothing whatsoever . I even got to my car this morning to find a note in the windscreen that's someone had left about me being parked outside their house and the cam didn't even detect it.

[Mr Vlad]

If you bought it recently and still got the receipt then send it back with a full explanation why. They'll send you out another one. I was offered that because mine had a charging fault which it actually wasn't. It wasn't sat right in the cradle. 

The is300h seems to have quite a few 12v Battery issues which surprises me.

[phunt]

Found this post from a couple of years ago. Same issue as me trying to find a switched live . I'll have a look at the fuse he mentioned later but I'm pretty sure I checked it previously and it was also perminant.

 

 

[Mr Vlad]

Let others know if it works.