Hard Wiring a Dash Cam via Fuse Box Nextbase 522GW or Similar

[SH20]

(ES300h) Passenger front footwell is where the small fuse box is located. Piggy back off the 20amp fuse which operates the windscreen washers, must be an ignition live fuse only so the camera comes on and off when the car is started and turned off.  The Nextbase hard wire kit comes with a piggy back connector but the original Lexus 20amp fuse can't be used, they are very small and the metal finger blades won't fit the piggy back, you have to use a 20amp fuse like the 2amp fuse that comes fitted in the piggy back.  You have a 20amp fuse for the windscreen washers and a 2 amp fuse for the dash cam, both of which sit side by side in the piggy back tail.      There is a suitable nut/large washer for an earth just behind the very top of the footwell carpet, just pull the carpet down a little and you will see it.   This is where dealers wire to when they install the Lexus Nextbase camera they often offer customers. The original fuse box cover can't be refitted because of the piggy back arrangement so should be kept in the car as it has all the fuse info written on it.  Keep the original 20amp fuse too in case you ever remove your dash cam.  

Hiding the cable behind the headlining and near side screen pillar trim takes most of the time.  

[beyond the blue]

That's a good and accurate read. I had a dashcam fit by an independent company yesterday and that's exactly what they did, l watched them like a hawk. They give me the fuse cover back as well.

[beyond the blue]

I was surprised to see this situation this morning, The heat given off the front camera when in parking mode cleared an area of the windscreen. I never noticed this when it was on my Audi for the past 2 years.

[Dippo]

I would say that's a problem if it's generating enough heat to clear frost while it's in standby mode.

[beyond the blue]

1 minute ago, Dippo said:

I would say that's a problem if it's generating enough heat to clear frost while it's in standby mode.

It wasn't frost just condensation but it wouldn't do me any harm to ask the installer.

[SH20]

Wondering is it a Lexus Nextbase dash cam you have  which sits flush to the glass or virtually touching the screen. I can understand the heat if it is.  Even the one I fitted a Nextbase 522GW is known to generate a bit of heat in Park mode, something you can switch  off in the settings  as I did although the default setting is set  off.    I have a rear camera as well which I think is more important than a front camera given the number of rear shunts I dealt with as an Insurance Engineer.   I like being able to have both cameras running at a resolution setting of 1080  @30FPS  even though you can have the front one running at a higher resolution of 1440 @60 FPS but then the rear resolution drops to 720 @30FRP. @300 Cruiser   The Nextbase rear view camera is attached to the rear screen by a sticky pad bracket and the camera lens  very close to the screen. They give you too much cable though, about 6 metres and you end up tucking it in anywhere you can as you pass it along and just inside the headlining from the front camera. Some people have a rear view camera that fits to the front camera and looks through the car and out of the back screen to avoid running a lead under the headlining.   

[Bluemarlin]

I've seen Road Angel advertise that some of their cameras have an ice clearing mode, so the camera can still record while parked if the screen ices up.

[beyond the blue]

18 minutes ago, SH20 said:

Wondering is it a Lexus Nextbase dash cam you have  which sits flush to the glass or virtually touching the screen. I can understand the heat if it is.  Even the one I fitted a Nextbase 522GW is known to generate a bit of heat in Park mode, something you can switch  off in the settings  as I did although the default setting is set  off.    I have a rear camera as well which I think is more important than a front camera given the number of rear shunts I dealt with as an Insurance Engineer.   I like being able to have both cameras running at a resolution setting of 1080  @30FPS  even though you can have the front one running at a higher resolution of 1440 @60 FPS but then the rear resolution drops to 720 @30FRP. @300 Cruiser   The Nextbase rear view camera is attached to the rear screen by a sticky pad bracket and the camera lens  very close to the screen. They give you too much cable though, about 6 metres and you end up tucking it in anywhere you can as you pass it along and just inside the headlining from the front camera. Some people have a rear view camera that fits to the front camera and looks through the car and out of the back screen to avoid running a lead under the headlining.   

It is a Thinkware F770, 1080p front and rear. I've just been and checked the heat coming of it after being in parking mode for 2 hours and it is very little (just noticeable with the back of my hand). The rear one doesn't seem to give off any heat at all to the touch yet there was a clear patch on the rear window this morning but only the size of a two pence piece. I think it is normal and no cause for concern. The condensation on the car after having it ceramic coated seems different, producing minute droplets of water, so maybe that's why I never noticed it on the Audi. The cameras are on brackets that stand off the screen by about 1mm so very close. The camera system has Intergrated Thermal Protection. I have sent the photo to the installer just to be sure. 

[SH20]

Yes cameras have been around for years and any heat the camera generates won't be a danger I'm sure.   Is there a particular reason you want the cameras in Park Mode?   Can you turn it off?

[beyond the blue]

30 minutes ago, SH20 said:

Yes cameras have been around for years and any heat the camera generates won't be a danger I'm sure.   Is there a particular reason you want the cameras in Park Mode?   Can you turn it off?

If you lived where I live you would understand. Yes I can turn it off. The installer told me that there are two ways to wire it, either permanent live to use Park Mode as well as ignition live or ignition live only. He wired it permanent live and ignition live but said modern cars might show a depleted Battery warning light after a few hours as the warning system on some cars are very sensitive to voltage drop. Mine seems ok up to now.

[Herbie]

1 hour ago, beyond the blue said:

He wired it permanent live and ignition live but said modern cars might show a depleted battery warning light after a few hours as the warning system on some cars are very sensitive to voltage drop. Mine seems ok up to now.

Cameras (or at least, hardwire kits) that have this facility usually also have an inline voltage sensor so that you can avoid this very situation, like the one for my Viofo A129 Duo shown below:

 

[SH20]

Interesting, didn't know you could wire any car accessory that is ignition live and permanent live.  However you can clearly see the  3 wires in the photo for 3 specific connections.  The Nextbase cameras have just 2 wires,  a single red wire for power and a black wire for  earth   and has the function for park mode if you want it within the cameras settings.