D3Audi

I've been thinking on getting a dash cam for a while now, but after a close call I had a few days back I really feel like I should get one.. I've done some research and it seems like most dash cams plug into the 12V power outlet and when the car is turned off, the dash cam turns off.. unfortunately, Audi vehicles don't switch off their 12V outlets when the vehicle is turned off like most vehicles do. Therefore the camera would run all night and most likely drain the battery. So what options are there? Anyone with a dash cam and how did you hook it up?

Force-1

I'm running dash cams in my Q7 and S5.

My S5 kills power to outlets when engine turned off, so no problem there.

I plug the cam in my Q7 into the outlet in back seat (back of console). Unfortunately I have to unplug it every time I shut it off. I remember to do this about 95% of the time.

IsDon

Blackvue 650 with a Power Magic. Done heaps of research before purchasing this myself some months back.

Great piece of kit!

Power magic will allow the camera to be active in parking mode. It will power your cameras (there's one front and rear) until you car battery voltage hits 11.8V and switches off the camera. This would take several days in a fully charged battery.

The clever camera incorporates a customisable motion sensor which only records video when it detects motion. This cuts down on power usage and memory space.

Do yourself a favour.

Not linked to Blackvue in any way, just a happy customer happy to endorse a great product.

D3Audi

Thanks for the info guys, I'm beginning to think I will hardwire a dash cam. Just watched a video on how to hardwire it and it didn't seem to intimidating. I would totally forget to unplug the camera and drain my battery, haha, here's the video I watched


Is it a bad idea to connect it to the fuse? I like this because it's not permanent and you can hide the wires in the headliner.

D3Audi

Hmmm. I like this. Just looked it up.. Definitely going to research it. How is the video quality? Are you able to read license plates and other important things?

IsDon

It is an outstanding camera. 1080P front camera, 720P rear. Both more than capable of picking up number plates. What sold it for me was a guy who posted a you tube video of some prong throwing a beer bottle at his car from a car going the opposite direction at highway speed. At normal speed you heard the impact. Slow it down and you could actually read the label on the bottle.

The only thing I found that was causing issues was dash reflections on sunny days. You can get polarising filters which I now use and it has made a world of difference.

As for installation, I consider what the guy did in the video to be a little agricultural. I'm not sure what power pack he's using but it's not a Power Magic. From what he says it sounds like it has its own internal battery. I didn't like the idea of a lithium ion battery being constantly charged in the passenger cabin. These things have a tendency to spontaneously combust. The Power Magic is just a circuit board and some relays. It also has three wires connected to it. A constant 12V when the car is parked, a switched 12V for when the car is running and a ground wire.

INSTALLATION

As for the install, you can see on the video that one bank of fuses is constantly powered. What he doesn't really elaborate on is that the other bank of fuses are switched (turn on with the acc). Which makes it really easy. On my particular car there are also places for spare fuses. You can also see that on the video. One side of these empty fuse slots is powered (either constantly or through acc) even though there are no fuses in the slots. Obviously they're for optional equipment that's not fitted.

In these empty slots put two of these (one for acc and one for constant).

Add-A-Circuit - Products - Narva

They're called add a circuits and you can get them from any automotive electrical retail outlet or most auto parts stores. Just make sure you get the right size for your fuses, there are standard, mini and micro. They're a couple of bucks each.

It's easy if you have spare slots so you don't need to piggy back onto a fuse that's already being used for something, but if you don't have spare slots these add a circuits will also let you tap into that fuse holder without having to wrap bare wire around the fuse blade. (I still can't believe he did that in the video.) Just make sure you use the correct fuse rating for the space you're piggy backing. If it was originally a 20A fuse, then make sure you put a 20A fuse into the add a circuit so the circuit is protected the way it should be. Most of these add a circuits will have two fuse slots. One is for the original fuse you removed to put it in, the other is for the camera. The camera is rated at 4.8W power draw at 12V which is 0.4A. Any fuse rated above this will be OK as you're really only protecting against a short circuit between the fuse and the camera. So if your wiring rubs through or something cuts it you won't melt the wire and cause a fire. I put a 3A in mine.

The other thing I'd recommend is to tidy up the wiring. You will be left with a lot of excess wire. Bind it all up with cable ties an put it somewhere it won't rattle. Nothing annoys me more than rattles. In fact after this install I was hearing a minor rattle that drove me nuts. Took me weeks to find it. It turned out to be the Power Magic itself. The circuit board was loose inside the plastic case it came in. I pulled it apart, stuffed in some folded up insulation tape and put it back together. No more rattles.

If you're really keen and want to be ultra neat, you could cut out the cigarette lighter plug altogether and get rid of all that excess wire. Just solder the wires together and seal them with heat shrink tubing. I did this, and also soldered the wire from the add a circuit rather than use bullet connectors. These sometimes work loose or get corroded cutting power to your camera. Make sure you don't mix up positive and negative or say bye bye to your camera. If the wires aren't colour coded, just do a continuity test with a multimeter with the cigarette lighter plug connected so you can see which wire connects with which. I think they were colour coded though from memory.

Good luck and have fun.

IsDon

Couple more things I just thought of.

Someone mentioned their cigarette lighter is always powered. That's not strictly correct. It is powered for a short time after you switch off the car, this is true. But it does turn off after a couple of minutes. I found this when I thought I'd be smart and plug my flat iPhone into the cigarette lighter, turn off the car, lock it up and go inside for a cuppa. When I came back an hour or so later my phone wasn't being charged and was only on about 10%. These Audis are bloody smart machines. They even load shed things like the entertainment system or lighting if the battery voltage gets too low for it to start the car.

I think you'll also find the video was from a right hand drive car. If you're in the USA I'd suggest you'll find more fuses on the left hand side of the dashboard.

While you can remove the panel from the side of the dash with a screw driver, may I suggest investing in some trim removal tools. A set cost me about $5 on eBay, or you can get them from the spare parts retailer when you pick up your add a fuses. These are just plastic tools of various sizes specifically designed for removing the interior trim of your car without causing damage. The Audi Elsawin manual even has little pictures of which particular trim tool to use to remove every trim panel in the car. These also come in very handy when routing the camera cables through the rubber door trim when sending the cable to the rear camera. Especially around the door pillars. You can just prise the trim away enough to get the cable in, then let it go. Don't be tempted to push the wire into the trim with the tool as you might cut it.

IsDon

I just reread you post. Don't put the loose wire in the headliner, it will rattle and drive you nuts.

First mount the camera where you want it.

Start the wiring from the camera so that only the amount of cable you need is in the headliner and down the A pillar. This goes for the rear camera as well. All you excess cable can then be neatly bunched in the area where the fuses are. There's plenty of space there.

For the rear camera, if you have an avant or Q3/5/7 you will have to stick the rear camera to the rear screen which obviously moves when you open the boot (trunk). Similarly, run the cable through the rear trim to the hinge. Now my car (A6 Allroad) has. Black plastic trim on this hinge which is easily removed to thread the cable through and then replace. If your hatch hinge doesn't have this trim you can just cable tie it. Your car must have power cables of some sort running through this area, be it for number plate lights or rear widow wipers/heating etc. I'd just follow these cables however they're routed. Just make sure you leave enough slack in the cable to cater for its opening and closing.

Force-1

Not true, at least for my Q7. I leave the adapter plugged into the back outlet 24/7, and pull out the USB cord to shut off my cam. The adapter plug has a blue LED on it, and it stays illuminated all the time, indicating power to it, even 24 hours later. I can simply look through the back window and see the blue glow, which is constantly on.

I will also add leaving things plugged in with any modern car will not result in battery drain, as new cars are smart enough to shut items off to save battery. This includes interior light inadvertently left on.

Gavin0478

Any chance of some pics of what you have done.