So I got a dash cam for Christmas, nothing special just one to have in the car. But I hate the cord hanging around and having it plug into the cigarette outlet. I was able to tuck the wire behind the sun visor and behind the a-pillar, but still want to eliminate the cigarette outlet connection. So I wanted to cut the end off, and splice it into the fuse box. I'm just curious as to what I should do. And by that I mean what fuse should I tap into, or are there any empty slots that have full power when the car is on, but not off.

 

Pretty sure there aren't any hot empty slots.
I'd find one that's on with the ignition.
Look on the fuse box cover for circuits that should come on with the ignition and use a test light to confirm.
There's a product called Add-A-Circuit that makes it very easy and clean to tap into a fuse panel.

 

Thanks man! I'll check that out. Do you by chance know what would be a good amp fuse to tap into? Like anything 10 or above?

 

I'd tap into the one that powers the power outlets. Can't go wrong with that and it's only on with the ignition.

 

I was gonna do the wiper fuse.

 

That should work too. The beauty of the Add-A-Circuit is that you can move it around anywhere you want.

 

I have one of these and an add-a-circuit. All tucked in and works great.

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Charge...lighter+socket

 

I was watching a video on the Add-A-Circuit thing thinking you just plug it into the fuse box, but this guy went on about saying to figure out which side is the hot side and draw side. Because if you install it backwards and the wire shorts out, the fuse won't blow like intended. Instead, it will just cook the wire. Is it super critical to install it this way? Because I don't have a volt meter to test connections like that. Unless someone knows off hand which side has the power.

 

Dude. You gotta get yourself a digital multimeter. They start at $14 on Amazon.

Yeah, it's important to install it the right way. Fuses are there to protect wires and devices; if you make a mistake or poorly route your wire, you'll be glad you had a fuse. Unless you want your car to be on fire

 

There should be 2 fuses on the Add-a circuit. One for the circuit and one for your device. Power flows through the fuses in the Add-a-circuit before going to your device no matter what. Those fuses will protect the entire circuit including what you added. Just install it so the wire is pointing the way you want it to go for the wiring.

The fuse for your devise should pop independent of the rest of the circuit if it's a smaller fuse. Power goes from the box, through the smaller fuse and to your device. That circuit only touches one pin and it's through the fuse.

If the Add-a circuit had one fuse it would be important to get it the right way because the outgoing wire would be connected to one of the fuse box pins. With two fuses, your outgoing wire is fused before going to the box.

 

Thanks for the help guys, everything is all cleared up now. I read online to use a fuse around 5 amps, so I'll put that in and tap into the cigarette lighter fuse.

I know I need a cheap multimeter, but I really don't do electrical work so I've been putting off buying one lol.

 

you can't be cheaper than harbor freight cheap...~$8...heck get a coupon buy another item and get it free.

 

get yourself one of these or something similiar with either a mini usb or micro usb depending on your camera.

You can tap into your fuse box if you want to set up the camera for constant power for constant recording or key-on only recording....... If you want key on only you can also just tap into the power for the rearview mirror which is right there.

 

Hey everyone,
I got the dash cam I wanted for my birthday. Here's the link for it:

Really happy with it so far, comes with a lot of features that the really expensive cameras come with.

I decided not to do any splicing just because I don't have the time as I move back to college in less than a week, and reading a bunch of horror stories of aftermarket adapters melting or starting on fire. I decided to route the wire to the back of the center console and plug it into the 12V power source back there. The camera comes with a 11.5ft wire, and it was so close to making it all the way lol. If it was 12ft, it would have been perfect.

 

easy fix: