hi all
just bought a 00805 dashcam. great and small but I really want to hard wire it into my fuse so I won't have it stuck in the cigarette lighter. anyone know of any easy way? I'm not very electronically adept and couldn't really find any help at stores like jay car. they just pointed me to cigarette lighter converters.
Google it - there will be a pile of utube vids
On the bay there are 12v to 5v usb converters that you can hardwire into your cigarette or stereo. Get one of those and buy an extra long mini usb cable (most units have this but check yours first) to run through the dash and into your camera. IMHO they are the better option as you can always unplug it if the cable fails or you want to upgrade cameras. Also, it's always handy to have an extra usb port.
I used something similar to this for my dash cam,
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2x-Blade-Fuse-Tap-Holder-Add-A-Ci…
But needed mini fuses. Just make sure the additional fused circuit is properly fused, use a multimeter to determine the hot side of the fuse you're tapping into. Also you'd want to tap into a circuit that is ignition switched so the camera is off when the car is off.
If you have to ask the question I would suggest to leave it.
If there is a semi short you can either drain your battery without knowing or worse cause a fire.
Car batteries can pump out serious ampage.
You might also void your insurance and car warranty in case of an issue.
For $50 my auto electrician wired a double cigarette lighter under my dashboard.
All my 'extras' are powered from there so I don't have wires all over my car.
Depending on your car, you can probably tap off your stereo harness. If you can get your stereo out that is.
Otherwise if it's easier to get the lighter out, tap off that.
It all depends on the car though.