For you folks with dashcams, how do you keep multiple devices charged at the same (eg dashcam & phone)? Do you use a cigarette lighter splitter and if so, can you safely have it plugged in 24/7 without having to worry about your car battery?
Dashcam - Do You Leave It Plugged in?
bozbargain on 14/08/2017 - 15:30
Comments
The cigarette lighter output is wired so that it only works when the car key is in Accessory or ON position. So yes, you can safely have it plugged in 24/7 without worrying about it draining your battery. It would not drain the battery unless the key is left in Accessory position and engine not running for a prolonged duration (more than a week maybe?).
Depends on the car, some cars have lighter sockets that stay powered even after the car is switched off.
Yeah my Falcon keeps the lighter socket powered even when the car is switched off.
My car got two cigarette lighter ports. One always on and the other one turned off when the ignition off. So I connect the dash cam to the second one to save my car battery.
how do you keep multiple devices charged at the same (eg dashcam & phone)?
yes. we've all manners of devices charging at the same time.
My car has a cig port and few USB ports. I leave all myen in, Im crazy!
you can always hard wire so that it follows the accessory (ie only on when car is in accessory/on mode)
or get those pmp (or equiv) so you can have it running 24/7 without draining the batterythe newer/higher end models have this all built in
Interesting - I've got a 2011 Golf and none of that fancy stuff, just 1 cigarette lighter. So do those splitters actually work? Or is it better to split on USB level instead (so one socket with 2 or 3 USB ports at the top)?
I have been using a cheap ebay cigarette lighter splitter to power 2 dashcams (front & rear) for the past year like this one
Great! And today it's 12c off - I feel very lucky!
Hardwire your dashcam
I couldnt imagine having wires hanging all of the place
I've never touched the wiring in my car. Is that something so simple even a car noob could do?
It took me about 2 hours while drinking some brews. You need to remove the centre console, find ACC wires, wire in a relay (so it powers on with your ACC), route the wires and install the dashcam so it's all hidden
If you have never worked on your car and have no idea about electronics, I'd say take it to someone, sound audio places will do it
Id estimate ~$200 for the install
Mine turns off/goes standby when I turn my car off, so I doubt it uses much power. Always plugged into the lighter, my radio unit has a USB for phone charging.
Never thought about how much it uses hardwired, but I assume people wouldn't do it if it drained that much power.