Hi Bargainers,
I took advantage of recent VIOFO A129 dashcam deal and bought the VIOFO HK3 hardwire kit. I'm confused about which fuse tap should I buy for the hardwire. I have Googled but found many different answers. And I also noticed that there are different sizes of the current for fuse taps, 5A, 10A, 15A and 20A which made me even more confused. Help!
Cheers.
cheers mate
If you can take a spare fuse out and post a photo of it, or you can compare it to a automotive fuse type chart to get the right tap.
You are best tapping into something like the cigarette lighter/power outlet fuse, as this will have the right fuse in it and is usually switched with the ignition switch.
What you don’t want to be doing is tapping into other vehicle systems like lights, abs/srs/bcm/etc… fuses. Just try and find a fuse for an accessory and use that slot for your tap.
There's usually some circuits labelled as "spare", I always try and use these as my first choice as long as you can find one that's ignition switched or constant hot as required.
The current rating needs to be the same as the fuse you are replacing with the tap.
I'm assuming they're actually referring to an add a circuit which for some reason every refers to as a fuse tap now. If they're using an actual old style fuse tap then you just reuse the existing fuse for that circuit.
TBH I only googled ‘fuse tap’ just before posting. Haven’t heard of her before because I’ve always made more ‘proper’ connections.
Now I have to go find out what an ‘add a circuit’ is.
Edit: and google shows me they are the same thing. A fuse with a wire hanging out of its head that presumably is used to power whatever accessory you are installing from an existing circuit. What’s the difference?
There are what I know as a fuse tap: https://www.wirthco.com/battery-doctor/fuse-accessories/fuse…
The add a circuit adds a fused circuit and is a bit more plug and play instead of having to wrap the fuse tap around the existing fuse which can be difficult on smaller fuses and difficult to plug into tight sockets.
I’m not sure what you mean? The original fuse gets used in the fuse tap and the additional circuit can be whatever amps you want, within reason of course.
Shouldn’t the tapped part of the fuse be on the fused side? If it isn’t, then the new circuit won’t be fused. The fuse tap that is reinserted should not be higher rated than the existing fuse or the circuit may be overloaded.
https://images.app.goo.gl/WPZwANBMJRJje7HBA
That’s why I said within reason. Original fuse goes in tap closest to fuse box, new fuse goes inline with cable.
@mapax: I’m leanin’ more! Had no idea these things require two fuses. Although now I’m not sure why the OP is indicating the thingys come in a range of ratings. Maybe the cable thicknesss?
@Euphemistic: Along with the current rating there is also the actual dimensional size of the fuse so it could be that?
If you know which fuse you are going to tap you should drive to supercheap auto (or similar place), turn the car off and then pull the fuse. Take it inside and they'll help you find the right one or you can look on the shelf yourself. You'll need to get an extra fuse with the same dimensions for the camera. I don't know what current draw the camera has but that info will be in the manual or specifications. Pick a number a but over it ( current draw is 6amps get a 10amp fuse)
Almost certainly micro and probably micro2. Just have a look at what's already there to work out the size. As for the amps required for the camera it should be in the specs but is probably under 2A. Can be hard to find smaller than 5A so it'll be fine to use that.