Cigarette Lighter Splitter

[Dangermouse]

I will note that the device that the OP linked to will have a fuse in the part that plugs into the cigarette lighter - or at least it should have.

I had a dual splitter similar to it that got a penny inserted and blew the fuse. It was inside a sliding cover on the side of the plug. IIRC

[Josh]

Find another wire to feed it. If you blow the fuse you will lose all of your splitter accessories AND your illumination. Depending on the load you may want to add another relay so it is only powered with the key on but you can feed it directly from the battery (through fuses of course!).

i hope no one takes this advice.
You should not drive your car too cause you may get in an accident.
If you are worried about this circuit you have bigger things to worry about in a 35 year old lucas wired car.

[micmak]

I will note that the device that the OP linked to will have a fuse in the part that plugs into the cigarette lighter - or at least it should have.
I had a dual splitter similar to it that got a penny inserted and blew the fuse. It was inside a sliding cover on the side of the plug. IIRC

i hope no one takes this advice.
You should not drive your car too cause you may get in an accident.
If you are worried about this circuit you have bigger things to worry about in a 35 year old lucas wired car.

Ha ha thanks Josh. How’s that V8 going btw? It’s Shecky here. I call myself micmak on DMCTalk!

Dermot, you might be right about the fuse, but I was planning on chopping off that plug and wiring it directly to a hot wire on the car. I can easily put an inline fuse in it anyway.

Thanks Guys.

……Mike……

[Dangermouse]

An in-line fuse is probably the safest solution.

However I just realized something - does your dash cam have any motion detection options? I know some can be set to to start recording if someone comes close to your car (I recall an owners video of passers-by stopping and looking at his car and some of the funny things they said)

If so, you would want to always powered, rather than linked to the key position.

[micmak]

An in-line fuse is probably the safest solution.

However I just realized something - does your dash cam have any motion detection options? I know some can be set to to start recording if someone comes close to your car (I recall an owners video of passers-by stopping and looking at his car and some of the funny things they said)

If so, you would want to always powered, rather than linked to the key position.

Yeah I did consider that, Dermot. I am reluctant to set it up that way because I am not too comfortable leaving it powered on or in standby mode, for the sake of the battery. Anyway, aside from that, I rarely park the car anywhere that I cannot see it. I am not too concerned about anyone touching the car. It might be funny to hear some of the comments, but it is not interesting enough to me to set it up that way. But thanks for pointing that out.

......Mike......

[Chris4099]

I've installed several dash cams before. I highly recommend getting one that runs directly on 12v. Most run via a USB port which means the plug on them has a power supply inside it. This requires you use that plug or design your own 12v to 5v power supply. If you get one that runs directly on 12v, then you can skip the plug all together and easily wire in. BlackVue are very popular, nice, and run directly off 12v (but expensive). Then it's just a simple matter of running a pair of wires down behind the pillar trim to your prefered switched 12v source. Put an extra in-line fuse to at that point as well for extra safety. Both my Tesla and MINI Cooper are wired like this with my cigarette lighter left untouched.

BlackVue also makes a battery saver. You wire this inline with the dashcam and connect to a constant 12v source. It will then power the camera continuously until the battery voltage drops to a set point (hopefully above the amount required to still start the car). At that point it cuts power. So this lets you get 24/7 motion detection and recording without risking a dead battery. I personally didn't care for 24/7 recording so I never tried one of these before.

[micmak]

I've installed several dash cams before. I highly recommend getting one that runs directly on 12v. Most run via a USB port which means the plug on them has a power supply inside it. This requires you use that plug or design your own 12v to 5v power supply. If you get one that runs directly on 12v, then you can skip the plug all together and easily wire in. BlackVue are very popular, nice, and run directly off 12v (but expensive). Then it's just a simple matter of running a pair of wires down behind the pillar trim to your prefered switched 12v source. Put an extra in-line fuse to at that point as well for extra safety. Both my Tesla and MINI Cooper are wired like this with my cigarette lighter left untouched.

BlackVue also makes a battery saver. You wire this inline with the dashcam and connect to a constant 12v source. It will then power the camera continuously until the battery voltage drops to a set point (hopefully above the amount required to still start the car). At that point it cuts power. So this lets you get 24/7 motion detection and recording without risking a dead battery. I personally didn't care for 24/7 recording so I never tried one of these before.

Hi Chris,
I don’t think I have ever seen a dash cam that runs directly on a 12 volt supply. I just checked out BlackVue. Nice stuff. A bit pricey though. But even if I had a 12 V dashcam, I would still need a cigarette lighter splitter to handle the GPS. The dash cam I will be getting is the same one as I have in my regular daily driver. I am happy with it and it is not expensive. I will hide all the wiring as you described. The BlackVue battery saver sounds interesting. I might look into that.
Thanks for your tips and comments.
……Mike……