Blown up my dashcam
Discussion
I've managed to kill my dash cam and it wasn't intentional.
Was attempting to hardwire it into the car's fuse box and the camera started emitting smoke.
Any idea where i went wrong? I'm pretty narked off at damaging an expensive piece of kit and no doubt I'll likely be involved in an incident now.
I purchased a piggy back fuse
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162252301384?_trksid=p20...
I snipped the end off the cig lighter/accessory socket plug that I had been using previously for power and soldered the red wire to the connector on the piggy back fuse.
I used the 5A audio in the fusebox and checked the current by putting the multimeter on the positive side of the fuse and a chassis bolt. Multimeter shows 12V.
I connected the black lead from the dashcam to the chassis bolt and installed 2x 5A fuses into the piggyback. The first is the replacement for the audio, the 2nd is for the dashcam.
On power up the camera unit started emitting smoke and now seems to be dead.
Where did I go wrong?
Was attempting to hardwire it into the car's fuse box and the camera started emitting smoke.
Any idea where i went wrong? I'm pretty narked off at damaging an expensive piece of kit and no doubt I'll likely be involved in an incident now.
I purchased a piggy back fuse
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162252301384?_trksid=p20...
I snipped the end off the cig lighter/accessory socket plug that I had been using previously for power and soldered the red wire to the connector on the piggy back fuse.
I used the 5A audio in the fusebox and checked the current by putting the multimeter on the positive side of the fuse and a chassis bolt. Multimeter shows 12V.
I connected the black lead from the dashcam to the chassis bolt and installed 2x 5A fuses into the piggyback. The first is the replacement for the audio, the 2nd is for the dashcam.
On power up the camera unit started emitting smoke and now seems to be dead.
Where did I go wrong?
5A was likely way too much - USB will be an absolute maximum of 1.5A, and some of the versions only send 0.5A down the wire.
-edit-
Just to explain that a bit more any computer-y bit that's designed to plug into a USB to interface with a computer will likely be looking for power at a USB type level, and I expect the cigarette lighter plug will have had some resistors in it to get to the appropriate level.
-edit-
Just to explain that a bit more any computer-y bit that's designed to plug into a USB to interface with a computer will likely be looking for power at a USB type level, and I expect the cigarette lighter plug will have had some resistors in it to get to the appropriate level.
Edited by davepoth on Sunday 4th December 11:25
Oh b
ks. Seems that was the problem. At least I wired it correctly.
Yes I did leave the cylindrical part on the cable.
When I split the cig lighter there was a little in line fuse in there and little pcb with some bits on. I thought having a replacement fuse would be enough. I had in my mind that equipment only draws the power it needs to run /charge hence why you can leave phones charging overnight.
ks. Seems that was the problem. At least I wired it correctly. Yes I did leave the cylindrical part on the cable.
When I split the cig lighter there was a little in line fuse in there and little pcb with some bits on. I thought having a replacement fuse would be enough. I had in my mind that equipment only draws the power it needs to run /charge hence why you can leave phones charging overnight.
Did watch this beforehand admittedly skimmed through but think I did it as per the video.
https://youtu.be/8omZ545Cw1U
How would I fix this next time? If I had bought the hard wire kit would that have had the same result. How do I get a lower voltage to power the cam?
https://youtu.be/8omZ545Cw1U
How would I fix this next time? If I had bought the hard wire kit would that have had the same result. How do I get a lower voltage to power the cam?
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: I'd guess shoving 5A into it wouldn't help.
Assuming it came with a mains charger look at what the puts out, it'll likely be 1200ma maximum.
You cannot 'shove' current into something - it's the internal resistance that controls the current it draws at any given supply voltage (d.c.). Most likely is that the cigar lighter 'plug' was a voltage regulator dropping it to the 5vdc that others have mentioned.Assuming it came with a mains charger look at what the puts out, it'll likely be 1200ma maximum.
Something like this will do the job:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Car-Power-Converter-Displ...
or this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DROK-Converter-Voltage-Pa...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Car-Power-Converter-Displ...
or this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DROK-Converter-Voltage-Pa...
Rick101 said:
Did watch this beforehand admittedly skimmed through but think I did it as per the video.
https://youtu.be/8omZ545Cw1U
How would I fix this next time? If I had bought the hard wire kit would that have had the same result. How do I get a lower voltage to power the cam?
Wire all of the gubbins from the cigarette lighter plug in when you do it. https://youtu.be/8omZ545Cw1U
How would I fix this next time? If I had bought the hard wire kit would that have had the same result. How do I get a lower voltage to power the cam?
Rick101 said:
How would I fix this next time? If I had bought the hard wire kit would that have had the same result. How do I get a lower voltage to power the cam?
12v to 5v DC/DC converter ? You can pick these up for maybe £5 or £6.Fused supply from car, through 12v DC/DC, to 5v output to power supply cable for camera.
davepoth said:
5A was likely way too much - USB will be an absolute maximum of 1.5A, and some of the versions only send 0.5A down the wire.
The connected device doesn't get 5A forced on it, it will draw what it needs up to 5A. If it draws more the fuse blows.Don't buy a cheap hardwire kit from eBay or Amazon, they're pants. Mine refused to power the dashcam when it got a bit cold out. I spent a bit more (£18) on a Nextbase one from Amazon and its performed flawlessly.
If you don't want to buy a hardwire kit you can get spare cigarette lighter sockets which you connect to ground/fusebox in the way you described, in to which you plug the dash cam charger (which does the 12v - 5v step down). You can probably get cheaper ones than this but just an example http://amzn.eu/0WhELLR
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