[TopG42]

I have a dashcam powered by the cigarette lighter and was wondering how some of you run it? I run mine through the panels on the passenger side into the footwell then back up to the door then the roof. Its a clean look except for the center console not being able to close. Was wondering if anyone else here has the same setup and maybe found an extension or something that would allpw for the center console to close again?
(Car is currently at the dealership so I can't show pics until I get it back)

[sacowich]

I have it hardwired and that would be my recommendation. Just run it to fuse box.

[BokTroy]

I have a Viofo A229 Pro that I’m planning to hardwire to fuse box using a helpful G80 thread someone has done before. You should be Ok as long as you set the parking mode short enough/turn off parking mode so that Infotainment system won’t yell at you draining the battery.
I like parking mode and my original plan is to route an external battery to connect to fuse and power the dash cam that way, unfortunately I can’t find a good spot to place the battery since under both seats it’s already packed with lots of stuff and I don’t really want to go thru the hassle to place that in my trunk…for now I’m just gonna hardwire with parking mode set to max 2 hours.

[Ginster6]

i use ring cam... power off the OBD port

[Ojala]

I wired my race-keeper camera into the rear view power. I used posi-taps to tee off the ign+ and ground wires of the black plug. The race-keeper is 5v so I used a small 12vdc to 5vdc converter. I heat shrieked the converter and it tucked nicely into the rear view cover.

[Fastfwd]

Originally Posted by BokTroy

I have a Viofo A229 Pro that I’m planning to hardwire to fuse box using a helpful G80 thread someone has done before. You should be Ok as long as you set the parking mode short enough/turn off parking mode so that Infotainment system won’t yell at you draining the battery.
I like parking mode and my original plan is to route an external battery to connect to fuse and power the dash cam that way, unfortunately I can’t find a good spot to place the battery since under both seats it’s already packed with lots of stuff and I don’t really want to go thru the hassle to place that in my trunk…for now I’m just gonna hardwire with parking mode set to max 2 hours.

I picked up the A139Pro last fall during Black Friday sales. I was also able to pick up a Blackvue B-130X external battery on sale at the same time.

I watched a few Youtube videos and found some guy who actually measured the electrical draw for this particular dashcam along with others he was testing. In his opinion the draw was too high to just place that burden on an existing fuse. I can't remember now the exact numbers.

Anyway, so, as recommended by this guy who seemed to know more about this stuff than I did I picked up a BOSCH Relay (0332019157 Normal Open Mini Relay - 4 Pins). A relay takes the burden off of whatever fuse you choose. All the tapped fuse has to do is supply enough juice to trigger the relay that is wired to the battery directly (even if they don't recommend doing so). The benefits outweigh whatever pitfalls there may be imo.

I placed the external battery on that passenger side cubby next to the trunk fuse box with some double sided Gorilla tape and it hasn't moved. It all turned out pretty nice. I took my time wiring it up and getting everything neat. It was a project. It took some time, but I've been pleased with it so far.

I was just not comfortable with putting that parking mode draw on the electrical system. I had issues with my Mustang and parking mode that ended up causing bizarre seemingly unrelated 'malfunctions' like the passenger door no longer unlocking to open with the key-less fob, etc.

The freakin Ford Dealership replaced the door handle (and didn't exactly paint it to perfection) and dismantled the car looking for a culprit. They did also disconnect my dashcam when I got the car back. Honestly, I think I had the power and accessory wires confused (easy to do with the Viofo dashcam wiring).

It ended up just being a simple normal operation of the Mustang to shut down certain functions when the vehicle battery was weak. Replaced the vehicle battery (on my own) and everything was fixed.

I didn't want anything to interfere with the BMW electrical system. I heard it can be very finicky.