Next it was Dashcam time and I hate nothing more than wires dangling everywhere, so it had to be hard wired.
Decided on a Viofo A119 Mini, btw by no means is this an advert or even a recommendation for this dash cam as the 1st one I think was faulty and got rubbish support from its UK distributor.
More on that later.
But whichever one you install, the wiring is likely to be the same.
This is a wedge type dash cam that is rather small unintrusive and kind of blends in to the background. I also thought its easier to keep the wires hidden due to the location of the power socket.
To get the power to it, I decided on a fuse splitter as a means to get power, handy as there is a fusebox behind the glove box.
I wanted switched power (ACC) that switches off the power to the camera when the ignition is off, so decided on Fuse 24. (maybe not the best fuse to mess with but it was easier to access and had a 10A fuse on it, so I could easily slit it and place a 5A fuse on my voltage converter). Fuse 24 is listed as 10A Steering column switches.
with the fuse splinter in place,
After this I attached a female cig lighter socket and attached the ground to a metal part next to the glove-box.
Used a trusted cig light USB adapter on it to get a USB power out with 5V 2.5A on it.
Then routed the wire (USB C) through behind the glovebox, onto the side panel on the passenger side (pops open easily with a trim tool). From there on to the A pillar (no need to remove as the cable can be easily tucked behind, and then on to the headliner, again very easy to tug the cable in.
All cables hidden and the USB plg just pops out to connect to the dash cam.
How it looks once all fitted.
Looks bigger than it is, in everyday use, you don't even notice its there. I have placed the camera on the perforated area by the middle with the lens just below, so from the outside it almost looks like a built in camera.
