Dashcam fitting, nearest power?

[Littlemissvw]

Hi all, I’ve added a dashcam with a rear view camera which can be used as a rear live view and need to find a switched and permanent live for it. Ideally under the dash - I know there is a fuse box on the drivers pillar but saw a great YouTube vid that shows there is a usable power supply socket under the trim on the lower side of the A pillar. Unfortunately mine (April 2017) doesn’t have this. Would anyone know if a. There is one in my model somewhere else or b. What’s the safest fuse to piggy off a switched live in the fuse holder? I really don’t want to go routing a cable down to the fuses under the pax seat as the swivel seat covers the access to it! Thanks for any help.

 

[Raul a/3]

I have my dash cam powered from that socket near side pillar. I will re do it from the leisure battery. Reason? quischent current draw to high, the ecu thinks there is a drain and gives a code.

 

[Littlemissvw]

Oh - good to know. I don’t feel so thwarted then! I’ve been looking at the Fuse C board and have found two unused sources. A switched and permanent live, so might try the piggy back into these but with only a fuse in the piggy bit. There’s no circuit in the board coming off the two so think I can use the source as long as the canbus doesn’t get upset. I’ll give it a try and post back. My leisure battery is where I’d rather take it from but it’s way back in the garage so it’d be a right pain to get cables too.

 

[Raul a/3]

My leisure batteries are right besides the rear wheel arch. For me it’s easy to run another 2 core, or, tap in existing that feeds a usb behind the bulkhead. This usb it’s fitted with spare provision.

 

[Grubscrew]

Late to the party, but you’ll find a switched live under passenger seat.
The bank of fuses( blue circle) is a switched live , all the other fuses in the area are permanently live.
There are two spare ( unused fuse locations), feed your wire up with a female terminal which will accept a blade fuse end.

 

[Littlemissvw]

Brilliant, thank you! I did see your post on it but to get to that fuse box the darn swivel seat will need to be removed, as the base of the swivel plates entirely cover access to the fuse box so you can’t see what you’re doing In there. I know the seats are heavy so was hoping to avoid it Great to have the pic of exactly the right fuses too. I will route a cable under there at some point to get this finished. Is there an easy/simple route to get the cable back up to under the dash, or is routing around the edges best?

 

[Grubscrew]

The green circle was a vacant one , which I used , same as the empty fuse position lower down.

 

[Grubscrew]

Routing: I managed to go in parallel with some of the other wires. Basically some wires head off to the centre of the floor, and then up into the dash. I used some mig wire, , do it in stages and then pull some thin corrugated 8 mm flexible trunking / sleeve through the again in stages pull your wire through……yes it’s a faff, but rewarding as it’s a proper neat job.

 

[Littlemissvw]

That's great - thanks again. I didn't fancy having to route all the way around the edges! When you say mig wire, you mean welding type wire? I've got those thin cable threading rods that are very bendy that worked to get the rear camera wire through that rear bit of the van, so those might work again. Reduces the lengh of run too. Is that centre console section easy to get off, or is it a one side of the dash panels off too? I like the idea of the 8mm sleeve - where did that come from? Anything that protects cable running power appeals to me

 

[Grubscrew]

Cable Flexible Conduit / Sleeving / Sheathing Split & Unsplit Loom Harness IP67 | eBay

Black Plastic Cable Sleeving / Conduit. IP40 - IP67 rated dependant on fitting. Manufactured by HARNESSFLEX - Top Quality feels tough but flexible. ADR Approved. Conforms to Self Extinguishing, low smoke toxicity & Halogen free.

www.ebay.co.uk

Above is conduit for cable, split or unsplit….excellent product. I like to use unsplit if possible, but you can always run a knife to split it.
As for wire, mig ( welding wire), is brilliant, but use as thin as poss as there’s less chance of damaging other wires etc.
The centre console ( on the floor centre section), I managed to lift it up one side, and poke duct under it…..not a lot of room there though, but for 1 wire and 8mm conduit, it’s fine.

Good luck in your quest.
Ps. Bend what wire you do use over to form a tight knuckle and a bit of sellotape to make it even smoother.as it’ll go through easier

 

[Littlemissvw]

Great stuff - that's really useful info - thank you.

 

[MenwithVen]

Sorry for reviving an old thread. Those that have used switched power from that socket by the drivers right foot under the lower A pillar trim.. how did you wire the terminal block? What actual terminal pins were needed? Just need to grab a switched live from it

 

[pjcamera]

I gave up. A lot of the fuse locations have no terminals (see photo). I couldn't find any to piggy-back on that were only live when ignition was on. I though I had one then discovered that it periodically became live without the key in!
Also, the advice for the dash cam was to only use a 20A or less feed so all the 30A locations were ignored.
I used the fuse box under the passenger seat.