I’ve previously posted on here with regards to dashcams and thought all was well, but seems like it might not be the case. I recently became aware my hardwired dashcam was no longer recording. It was some Chinese tat from Amazon which appeared to work well at first, but seems hasn’t been recording for some time. I think the memory card was borked, but it lead me to upgrading to a Garmin mini.

This is where I started noticing some issues which may or may not be related to my previous dashcam. I had it hardwired into the fuse for the heated steering wheel, F43 via a fuse tap. I recently changed it to the seemingly vacant F52, both of which supply power only when ignition is on.

However, I have noticed that when turning ignition on from cold, or not having started ignition for a while, the camera will fail to turn on, unplugging it and plugging it in again sets it to life. If the ignition has recently been on, then the camera comes on without issue.

So it’s not quite the fit and forget option I’d hoped for. I don’t really want a parking mode option as I find myself having to charge the battery frequently enough as is without addition battery drain.

Thus I’m wondering if anyone has experienced a similar problem with the device not coming on from cold? Not sure if it’s a dashcam issue (but wonder if this was the issue with the old one too), or whether it’s something to do with the way the car stores power in the circuitry once the engine has been running for a bit. Any feedback appreciated.

On further testing and tinkering, it seems to be dashcam related and not the supply coming from the fuse box. Now I need to figure out why my new dashcam is more fussy firing up than my old one.

Can't speak for the Garmin but on the Thinkware dash cam there is a voltage setting designed so that you don't drain the battery. If there is the same on the Garmin then maybe that's affecting when it powers up. Having just said this your issues seem to be exactly the opposite of what this setting would seem to do, but maybe there a setting on the Garmin somewhere that's affecting it - or its also faulty. Robin
2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8
Gone:
Jaguar S-Type V8 4.2 Sport
MGZTT 190 2.5

Could it be anything to do with it the ecu's "going to sleep" so as to speak when car turned off for longer periods, not sure what year your car is but is Fuse 52 not possibly the aux power socket for the cubby box? and thought they stayed live after ignition turned off and powered down after a set time with ignition off, don't know for sure only a suggestion though.

Cheers
Col

Issue is a strange one. I don’t use my car much and even less at the moment. I’ve had the car hooked up to my ctek and the dashcam comes on as expected and desired. I’m wondering if when the battery gets low, certain circuits don’t come on until the battery has a bit more juice, or perhaps it’s the camera that’s very sensitive to voltage supplied to it. My old one used to come on all the time, this Garmin seems more sensitive.

Same issue as OP since new on a L494 with a fuse tap.

I always assumed it was the cheap power magic that read voltage wrong; no matter how I set it.

I wonder now if it’s something else.

I have a BlackVue. 2022 P440e AB

I have a power magic pro that I haven’t installed yet, partly because it’s so bulky vs the other simpler DC converters I have and secondly as I don’t use the dashcam in parking mode. It was going to be my last resort in case I couldn’t get anything else to work.

I suspect the dashcam would work fine if connected to the accessory socket in the car, but accessing that fuse behind the glovebox via fuse tap would mean I wouldn’t be able to put the fuse cover back on. No issue I guess, only that I’m a bit OCD and would prefer the fuse cover on.

Fingers crossed current solution works ok.

Incidentally I’ve had a poke around the boot with a view to putting in a rear dashcam. I’ve found a guide online and seems feasible, but a little tight to thread cables through. I might slowly chip away at trying to route the cable through if I get time.

My post on installing the Thinkware may help you regarding wiring: http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic45687-15.html

Note that since this post I have move the rear camera to make it a tidier finish. Robin
2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8
Gone:
Jaguar S-Type V8 4.2 Sport
MGZTT 190 2.5

Thanks, how did you feed the cable through into the tailgate? I can’t quite tell from your pic.

The guide I saw had it going through the rear grommet, so had minimal cable on show.

My dashcam is behaving as expected. Will be interesting to see what happens as/when the battery drains.

The new position for my Thinkware rear is here

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge