Or, better yet, maybe I'm stupid!

Curious if anyone has any thoughts on the following scenario. I purchased an autovox dashcam to install in my 2009 F150 xlt. With it, I purchased a hardwire kit from the same manufacturer.

It can be found here:


Following instructions that are in various places on the internet for our trucks. First attempt: I grounded the ground wire to the dash bolts. For the add a fuse I tapped # 13 5A (Sync) as i want the cam to only work when the truck is on.

Then I hooked the cable up to my dash cam. Here we go! Turn the key - and the truck just clicks. The dash and power cycles several times off and on and there's no power to the camera. I thought maybe I just blew up the electronics on this truck! So I unhooked everything (removed the add fuse and it's ground wire) and contemplated my next steps.

The next morning I decided to jump the truck and hallelujah, the truck starts. All is well. I let it run for a while to recharge the battery and it started several times that day and this morning as well.


Figuring I did something wrong, I went round 2:

This time I attached the ground wire to the ground wire anchor strap behind the fuse box. In round two, after reading some threads, I opted to add a fuse to slot #37 (a spare 10A) fuse that is to get power only when the truck is on.

Turn the key - exact same result. Instantly, the battery is dead and the truck becomes possessed with the instrument panel and all the lights turning off then turning on again and again and again.


I'm confident that when I go to jump start it tomorrow it will start again but what in the world is causing the battery to lose power immediately after I install this hardwire kit? I haven't seen any of the other numerous posts have any problems and I'm literally following the photos posted.

Last note - I happen to have 2 of these add a fuse and we took a multimeter to both and they perform "the same way". I'm not good with that stuff but the person testing both units said that they're behaving the same way.

So i'm left with either I'm doing something wrong or there is something wrong with these add a fuses. Just curious if anyone else came across this or has any suggestions?

Thanks for your time.

 

No you are not stupid. Just have little patience. Monday call the local dealership and ask for some help over the phone. I am sure they service department will help.

 

Try fuse #41 and see what happens.

 

I just did a dash cam install a couple of weeks ago.. It has the standard USB power cord and adapter that you plug into the "cigarette" lighter socket in the vehicle. Since all the 12v sockets in my truck are powered all the time, I wanted it to power up and power off with the ignition.

I wanted the cord to be hidden as well, so I wired it up to run along the windshield along the passenger side of the truck, which worked out well, because that's where the main fuse box is.

I got a fuse adapter similar to yours, but i used slot #38 on my fuse block. On my truck, #38 is for the "Delayed accessory-110V power point, Radio". I drilled a hole in the metal part of the dash for the ground. I didn't try to 'share' a ground point for it..

No power until the key is on for this circuit. I then wired it to a 12v USB adapter and under the dash, just plugged the dash cams USB cable to it and routed it so you don't see it.

Works great.

Sounds like you might have something not grounded right?

No idea, but that's just my initial thought.

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Sounds like you might have the power and ground wires reversed?

As much as I also like to keep the wires hidden I didn't want to go probing in the fuse box. My dash cam came with a USB power cable. I just plugged it into the sync port and ran the wire under the passenger side dash.

Yes, the sync port is switched - on and off with the truck.

 

Good afternoon!

ManualF150 - I'm going to try Fuse #41 (Dimming Mirror, Radio accessory delay). It's raining now so I will wait until things dry out. I'll have to jump the truck at this point to get it started first.

MitchF150 - this sounds interesting: "I then wired it to a 12v USB adapter and under the dash, just plugged the dash cams USB cable to it and routed it so you don't see it." Do you happen to have a link to what you used here? This seems cleaner for this set up.

stormtech - I don't know why I didn't realize the usb was switched. Likely because all the power ports in the truck are powered when the truck is off. So it just never dawned on me that would be the case. I might have a path forward here to just forget about the fuse box entirely.

The small hurdle is I have an aftermarket stereo that still allows me to use the Sync USB port to listen to music from a thumb drive. But, I think I can undo that and allow the USB port to power the dash cam and use the stereo USB port itself to pull music from a USB.

So thank you all for these suggestions - it's giving me some more creativity to solve this problem.



As for the reverse power / ground - this is possible. I mean, it's not possible as the add a fuse is set up so that the power wire (with the fuses) only can go to the fuse box and the ground can only be grounded - but at the end of the day it's a $7 part from china so the add-a-fuse itself could be reversed from the factory.

Thanks again all - I'll post again with whatever solution I go with.

-Corey

 

Instead of jumping it again, I would put the battery on a charger and do it right. I'd also get it load tested. If it's the original battery, it's very likely on its last legs.

 

Yeah, I knew the Sync USB port was switched. I tried using a USB 'splitter', but Sync didn't like that working with my old iPod that I keep plugged into it for my music.

I do not want to lose my iPod in the truck, so I went the route to tap into the fuse box.

I got my parts at the local auto parts store. I think the mini fuse adapter ran about $12 and the 12v USB adapter actually has 2 USB ports and a socket style adapter as well for another $12 I think it was.

After pulling the original #38 10a fuse, I put the adapter in it's place. The kit I got came with several fuses of various amp ratings. I used a 10 amp for the main fuse and a 7.5 amp for the fuse going to the USB adapter. Red wire I attached to the mini fuse adapter and the black wire straight to ground under the dash. Like i said, I drilled a hole in the metal part of the dash and with a connector on the wire, screwed it in to make a direct ground connection.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c.../18003/2619445



I just attached it under the dash, out of sight and plugged in the dash cam USB cable.

I have the VAVA dash cam. Got it on Amazon. So far it works really well.

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Hello - just to close the loop on this one.

MitchF150 - thank you for the link. I'm going to look into that as phase 2 if I decide to change my current set up. But for now, thanks to everyone's suggestions here, I ended up uncoupling the SYNC USB port from my aftermarket stereo. Now the SYNC USB provides power (and nothing else) that is switched to the ignition. I have the Dash cam plugged into this port. Separately, I have an extension for the USB port for the aftermarket radio that will play the flash drive with music.

End result: I can still listen to music from a flash drive directly hooked up to the aftermarket radio and separately can power the dash cam which turns on and off with the truck without any hard-wiring at all.

The only small downside is now I have an ugly power chord for the dash cam sticking out of the USB port but that is an extremely small price to pay in order to have a functioning truck.

Also a quick update: Since I've stopped trying to hard-wire the camera, I have had no problem with the truck starting or any issues with the battery. Sometimes it's good to know your limitations.

Love this forum. Thanks again for the ideas.

 

Glad you got it working. After a couple weeks you won't even notice the cord plugged into the USB port.

When I first got my truck I ran a USB extension from the extra port behind the dash and ran it into my console. I keep a thumb drive in there with all my music.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/20...cs-inside.html

https://www.f150online.com/forums/20...o-console.html