Dash Cam - where to tap for a power source?

[F10-65]

45 minutes ago, The Gasman said:

New here and trying to sort out the Nextbase in my missus E60. Apparently the factory hard wire kit didn't work so it was wired into the door with a bespoke harness somehow but it gets no power, ignition on or off. Can't take it back to the installer.

Any ideas on where to start?

Have you got a red and yellow wire for power coming from the camera?

Get some piggy back fuses.  I think the yellow is switched live and red is perm

Thats all i needed

[The Gasman]

1 hour ago, F10-65 said:

Have you got a red and yellow wire for power coming from the camera?

Get some piggy back fuses.  I think the yellow is switched live and red is perm

Thats all i needed

The cam itself is powered by mini-usb i.e 5v. We have this hardwire kit with fuse piggybacks but like I said the installer reckoned it was faulty and made his own harness which taps into the door circuit afaik. If I can find a handy 12v supply I can test the kit as it has a power status led. Unfortunately as you can see the bullet connector has been removed so I'd also need to crimp one on to fit the appropriate piggyback.

What a palaver.

[Kopfjaeger]

You will need your fuse chart to identify a suitable fuse to piggyback onto. You can have a permanent live or a switched live power supply. If you go down the permanent route, be warned that you might drain your battery.

Do you have more than one fuse board, as in one in the dash and one in the rear? Use the dash one if possible.

I did a write up about this last year. Search for fuseboards. The thread might be of use.

Basically you want to tap into a 12V accessory socket fuse. These are usually switched power and unlikely to affect anything critical (You don't want to piggyback any fuses for ABS, airbags, etc.)

[Ray112]

I used old torch light to make a connector for dashcam charger. It's 12v supply, so you still need to convert it to 5v(USB equivalent power). Power supply to torch light is getting disabled once car goes into "sleep" mode. Used to be 16 minutes for prefacelift cars, might be the same for face-lift. 

[Gonzo]

23 hours ago, Kopfjaeger said:

You will need your fuse chart to identify a suitable fuse to piggyback onto. You can have a permanent live or a switched live power supply. If you go down the permanent route, be warned that you might drain your battery.

Do you have more than one fuse board, as in one in the dash and one in the rear? Use the dash one if possible.

I did a write up about this last year. Search for fuseboards. The thread might be of use.

Basically you want to tap into a 12V accessory socket fuse. These are usually switched power and unlikely to affect anything critical (You don't want to piggyback any fuses for ABS, airbags, etc.)

Without reading up the post, I'm sure it would have been mentioned that the front fuse box is always live.

[Gonzo]

22 hours ago, Ray112 said:

I used old torch light to make a connector for dashcam charger. It's 12v supply, so you still need to convert it to 5v(USB equivalent power). Power supply to torch light is getting disabled once car goes into "sleep" mode. Used to be 16 minutes for prefacelift cars, might be the same for face-lift. 

8 on LCI

[Jens]

I'm a bit late to this particular party, however, for anyone else with an E61 I'll add my two pence worth in case it's ever useful.

Probably a bit more difficult on the E60, but with the E61 it's fairly easy to tap into the rear fusebox and run the power supply cable over the headlining.

I did mine with a piggyback fuse holder and some twin + earth cable which is stiff enough to poke around and find a route to the front from the rear above the headlining without needing to drop it down. - I think the most I had to remove was the trim on the offside rear pillar and the grab-handles on the offside to provide a bit of access to help guide my makeshift drawstring to the front.