[VipinLJ]

I finally mustered up the courage to hardwire the dash cam today. I spent lots of time reading up on fuse taps and hardwiring and potential problems and decided to test my luck.

I followed the method my3ung posted in the previous page. The worst part is the location of the fuse box in the footwell. Today was the day I discovered how flexible I can be!

I used the screw holding the passenger airbag to ground the dash cam. A 10mm wrench socket was what got the nut loose enough for me to slide the ground ring between the washer and the metal bracket. Tightened it and everything was as good as it was before. I also disconnected the battery before messing with the screw, just to be on the safe side. I didn’t want the airbag exploding on me while my face was right next to it, in case something went wrong.

I set the voltage limiter to 12.4V. I’ve seen people set it to 12 and 12.2. My car is always garaged and never parked in a public space overnight. So I don’t need more than 5hrs of parking footage at most. I also don’t want my battery dying out on me. I’ll check tomorrow morning and see if the car throws a hissy fit. If so, I’ll probably have to resort to using the charger socket in the trunk or centre console. If it doesn’t, I might try 12.2V.

All in all, I’m happy with the outcome for now.

PS - I was surprised at how horrible the headliner in my car is! I went to route the wire inside the headliner and thought I’d have a tough time hiding the wire. But lo and behold. I put my fingers between the glass and headliner and found out that there was more than enough space and it already appeared to be separated/separating. I also managed to push it in near where the headliner meets the A pillar airbag cover. All this without isn’t any force. I checked the headliner of my Audis and those are much much better. My car is due for service soon. I’ll be checking out a few G20s on the lot to see if those have similar headliners.