Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar

[BoboForShort]

To be fair, it takes all of 10m to route power from the passenger fuse box... You can remove the mirror cover without a pry tool (pop the small top/center cover out using a finger, then slide the large molding downwards). The passenger A-pillar cover comes off with a 10mm socket (use pry tool for 2 bolt covers on the handle) and the headliner is freely accessible between the two.. If you're not buying a pass-through harness to tap 12v/ACC from the mirror assembly this is actually much quicker/easier than DIY splicing into the ACC wiring up top..

That's still an option. This is just a lot cleaner for me and doesn't require an add-a-fuse. There also isn't a lot of room in the fuse box to close the covers once you've added them.

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[Josh256]

Agreed! Did your harness supply constant 12V/battery as well? The fitcamx only ACC+/ACC- so I ran a wire to the fuse box for battery... you know, for my not-GPS accessory;) But also: I needed to pull the A and B pillars to properly route the rear camera wire..

 

[BoboForShort]

Agreed! Did your harness supply constant 12V/battery as well? The fitcamx only ACC+/ACC- so I ran a wire to the fuse box for battery... you know, for my not-GPS accessory;) But also: I needed to pull the A and B pillars to properly route the rear camera wire..

Yes, this plug supplies 12V constant, 12V ACC, and 0V. Need all 3 for the Viofo and other cameras for their parking/sentry mode. It's the main reason I did not go with any of the Dongar adapters.

I managed to just tuck the rear camera wire into the pillar trim and door seal.

 

[Dongar]

Yes, this plug supplies 12V constant, 12V ACC, and 0V. Need all 3 for the Viofo and other cameras for their parking/sentry mode. It's the main reason I did not go with any of the Dongar adapters.

Unfortunately this is incorrect. Viofo's parking mode needs their hardwire kit or kits using the same pinout, meaning that not all kits with ACC + constant + gnd will trigger their parking mode. Viofo uses a non-standard implementation (aka proprietary pinout) USB-C, which is how it feeds the ACC signal into the USB-C cable. So if you wired up a different brand (or generic) hardwire kit to that 5-pin connector, you still might not be unable to trigger Viofo's parking mode. The 3-wire hardwire kit must use the same pinout as Viofo.

For people curious in the technical details... Viofo hijacks the USB PD signal pin in a normal USB-C port. This pin is what allows you to fast charge your iPhone or other USB-C native device. We wanted to keep this pin because Dongar PRO is future proofed and allows 5V 9V 12V fast charging, whereas something like the Viofo hk kit is 5V only. We have a microcontroller in the Dongar PRO which we considered trying to find a way of allowing the USB PD pin to pass through the ACC signal, but then you'd have to add another switch to toggle this mode because there's no way of telling what brand of camera is on the other side of a USB cable.

Pretty much every other dashcam brand uses accerometers to trigger parking mode... i.e. Vantrue, BlackVue, Nextbase, Garmin (and more) use a sensor to detect lack of motion to activate their low-power / low-data modes, and you'll have no issues activating these parking modes with a Dongar.

 

[BoboForShort]

Unfortunately this is incorrect. Viofo's parking mode needs their hardwire kit or kits using the same pinout, meaning that not all kits with ACC + constant + gnd will trigger their parking mode. Viofo uses a non-standard implementation (aka proprietary pinout) USB-C, which is how it feeds the ACC signal into the USB-C cable. So if you wired up a different brand (or generic) hardwire kit to that 5-pin connector, you might not be unable to trigger Viofo's parking mode. The 3-wire hardwire kit must use the same pinout as Viofo.

Pretty much every other dashcam brand uses accerometers to trigger parking mode... i.e. Vantrue, BlackVue, Nextbase, Garmin (and more) use a sensor to detect lack of motion to activate their low-power / low-data modes, and you'll have no issues activating these parking modes with a Dongar.

I was referring to their hardwire kit needing a constant power and acc signal. Thanks for the insight. I assumed that was the case but didn't know the details.

I did not mean to imply that the Dongar kits or the Dongar Pro was in any way lacking or defective. I just prefer the Viofo camera and unfortunately they are not compatible with the Dongar by their own design. I think the Dongar Pro is a great solution in most cases, just not mine.

 

[Dongar]

@BoboForShort no worries, I just updated my post with more technical info . I'm super glad you posted your DIY tutorial though... the tacoma community is filled with the best DIY'ers out there and its feedback like yours which helps us make the best products and keep the enthusiasts informed

 

[BoboForShort]

@BoboForShort no worries, I just updated my post with more technical info . I'm super glad you posted your DIY tutorial though... the tacoma community is filled with the best DIY'ers out there and its feedback like yours which helps us make the best products and keep the enthusiasts informed

Thanks! Always happy to get technical. Your posts and willingness to explain things outside of your own product have been super helpful and informative.

Something that could be convenient but maybe not feasible or reasonable would be producing a more universal adapter with pigtails instead of the Dongar Pro plug or USB. That would provide compatibility with any hardwire kit for camera's, radar detectors, etc. the hardest part about the DIY is finding a supplier for the plug and pinning it. I would have gladly paid more for something shipped from the US or at least not overseas.

I understand that this would probably produce a lot more user error and open you up to a lot more angry phone calls.

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