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

BoboForShort

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I’ve been enjoying my 2024 Trailhunter for about a month now, and one of my first priorities was installing a dashcam. I initially bought a Dongar Pro after seeing it heavily recommended online. It’s a great product, but it’s not fully compatible with VIOFO cameras, which I wanted to use—specifically, it doesn’t support their built-
in parking mode. I still wanted a clean install, so I started exploring alternatives that didn’t require tapping into the fuse box, which seems to have limited space.

**If you just want to power a camera and don't care about parking mode, use the Dongar adapters. If you want to add a parking mode to a camera that doesn't have a built in one then go with the Dongar Pro. If you have a camera with a built in parking mode and want to use it, read on.**

Here's what you'll need:

A dashcam. I like the VIOFO A229:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MRVP2PX

A hardwire or fusetap for your camera. This is the one for the VIOFO A229
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MRVP2PX

A plug for the OEM dashcam power (90980-12366). Get the female plug with the wires already pinned, trust me. I'm an electrical engineer and thought I would be slick by pinning it myself and it was a huge pain and I gave up after pinning just one wire. You can use a wire tap/splice if you would like but I did not want to cut into the wire harness:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806039270154.html

Some sort of crimp or solder connector and whatever related tools you need to connect the wires on the plug to the wires for the hardwire kit.


Here's what you'll need to do:

1. Connect the wires from the plug to the wires for your hardwire kit. Black is ground, red is 12VDC constant, and yellow is 12VDC accessory. Wire them as shown in the photo. You can cut the other wires short.
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250203_195309712


2. Remove the dome light. Pull straight down on the front on both sides. There are 2 red clips that hold it in. I was unlucky and broke one after removing it a few times. You can buy them on amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGPHRJ8T

3. Plug it into the OEM dashcam plug that should be present on all 2024+ models. Maybe not SR, but I'm not sure. I'd recommend testing it first before mounting and wiring everything in.
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250203_195534707~2


ALL DONE! That's it. Pretty plug and play, the only hard part is crimping the wires and waiting for the slow boat from China to deliver the connector.

Some notes on cable routing. The space next to the dome light is fairly cavernous and you should be able to stash most of your excess wire up there.
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250203_195814728


The clip for the visor comes off with a quarter turn counter clockwise and it lets you pull the headliner down a little to tuck cables and do the final wiring.
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250203_195624946
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250203_195628557


If you have a rear camera I would recommend starting from the back and stashing any excess in the headliner once you get to the front. Otherwise it's pretty standard, follow the headliner around to the door seals and then go from door seal to pillar to door seal to pillar in the rear and then tuck the rest into the headliner in the back.
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250130_223328136
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250130_223338635
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250130_223346132
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250130_223410838
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250130_223420428
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250130_223448605
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar PXL_20250130_223439555
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emerica243

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Nicely done! But why did you leave so much extra wire from the hardwire kit.!?
 

emerica243

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Any idea on what fuse that runs to or the wire gauge/current carrying limits ?
 

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BoboForShort

BoboForShort

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Nicely done! But why did you leave so much extra wire from the hardwire kit.!?
Originally I left it long in case it didn't work or I wanted to reuse it. But once I had it wired up I just couldn't be bothered to shorten things and reterminate them.
 
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BoboForShort

BoboForShort

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Any idea on what fuse that runs to or the wire gauge/current carrying limits ?
I am fairly sure that the wiring harness for this plug is 22AWG and I think it's fused off the dome light which is 10A. But I wouldn't wire anything in that draws more than 5A.

EDIT: Looks like it depends on production date. Regardless it is 10A fuse, but I wouldn't want to pull more than 5A as there are several other things connected to each fuse. It is referred to as W20 Option Connector in the wiring diagram.

2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar Screenshot 2025-02-04 095307

2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar Screenshot 2025-02-04 100345
2024 Tacoma Dashcam Hardwire w/o Fuse Box *ALMOST* as easy as Dongar Screenshot 2025-02-04 100215
 
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BoboForShort

BoboForShort

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Are you able to run parking mode with this setup?
Yes, this taps into the factory wiring harness connector reserved for the OEM dashcam. It provides the constant and accessory voltage needed for parking mode.
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