Dash cam tap

I did, tucked it behind the headliner on the drivers side. With the front part of the headliner down I only had to remove the C pillar trim to run it all the way back, it went around the A and B pillar trim without removing them.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aNg31P9IH0

 

One PITA with these trucks, at least for dash cams, is the engine auto start/stop. When the motor stops it kills power to the ACC circuit to the dash cam, which then has to reboot when you get moving again. Many folks have been rear ended sitting at lights and this would get missed. Not to mention anything that happens during the reboot as you drive away from the light. I am practicing my light touch on the brake to keep from engaging the auto stop. Maybe you guys using parking mode would still be protected that way when you stop. But you would still get the loss of video during reboot.

 

I did not consider this. Might possibly make the case to buy a battery based (instead of capacitor based) dash cam. Capacitor ones are typically better. I have a Anker/Roav dashcam in older 4runner that is battery based and it will stay on and record for 15 to 30 seconds after ignition is off which might work perfectly here.

 

Oh what a PITA... I never experience that since I have always plugged in to the Hot side. That would really Suck on the Hybrids since they shut off all the time and only 3 ways to prevent that. Manual shift, front window defrost, and???? don't currently remember the third.

 

Not sure about the hybrids but the gassers have a button. Just have to press it every time you go. I also came across something on the Interwebs where a guy was selling a bypass device so you don't have to push the button. But not sure I want to be messing with the ECU.

 

That's correct, the gassers have a button, had that on previous Gen3 DC. I too thought, and then, not, about getting the Stop/Start Delete off ebay to eliminate that. Then the orange Start/Stop light would be on all the time.

 

It's unfortunate how they wired that overhead dash cam plug. The audio system stays on when the engine shuts down so one solution would be to do a standard hard wire kit install with a fuse tap on that circuit. That really wouldn't be much harder that trying to plug that damned thing in up there in the roof socket like we did. Just pull the passenger grab handle and fish the wires up the pillar and into the edge of the headliner.

 

Are you sure? This doesn't make any sense for yota to power the dashcam so it would just turn off at a stoplight - lots of action happens when your stopped at a stoplight

 

I observed this more closely today and it turns out, yes and no. The cam does not shut off when the engine stops... but it does reboot when the engine restarts. Every time. Must be some almost instantaneous break of power. I'll be curious to see how other brands of cameras handle this. For now, I am handling this by managing the brake pedal. It really isn't hard to stop and not engage the auto stop feature. But then we have a few "lights from hell" around here where you can be stopped for 3 minutes where I would actually like to use the auto stop.

Just thinking about this some more it may just be that the momentary voltage drop due to the load of the starter takes it below the camera's minimum. As Vegas says above, maybe a battery cam would handle this better. Or maybe we could add a small 12v battery as a buffer.

 

Starting to think this will not be an issue. Messed around last night with start/stop and my dome lights and USB ports do not even flicker during a startup. Gonna try and get it installed tomorrow morning, the plastic cover behind the mirror has me a little worried for my install.

 

What cam are you installing? Please report back how it works. I don't understand your issue with the "plastic cover behind the mirror"?

 

I just sent an inquiry to the vendor asking if this is normal for the Viofos or not and what the fix might be.

 

Using an A119, not sure which revision. Had really good luck with them over the years. I got hit on the free way (hit and run) and it saved me from getting sued by two parties.

Plastic cover is the windshield one in this post, I assumed it would have to come off to hide the wire but its not looking like people are doing this. So maybe I leave it alone.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/dash-cam.106151/page-2#post-2790799

 

I had an A119 Pro in my Tacoma and it was great. Had 4k front but only 1080P rear, whereas the 229 has 2k front and 2k rear. But the Tacoma did not have the auto shutdown/restart feature so I never had this issue. But I am not sure why you wouldn't also have the same issue I am having. Brand new truck, strong battery, meeting the computer's requirements to go in to the auto shutdown, etc. And none of the other systems, like audoi, have an issue. So, I believe my electrical system is performing within specs as designed.

 

Do you have the GPS module? I wonder if it matters if you are plugged in via the module or directly into the camera. (side port vs top port). Cause these cameras do have a capacitor in them that should handle a power flicker or even a second or two of no power.

 

Yes, I have the GPS module and tried that other plug. Does the same thing. I just got a response from the vendor and they say these cams need both switched and unswitched power, whether you use parking mode or not.

====================================================================================
Hi Ray,


Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry to hear you're running into issues with your VIOFO A229. When hardwiring the dashcam, you will need to connect the constant power wire to a constant fuse, even if you don't use parking mode, as it allows the dashcam to stay on if accessory power is cut by your start-and-stop system.


This doesn't mean your dashcam must also operate in parking mode as you can simply switch that off in the settings, which will make it turn on and off with the ignition.



If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out!


Warm regards,

Michael @ BBMC

 

I am also going to reach out to Dongar to see if they have a solution. If there is also constant +12V in that factory connector it seems like they could include that in their adapters.

 

That was a discussion I had with Dongar around April last year. They will not do the constant voltage as they don't want to be responsible for draining a batter and if you drain it below a certain voltage, the battery will fail sooner rather than later.
But do contact them as they may have changed their mind or design a new adapter.

 

That is silly because you can turn the parking feature off... actually, I believe it is off by default, so there are no issues with draining the battery. I reached out to them, I'll let you know what I hear. Beginning to think I wasted my $29 on this adapter when it doesn't really work. So are you just going to be using the Dongar or are you also providing constant +12V somehow?

 

Here is a video clip of he problem. You get the first splash screen as it shuts down and then again as it reboots and resumes recording.

https://youtu.be/gPCUoGez-RQ

 

I'm not sure all cameras have the ability to turn of parking feature.
If you know how to pull a pin and insert it to another spot, you could change it to constant power.
I never bought a Dongar, I used to make my own. Now I just wire the hardware kit to the dashcam connector in the overhead for the constant power.

 

I thought you could switch a pin on the dungar to get full time power, at least I thought I read that in one of the other threads (I could be wrong).

Other ideas, switch a battery based camera, or see if there is room to tuck one of these into the headliner.

Miady 2-Pack Small Portable Charger, 5000mAh Battery Pack 3.45oz Lightweight Power Bank 5V/2.4A Output & 5V/2A Input Battery Pack Charger Mini Portable Phone Charger for iPhone, Samsung Galaxy etc

https://www.amazon.com/Miady-Portable-Charger-5000mAh-Lightweight/dp/B08GLYSTLZ

Dungar -> usb pack -> camera

 

I know how, depending on the connector. But I don't want to *change* from switched to constant, the cam wants and needs both. The switched is required for it to know when to go from running to shut off or into parking mode.... and the constant is needed apparently to survive restarts. :-/. Looks like I really need to order the hardwire kit. I don't see any advantage to splice it into that tight overhead area. Easier to just pop a couple of fuse taps into the fuse box and run the wires up the A-pillar.

 

I have a a119, I think your unit is faulty - my startup screen is a full gui image not some blackout image, again I highly doubt Toyota designed a specific dashcam 12volt connector port to be triggered by the ECU logic of auto start/stop to cut power when engine is auto on/off.

With this logic, they should have disclaimer in the brochures stating the dashcam won't record when auto start/stop is being engaged

 

The thing with the Dongars, I believe, is that they have only one 5V power supply, whereas the Viofo hardwire kit has got to have two. One with switched 12V input and one with constant 12V input. And separate output for each.

 

Mine is not faulty. Works exactly like my old 129 Pro. See my latest post. For the Dongars to work properly with these cams they would have to include another 5V power supply connected to the constant and have both outputs.

And it does record when stopped. Just reboots on restart.

 

Almost sounds like the truck battery is low, start sequence draws juice from battery and voltage drops below a thresh hold for the camera, so the camera then reboots.

 

No, the system won't do auto stop when the battery needs to charge. You get the message. You guys miss my earlier post? The vendor says you need BOTH switched and unswitched. The problem is not with Toyota. The Dongar can only supply one 5V power output. Switched is standard, or you could move the pin for constant, but there is only ONE 5V power supply and output. That is the problem.

 

And I am still interested to see how other Viofo and other brand installs work out using the wiring in the overhead even with the hard wire kit. If the regular switched input to the camera does cut off during restart that might still take you off line and reboot. Because that is how the cam works when you shut the truck off. Switched power goes away, and the cam either shuts down or goes into parking mode depending on your settings. But that loss of voltage is the signal to do that. That may not affect the Toyota cams if they also pull in unswitched power and are designed to have a small delay or whatever, like main power needs to be off 0.xxx seconds before switching and in that interval the unswitched keeps it alive. I bet that if you put a volt meter on the switched power up there you will see it drop to zero on those restarts.