[LiveTrash]

For those of you interested in having a dash cam in your car or if you already have one and would like to hard wire it into the vehicle, this tutorial is for you.

What I have installed in my car:
x1 GS90C Dashcam (Front facing)
x1 G90 Dashcam (Rear facing)
x1 Power Magic Pro Unit
x2 Add a circuit fuse connector (Something like this: Amazon Fuse Add a Circuit) or, Amazon.com/dp/b00ww4whbc : UXCELL Tap Adapter. (added to post 11/2/17)

Brief Introduction
When I first entered the dashcam scene, I had a basic entry level dashcam. Once I got my Cruze I upgraded to a better quality camera. At first it was simply plugged into the cigarette lighter. This works fine if you only want to record when the vehicle is running. What happens when you want to record if you're parked on a busy street? Most batteries in these cameras will not last nearly long enough and some only have super capacitors. To solve this, I installed the Power Magic Pro unit into the vehicle. This unit has 3 wires running from it. The first for connecting to a fuse that has power supplied when the vehicle is on, a second for connecting to a fuse that has constant power supplied even when the vehicle is off and a ground wire. There is a cigarette lighter plugin so you can plug your dashcam directly in to it with no modifications required. I have a cigarette lighter splitter plugged into my Power Magic Pro unit to run both of my dashcams. After properly wiring the Power Magic Pro to your fuse box, you can turn the Power Magic Pro's power switch to "ON" indicating you want power supplied to your cameras all the time (running off the constant power fuse) or you can switch to "OFF" indicating you want it to run off the other fuse and in turn have the cameras power down when the vehicle is off. The Power Magic Pro will monitor battery voltage and if it drops below your specified voltage, it will cut power to your cameras regardless of your setting to preserve your vehicle's battery life. You can also set a timer on the Power Magic Pro to cut power after a specified amount of time.

Detailed Install Notes
If you have just ordered a dashcam, first hook all of the components together to ensure they operate as intended. You can then proceed to hide the wires once fully tested. If you already have a dashcam installed and have hidden the wires, you should still avoid fully installing the Power Magic Pro unit until fully tested.




The above picture shows my current setup. I have the wires tucked up into the roofliner. Be careful not to pull on the roofliner too much as it may crease. If needed, take off the sun visor clip by pulling open the cap and unscrewing it. This will allow for a bit more room as you'll be able to pull the roofliner down a bit more.




The above picture shows where I have the wires run for my front facing dash camera. I have the power cable running to the left and down the A Pillar on the driver's side. I have it tucked under the rubber door seal weather stripping stuff and ran it down under the dash.




The above picture shows where I have the wire run for my rear facing dash camera. I have the power cable running under the plastic cover and in behind the rear folding seat. From there, I ran it down to the floor. See next picture.




I have the cable running under the plastic trim that meets the carpet liner. I have this run all the way to the front of the vehicle and up and under the dash.




The above picture shows the position where I mounted my Power Magic Pro unit. Wires look a little messy in the first shot, but this is a view from lower and isn't seen when sitting in the driver's seat as seen in the second picture. I have both of the cigarette lighter adapters for my dashcams plugged into a splitter and then the splitter is plugged into the Power Magic Pro unit. It's all zip tied together and held up onto a thick wiring harness by a couple more zip ties.




The above pictures show how I have my Power Magic Pro unit wired into my fuse box.

I have the 20A Front Power Outlet fuse pulled and plugged into the Fuse Add a Circuit to act as power for the Power Magic Pro when the vehicle is on. I have a second 10A fuse to put into the line that powers the Power Magic Pro unit. A fuse of this size is more than needed.

I have the 10A fuse for the OnStar service pulled and plugged into the second Fuse Add a Circuit to act as a constant supply of power regardless of whether the car is on or not. I have a second 10A fuse put into the line that powers the Power Magic Pro unit. I may switch to another fuse due to the fact that the cameras have stopped recording sometimes after an extended period of time while parked. It may be due to the fact that power is sometimes lost to the OnStar service for unknown reasons. Any fuse that has constant power when the vehicle is completely off will suffice for this installation.

 

[brian v]

Now I know how to do IT ...Great write up for a piece of LiveTrash !

Ahh you have a Link for this Power Magic Pro ?

Never mind that request I have found that Link in your Essay thanks ...

I love a Good Hands on tutorial ....

 

[sparkman]

Yes, great write up. I plan on ordering a dashcam here soon. I'm seeing more and more idiots every day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[billyhime]

I bought a few dash cams about a year ago, heres what they look like installed.

 

[Snappa]

This post gets me all tingly and giddy eeeeek lol. I might have to do this. Number 1...I love technology. Number 2....the Cruze is such a tech savvy type car, it's worthy of the install. 3...I was shook a few years back when someone randomly keyed my cobalt, which was what I had before this Cruze. I was considering a cam then but after 4 years of no issues line that ever occurring again, it didn't cross my mind. Still a good investment though,

 

[billyhime]

This post gets me all tingly and giddy eeeeek lol. I might have to do this. Number 1...I love technology. Number 2....the Cruze is such a tech savvy type car, it's worthy of the install. 3...I was shook a few years back when someone randomly keyed my cobalt, which was what I had before this Cruze. I was considering a cam then but after 4 years of no issues line that ever occurring again, it didn't cross my mind. Still a good investment though,

I agree completely, this car is awesome, mine is a 2012, I didn't get a color screen or nav because I knew I was going to install an iPad in it which has been a complete success. I didn't see the need to put in the $1500 or $2000 in to not use it, google maps and apple maps works great along with Spotify or netflix. Installed the Bluetooth PDIM in and it works beautifully. My next vehicle will be electric and looking most likely to be a Tesla, that I think will be fine stock, no need for an iPad.

 

[Snappa]

I agree completely, this car is awesome, mine is a 2012, I didn't get a color screen or nav because I knew I was going to install an iPad in it which has been a complete success. I didn't see the need to put in the $1500 or $2000 in to not use it, google maps and apple maps works great along with Spotify or netflix. Installed the Bluetooth PDIM in and it works beautifully. My next vehicle will be electric and looking most likely to be a Tesla, that I think will be fine stock, no need for an iPad.

i ended up installing a nice unit with Apple CarPlay and maps etc..



i am very impressed with your iPad installation. How did you go about doing it?

 

[billyhime]

i ended up installing a nice unit with Apple CarPlay and maps etc..



i am very impressed with your iPad installation. How did you go about doing it?

I just bought this mount off Amazon, it just slides into the CD tray. It's really great

 

[frankh]

I just installed a Crosstour camera today..

I went into the back of the fusebox and cut the purple wire going to the front power outlet.. Then tee'd in a new wire that is brought to the front of the fuse box where I added a new power outlet socket. that the camera plugs into. The whole fuesebox pops out and passes through the cover in the front.. Dead easy to get to.

The red wire shown goes to the back of the fusebox (protected by the existing 10A fuse) and the black wire is a ground wire that goes to a ring terminal on the knee airbag which is 1 inch to the right of the OBD2 connector.

The wire I ran as describedabove but I took off the cover to the Onstar system around the rear view mirror and ground a little notch in the cover so there almost no wires showing. There is quite a bit of room under that cover so I made a full loop of wire (about 18 inches) so I could pull and fault find the camera without pulling all the wire from under the headliner. The rest of the wire runs under the headliner, to the A pillar cover and down the inside of the door trim, then behind the dash to the fusebox.

The camera starts recording automatically as soon as you turn the key.. I then have it programmed to shut down 10 seconds after the power goes off (i.e when you open the door after turning the engine off).

It also records from an internal battery should the car get hit.

Camera was $80 delivered from Amazon complete with 32Gb memory chip. It records in full 1080p and will catch license plates although I have very little experience of the cam at this point.

 

[Blasirl]

I just installed a Crosstour camera today..

I went into the back of the fusebox and cut the purple wire going to the front power outlet.. Then tee'd in a new wire that is brought to the front of the fuse box where I added a new power outlet socket. that the camera plugs into. The whole fuesebox pops out and passes through the cover in the front.. Dead easy to get to.

The red wire shown goes to the back of the fusebox (protected by the existing 10A fuse) and the black wire is a ground wire that goes to a ring terminal on the knee airbag which is 1 inch to the right of the OBD2 connector.

The wire I ran as describedabove but I took off the cover to the Onstar system around the rear view mirror and ground a little notch in the cover so there almost no wires showing. There is quite a bit of room under that cover so I made a full loop of wire (about 18 inches) so I could pull and fault find the camera without pulling all the wire from under the headliner. The rest of the wire runs under the headliner, to the A pillar cover and down the inside of the door trim, then behind the dash to the fusebox.

The camera starts recording automatically as soon as you turn the key.. I then have it programmed to shut down 10 seconds after the power goes off (i.e when you open the door after turning the engine off).

It also records from an internal battery should the car get hit.

Camera was $80 delivered from Amazon complete with 32Gb memory chip. It records in full 1080p and will catch license plates although I have very little experience of the cam at this point.

Interesting - you have any pic's showing how the fuse block is pulled out and put back?

 

[frankh]

See pics 2 two messages down from here.

There are two tabs at the top of the fusebox that need to be squeezed inwards with fingers. Then you pull the top towards you and it hinges down on a pair of hooks at the bottom that act as a hinge.

You simply unhook the box and pull out through the hole in the dash. The back cover of the FB is simply clipped on the back.

There is enough length on the wiring harness to provide access.

There is not a lot of room but its adequate to cut the purple wire and crimp in a butt splice in the wire (and crimp in a second wire that is passed through the front of the fuesebox as shown)

 

[Blasirl]

This works fine if you only want to record when the vehicle is running. What happens when you want to record if you're parked on a busy street? Most batteries in these cameras will not last nearly long enough and some only have super capacitors. To solve this, I installed the Power Magic Pro unit into the vehicle. ... After properly wiring the Power Magic Pro to your fuse box, you can turn the Power Magic Pro's power switch to "ON" indicating you want power supplied to your cameras all the time (running off the constant power fuse) or you can switch to "OFF" indicating you want it to run off the other fuse and in turn have the cameras power down when the vehicle is off. The Power Magic Pro will monitor battery voltage and if it drops below your specified voltage, it will cut power to your cameras regardless of your setting to preserve your vehicle's battery life. You can also set a timer on the Power Magic Pro to cut power after a specified amount of time....

Do the cameras turn on with motion or are they on all the time when switched to ON?

 

[frankh]

The Crosstour one will start recording if the vehicle gets hit while parked. Hard to test it of course..

 

[frankh]

Here are some pics I just ran out to take of the fusebox emerging from the dash.

Where my fingers are is where the tabs are that need to be squeezed inwards (my hand is on the backside of the FB so clearly you squeeze from the frontside)

With the back cover removed you can see my index finger pointing at the purple wire.. This is the fuse protected wire that goes to the front power outlet. The red wire between my finger and thumb is the new power feed wire that goes through a factory cut slot in the FB to the front. The splice is a crimped and is under the black insulating tape which is just added as a precaution. You need to cut the larger tywrap to release the wires and install a new one afterwards.

The last pic shows the fusebox not quite engaged with the hinge hooks. After the tabs ae released at the top you slide it up half an inch to disengage from the hooks at the bottom.

There you go, takes 30 seconds to pull out the fusebox.

 

[LiveTrash]

Do the cameras turn on with motion or are they on all the time when switched to ON?

Depends on your camera. The camera's I highlighted in the writeup are recording 24/7 if the PowerMagic Pro switch is ON. The camera I have now has what they're calling "true parking mode." The camera is always on if the PowerMagic Pro switch is ON, but the camera runs in a low power state. When it detects motion or impact, then it starts recording and saving to the memory card. The camera I have now is the BlackVue DR750, a link for it is in my signature. There are other cameras with similar parking mode options.

All the PowerMagic Pro does is handle power management. How you want the camera to act when it is on or off is entirely dependant on which camera you choose.