The cigarette lighter port is not a great connector because of how big it is, and it’s pretty inconsistent when it turns off between cars (never does in 2007 Škoda Fabia). I replaced the dashcam adapter’s contacts with wires and installed it in the fusebox (accessible when driver door is open), branching off the headlight adjustment servo fuse. No loose cables anywhere.
And the port switch off when contact is off, plugged in the fuse box you can have it on while parked and some dashcam has parked mode which consume less energy and record some frames
As I wrote, the lighter socket in my car stays on forever so it’s not ideal for me (it’s primarily an action cam with no accelerometer, GPS or motion detect so it can’t tell it’s parked and would run the battery flat and put wear on the SD). You can choose various circuits in the fuse box to tap into.
The better question is why were they using the car port? Most dashcams come with power adapters to plug into a standard fuse box and can be very easily routed through interior panels with basically no tools, no permanent modifications, and absolutely no expertise required.
Absolute worst case, a local garage will almost definitely do a fitting for less that £50 and it’s worth it to avoid this exact thing happening.
Why do they only have one working car port anyway?
Most cars, especially older ones, only have one cigarette lighter. How many cigarettes could you possibly need to light?
All of them.
The cigarette lighter port is not a great connector because of how big it is, and it’s pretty inconsistent when it turns off between cars (never does in 2007 Škoda Fabia). I replaced the dashcam adapter’s contacts with wires and installed it in the fusebox (accessible when driver door is open), branching off the headlight adjustment servo fuse. No loose cables anywhere.
And the port switch off when contact is off, plugged in the fuse box you can have it on while parked and some dashcam has parked mode which consume less energy and record some frames
As I wrote, the lighter socket in my car stays on forever so it’s not ideal for me (it’s primarily an action cam with no accelerometer, GPS or motion detect so it can’t tell it’s parked and would run the battery flat and put wear on the SD). You can choose various circuits in the fuse box to tap into.
1 is enough
https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Charging-Cigarette-Lighter-Adapter/dp/B08DTZJTVM
Both of my dash cams came with a dual port adapter
The better question is why were they using the car port? Most dashcams come with power adapters to plug into a standard fuse box and can be very easily routed through interior panels with basically no tools, no permanent modifications, and absolutely no expertise required.
Absolute worst case, a local garage will almost definitely do a fitting for less that £50 and it’s worth it to avoid this exact thing happening.
Yay! There are dual USB adapters. And the system puts out lots of wattage
“lots of wattage” is debatable