Dash Camera Stopped working after Tesla Service

[jimtelsa]

Had a blackvue 500 dash camera wired to the open sunroof wire pig tail in the microphone port.

After service I noticed the camera unplugged. I plugged back in and I saw I had no power. Tesla says they unplug all dash cameras when they come in for service.

First thought it had died and ordered a newer model. plugged that in and nothing. used the 12 volt power cable that came with new unit and it worked. checked my old camera with the 12 volt wire and that worked.

Contacted Tesla and they said to bring the car back. I did, they said they could not check any system on car while non factory hook up was connected. un plugged wires from sunroof pigtail. Tesla checked fuse and it was good per Tesla.

I dont have a sunroof, thats why the port is open and ready. Cant check the sunroof fuse as its a Tesla only check as its not accessible. Its in the Third fuse box tucked away in the frunk behind support brackets.

Anyway, once I got home I rewired and had brief power and then nothing. This set up worked for two years with no problem providing constant power 24 7 to the unit.

any suggestions why this now will not work?

I will be going back to Tesla for an answer, thought I would ask prior to going back a third time.

 

[Akikiki]

Search this forum for Blackvue installations. There's more than one. There's some good advice for where to draw power in the headliner.

The service center unplugs both my front and rear dashcam each time I've been in the shop. I understand why they do it. Its not a big deal. They would do nothing to harm the car on purpose. Tesla's policy since the beginning was not to get involved with aftermarket installations.

Another idea is check your audio installation shops in your area. Call them and ask if they have installed Blackvue in a Tesla. They are a good source.

 

[jimtelsa]

I have read them and installed mine based on this. it had been working fine for many months till this last service.
I have a friend who is going to look at it who thinks its a relay. He said he has found that the Teslas shares allot of Mercedes parts and that this is a common problem on their vehicles.

Will see

 

[jimtelsa]

got my car back today and I have power again to my dashcam

My friend, who is a Mercedes certified mechanic and electronic wizard, was up to the challenge.

Upon first looking at the tesla he laughed at how many Mercedes parts are incorporated into the design.

I gave him the Fob and headed away.

He called hours later that he had found the problems. My main wire in which I connected to the un used sunroof port was fried and burnt.

He assumed that this triggered the fuse to go, but the sunroof fuse was good. He found another fuse in the main box which is found under the frunk blown. He says it is relayed. Mercedes does this on many models. He put a new Fuse in there and power was restored. he did note that the fuse box was a GM product.

He then used another blackvue 12 volt accessory cord which incorporates an inline fuse and wired this up.

After seeing this, he knows many other systems are linked together and recommends any electrical hooks use inline fuse/

He also pointed out that my air suspension has a air leak. he showed me how it was down on one side.

Will try and get photo of fuse location.

 

[Silverstreak]

So, how do we monitor the suspension? What do we look for?

 

[Az_Rael]

After seeing this, he knows many other systems are linked together and recommends any electrical hooks use inline fuse/

Good to know. I am using an inline fuse on my blackvue install, but I didn't have the extra headliner cable so its using the OBD port instead. If I had found the open headliner connection I might not have fused it. We are about to do another blackvue install on our soon to be delivered P85D, which I hope has the extra cable, so we will set up an inline fuse for it as well.

 

[Akikiki]

@ Az_Rael, Interesting. Are you saying that your '13 Classic does not have the 3-wire/4port connector in the speaker grill? That's odd. I too had a '13 Classic P208xx Sep/'13 and it had the 12v power wire there. Used it. So does my '17. I found the matching connector and pins to get a clean factory look. But I still added an inline fuse for more protection.