? It should be just a black and red wire once you splice open the cigarette adapter cable jacket. If you are seeing bare metal you’ve pulled off the wire jacket. Then you just use T tap or positap to tap into dome wire.
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Has anyone tapped a BlackVue to the domelight to get constant 12V for always on power?
- Thread starter plasmo
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- blackue dash cam installation
So from the Blackvue Cigarette adapter cable:
The Red wire --> Yellow dome light
The Black wire --> Black rear dome light
right?
If you get a chance, can you post a pic of your connection? It would help a lot! thanks.
Yes, it’s really that simple. Red to yellow and black to black (opposite side of yellow).
I wish I took pics during the installation. Right now I don’t want to open it up and pull out the bundle of cables, take some pics, and shove it all back in. It’s very tight fit with the wire taps. There’s always a risk every time I pry open the dome light, breaking clips, scratching the plastic or headliner. Please understand.
I wish I took pics during the installation. Right now I don’t want to open it up and pull out the bundle of cables, take some pics, and shove it all back in. It’s very tight fit with the wire taps. There’s always a risk every time I pry open the dome light, breaking clips, scratching the plastic or headliner. Please understand.
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The wires are super thin. Yes it does matter what size to use because there’s limited space and if you don’t use the right size you will have problem connecting the super thin wires of the blackvue. Earlier posts suggest the red ones (20-22awg).
Ok, was confused with the description. Will give it a shot this weekend. Will also document it so other people can follow.
Santa Claws
Member
JPP
Active Member
The metal braid/sheath just gets carefully unwound from around the central +12v wire on eh cut Blackvue power cable. Then twist it back together to for a 'semisolid' wire that you then insert into the PosiTap. if you are compulsive and worried about the braided wire, I guess you could get out your soldering iron and tin the wire, and even slip a short piece of shrink wrap over the end. I did not do either, and all is good.
JPP
Active Member
Not much to video for you (and I am not taking mine apart to do a video).
Measure the Blackvue power cable to allow enough length to reach from the dome light area to the camera with a small amount of slack to work with (you don't want to have to stuff a whole lot of redundant power cable up into the headliner).
Then take your Blackvue cable and cut off the cigarette lighter connector.
Power off the car (Service page on the touchscreen).
Pull out the dome light panel per the video.
Fish the cable from the front headliner at the windshield back to the opening where you deinstalled the dome light/flasher panel.
Get 2 PosiTaps. Read the instructions on how to use them. Maybe practice on a scrap piece of wire.
Unscrew the end cap from the proepr end of the PosiTaps.
Slide the small end caps over the 'front' yellow wire and the 'rear' black wires on the dome light cable assembly.
Screw the PosiTap down to make a connection.
Maybe get a voltmeter and briefly power up the car and test for +12V.
Power off the car again.
Loosen up the opposite end of the PosiTap (where you push in the wire).
Insert the +12v center wire from the Blackvue cable into the PosiTap for the yellow wire.
Insert the metal braid/shield on the Blackvue cable into the PosiTap for the black wire.
Tighten the connections.
Hook the Blackvue cable to the camera.
Power up the car.
Does the camera boot and work? Good.
Shove any excess power cable up into the hole in the headliner.
Carefully reinstall the dome light panel--this needs to be done carefully guiding the PosiTaps into the hole--the clearances are tight..
Fusion
Member
wbhokie
Member
Mostly personal preference. Do you want recording while you are parked? rear cam? May be features in the future but who knows when.
android04
Active Member
Still worth it to have an aftermarket camera for me because the Tesla dashcam does not record a wide view of the front of the car (front of car and sides are not as visible), does not record the rear, and does not record when the car is not on. Not to mention that the Tesla dashcam is not as reliable for most people yet (people still have issues with their USB drives becoming corrupt after a while).
By the way, I just removed my Blackvue B-112 backup battery from my Model 3 because my 22 mile commute was not enough to charge it up to last a 10 hour work-day. I wired into the harness in the headliner (which was my plan all along before I even got the car). And I mounted the Blackvue DR750S-2CH front camera onto this mirror mount from EDR Auto (cheaper than the Blendmount). Overall turned out well, but if I could go back and do it again I would have paid extra for the Blendmount and would have never bought the Blackvue B-112 battery.
By the way, I just removed my Blackvue B-112 backup battery from my Model 3 because my 22 mile commute was not enough to charge it up to last a 10 hour work-day. I wired into the harness in the headliner (which was my plan all along before I even got the car). And I mounted the Blackvue DR750S-2CH front camera onto this mirror mount from EDR Auto (cheaper than the Blendmount). Overall turned out well, but if I could go back and do it again I would have paid extra for the Blendmount and would have never bought the Blackvue B-112 battery.
The TeslaCam isn't really working per se, at least not reliably. It keeps corrupting the drive rendering recording stopped. Another issue is the 1-hour limit of rolling recording. Once you fall outside of the hour you won't be able to locate the footage any more if you didn't press the button and that only gives you the last 10 minutes. It's such a hassle to use.
Until they've fixed all these issues, 3rd party dashcams are still worth installing. Then it comes down to whether you want the parking mode / cloud features / rear camera / higher resolution etc.
Did you make an installation video for us?
heh i'm still waiting for my blackvue to arrive.
I think everyone is waiting for someone to step up and make a video tutorial on this... but @JPP did a good job in writing out the steps though
wbhokie
Member
Funny you say that, as I have a B-124, drive about 21 miles each way to/from work with it plugged into the cigarette lighter, and even leave it plugged in overnight, and it still charges to full to and from work without issues. I set it to do time lapse on parking mode though, so maybe that is the difference. (or I just have more traffic!) I also got the polarizit on the front cam to help with dashboard reflections and it helps.
Fusion
Member
I'll make a Video of the install if I get a chance to do the install this weekend.
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