dash top 12v power outlet

[petemac110]

Ack. understand. Got me confused as hell why VW would enable a lighter socket to retain power on after ignition switched off?

Take this with a grain of salt, but on the MQB chassis cars (Golf Mk7, Passat B8, Tiguan etc) you can move the position of a fuse to switch the cigarette/12v outlets from permanently on to switched. Not sure if this also applies to the Amarok. It could be worth investigating:

How To Make Your 12v Outlet Stay On ~ No Tools Required - YouTube

[Hillbilly]

Take this with a grain of salt, but on the MQB chassis cars (Golf Mk7, Passat B8, Tiguan etc) you can move the position of a fuse to switch the cigarette/12v outlets from permanently on to switched. Not sure if this also applies to the Amarok. It could be worth investigating:

How To Make Your 12v Outlet Stay On ~ No Tools Required - YouTube

Not on all of them as you would see if you looked at an Amarok fuse box Fuse 59 is supposedly the ciggy socket

Also it seems the Amarok is NOT built on the MQB platform.

[petemac110]

Not on all of them as you would see if you looked at an Amarok fuse box Fuse 59 is supposedly the ciggy socket

Hence the "take this with a grain of salt" part of my post

From what I've uncovered, fuse number 43 (25A) is the correct fuse for the cigarette lighter socket on the "68" fuse box that you've pictured above.



It seems that you're referring to the older fuse panel on which no. 59 is the 25A fuse for "12V outlets no. 2 and 3" and no. 52 is the front cigarette lighter socket.

[Hillbilly]

Hence the "take this with a grain of salt" part of my post

From what I've uncovered, fuse number 43 (25A) is the correct fuse for the cigarette lighter socket on the "68" fuse box that you've pictured above.



It seems that you're referring to the older fuse panel on which no. 59 is the 25A fuse for "12V outlets no. 2 and 3" and no. 52 is the front cigarette lighter socket.

Fair enough but none of them appear to be able to be moved like in my Tig Etc

[petemac110]

Fair enough but none of them appear to be able to be moved like in my Tig Etc

Yeah, I think you’re spot-on about that. It’s a bit of a shame that they didn’t include it.

[The_Hawk]

Havent had an accident since 1995 so have I been paying premiums for nothing???? I dont consider so.

Your insurance covers you for your car and anything you might hit, potentially tens of thousands or even more for a relatively small premium. It's a risk decision. Small premium vs large bill is easy to rationalise.


When it comes to a camera I'm saying that you're paying $600 for a camera to potentially avoid a $600 excess.

The camera is only useful if you:
1. Have a not at fault accident; AND
2. The other party does a runner or says you are at fault; AND
3. Your insurer accepts the dash cam footage as proof.


Now if you said your premium was reduced by $50 / year by having a camera, at least then you could consider that it's an upfront investment in future savings as well as the potentially avoided excess... although even so it would take 12 years to recoupe the investment (assuming the camera last
ed that long).

Like I said before, I like toys, having video to look back and check for a red light or something is nice. Piece of mind is nice. Sending stuff to DashCamOwnersAustralia is even more fun But unless someone is crashing into you every other week and running away you might as well save your money and cough up the excess if you ever need to.

[Hillbilly]

Your insurance covers you for your car and anything you might hit, potentially tens of thousands or even more for a relatively small premium. It's a risk decision. Small premium vs large bill is easy to rationalise.


When it comes to a camera I'm saying that you're paying $600 for a camera to potentially avoid a $600 excess.

The camera is only useful if you:
1. Have a not at fault accident; AND
2. The other party does a runner or says you are at fault; AND
3. Your insurer accepts the dash cam footage as proof.


Now if you said your premium was reduced by $50 / year by having a camera, at least then you could consider that it's an upfront investment in future savings as well as the potentially avoided excess... although even so it would take 12 years to recoupe the investment (assuming the camera last
ed that long).

Like I said before, I like toys, having video to look back and check for a red light or something is nice. Piece of mind is nice. Sending stuff to DashCamOwnersAustralia is even more fun But unless someone is crashing into you every other week and running away you might as well save your money and cough up the excess if you ever need to.

Logically speaking if the cost of the camera = your excess you only have to save once and its paid for. Also some companies may offer a discount if you have one. I think spending $600 on a $65k car is money well spent. Some people pay more than that just to make the paint look nice and I certainly wouldnt waste (in my opinion) money like that.
I rarely check the video and in fact this morning have just reformatted my cards and reinstalled the firmware and remounted them. One had months of short journeys on it but BORING. They must have some worth as there increasing asks from Police for dashcam footage from ANYONE who has been near the scene of an accident. There are varying opinions on their worth but thats mine, others are entitled to theirs.

[meeso]

in my suburb, alot of utes have been broken into. ive got 4k front, 1080p internal and rear recording, so if mines broken into, ill have something to show for it, id hope. Mostly its theives targetting trades tools, and my tray is empty.. still good to capture anyone stupid enough to lift the cover..

Ive also had it become very useful once when road raged. Police used the footage to charge the other driver.

But everyone really knows the only reason a dash cam is useful is to catch people doing dumb **** and post it to dashcams australia

[Hillbilly]

in my suburb, alot of utes have been broken into. ive got 4k front, 1080p internal and rear recording, so if mines broken into, ill have something to show for it, id hope. Mostly its theives targetting trades tools, and my tray is empty.. still good to capture anyone stupid enough to lift the cover..

Ive also had it become very useful once when road raged. Police used the footage to charge the other driver.

But everyone really knows the only reason a dash cam is useful is to catch people doing dumb **** and post it to dashcams australia

Which I dont waste time either doing or watching LOL

[Newkidontheblok]

Which I dont waste time either doing or watching LOL

Well there ya go.

The verdict is, yes, the power to the front ciggy lighters, (yes, both of them), is unswitched and if you want to run your dashcams 24/7, get a bigger solar panel and a multiboard. Or just unbolt one of the 5 mains power leads near the battery and install a VSR for $25 to isolate your battery when system voltage drops below 12.7v and park your car under your house security cameras, which is what I do.

I run a 10w solar panel when nothing is connected just to keep the battery topped up. A 20w these days is ~ $30. I refute the argument that they are expensive. Holy ****. You blokes have got more gadgets up front than I could dream about. 1080 cameras, night vision....I'm getting green just thinking about it. If you can afford all that stuff, you can afford a $30 solar panel to power all of it. And they're not that big. I just stuff my 10w down beside the passenger seat. The 20w might be a different story though.

Get one of them and a quality multi board. I run a Waeco cooler off the multi outlet in the summer months and the Waeco draws 8.3 amps on high when you first turn it on and for the first 20 -30 mins and haven't burnt one of those boards out yet. I run the multi outlets on three commercial vehicles and have yet to have a fail.