How to Hardwire a dashcam in Mk3 Octy, in 50 easy steps

[Spinifex]

I SHOULD mention that before starting any of this:
Step 1 - read the *^&$% instructions !!!
Step 2 - read them again.
Step 3 - give yourself plenty of room to do this - you need the passenger door WIDE open and you'll be spending quite a bit of time on your knees and crouching at awkward angles.
Step 4 - book a chiropractor visit for after installation.
Step 5 - think about what you're doing. If you start out by connecting the power-wire to the dashcam, and trying to feed the cigarette-lighter plug down through the trims to the fusebox, you're going to have an awfully difficult time! You need to mount the wires from the BOTTOM ===> UP !
Step 6 - read the instructions again!
Step 7 - deep breaths, get all your tools together, and a damned good torch
Step 8 - choose some good music to play loudly on your phone - this will drown out all the swearing that you will inflict upon your neighbours / family / housemates
Step 9 - be patient, or you'll &^$*-up some really simple things like I did several times
Step 10 - once you're done, find the head engineer at Skoda, responsible for the STUPID glovebox damper fitting arrangement, and smack him square in the face !!! By far, the MOST DIFFICULT part of this job, is re-fitting the glovebox with the damper fitted (which I did NOT take photos of/detail, because of the above-mentioned swearing and annoyed housemates!)



Remove side trim (no idea why this picture is showing sideways)
Don't use a screwdriver, use something plastic to prise the clips out. There's 3 clips along the curved edge of this panel, which I forgot to mark on the photo


Remove the A-pillar trim. You'll need extra vitamins to do this, as the 2 spring clips marked, that hold it in place are stupidly difficult to prise open


Grrrrrr... the culprits


It should look something like this inside. If you have curtain airbags, it's that white thing underneath the green wire sheath. If you have a lower-spec model with no curtain airbags, obviously this will be missing.


Sideways again - no idea why.


Start at the bottom and feed the output power wire for the dashcam UP through the hole at the back of the dash/bottom edge of the A-pillar. Pull through enough wire and do a dummy run of where you will install the wiring, so you have enough slack to play with.


Install the feed wire ABOVE the airbag (if present) by mounting it to the existing wiring, either by cable ties, electrical tape, or winding around as I've done here. IMPERATIVE that you don't be lazy and leave the A-pillar trim in-place, and just poke the feed wire in the gap BELOW the airbag, as this will foul on the bag if it needs to deploy in a crash, and possible cause serious injury.


Install wiring under headlining and around mirror-block to camera position. Models without front camera won't have the massive black block on the windscreen. Mount the camera/wiring in such a position to be least intrusive to your view.


Back downstairs again - time to choose the power sources.
Various models will have different options wired into their fuseboxes (and therefore different fuses installed to mine shown here)
My car is a 2016 model with all options ticked, except black pack which was just wheels and visual differences outside.
I chose the cigarette lighter fuse (#40) for permanent power, as that's what I was running the camera from inside the cabin anyway, using the cig.lighter plug shown in pic above.
The PMP unit I'm installing also required a switched (ignition) power signal to operate.
If you are installing intending to switch the camera on/off with ignition, then this is the circuit you will need to choose.
I chose the Fuse 48 position, which is Blind Spot Monitoring, which was not an option on my earlier model, but I understand is now available on the Facelift models.
You can see that the fusebox is wired with an incoming 12V pin in the top of fuse 48 position, but there's no pin in the output bottom side of the fuse holder. This is ideal to use, as it is a switched ignition power source, and the fuse taps can use an "incomplete" main circuit such as this, to operate the piggyback circuit. All the fuse tap requires is an incoming 12V source wire, which is what this provides.
The extra advantage is that the fuse tap has some room, so it doesn't foul on nearby fuses.

NOTE: ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS mount these with the piggyback wire facing down (in VAG cars at least, with incoming 12V on top of fusebox, and output voltage fed from fuse back to the bottom pin on the fusebox.


Test the fuse position(s) you've chosen, to confirm either permanent or switched ignition power.


In this instance, 5A fuses in top (piggyback) circuit of each fusetap is all that's required. The camera is rated for max draw of 1A, but the 5A fuse came with the tap, so that's what I used.
Note first pic is the permanent power fusetap, with the original 20A yellow fuse from the Cig. Lighter on the bottom circuit, and the camera fuse on the top circuit.
The switched power that I'm running on the Fuse 48 position, doesn't need a fuse in the bottom circuit, as that circuit is incomplete in the fusebox. It only needs a 5A fuse in the top piggyback circuit, and the incoming 12V from Fuse 48 runs through that fused circuit to the output wire.


Choose mounting position for the PMP box (only relevant to those users fitting this/similar parking-mode battery-protection device)
I chose underneath the glovebox, as it's easy to wire to the fusebox, and is easily accessible when required while being relatively hidden


Mount the PMP box to the bottom plastic frame behind glovebox. NOTE you have to mount it BACK from the front edge, or the glovebox will foul on it when it hinges down.

CONT'D PART 2

[Spinifex]

Test mounting position by dummy-fitting glovebox (without damper) to check for fouling


Connect the perma-power & switched-power PMP wires to the correct piggyback circuits.
For Power Magic Pro, it's a non-intuitive YELLOW wire to permanent power, and RED wire to switched/ignition power.
Check with your specific device for correct wire connections.


During testing, the forked terminal worked fine, but I preferred to fit a ring terminal for the permanent Earth connection.


Connect the output socket/wire from the device (for PMP, it's a cigarette lighter socket) to the dashcam power input source (in the Blackvue's case, it's a cigarette lighter plug). Your device may be USB connections.
Bundle excess dashcam/PMP device wiring and wrap in electrical tape.
If chosen/available, wrap in cloth or similar material, to mute any rattling that may occur after the bundle is mounted.
you may choose to cut excess wire and crimp/solder connect the wires directly together to bypass the original connection method.
An electrical engineer once told me NEVER to use solder in a car, as it's prone to breaking from vibrations, and most people use the incorrect type of solder. He said to ALWAYS use crimp connections in a car. Your choice.


Choose where to permanently mount the connection and excess-wire bundle.
I chose the 2 holes in the dashboard frame, inside the side-cover.


(Again, no idea why these pictures are showing sideways)
The top connection on this worked OK, but the bottom connection was a bit dodgy.
I suspect I'll have to revisit this at some point, to revise how I secure this, as I think it's going to work it's way loose with general car vibrations.


Wrap the remaining PMP wires, and neaten the piggyback wires in the fusebox.


Hide/mount remaining wires underneath glovebox frame where you mounted the PMP unit.
Replace side trim


Replace glovebox & damper hook.

BY FAR, re-fitting the glovebox was the MOST difficult part of this installation.

I'd like to find the head-engineer at Skoda who signed-off on this, and punch him squarely in the nose!!!

But apart from all that, enjoy your hardwired dashcamera !

[dArK5HaD0w]

lol.....nice work on the 50 steps of how not to do things, yet how to do it properly as well

[Guest001]

When I did mine it took an hour and I solder all joints and its 3 years since install and no problems so far. Yes you must start at the bottom and work up. I never removed the A pillar trim, I used a body trim tool and slid the cable in between the glass and the trim. Is behind the airbag that way. Same with the headlining but the Polo's was glued on so used blutack along the front edge and its been Ok. Did the fuses similarly with slightly different one that are no longer available from Jaycar.
Passat was easier as fuse box is in the end of the dash. PS. Its much easier the second time around LOL

Ive done 6 so far Yours looks good

[vajnorcan]

Hi, sorry to dig out the old post, I'm a noob so apologies if something does make sense.

I've bought the 750XPlus-2CH which comes with the hardwiring cable and I've used the same fuses as you did, but of course I've used the 20A fuses for both fusetap slots and blew-up my cable's fuse (there is an inline one now). Now..

I'd like to ask you, so if you've used the fuse slot N40, which has 20A fuse in it, did you use a fuse tap and put the original 20A fuse to the bottom circuit and **5A** to the top one? Didn't it blow ?? (the 5A one?)

Cheers

[Guest001]

Hi, sorry to dig out the old post, I'm a noob so apologies if something does make sense.

I've bought the 750XPlus-2CH which comes with the hardwiring cable and I've used the same fuses as you did, but of course I've used the 20A fuses for both fusetap slots and blew-up my cable's fuse (there is an inline one now). Now..

I'd like to ask you, so if you've used the fuse slot N40, which has 20A fuse in it, did you use a fuse tap and put the original 20A fuse to the bottom circuit and **5A** to the top one? Didn't it blow ?? (the 5A one?)

Cheers

YOU shouldnt use the high amp fuses as they protect serious circuits Look in your manual and see what the fuses actually do. Stay away from ABS and Airbag fuses Find a couple of 10 amp ones and use them You only need a 5 amp fuse for the camera Its not as hard as Spinifex makes it Have done a Tiguan back and front with individual cameras and a Kamiq front camera here is the correct way to fit a Addafuse. You must fit it that way or the power goes through both if its backwards