As an auto mechanic, I can definitively say that using the OBD-II port for power is not dangerous or harmful in any way, provided that the adapter is made properly, and uses only the power pins for power. The power pins are a direct battery connection (through a fuse, of course) and are not connected to any onboard computer. Nearly every diagnostic scanner out there draws its power from that source, and those use a lot more power than a dash cam does. In addition, fleet tracking devices use it for power. Many insurance company tracking systems do so. In fact, many cars (a lot of General Motors models, for example) even have the power pins on the OBD-II port on the same circuit as the power outlets- connecting to those is exactly like plugging something in to your cigarette lighter. People who are saying you might damage your vehicle's electronics have no idea how these things work. Again, the sole caveat is that the power cord is made properly, and only connects to the power pins. It's essentially the same as using USB for power. You have power pins, and you have data pins. Same thing on OBD-II ports. The different OBD-II protocols (CAN-BUS, ISO9141, Keyword 2000, K-line, etc) all have their own pinouts for data, but the power connections always use the same pins on all cars.
It's important to also clarify that as a power source it's an output signal. It's coming out of the connector and not going into the OBD connector or computer.
I read your comment carefully. It shows that you are someone who talks with knowledge. I'm going to try this on my brand new XC40. I hope no problem will occur :)
Thanks for very useful info. I have a question please:- As connecting the dashcam via the OBD will mean the power is constant will this drain the battery completely or would it take many days for that to happen? And with this is mind would you suggest an in-line power detector that turns off the dashcam when the battery charge drops below a certain amount or is it not necessary?
@@inquistive most decent dashcams (viofo, blackview, thinkware) have low voltage control. When they're in parking mode they drop to almost nothing when you park. And will shut themselves off when low voltage is found.
OBD has a spec, you can look it up. All the internet experts can pipe down now. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics#OBD-II_diagnostic_connector OBD spec says 4 amps @ 12v or 2 amps @ 24v, so 48 watts of power ... I've been using my obd port to power home made diagnostic tools for quite some time. It's perfectly fine. This is just another case of some people pretending they know something, and passing that on as "advice".
+detaart This poster is dead-on correct. Also note that the spec calls out the +12V as battery voltage in particular - OBDII spec requires that +12V be directly from the battery, not switched. Any device that plugs into an OBD port and automatically shuts off after a time must be checking for actual OBD data and going to sleep when they don't see any. With that said, I'd also run a proper "add-a-circuit" before I would run this. Done properly, you would not have to modify anything on the car's existing wiring - you unplug a fuse, plug the add-a-circuit in place of the fuse, and plug the existing fuse into one of the two fuse slots on the add-a-circuit. The other fuse on the add-a-circuit goes to the wire coming off of it, run that to your device, and ground your device at a good nearby ground.
+IOwnCalculus If the OBDII port delivers direct battery power, I'd be interested to know how the Valentine1 with Savvy knows how to turn off when the ignition gets switched off.
Some ODB 12v supply fluctuate over the limit during engine running which burn my ODB gps tracker. So be careful to include a fuse in between your device.
I'd just like to thank you for uploading stuff for me to watch on a sunday like this. I've noticed my feed sort of dries up on weekends and by sunday I usually have to re-watch something old if I want anything interesting.
I have wired in several G1W cameras over the years (first one bought on a recommendation from Techmoan, ta muchly!). The problem with cheaper dashcams (and possibly expensive ones too) is that the supplied PSUs are very noisy. Recently I wired a dashcam by using a piggyback fuse off the OBD circuit (this was due to the configuration of the fuseboxes in that car), and the noise the PSU introduced on the OBD power lines was enough to bring up random error messages every few minutes. I removed it and no more error messages. Hopefully the OBD power supplies are sufficiently well-built to avoid that, but the best way I have found is to piggyback from the cigarette lighter as this circuit is usually fairly robust against noisy electronics and is usually switched by the ignition. On one occasion I even had to bin the supplied PSU and use a high-quality branded USB supply and cable due to a particularly sensitive FM tuner that couldn't be avoided without having cables on show.
I hate extra wires, I'm going to great lengths to hide as much as I can, my main complaint is lack of accessory sockets! My car is an 07 model and it has 1. I don't like 3 or 4 way plugs as they're messy. I'm hard wiring my 3 cams with a voltage drop switch, and adding some USB ports and mounting 2 extra power sockets. It will look stock and neat, which is exactly what I want. One of these would temporarily solve my problem, but I have a blackvue and it has a different socket to everything else so it won't work, but I could put a different camera up front and do it, so I might give it a go. Good review Tech, great info.
If it only taps the power pins it should be safe (other than draining the battery). It should be a more or less direct connection to the battery to enable voltage measurement.
+Robert Szasz All cars will have an inline fuse to the OBD port however, most cars also run other ancillaries from the same fuse. Depending on what else runs from that fuse would indicate the level of trouble you'd be in if the fuse blew. However, fuses are consumable units that are designed to fail so there is almost no way a car would be damaged if the fuse blew. Fit a new fuse and off you go.
+Evil from evilution In VWs anyway the OBD port has its own 7.5A fuse. I'd have no qualms about using a product like this, though when I add a device to the car I typically add a fuse to the fusebox with factory repair wires.
I made a "frankenbox" for my car, a wireless 4 channel relay, a small plastic box to contain everything, and the lighter sockets to get power to everything. The main power comes from the socket in my console, the box and other sockets are under the passenger seat and the wires go out from there tucked under moldings and such. I have the remote mounted on the headliner, pretty slick. They make piggyback fuse holders, depending on what fuse you choose it may be live all the time or go on and off with the ignition, very easy to hardwire something safely without making any permanent modifications.
thank you. I never knew this socket could be used in such ways. I always thought it was only for mechanical diagnostic.Now I have to find a use for it:)
You can buy OBD power adapters that switch between accessory or always on (ie ignition switched or always on) that have a low voltage detection circuit built in, and auto cut off when the battery voltage drops below a fixed threshold. I use one, and it works fine.
i have this vantrue 2pro, i used the OBD port adapter on my honda accord hybrid, and it is a perfect setup! had it in sentry mode or parking mode for days, and no drain on battery. wont consume your battery, and its a clean install with no wires all hidden up to the windshield!! do it!!
+Shao Zhang I agree. I know some of the new performance Chevy cars have dashcams/data loggers in them. The C7 Vette and ZL1 Camaro to name a couple. I saw a story a while ago of the Corvette's camera catching a valet hitting like 50mph in a parking garage.
well, there is a problem with certain markets. In Germany and Austria, dascams are not really legal because of privacy issues. And I even met people, who agree with their governments, saying that dashcams should have built-in face and number plate bluring function! Luckily, there are countries where dashcams are ok, and some insurers providing a discount for having one.
tesla has a dash cam built in, but it doesn't save any recordings unless you have a USB SSD installed and tell the car to save the video files onto it. it does it that way for liability.
I think the idea of using OBD is that when the ignition key turns off the dashcam senses a change in voltage and switches from (constant) operating mode to park mode, which operates only periodically and briefly to conserve battery power. It is likely to only come to life when a sensor indicates outside movement near the car, or a nudge to the vehicle, or else it just takes 1fps snaps until the car is started again. A power pack for £20-£40 gives peace of mind for your poor old car battery, but many dashcams claim that they automatically shut down when your car battery voltage drops to a specified threshold. But bear in mind these dashcams are often made in China where reliability and quality control is the Opposite of Germany. The OBD port is a discreet location near the door and therefore it's usually easy to hide cabling runs to it.
when the hell are they going to "make vehicles", with all the dash cams ya want.....I have no need and don't really care about them. But I'm here to always be edjumacated by Mr. T.
Great review. My daughters 2014 Corolla S, odb port stays powered all the time. So, I did not use it to power the Dashcam we bought. The accessory plug that came with her Mini 0806 has a sliding back cover so you can plug a standard usb cable in to the back of it if you needed to charge an accessory. Take care and thanks for the great reviews.
1. There are dash-cams which can sense when the car is standing still, and they go into "parking mode" which is very low power consuming (one picture every second). I have one of these, it's called "mini 0807" and is really really good (it's an older model, i think there are newer ones now). When something hits the car the dashcam immediately starts recording with HD-quality and sound. This camera has recorded a hit-and-run so far, saved me 2000$ in repairs. 2. Some cars, BMW for example, sense the battery level and when the cars battery is getting too drained, they cut the power-feed to the OBD-port and 12V sockets in the car. My BMW 520D lasts about 6 hours in parking mode before it shuts off the power to the OBD. I have had my dashcam installed for two years and have never had any problems, works like a charm.
OBD PORT power conections pin 16 12v pin 4-5 ground are direct chasis ground and direct battery 12v from a fuse of constant 12v of all the vehicle (same wire); others pins go to all car ECUs. there no will be ANY damage to the car using this device.
+matias constancio i don't understand why everyone is saying this is a bad ideia. This is literally a direct connection to the battery and in most vehicles (probably all) it passes through the fusebox for added protection. This WONT damage your obd connector nor will it communicate with the ECU. It is the same as tapping the fusebox directly.
matias constancio @ Miguel Simões You are 100% right! There is no Witchcraft @ work on the OBD Port. Its clearly defined Pins who have Power (Fused) and Ground
There's a new version that pairs this with a switch as well as a proximity sensor eradar which only draws power when and where an object comes within 3-5 m of the car, and auto switches off when there is no subsequent movement. It is also paired with an on off switch. Presumably, this deals with the issues of overdrawing from battery while running the car or after the ignition is switched off. The plug and play nature of an OBD based power source, and a 12V to 5V step down is a great USP
I have a blackvue camera, was about 200 quid but it takes power permanently from the battery and the switching on and off is done based on the GPS and weather the car is moving or not. I have it in parking mode so when the car stops it only records if it sees movement or senses a jolt, with a rolling buffer. I think if your really serious about a proper dash cam, one like this is the best choice. I had a 0803 and 0805 before and the blackvue blows them out of the water. Well worth it.
Also in my experience OBD ports should always supply voltage, I've worked for a shop for about 2 years and I don't recall any cars that weren't like that.
+Franco Gentili Reus yes, correct, it was Jeremy not James that tested the Smart Roadster (he really liked it). ua-cam.com/video/n4OMXcbXuhc/v-deo.htmlm19s
People saying it would drain your battery but wouldn't it draw the same amount of power if it was hardwired to the fuses? Whats the difference? I never hear people saging that will drain the battery.
OBD ports always carry a constant power feed and an earth - some manufacturers use a pin for an ignition supply, but this is not always the case. This adaptor will just take the live and earth pins - You won't damage your car taking power from the OBD port this way. Neat way if it suits your needs tho.
I left my S6 plugged into my truck charger for 2 days and it still started up just fine. Yes my cig lighter is always powered. If a constantly on power source scares yall just remember its been done for almost 50 years now?
OBD is fused with a 5A fuse in any case, and the always on is there for the connection of the diagnostic scanner, as often you are required to switch the engine off and on again to verify codes are cleared. Great if you have a dashcam with voltage sensing or inertial motion sensing, or if you want the parked sensing, but otherwise not so good. Best to hard wire it in to the wiring, and you can use a simple tap in connector to do that, using the rear of the accessory socket and some spade tap in connectors.
+SeanBZA Good for European cars maybe (I myself have a Saab which turns on and off the accessory port when the key is turned to the on position), but I know many people with American cars and the lighter socket is on all the time. Stupid design, but I guess it makes sense if you're using it as a real cigarette lighter, might have the car off and you want a smoke lol.
Check eBay for "blade fuse tap", no need to cut into any wires, and just put the earth under a metal chassis screw. Do check your blade fuse size first as there appears to be 3 sizes, mini/micro/standard.
+bridgendesar Some cars like the Roadster that Mat has and most Mercedes have auxiliary fuse ports on the fuse box to add extras like this easily with a specially designed fuse holder.
I just run a small wire from the dashcam to the ceiling lights, just tuck it under the roof lining, you will normally find a permanent live up there. But, unfortunately not going to help with a convertible car like yours. But scotchloks connectors are very good for a low power device like a dashcam, just tap into any suitable circuit - radio supply will do fine.
another solution : buy a rechargeable battery pack (lets say 20,000 MAh) for about $10 U.S. and you'll have power for your dash cam for all day long. you also can recharge your battery pack via the 12V in your car.
Thankyou, I searched online to see if the OBD is a permanent live & came across this. I was going to get one of those adaptors for when I installed the dashcam in my wife's car but as it's not ignition switched I'll go the usual (ignition fed) cigarette lighter socket route.
I think its a good thing the dash cam keeps running because someone could break into your car and steal something (yes that's happened to me and didn't have a dash cam) so its good to keep it running so its recording when you're not in the car in case someone steals something from your car or hits your car while parked and takes off. just get an obd cable for the dash cam with low voltage detection so it doesn't kill the battery.
Worth noting for some electric cars: your high voltage battery may automatically recharge your 12 volt battery if it detects it's getting low. Some EVs do this and it's awesome. Also many obd plugs have low voltage cut off circuits in them so you don't need to worry about it anyway. :)
I thought you had a Mini, not a Smart Roadster. Nice car though, must be very plesant to drive it, especially now, with the weather improving. Great video as always!
Many dash cams now that have a parking more require a switched ignition line, and a always hot wire. These can be taken from the radio harness, and on some vehicles, you can take the power from the interior lights, and map lights if the map lights are switched.
There is a built in kill switch to prevent yr vehicles battery from draining and causing a no start condition. This allows your vehicle to record in parking mode without draining your battery. Also park mode only records for a few mins then shuts off if no movement is detected. Anyways I have the obd wire kit and is supposed to supply power at all times just like a telematics receiver for your insurance company that plugs into your OBD port. If it is draining your battery you most definitely have a short somewhere and would advise you to get that fixed asap or the obd port adapter is broken and the built in kill switch has failed and either will not work at all or basically heats up so much it sodders itself into an open current position causing a constant power drain. That would require a replacement obd adapter
I bought 3 of these with female usb adapter to connect my dashcams, it works really good, I leave it on at all times, soo far have not killed the battery, fast and easy to connect
Car ECUs and PCMs are notorious for having issues with just being sensitive. Wiring and fuses for the circuits are rated to handle what the computer needs not really more than that. OBDII ports themselves can be made cheaply too, I've seen them broken away and for some reason unresponsive to OBDII readers, (both used GM cars.) I wouldn't use one for anything other than reading or clearing codes when there is a problem. There are apps you can get for free that reflect from a smartphone screen. The image is inverted so it reads properly on the glass without having the phone in the way. The apps use GPS to obtain your speed. This is good because you have 2 sources for your speed. The car's speedometer and the GPS. You can compare them and see how accurate your car is or compensate for wheel/tire size changes if you've made changes.
+PGTMR2 GM's early implimentation of OBD was awful. Vauxhall Corsa's (A GM car) are notorious for not wanting to talk to OBDII readers even when the port's not been messed with
The vehicles I referred to were 04 and 05 models, that's 8 years into OBDII. The 05 wouldn't communicate with my reader after 1 or 2 uses where it worked fine. The reader was still good, works for everything else. It's been plugged into all sorts of cars Ford, Dodge, Mazda. Even my OBDII swapped OBDI car, (performance upgrade for a MAF and better a/f maps.)
+PGTMR2 There is an obd spec, it says 12v 4a. There is a fused line going to pin 16 of the obd port on EVERY obd2 car ... becaust that is the obd2 spec. It's fine.
I don't think a (healthy) car battery could run low by a connected dashcam or something similar. It just doesn't consume that much energy other than e.g. the headlights or the radio. But I would rather not mess with the OBD port by connecting a cheap adapter. But as always, interesting video! :)
Using the port should't damage anything in theory. The problem could be if a product you are attaching has some fault - perhaps a short in the wiring. There is the potential (although quite remote) that you could destroy the ECU - very expensive. Much safer to get a gadget to attach the device to the vehicle's fuse box - safer too in case of overloads (getting hot/catching fire, and so on) etc.
Another option I did was to make up two male/female blade connector short wires , with a lead joining each into a new separate cigarette lighter socket. The short wires plug into the old cig lighter at the back and the car loom. now you have a second socket to plug the dash cam into. It's all removable and no damage to the cars wiring etc
I'm not saying that it will or will not damage the car, but I will negate your point by saying that no one constantly has a diagnostics computer plugged into their car, unless they have one of those chinese "fuel saver" boxes, which are dubious anyhow.
Bayly Buchanan, I've had my little bluetooth diagnostic plug in for years now... It works just fine. The only thing you got to worry about is as the video points out, the socket is always powered. My plug has a power saving mode which draws very very little power as long as no phone is currently connected to it, so it's in there drawing power for sometimes week at a time without the engine powering up, with no issues whatsoever. You're not damaging your battery any faster than you should be replacing it anyway due to aging so no worries there either. So really, the power is the only issue... Well ofc, aside from physical damage you may cause if you bump into stuff connected to the port which might bend your port and such things but that issue exist for everything in your car.
Id say its fine to power your stuff assuming you check where where the 5v is coming from, ECU or straight from battery. Also check the fuse rating on the OBD port but seeing as it hasn't blown its probably fine.
Reading through Wikipedia about OBD(2) I found the diagram of the adapter stating that 1 of the Pins in it: Pin1: VW/Audi/BMW: Switched +12V to tell a scan tool whether the ignition is on, I wonder if the OBD is un-powered on German cars when the ignition is off. I can't test it tho, as I do not have one of those adapters. In each case, if it does not use that specific lead, you could probably rewire it to make it use that and have ignition-based power of OBD. PS: I bet that the OBD adapter uses the last wire tho, which seems to be international standard for Battery Power out. PS2: To know wether you have OBD2: Unlike the OBD-I connector, which was sometimes found under the hood of the vehicle, the OBD-II connector is required to be within 2 feet (0.61 m) of the steering wheel Source: "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics"
+SuperDeadSix I tried it in the Mini as well as the Smart and it stayed powered in that too. However I seem to recall that when I used an OBD device in my 2009 Smart a few years ago that it turned off when the car did - but perhaps it was being smart and looking at when the data stopped (or something) and actually going into standby. I think the only way to be sure is to try it out on your own vehicle.
+youfermont Maybe the Bluetooth adapter checks that specific cable I mentioned to see if the ignition is on and then responds to that. That was my idea here, to build a small circuit that does that, all in 1 like a USB Adapter for the OBD t hat has 2 modes "turn off with ignition" or "always on", could be done quite easily, but probably isn't as international as only german cars seem to have that 1 wire ('least according to wikipedia).
In the US, it has been my experience that the Cigarette Lighter Port/12V Accessory Port does not turn off when you turn off the ignition with domestic vehicles. The only "foreign" vehicles I've owned are Toyotas, and they both turned off the 12V socket when the ignition was turned off. So, I don't really see an issue here, given how little power these cameras and phones use, compared to other items that usually cause you to drain the battery, like headlights.
ask your battery after a few months. Factory batteries don't like draining and recharging like that they will fail and the worse time. BTW in 4runner the rear 12v does in fact not turn off. just an fyi
Same thing for iPODS, some cars power ports are continuously powered and you can drain your battery leaving the iPOD plugged in. Good thing to check so you don't have a dead battery. Now day's with cars having 5 computers it doesn't take long for batteries to go dead a lot faster then older cars with the same battery.
By today Aukey sells an OBD hardwire kit for their dashcams which includes motion sensor for turning on and off the camera when needed or not! Cool thing... not tried with non-aukey cameras but... I bet the thing is merely switching in 5V to the dashcam when detecting motion, I might measure it in the future and let you know!
Thanks TM ...after viewing the video , placed the order, it just arrived ,followed your instructions , 10 mins ...BINGO ! Excellent ...keep 'em coming !
My main concern/dislike with this setup is you need to 'manually' turn it on and off, and if like me, you have a terrible memory, you could find yourself in an accident one day and realize you forgot to flick the switch and now have zero evidence of the crash - I'd almost rather it be always on than potentially forget to switch it on.
I think you should use a piggyback fuse holder instead. That way you can pick a circuit that delivers power when you'd like it to do. (you will need an extra fuse though.) Wire the voltage converter into the piggyback, pop the original fuse back in and the extra one for your circuit. Making sure the positive connection is on the positive output of the socket. A decent negative connection can usually be found at nearly every nearby bolt or screw into the cassis. You could also easily undo all of that work leaving no trace of it.
very old video for me to comment but juist adding my 2 cents... if you take this approach (power from the obd port), there are cables you can get which will auto cut off once the battery voltage reaches a low state.... (ie: it wont drain the battery completely).... as to how good this is for the battery, prob not too good (its still draining the battery to a lowish state), but better then draining it flat....
Using the OBD port to power devices can't really harm the car in any way. Still, some of my cars keep the OBD port powered at all times, so leaving something connected is a good way to find a flat battery if you leave it too long.
I never though of that. I actually like the idea. That's what I'm gonna do when I pass my test. I can actually see what's going on when I parked. With having a nice car and not living in a nice area,this'll be a good way to see what's going on.
i know you don't do dash cams anymore but Garmin makes a cable now that goes to micro USB and it has a switch to select continues power or to shut off after 24 hours to protect the battery
Annoyingly, the OBD port does have a switched 12v pin (I know this as this is where I took 12v from when I hard wired mine). Techmoan, how easy does this look to modify to take power from a different pin? From memory it's one of the corner pins that is switched 12v, may make this a much more workable solution for some people!
+liambowers666 It is held together with two Philips screws. Inside a red positive wire goes to pin 16 and a black negative wire goes to pin 4&5 (a solder bridge joins them). The red and black wires then attach to a small transformer board.
+TheChipmunk2008 why ouch? Dude seriously, do you understand electronics? Why make a comment on something you don't understand? Pins 4 and 5 are both ground.. one goes directly to the chassis and the other goes through the ECU. This is done to lower the interference when you connect a diagnostics tool (although it doesn't matter for this adapter because it doesn't send data).. but they are both ground, they ARE shorted even if you don't connect anything to the port.. Geez
+Miguel Simões If you can't understand why a potential disconnection of pin 4 due to a loose connection on the chassis ground (not unheard of) could cause the device to dump 2.5amps down the SIGNAL ground which is presented on a separate pin for a reason, as it may have a tiny trace on the VERY expensive ECU, then maybe YOU shouldn't be commenting eh?
+TheChipmunk2008 Mother of god, it's even worse that i thought. Dude, the GND pins on the ECU and pin 5 on the OBD cabe are ALSO soldered together inside the ECU, and no.. not with a tiny trace but either a huge ground plane or big blobs of solder. The only reason you have a separate pin is to give you a cleaner and more direct GND connection between the ECU and your OBD device. The OBD connector is made in a way that gives you the option to use the best ground path for your application. Pin 5 is recommended if not mandatory for uses where data is exchanged.. For uses like the one in this video, you can connect directly to the chassis or both.
Why on EARTH would that be a bad idea? How could it possibly damage anything? It's just a 12V power point! Just as dangerous as using the cigarette lighter socket.......
I recommend replacing all important fuses in your car with automatic reset circuit breakers That's too say things like Engine Management, ABS, Collision Avoidance RADAR etc not so much heated seats fuses They tend to last much longer and are more reliable too trip very few fuses burn out at the actual rated power rating or at the right amount of time often taking much longer and/or at a much higher power level than it should!
I think the best idea is to get a radio ISO connectors (both male and female), solder them together and steal a switched voltage and ground for your hard wire set from these two wires.
+TrinomCZ if your going to do that, might as well just stick with the fusebox method with a fuse piggy back, it will be easier to wire in and not have to mess with radio wires, not all cars use iso connectors and making a small extension lead you may end up losing some functions with the radio.
Phill R Fusebox method is fine, unless you have a tight cover, which makes this method unusable. I agree, no every car has ISO connector, but it's a standard here in Europe. The power plug doesn't contain any aditional leads, than power (key + permanent), ground, backlight and antenna power. Therefore I still think it is the cleanest solution in this case.
TrinomCZ in a car (typically older ones with iso) then yes that would be a perfect solution, however more modern cars (especially techmoans) would probably use a quadlock connector and its those connectors that have many different connections like steering wheel controls, can bus, fiber optic etc. making a extension for one of those would be least cost effective and would be more hassle than whats its worth. also a lot of people would be too afraid to take apart a cars dash board unlike some of us.
Not all cars have a directly ignition controlled fuse to take a feed from these days, many use the CANBUS to tell things when they should be on or off,.The only ignition switch controlled fuse in my 2004 A3 fusebox is for the rear wiper for some weird reason, everything else is switched by the ECU.
3:07 - 3:27 Why bother with a switch? You could use a common parking mode power kit with selectable minimum voltage settings, below which the thing get shut off, or by using a time duration setting, probably available in your dash cam's settings (although YMMV), as an approximation.
Use a fuse tap to power your hard-wired USB PSU. No need to cut into cables, everything is protected by its own fuse and they only cost a few quid! You can get them for standard size automotive fuses and micro and mini size. I use them to power my dashcams.
I was watching some videos and related video linked showing powering dash camera via OBD-II port. To get to the point, one of the best dash camera manufacturer ' Thinkware Dash Cam' has approved a 3rd party OBD-II power adapter called "EchoMaster OBD II Power Cable" and even selling it on their website directly + even made a video about it as well. I think this should give enough confidence that... OBD-II port can used without any issues?
Are charging cables interchangeable for dash cams? As in "The mini 801, 803, 805 and 806 can use the same charging cable"? Thanks for any input you have.
This is also important if you plan on using an ELM327 OBD2 reader with the Torque app - you should get an ELM327 with a switch, or use the extension switch as shown in the video. Otherwise the battery will go flat.
Great, you post this a bit late for me now! lol Had I known this I think I would have chosen this method for my dashcam, the manual switch would be great. I went for the hardwire which is very neat and tidy but not always the most convenient as I would like to be able to run the camera more manually sometimes. Oh well, maybe in my next car :)
Add-a-fuse works great and is completely reversable. sockets in place of an existing or unused fuse in your car, taps off a new fuse and passes thru the old fuse.
for most cars, the cigarette lighter will always remain on. And thats why they use it for trickle chargers or to open the boot/hood on a flat batttery if the car has no mehanical latch
did you know on the smart roadster Ecu has about 6 connectors on the side, 3 switched and 3 permanent. Smart do the adaptor you need or you can just crimp a spade to the cable and use that, connect neutral to any metal part of the car and you are good to go. I had a Windows car PC installed in my Roadster :-)
As long as you're a person that drives drive everyday it probably wouldn't drain your battery fully, but it really depends on how much driving you do since your alternator will recharge your battery.
Ironically, on a lot of GM vehicles, the OBD-II port is powered from the cigar lighter fuse to begin with! The power line on the ODB-II port doesn't come from the ECM. Only the data pins are linked to the ECM. You can blow the fuse to the OBD-II port while the ECM will keep working just fine.
+Zzyzx Wolfe Wonder if that's why Vauxhall Corsas (mentioned in another comment above) have a godawful time communicating with OBD-II readers, if they pick up voltage drop from cig lighter accessories it could make the data signals fed from a different voltage than the OBD-II reader..
+TheChipmunk2008 Possibly. I know with GM truck and SUVs, if the cigar lighter/power port has been abused and has an internal short, you need to fix that, or at least disconnect the cigar lighter, so that it will stop blowing fuses so you can get your diagnostic tool to work. Plus, on a lot of them, the cigar lighter is right in front of the cup holders, so that's an easy way to blow the fuse. Fortunately the PCM is on its own fuse, so it's completely unaffected if the OBD-II port loses power, other than losing the ability to connect a diagnostic tool until you fix it!
They've upped their game, these come with a 5 min power down/parking mode switch on the back, so you can use parking mode if you feel the need at the local supermarket!
Techmoan :- Have you considered testing 'Battery Saver' devices such as the 'Power Magic Pro' which cut the feed when the battery voltage drops below a certain threshold value - so if fed from a permanent supply, when engine is switched off it will cut power to the dashcam when voltage drops to say 12.2v. As I couldn't find a switched feed in the rear hatch - {fitting cam to rear window} - I need something like this to automatically kill power shortly after Ive stopped.
I wouldn't recommend plugging anything other than diagnostic equipment into the obd2 socket because any malfunction in the devices connected could cause serious ecu damage or dangerous operation of vehicle systems, e.g unintended acceleration as no compatibility or safety tests are preformed as vehicle manufacturers do not intend on having owners plugging devices into the obd2 socket. Although you can power a device from a obd2 socket the standard only allows for a maximum of 4 amp whereas a cigarette lighter socket will provide over 10 amp.
+MrOpenGL I didn't say you couldn't power a dash cam from the obd 2 socket. What I'm getting at is that there is so little overhead should anything go wrong it could at best blow the fuse and depending on the wiring immobilise the vehicle or at worst destroy the ecu or cause a fire. The vehicle manufacturers do not intend the end user to be connecting devices of unknown origin and poor quality to the obd 2 socket. The worst thing about this is the seller's are selling these plugs to people who don't know what the obd 2 socket is and how much damage can be done if it malfunctions.
100racer It should only be connected to the Vbat and GND lines of the CAN connector. The worse it could happen is that the internal converter shorts out and blows the CAN fuse. It cannot blow the ECU or damage the vehicle.
+MrOpenGL Power over obd has been used by diagnostic equipment before the obd2 standard was created. So if it is as risk free as you say how come mainstream manufacturers of car chargers haven't utilised it? Because if anything happened to cause a bridge between pins you could send 12v right into can line potentially destroying all the vehicle electronics, from my experience manufacturers do not build input protection on obd sockets because they don't intend anyone connecting anything other than diagnostic equipment into the diagnostic socket. I've seen one of my colleagues cause £4800 in damage because he accidently put 12v down the can line when he was fitting a tracker. If you need extra power outlets wire them in properly or buy a splitter.
Yep I purchased a vantrue dash cam and got thh OBD and yep even not in park mode. my battery went dead! And happen to me twice on 1 month! Brand new car too! Never again. Il just use the cigarette lighter plug i think!
As long as the OBD2 adapter does not touch the CAN lines it should be fine... I would be more worried about a dodgy DC-DC convertor design. And of course discharging the battery. Car batteries don't like operating as long term power sources (as you mentioned in the video). - Eddy
+Deathlok67 The data lines on the obd port are opto-isolated. You could technically apply 220v ac to it and it would be fine ... not that you should attempt this ...
I was mainly referring to data, not DC voltage. Having the dongle "on the bus" can cause strange side effects in some vehicles, for example the activity may keep the ECU active longer after the car is turned off, increasing battery drain.
very interesting that anyone would even try this, unless you car is from the 80s or older it has the 12v cigarette lighter power supply. my 1986 ex military chevy k30 didnt have one but it had the hole for one and easily installed one. if you only have one in your vehicle they sell splitters for them. ironically on most newer cars the obd port is on the same fuse as the cigarette lighter fuse so if one doesnt work they both arent going to work
I just remember I would see some 80s cars that didn't have them like my 86 Chevy it just had a little circular plate where the hole was, heck it doesn't even have carpet You used to be able to order cars with no options, my uncle was so cheap he ordered a s10 pick up with no radio and no front bumper. Don't remember if it had a cigarette lighter though lol
The lighter in my car is non functioning. Its been checked and rechecked and the problem has been traced to somewhere in the wiring. So for me this is actually a pretty decent solution, as it is a decent bit cheaper than some of the quotes I've gotten for fixing the lighter ports. But honestly I doubt I would do this method if the lighter ports were working
If im going to have only DDPai M4 base connected to it ( actual camera module removed) , will it drain the car battery? If it doesnt then its quite neat solution tather than tinckering with fuse box. Please reply Technomoan.
My older vehicle is one of the last ones that keeps the lighter port hot when the ignition is off, I like it for charging my cell phone while the car is parked. The newer vehicles all seem to switch it off when the key is out, which really annoys me, so this is good to know.
+Techmoan I can list all my views at great length, then you can read them back in your youtube voice and I will have the perfect opinion validating review I always wanted.
Like i said on the bottom, it's perfectly ok to use the OBD port for this application. I just wouldn't add the inline power switch because it will add more resistance to the circuit and make it messier (pins + cable + switch + cabe + pins + cable.. instead of just pins + cable + switch + cable). Just strip the wires from the OBD adapter you bought, buy a lamp switch and add it there.
As an auto mechanic, I can definitively say that using the OBD-II port for power is not dangerous or harmful in any way, provided that the adapter is made properly, and uses only the power pins for power. The power pins are a direct battery connection (through a fuse, of course) and are not connected to any onboard computer. Nearly every diagnostic scanner out there draws its power from that source, and those use a lot more power than a dash cam does. In addition, fleet tracking devices use it for power. Many insurance company tracking systems do so. In fact, many cars (a lot of General Motors models, for example) even have the power pins on the OBD-II port on the same circuit as the power outlets- connecting to those is exactly like plugging something in to your cigarette lighter. People who are saying you might damage your vehicle's electronics have no idea how these things work. Again, the sole caveat is that the power cord is made properly, and only connects to the power pins. It's essentially the same as using USB for power. You have power pins, and you have data pins. Same thing on OBD-II ports. The different OBD-II protocols (CAN-BUS, ISO9141, Keyword 2000, K-line, etc) all have their own pinouts for data, but the power connections always use the same pins on all cars.
It's important to also clarify that as a power source it's an output signal. It's coming out of the connector and not going into the OBD connector or computer.
thanks for the info!
I read your comment carefully. It shows that you are someone who talks with knowledge. I'm going to try this on my brand new XC40. I hope no problem will occur :)
Thanks for very useful info. I have a question please:- As connecting the dashcam via the OBD will mean the power is constant will this drain the battery completely or would it take many days for that to happen? And with this is mind would you suggest an in-line power detector that turns off the dashcam when the battery charge drops below a certain amount or is it not necessary?
@@inquistive most decent dashcams (viofo, blackview, thinkware) have low voltage control. When they're in parking mode they drop to almost nothing when you park. And will shut themselves off when low voltage is found.
OBD has a spec, you can look it up.
All the internet experts can pipe down now.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics#OBD-II_diagnostic_connector
OBD spec says 4 amps @ 12v or 2 amps @ 24v, so 48 watts of power ...
I've been using my obd port to power home made diagnostic tools for quite some time.
It's perfectly fine.
This is just another case of some people pretending they know something, and passing that on as "advice".
+detaart This poster is dead-on correct. Also note that the spec calls out the +12V as battery voltage in particular - OBDII spec requires that +12V be directly from the battery, not switched. Any device that plugs into an OBD port and automatically shuts off after a time must be checking for actual OBD data and going to sleep when they don't see any.
With that said, I'd also run a proper "add-a-circuit" before I would run this. Done properly, you would not have to modify anything on the car's existing wiring - you unplug a fuse, plug the add-a-circuit in place of the fuse, and plug the existing fuse into one of the two fuse slots on the add-a-circuit. The other fuse on the add-a-circuit goes to the wire coming off of it, run that to your device, and ground your device at a good nearby ground.
IOwnCalculus Sound advice.
I would prefer this solution myself, because it would keep the obd port free, so it can be used for it's intended purpose.
+IOwnCalculus If the OBDII port delivers direct battery power, I'd be interested to know how the Valentine1 with Savvy knows how to turn off when the ignition gets switched off.
Eric Caldwell probably has something that can read data from the obd port. it's intended as a data output after all.
i had my insurance device called ajusto plugged in for almost 2 years now with no issues
Some ODB 12v supply fluctuate over the limit during engine running which burn my ODB gps tracker. So be careful to include a fuse in between your device.
I'd just like to thank you for uploading stuff for me to watch on a sunday like this. I've noticed my feed sort of dries up on weekends and by sunday I usually have to re-watch something old if I want anything interesting.
I have wired in several G1W cameras over the years (first one bought on a recommendation from Techmoan, ta muchly!). The problem with cheaper dashcams (and possibly expensive ones too) is that the supplied PSUs are very noisy. Recently I wired a dashcam by using a piggyback fuse off the OBD circuit (this was due to the configuration of the fuseboxes in that car), and the noise the PSU introduced on the OBD power lines was enough to bring up random error messages every few minutes. I removed it and no more error messages.
Hopefully the OBD power supplies are sufficiently well-built to avoid that, but the best way I have found is to piggyback from the cigarette lighter as this circuit is usually fairly robust against noisy electronics and is usually switched by the ignition. On one occasion I even had to bin the supplied PSU and use a high-quality branded USB supply and cable due to a particularly sensitive FM tuner that couldn't be avoided without having cables on show.
I hate extra wires, I'm going to great lengths to hide as much as I can, my main complaint is lack of accessory sockets! My car is an 07 model and it has 1. I don't like 3 or 4 way plugs as they're messy. I'm hard wiring my 3 cams with a voltage drop switch, and adding some USB ports and mounting 2 extra power sockets. It will look stock and neat, which is exactly what I want. One of these would temporarily solve my problem, but I have a blackvue and it has a different socket to everything else so it won't work, but I could put a different camera up front and do it, so I might give it a go. Good review Tech, great info.
If it only taps the power pins it should be safe (other than draining the battery). It should be a more or less direct connection to the battery to enable voltage measurement.
+Robert Szasz All cars will have an inline fuse to the OBD port however, most cars also run other ancillaries from the same fuse. Depending on what else runs from that fuse would indicate the level of trouble you'd be in if the fuse blew.
However, fuses are consumable units that are designed to fail so there is almost no way a car would be damaged if the fuse blew. Fit a new fuse and off you go.
+Evil from evilution In VWs anyway the OBD port has its own 7.5A fuse. I'd have no qualms about using a product like this, though when I add a device to the car I typically add a fuse to the fusebox with factory repair wires.
I made a "frankenbox" for my car, a wireless 4 channel relay, a small plastic box to contain everything, and the lighter sockets to get power to everything. The main power comes from the socket in my console, the box and other sockets are under the passenger seat and the wires go out from there tucked under moldings and such. I have the remote mounted on the headliner, pretty slick.
They make piggyback fuse holders, depending on what fuse you choose it may be live all the time or go on and off with the ignition, very easy to hardwire something safely without making any permanent modifications.
thank you. I never knew this socket could be used in such ways. I always thought it was only for mechanical diagnostic.Now I have to find a use for it:)
You can buy OBD power adapters that switch between accessory or always on (ie ignition switched or always on) that have a low voltage detection circuit built in, and auto cut off when the battery voltage drops below a fixed threshold. I use one, and it works fine.
link pls?
Can you please share us the link where can buy it ?
i have this vantrue 2pro, i used the OBD port adapter on my honda accord hybrid, and it is a perfect setup! had it in sentry mode or parking mode for days, and no drain on battery. wont consume your battery, and its a clean install with no wires all hidden up to the windshield!! do it!!
A video recorder should be standard Ina car integrated by the factory. They've already go a standard rear camera. Just add one to the front and a DVR.
+Shao Zhang I agree. I know some of the new performance Chevy cars have dashcams/data loggers in them. The C7 Vette and ZL1 Camaro to name a couple. I saw a story a while ago of the Corvette's camera catching a valet hitting like 50mph in a parking garage.
well, there is a problem with certain markets. In Germany and Austria, dascams are not really legal because of privacy issues. And I even met people, who agree with their governments, saying that dashcams should have built-in face and number plate bluring function!
Luckily, there are countries where dashcams are ok, and some insurers providing a discount for having one.
tesla has a dash cam built in, but it doesn't save any recordings unless you have a USB SSD installed and tell the car to save the video files onto it. it does it that way for liability.
@@jur4x so Germany & Astria are Communist nations? Pity...I would use one anyway!
@@jimbritttn Just another guy who has no clue what communism is.
I think the idea of using OBD is that when the ignition key turns off the dashcam senses a change in voltage and switches from (constant) operating mode to park mode, which operates only periodically and briefly to conserve battery power. It is likely to only come to life when a sensor indicates outside movement near the car, or a nudge to the vehicle, or else it just takes 1fps snaps until the car is started again.
A power pack for £20-£40 gives peace of mind for your poor old car battery, but many dashcams claim that they automatically shut down when your car battery voltage drops to a specified threshold. But bear in mind these dashcams are often made in China where reliability and quality control is the Opposite of Germany.
The OBD port is a discreet location near the door and therefore it's usually easy to hide cabling runs to it.
The OBD2 port is constant 12 volts in every car I've ever seen. It is there for powering scan tools.
China makes an adapter for everything.
+RazorBeamz Because I've always needed a USB to Bicycle Pump adapter
+Rambi “Rambi9000” DVI-D to 9 pin Nixie Tube
Yeah, they've even adapted Communism to Capitalism.
I think that needed a right-angled cord as well, lol
+FrennisDaemon Or is a leftist cord needed?
Adapter for your Brain?
when the hell are they going to "make vehicles", with all the dash cams ya want.....I have no need and don't really care about them. But I'm here to always be edjumacated by Mr. T.
Great review. My daughters 2014 Corolla S, odb port stays powered all the time. So, I did not use it to power the Dashcam we bought. The accessory plug that came with her Mini 0806 has a sliding back cover so you can plug a standard usb cable in to the back of it if you needed to charge an accessory. Take care and thanks for the great reviews.
1. There are dash-cams which can sense when the car is standing still, and they go into "parking mode" which is very low power consuming (one picture every second). I have one of these, it's called "mini 0807" and is really really good (it's an older model, i think there are newer ones now). When something hits the car the dashcam immediately starts recording with HD-quality and sound. This camera has recorded a hit-and-run so far, saved me 2000$ in repairs.
2. Some cars, BMW for example, sense the battery level and when the cars battery is getting too drained, they cut the power-feed to the OBD-port and 12V sockets in the car. My BMW 520D lasts about 6 hours in parking mode before it shuts off the power to the OBD. I have had my dashcam installed for two years and have never had any problems, works like a charm.
So if BMW cuts off power supply to OBD in 6 hours of parking mode. How do you run your dash in parking mode for longer duration ?
@@harisjav I can’t.. have to add another battery if I’d wanna run longer than that
What I would have done is buy a spare/replacement tray and drill out a corner so I could close it properly.
Good to know this option exists!
OBD PORT power conections pin 16 12v pin 4-5 ground are direct chasis ground and direct battery 12v from a fuse of constant 12v of all the vehicle (same wire); others pins go to all car ECUs. there no will be ANY damage to the car using this device.
+matias constancio i don't understand why everyone is saying this is a bad ideia. This is literally a direct connection to the battery and in most vehicles (probably all) it passes through the fusebox for added protection. This WONT damage your obd connector nor will it communicate with the ECU. It is the same as tapping the fusebox directly.
matias constancio @ Miguel Simões
You are 100% right! There is no Witchcraft @ work on the OBD Port. Its clearly defined Pins who have Power (Fused) and Ground
i wouldent worry about drilling holes in that car interior, it looks very cheap and nasty. what a difference to that gorgeous mini interior.
The pinout for OBD ports lists Pin 16 as Battery voltage. It will be on permanently in any vehicle that abides by the standard afaik.
+Marineio Considering that it's odd, that the USB converter thing doesn't have a switch built into it, makes it much less functional in my opinion.
There's a new version that pairs this with a switch as well as a proximity sensor eradar which only draws power when and where an object comes within 3-5 m of the car, and auto switches off when there is no subsequent movement. It is also paired with an on off switch. Presumably, this deals with the issues of overdrawing from battery while running the car or after the ignition is switched off. The plug and play nature of an OBD based power source, and a 12V to 5V step down is a great USP
I have a blackvue camera, was about 200 quid but it takes power permanently from the battery and the switching on and off is done based on the GPS and weather the car is moving or not. I have it in parking mode so when the car stops it only records if it sees movement or senses a jolt, with a rolling buffer. I think if your really serious about a proper dash cam, one like this is the best choice. I had a 0803 and 0805 before and the blackvue blows them out of the water. Well worth it.
Or for about half the price (or less), something like the Goluk T1 does the same job.
Also in my experience OBD ports should always supply voltage, I've worked for a shop for about 2 years and I don't recall any cars that weren't like that.
Used to have a theory about you being James May in disguise. The Smart utterly destroyed it today.
+Franco Gentili Reus yes, correct, it was Jeremy not James that tested the Smart Roadster (he really liked it). ua-cam.com/video/n4OMXcbXuhc/v-deo.htmlm19s
People saying it would drain your battery but wouldn't it draw the same amount of power if it was hardwired to the fuses? Whats the difference? I never hear people saging that will drain the battery.
OBD ports always carry a constant power feed and an earth - some manufacturers use a pin for an ignition supply, but this is not always the case. This adaptor will just take the live and earth pins - You won't damage your car taking power from the OBD port this way. Neat way if it suits your needs tho.
Almost all test equipment is powered by the obd2 port. No cellphone or tablet will draw enough power to damage the obd2 port.
+I AM THE GREAT CORNHOLIO! It's bot about damaging the port, it's draining the battery since it's always powered.
I left my S6 plugged into my truck charger for 2 days and it still started up just fine. Yes my cig lighter is always powered. If a constantly on power source scares yall just remember its been done for almost 50 years now?
"yall"
Genius idea! Could have used it last year before I started drilling holes though LOL
That Smart Roadster you have is a very cool car btw ;)
The Smart Roadster is an excellent choice of vehicle good sir!
OBD is fused with a 5A fuse in any case, and the always on is there for the connection of the diagnostic scanner, as often you are required to switch the engine off and on again to verify codes are cleared. Great if you have a dashcam with voltage sensing or inertial motion sensing, or if you want the parked sensing, but otherwise not so good. Best to hard wire it in to the wiring, and you can use a simple tap in connector to do that, using the rear of the accessory socket and some spade tap in connectors.
+SeanBZA Good for European cars maybe (I myself have a Saab which turns on and off the accessory port when the key is turned to the on position), but I know many people with American cars and the lighter socket is on all the time. Stupid design, but I guess it makes sense if you're using it as a real cigarette lighter, might have the car off and you want a smoke lol.
Cool stuff! I work in a maplin and have been posed a few questions/issues which could have been solved by this method. Thanks for the info!
I really enjoy this channel, keep it up.
Check eBay for "blade fuse tap", no need to cut into any wires, and just put the earth under a metal chassis screw. Do check your blade fuse size first as there appears to be 3 sizes, mini/micro/standard.
+bridgendesar Some cars like the Roadster that Mat has and most Mercedes have auxiliary fuse ports on the fuse box to add extras like this easily with a specially designed fuse holder.
Just make sure you choose the right fuses to piggyback for your model year, and the right spec fuse for our device itself.
A review of a Smart Roadster, please! :)
I just run a small wire from the dashcam to the ceiling lights, just tuck it under the roof lining, you will normally find a permanent live up there. But, unfortunately not going to help with a convertible car like yours. But scotchloks connectors are very good for a low power device like a dashcam, just tap into any suitable circuit - radio supply will do fine.
another solution : buy a rechargeable battery pack (lets say 20,000 MAh) for about $10 U.S. and you'll have power for your dash cam for all day long. you also can recharge your battery pack via the 12V in your car.
cheers =)
Thankyou, I searched online to see if the OBD is a permanent live & came across this. I was going to get one of those adaptors for when I installed the dashcam in my wife's car but as it's not ignition switched I'll go the usual (ignition fed) cigarette lighter socket route.
Its a good idea had no idea you can do this, very useful 😁
I think its a good thing the dash cam keeps running because someone could break into your car and steal something (yes that's happened to me and didn't have a dash cam) so its good to keep it running so its recording when you're not in the car in case someone steals something from your car or hits your car while parked and takes off. just get an obd cable for the dash cam with low voltage detection so it doesn't kill the battery.
dude....if someone breaks into your car they can just steal your dashcam
@@Matanumi but if it records to the cloud you will be able to see who stole it.
Worth noting for some electric cars: your high voltage battery may automatically recharge your 12 volt battery if it detects it's getting low. Some EVs do this and it's awesome. Also many obd plugs have low voltage cut off circuits in them so you don't need to worry about it anyway. :)
I thought you had a Mini, not a Smart Roadster. Nice car though, must be very plesant to drive it, especially now, with the weather improving. Great video as always!
+Fernando Martinez I have both.
Many dash cams now that have a parking more require a switched ignition line, and a always hot wire. These can be taken from the radio harness, and on some vehicles, you can take the power from the interior lights, and map lights if the map lights are switched.
There is a built in kill switch to prevent yr vehicles battery from draining and causing a no start condition. This allows your vehicle to record in parking mode without draining your battery. Also park mode only records for a few mins then shuts off if no movement is detected. Anyways I have the obd wire kit and is supposed to supply power at all times just like a telematics receiver for your insurance company that plugs into your OBD port. If it is draining your battery you most definitely have a short somewhere and would advise you to get that fixed asap or the obd port adapter is broken and the built in kill switch has failed and either will not work at all or basically heats up so much it sodders itself into an open current position causing a constant power drain. That would require a replacement obd adapter
I bought 3 of these with female usb adapter to connect my dashcams, it works really good, I leave it on at all times, soo far have not killed the battery, fast and easy to connect
what's the longest you've let the car it without turning it on? My car sits sometimes for 4-5 days before driving it.
Car ECUs and PCMs are notorious for having issues with just being sensitive. Wiring and fuses for the circuits are rated to handle what the computer needs not really more than that. OBDII ports themselves can be made cheaply too, I've seen them broken away and for some reason unresponsive to OBDII readers, (both used GM cars.) I wouldn't use one for anything other than reading or clearing codes when there is a problem.
There are apps you can get for free that reflect from a smartphone screen. The image is inverted so it reads properly on the glass without having the phone in the way. The apps use GPS to obtain your speed. This is good because you have 2 sources for your speed. The car's speedometer and the GPS. You can compare them and see how accurate your car is or compensate for wheel/tire size changes if you've made changes.
+PGTMR2 GM's early implimentation of OBD was awful. Vauxhall Corsa's (A GM car) are notorious for not wanting to talk to OBDII readers even when the port's not been messed with
The vehicles I referred to were 04 and 05 models, that's 8 years into OBDII. The 05 wouldn't communicate with my reader after 1 or 2 uses where it worked fine. The reader was still good, works for everything else. It's been plugged into all sorts of cars Ford, Dodge, Mazda. Even my OBDII swapped OBDI car, (performance upgrade for a MAF and better a/f maps.)
+PGTMR2 There is an obd spec, it says 12v 4a.
There is a fused line going to pin 16 of the obd port on EVERY obd2 car ... becaust that is the obd2 spec.
It's fine.
It's still playing with fire.
PGTMR2 Not at all.
I don't think a (healthy) car battery could run low by a connected dashcam or something similar.
It just doesn't consume that much energy other than e.g. the headlights or the radio.
But I would rather not mess with the OBD port by connecting a cheap adapter.
But as always, interesting video! :)
Using the port should't damage anything in theory. The problem could be if a product you are attaching has some fault - perhaps a short in the wiring. There is the potential (although quite remote) that you could destroy the ECU - very expensive. Much safer to get a gadget to attach the device to the vehicle's fuse box - safer too in case of overloads (getting hot/catching fire, and so on) etc.
Another option I did was to make up two male/female blade connector short wires
, with a lead joining each into a new separate cigarette lighter socket. The short wires plug into the old cig lighter at the back and the car loom. now you have a second socket to plug the dash cam into. It's all removable and no damage to the cars wiring etc
Scan tools are powered from the OBDII port so there is no reason why powering a usb device from it would damage the cars modules.
I'm not saying that it will or will not damage the car, but I will negate your point by saying that no one constantly has a diagnostics computer plugged into their car, unless they have one of those chinese "fuel saver" boxes, which are dubious anyhow.
Bayly Buchanan, I've had my little bluetooth diagnostic plug in for years now... It works just fine. The only thing you got to worry about is as the video points out, the socket is always powered. My plug has a power saving mode which draws very very little power as long as no phone is currently connected to it, so it's in there drawing power for sometimes week at a time without the engine powering up, with no issues whatsoever. You're not damaging your battery any faster than you should be replacing it anyway due to aging so no worries there either. So really, the power is the only issue... Well ofc, aside from physical damage you may cause if you bump into stuff connected to the port which might bend your port and such things but that issue exist for everything in your car.
Id say its fine to power your stuff assuming you check where where the 5v is coming from, ECU or straight from battery. Also check the fuse rating on the OBD port but seeing as it hasn't blown its probably fine.
Reading through Wikipedia about OBD(2) I found the diagram of the adapter stating that 1 of the Pins in it:
Pin1: VW/Audi/BMW: Switched +12V to tell a scan tool whether the ignition is on,
I wonder if the OBD is un-powered on German cars when the ignition is off.
I can't test it tho, as I do not have one of those adapters. In each case, if it does not use that specific lead, you could probably rewire it to make it use that and have ignition-based power of OBD.
PS: I bet that the OBD adapter uses the last wire tho, which seems to be international standard for Battery Power out.
PS2: To know wether you have OBD2: Unlike the OBD-I connector, which was sometimes found under the hood of the vehicle, the OBD-II connector is required to be within 2 feet (0.61 m) of the steering wheel
Source: "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On-board_diagnostics"
+SuperDeadSix I tried it in the Mini as well as the Smart and it stayed powered in that too. However I seem to recall that when I used an OBD device in my 2009 Smart a few years ago that it turned off when the car did - but perhaps it was being smart and looking at when the data stopped (or something) and actually going into standby. I think the only way to be sure is to try it out on your own vehicle.
+Techmoan Probably, interesting idea either way! Good to know in the future. Can't believe I never thought of that.
+youfermont Guess I have to use a multimeter and check if the first pin goes off in my BMW.
+youfermont Maybe the Bluetooth adapter checks that specific cable I mentioned to see if the ignition is on and then responds to that. That was my idea here, to build a small circuit that does that, all in 1 like a USB Adapter for the OBD t hat has 2 modes "turn off with ignition" or "always on", could be done quite easily, but probably isn't as international as only german cars seem to have that 1 wire ('least according to wikipedia).
In the US, it has been my experience that the Cigarette Lighter Port/12V Accessory Port does not turn off when you turn off the ignition with domestic vehicles. The only "foreign" vehicles I've owned are Toyotas, and they both turned off the 12V socket when the ignition was turned off. So, I don't really see an issue here, given how little power these cameras and phones use, compared to other items that usually cause you to drain the battery, like headlights.
ask your battery after a few months. Factory batteries don't like draining and recharging like that they will fail and the worse time. BTW in 4runner the rear 12v does in fact not turn off. just an fyi
Same thing for iPODS, some cars power ports are continuously powered and you can drain your battery leaving the iPOD plugged in. Good thing to check so you don't have a dead battery. Now day's with cars having 5 computers it doesn't take long for batteries to go dead a lot faster then older cars with the same battery.
By today Aukey sells an OBD hardwire kit for their dashcams which includes motion sensor for turning on and off the camera when needed or not! Cool thing... not tried with non-aukey cameras but... I bet the thing is merely switching in 5V to the dashcam when detecting motion, I might measure it in the future and let you know!
Thanks TM ...after viewing the video , placed the order, it just arrived ,followed your instructions , 10 mins ...BINGO ! Excellent ...keep 'em coming !
My main concern/dislike with this setup is you need to 'manually' turn it on and off, and if like me, you have a terrible memory, you could find yourself in an accident one day and realize you forgot to flick the switch and now have zero evidence of the crash - I'd almost rather it be always on than potentially forget to switch it on.
I think you should use a piggyback fuse holder instead.
That way you can pick a circuit that delivers power when you'd like it to do.
(you will need an extra fuse though.)
Wire the voltage converter into the piggyback, pop the original fuse back in and the extra one for your circuit.
Making sure the positive connection is on the positive output of the socket.
A decent negative connection can usually be found at nearly every nearby bolt or screw into the cassis.
You could also easily undo all of that work leaving no trace of it.
very old video for me to comment but juist adding my 2 cents... if you take this approach (power from the obd port), there are cables you can get which will auto cut off once the battery voltage reaches a low state.... (ie: it wont drain the battery completely).... as to how good this is for the battery, prob not too good (its still draining the battery to a lowish state), but better then draining it flat....
Using the OBD port to power devices can't really harm the car in any way. Still, some of my cars keep the OBD port powered at all times, so leaving something connected is a good way to find a flat battery if you leave it too long.
Not mine as it has a battery saver circuit and turns of if voltage drops below 11.6 volts
I never though of that. I actually like the idea. That's what I'm gonna do when I pass my test. I can actually see what's going on when I parked. With having a nice car and not living in a nice area,this'll be a good way to see what's going on.
+SomeRandomEnglishGuy Me too , great Idea ...luv .."Techmoan"
You can use an add a fuse which basically makes one fuse Into two! So you have a fused dashcam!
Might have missed something, but weren't you driving a 2015 Mini cooper ?
+Azenet yes - we have two cars.
+Erik Gold Lindell I thought I saw him say somewhere that the Smart was gone too
+Techmoan Mini & Smart? what happened to the MX5?
Neil Sheriff he had an mx5? 😂 when was this
+Neil Sheriff the thing with cars is that most people don't keep any of them forever.
i know you don't do dash cams anymore but Garmin makes a cable now that goes to micro USB and it has a switch to select continues power or to shut off after 24 hours to protect the battery
Annoyingly, the OBD port does have a switched 12v pin (I know this as this is where I took 12v from when I hard wired mine).
Techmoan, how easy does this look to modify to take power from a different pin? From memory it's one of the corner pins that is switched 12v, may make this a much more workable solution for some people!
+liambowers666 It is held together with two Philips screws. Inside a red positive wire goes to pin 16 and a black negative wire goes to pin 4&5 (a solder bridge joins them). The red and black wires then attach to a small transformer board.
+Techmoan it shorts 4 and 5... signal and power ground. Ouch.
+TheChipmunk2008 why ouch? Dude seriously, do you understand electronics? Why make a comment on something you don't understand? Pins 4 and 5 are both ground.. one goes directly to the chassis and the other goes through the ECU. This is done to lower the interference when you connect a diagnostics tool (although it doesn't matter for this adapter because it doesn't send data).. but they are both ground, they ARE shorted even if you don't connect anything to the port.. Geez
+Miguel Simões If you can't understand why a potential disconnection of pin 4 due to a loose connection on the chassis ground (not unheard of) could cause the device to dump 2.5amps down the SIGNAL ground which is presented on a separate pin for a reason, as it may have a tiny trace on the VERY expensive ECU, then maybe YOU shouldn't be commenting eh?
+TheChipmunk2008 Mother of god, it's even worse that i thought.
Dude, the GND pins on the ECU and pin 5 on the OBD cabe are ALSO soldered together inside the ECU, and no.. not with a tiny trace but either a huge ground plane or big blobs of solder. The only reason you have a separate pin is to give you a cleaner and more direct GND connection between the ECU and your OBD device.
The OBD connector is made in a way that gives you the option to use the best ground path for your application. Pin 5 is recommended if not mandatory for uses where data is exchanged.. For uses like the one in this video, you can connect directly to the chassis or both.
Why on EARTH would that be a bad idea? How could it possibly damage anything? It's just a 12V power point! Just as dangerous as using the cigarette lighter socket.......
I recommend replacing all important fuses in your car with automatic reset circuit breakers
That's too say things like Engine Management, ABS, Collision Avoidance RADAR etc not so much heated seats fuses
They tend to last much longer and are more reliable too trip very few fuses burn out at the actual rated power rating or at the right amount of time often taking much longer and/or at a much higher power level than it should!
I think the best idea is to get a radio ISO connectors (both male and female), solder them together and steal a switched voltage and ground for your hard wire set from these two wires.
+TrinomCZ if your going to do that, might as well just stick with the fusebox method with a fuse piggy back, it will be easier to wire in and not have to mess with radio wires, not all cars use iso connectors and making a small extension lead you may end up losing some functions with the radio.
Phill R
Fusebox method is fine, unless you have a tight cover, which makes this method unusable.
I agree, no every car has ISO connector, but it's a standard here in Europe. The power plug doesn't contain any aditional leads, than power (key + permanent), ground, backlight and antenna power. Therefore I still think it is the cleanest solution in this case.
TrinomCZ in a car (typically older ones with iso) then yes that would be a perfect solution, however more modern cars (especially techmoans) would probably use a quadlock connector and its those connectors that have many different connections like steering wheel controls, can bus, fiber optic etc. making a extension for one of those would be least cost effective and would be more hassle than whats its worth. also a lot of people would be too afraid to take apart a cars dash board unlike some of us.
Phill R
In this case I have to agree with you.
There's no issue powering low power things from the OBD port but a tap-a-fuse would be a much more sensible option and much neater.
Not all cars have a directly ignition controlled fuse to take a feed from these days, many use the CANBUS to tell things when they should be on or off,.The only ignition switch controlled fuse in my 2004 A3 fusebox is for the rear wiper for some weird reason, everything else is switched by the ECU.
I saw this immediately when it got uploaded and put it in the watch later playlist, and when I woke the title had changed. :P
Still a good video
3:07 - 3:27 Why bother with a switch? You could use a common parking mode power kit with selectable minimum voltage settings, below which the thing get shut off, or by using a time duration setting, probably available in your dash cam's settings (although YMMV), as an approximation.
Use a fuse tap to power your hard-wired USB PSU. No need to cut into cables, everything is protected by its own fuse and they only cost a few quid! You can get them for standard size automotive fuses and micro and mini size. I use them to power my dashcams.
I was watching some videos and related video linked showing powering dash camera via OBD-II port.
To get to the point, one of the best dash camera manufacturer ' Thinkware Dash Cam' has approved a 3rd party OBD-II power adapter called "EchoMaster OBD II Power Cable" and even selling it on their website directly + even made a video about it as well.
I think this should give enough confidence that... OBD-II port can used without any issues?
it is unbeliveable the ammount of curious cables and switches you can find there !
Are charging cables interchangeable for dash cams? As in "The mini 801, 803, 805 and 806 can use the same charging cable"?
Thanks for any input you have.
This is also important if you plan on using an ELM327 OBD2 reader with the Torque app - you should get an ELM327 with a switch, or use the extension switch as shown in the video. Otherwise the battery will go flat.
Awesome tip. I did some searching for one with a female usb 2.0 end but no luck. Have you ever seen one?
+N2tech to attach the lightbulb seen in this video I used one of these goo.gl/2ft7Mq
I like the OBD switch thing. When mine comes ill be adding an LED to it.
+kakureru Good idea! The light would stay on so you won't forget! 👍
+kakureru goood idea (y)
Great, you post this a bit late for me now! lol
Had I known this I think I would have chosen this method for my dashcam, the manual switch would be great. I went for the hardwire which is very neat and tidy but not always the most convenient as I would like to be able to run the camera more manually sometimes. Oh well, maybe in my next car :)
Add-a-fuse works great and is completely reversable. sockets in place of an existing or unused fuse in your car, taps off a new fuse and passes thru the old fuse.
for most cars, the cigarette lighter will always remain on.
And thats why they use it for trickle chargers
or to open the boot/hood on a flat batttery if the car has no mehanical latch
Great tip for constant power.
did you know on the smart roadster Ecu has about 6 connectors on the side, 3 switched and 3 permanent. Smart do the adaptor you need or you can just crimp a spade to the cable and use that, connect neutral to any metal part of the car and you are good to go. I had a Windows car PC installed in my Roadster :-)
As long as you're a person that drives drive everyday it probably wouldn't drain your battery fully, but it really depends on how much driving you do since your alternator will recharge your battery.
Ironically, on a lot of GM vehicles, the OBD-II port is powered from the cigar lighter fuse to begin with! The power line on the ODB-II port doesn't come from the ECM. Only the data pins are linked to the ECM. You can blow the fuse to the OBD-II port while the ECM will keep working just fine.
+Zzyzx Wolfe Wonder if that's why Vauxhall Corsas (mentioned in another comment above) have a godawful time communicating with OBD-II readers, if they pick up voltage drop from cig lighter accessories it could make the data signals fed from a different voltage than the OBD-II reader..
+TheChipmunk2008 Possibly. I know with GM truck and SUVs, if the cigar lighter/power port has been abused and has an internal short, you need to fix that, or at least disconnect the cigar lighter, so that it will stop blowing fuses so you can get your diagnostic tool to work. Plus, on a lot of them, the cigar lighter is right in front of the cup holders, so that's an easy way to blow the fuse. Fortunately the PCM is on its own fuse, so it's completely unaffected if the OBD-II port loses power, other than losing the ability to connect a diagnostic tool until you fix it!
They've upped their game, these come with a 5 min power down/parking mode switch on the back, so you can use parking mode if you feel the need at the local supermarket!
Techmoan :- Have you considered testing 'Battery Saver' devices such as the 'Power Magic Pro' which cut the feed when the battery voltage drops below a certain threshold value - so if fed from a permanent supply, when engine is switched off it will cut power to the dashcam when voltage drops to say 12.2v.
As I couldn't find a switched feed in the rear hatch - {fitting cam to rear window} - I need something like this to automatically kill power shortly after Ive stopped.
I wouldn't recommend plugging anything other than diagnostic equipment into the obd2 socket because any malfunction in the devices connected could cause serious ecu damage or dangerous operation of vehicle systems, e.g unintended acceleration as no compatibility or safety tests are preformed as vehicle manufacturers do not intend on having owners plugging devices into the obd2 socket.
Although you can power a device from a obd2 socket the standard only allows for a maximum of 4 amp whereas a cigarette lighter socket will provide over 10 amp.
+100racer And does a cam ever need anything above 5 or 10 watts? 4A*12V=48W that's plenty enough.
+MrOpenGL I didn't say you couldn't power a dash cam from the obd 2 socket.
What I'm getting at is that there is so little overhead
should anything go wrong it could at best blow the fuse and depending on the wiring immobilise the vehicle or at worst destroy the ecu or cause a fire.
The vehicle manufacturers do not intend the end user to be connecting devices of unknown origin and poor quality to the obd 2 socket.
The worst thing about this is the seller's are selling these plugs to people who don't
know what the obd 2 socket is and how much damage can be done if it malfunctions.
100racer
It should only be connected to the Vbat and GND lines of the CAN connector. The worse it could happen is that the internal converter shorts out and blows the CAN fuse. It cannot blow the ECU or damage the vehicle.
+MrOpenGL Power over obd has been used by diagnostic equipment before the obd2 standard was created.
So if it is as risk free as you say how come mainstream manufacturers of car chargers haven't utilised it?
Because if anything happened to cause a bridge between pins you could send 12v right into can line potentially destroying all the vehicle electronics, from my experience manufacturers do not build input protection on obd sockets because they don't intend anyone connecting anything other than diagnostic equipment into the diagnostic socket.
I've seen one of my colleagues cause £4800 in damage because he accidently put 12v down the can line when he was fitting a tracker.
If you need extra power outlets wire them in properly or buy a splitter.
Yep I purchased a vantrue dash cam and got thh OBD and yep even not in park mode. my battery went dead! And happen to me twice on 1 month!
Brand new car too! Never again. Il just use the cigarette lighter plug i think!
As long as the OBD2 adapter does not touch the CAN lines it should be fine... I would be more worried about a dodgy DC-DC convertor design. And of course discharging the battery. Car batteries don't like operating as long term power sources (as you mentioned in the video).
- Eddy
+Deathlok67 The data lines on the obd port are opto-isolated. You could technically apply 220v ac to it and it would be fine ... not that you should attempt this ...
I was mainly referring to data, not DC voltage. Having the dongle "on the bus" can cause strange side effects in some vehicles, for example the activity may keep the ECU active longer after the car is turned off, increasing battery drain.
+Deathlok67 The thing should only be internally connected to the +Vbat and GND pins of the OBDII. Those are in no way connected to the ECU.
MrOpenGL
That's pretty much the point of my original statement.
Usefull... As always, worth watching :)
very interesting that anyone would even try this, unless you car is from the 80s or older it has the 12v cigarette lighter power supply. my 1986 ex military chevy k30 didnt have one but it had the hole for one and easily installed one. if you only have one in your vehicle they sell splitters for them. ironically on most newer cars the obd port is on the same fuse as the cigarette lighter fuse so if one doesnt work they both arent going to work
It was well before the 80's that they first started appearing. My '79 and '84 K20 pickups have them.
I just remember I would see some 80s cars that didn't have them like my 86 Chevy it just had a little circular plate where the hole was, heck it doesn't even have carpet
You used to be able to order cars with no options, my uncle was so cheap he ordered a s10 pick up with no radio and no front bumper. Don't remember if it had a cigarette lighter though lol
Did you even watch the video? He explained why he has to do it
The lighter in my car is non functioning. Its been checked and rechecked and the problem has been traced to somewhere in the wiring. So for me this is actually a pretty decent solution, as it is a decent bit cheaper than some of the quotes I've gotten for fixing the lighter ports. But honestly I doubt I would do this method if the lighter ports were working
Thanks for this video. I'm buying a new car and I'm looking for an easy way to power a dashcam without taking up a usb or doing any modifications
If im going to have only DDPai M4 base connected to it ( actual camera module removed) , will it drain the car battery? If it doesnt then its quite neat solution tather than tinckering with fuse box. Please reply Technomoan.
My older vehicle is one of the last ones that keeps the lighter port hot when the ignition is off, I like it for charging my cell phone while the car is parked. The newer vehicles all seem to switch it off when the key is out, which really annoys me, so this is good to know.
Jeremy Pavleck I think the newer GMs all switch off with the key now.
You got any plans to review the FDR-X1000V? I think it's a great little cam and I don't get why more people aren't talking about it.
+Old Machines & Such I've had one for a year - but it's just too complicated to get the review together. I keep meaning to get back to it.
+Techmoan I can list all my views at great length, then you can read them back in your youtube voice and I will have the perfect opinion validating review I always wanted.
Like i said on the bottom, it's perfectly ok to use the OBD port for this application. I just wouldn't add the inline power switch because it will add more resistance to the circuit and make it messier (pins + cable + switch + cabe + pins + cable.. instead of just pins + cable + switch + cable). Just strip the wires from the OBD adapter you bought, buy a lamp switch and add it there.