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★★★★☆
Nice little wiring kit
So this is fairly straight-forward. It's a wiring kit with a 3-amp inline fuse. It takes in 12-24 volts in, and uses a small block to step the voltage down to 5V DC at 1.5Amps. Basically this means you can wire it into your car's electrical circuit at one end, and the other end will be a male mini-USB plug that you can use for most dash cams and GPS units. Works as desired for my dash cam. I wanted my G1W-C to turn on and start recording any time the vehicle was set to "ignition". I figured an "add-a circuit" fuse tap would work well, so I purchased one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QRSBW0 I plugged the fuse tap into a fuse in my glove compartment fuse box that would be "hot" ONLY when the keys are in the ignition. In my case, I tapped into the Manual Transmission Clutch Interlock Bypass in my Jeep, but you could tap into any fuse that is hot when on. Trial and error will work just fine if you don't know the intricacies of your vehicle's electrical circuit. Just keep tapping fuses until you find one that turns the camera on when you turn the key. Since I used a fuse tap, it already has a spot for a fuse, so I cut out the in-line fuse that came with this wiring kit. There is no need to have two fuses, and I like the ATC fuses better than the old style "cartridge" that this kit comes with, and because the rest of my car uses them. The ground cable is your standard C-style terminal. You could just use a self-tapping screw and screw it into the body of your car, just make sure you know what you are screwing into. You could also probably find something else nearby to piggyback a ground off of. It's a good idea to chose a ground that is free of paint and bare metal. Use a small piece of sandpaper to clean up a spot, and clean it with a bit of acetone or rubbing alcohol or piss. I've had way too many USB wires and connectors go bad on me, so I also tightly wrapped the last 2" of the USB connector with electrical tape. This will help keep the wire from pulling out of the connector body after a few hundred cycles of plugging it in and out. The USB cable is quite long, so you can zip-tie or velcro the box under the dash and snake the cable up to wherever you need to go. It will not reach across a car from front to rear, so if you are setting up a rear camera you may want to consider buying some extra 16-gauge wire to make it reach. After receiving it, I thought it was a little overpriced, but it was a kit that already had everything I needed sans solder and electrical tape, so I was willing to pay a few extra bucks for one. You could probably homebrew something like this for much cheaper and have parts left over for a new project. But ain't nobody got time fo dat.
February 2015 · Electronics · verified purchase
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