Hi guys, I am running a dash cam off the power outlet that would have been a cigarette lighter on the instrument panel. It has never been a problem until earlier this year, I noticed the dash cam shutting off, citing power usage issues. I replaced the cam and it is still behaving the same. I plugged in another device to this outlet and it also won't operate correctly. The USB is fine next to it is fine. Around the same time as the initial cam failure, my driver's door actuator starting going on the fritz and it is dead now. I can't afford to replace it yet, but was wondering if perhaps these two issues are related or just coincidental. Has anyone else experienced this? Thank you, I appreciate you.
Sounds like there is low or no voltage on that 12v power point. Have you measured the voltage at the outlet? It has a fuse and relay controlling the power. The relay is only enabled when the car is on and the 15 amp fuse is in the interior fuse box.
If you want the cam to operate after the car is turned off, parked, wire a 12V lithium storage cell into the post-receptacle power path. Depending on cam current draw, 40,000mah should last more than 48 hours.
Thank you for this suggestion! I was also just thinking about running it off a power bank until the outlet issue is solved.