Tap 12v in rear view mirror for camera

[mini4mw]

I don't care for the USB cords hanging all about trying to power stuff. I was thinking about putting in USB ports on the top of the dash (and probably still will), but the current need was a USB port for a dashcam. I came across Dongar which has inline adapters for auto dimming mirrors, but they don't have one for the Wrangler. That led me to mods of just tying into the auto dimming mirror 12v power to a USB port. I was working on a plug behind the mirror and turns out it was for the forward collision warning (FCW) and adaptive cruise control (ACC) (based on errors on dash when its not plugged in). I still tapped into it for a 12v source. I bought a low 12watt (1 amp, 12v) cig adapter, opened it up and soldered wires for the tap and wrapped it all up in heat shrink. All this fit behind the cap for the FCW/ACC unit nicely and provided a very nice tight clean install. Pending your camera, you may need more than a 12W USB adapter.

If anyone else wants to try it, the black is neg and red (or pink) wire is positive. Buy a 12v cig USB adapter, pull it apart and solder wires to the adapter with wire taps on the other side. I also put a small fuse on the positive side for safety (kinda, USB is 1 amp, fuse is 10amp). Then you can run a short USB cable from the USB port behind the plastic cap to the side for a nice clean camera install.

Fair warning as you are messing with FCW/ACC. I did generate those warnings and a check engine light related to high CAM bus messages which I cleared through the ODB port. All has been running fine after finishing the install and clearing the errors.

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[phageghost]

Did you ever find a clean 12v source up there? About to start something similar for my dashcam.

BTW, if folks don’t want to mess with hacking up a cigarette lighter adapter, a 12V-5V buck converter like this works pretty well (currently have 2 of them providing extra USB ports at the top and bottom of the dash):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLL461L...d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

 

[wibornz]

I removed my rear view mirror about four years ago and put this in its place to power a dash cam. I used the wires running to the mirror for the power source. I could not see out the rear view mirror as my spare tire blocked 95% of the rear window.

 

[wibornz]

You can always mount the camera closer to the dash and run power up through the dash to the camera. I just did this a couple days ago with a Wolfbox G900 dash cam. I hooked the camera to a 67 Design arm to the rail mount on the dash.

I hated the rear view mirror anyways as I am tall and it blocked a good portion of the view out the windshield.

 

[phageghost]

I removed my rear view mirror about four years ago and put this in its place to power a dash cam. I used the wires running to the mirror for the power source. I could not see out the rear view mirror as my spare tire blocked 95% of the rear window.

That's not a bad plan at all. I'm in much the same boat -- at this point my rearview mirror is only useful for checking on the dog . . .

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