[ellisina4]

Hello,

I have a month old F10 550xi and someone already scratched it. Decided to get Thinkware x500 Dash Cam as recommended by opasha.
Attached is the picture of fuse box behind the glove box. I searched and searched and could not get a good idea which fuse is constant ON 12v (stays on for recording while the car is parked and locked) as well as Switched.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
I am also attaching what I found online.

Thanks

[493263]

If you get a camera that has motion detection if you want to catch door dingers/scratchers. But then you still couldn't identify them unless their car is still there. Usually, people ding your car when they leave and chances are, this camera won't catch your their license plate. The camera you're looking to buy is for driving or to catch valet/mechanics joy riding your car.

What you need is a camera with motion detection activation and at least 3 hrs of battery life. The 550xi has enough battery problems as it is, I'm not sure if you want to hook up a permanent drain. Sure the camera doesn't use a lot of battery but these batteries are horribly inefficient with slow drain. If you compare battery capacity to what an interior bulb takes to run all night, it should be just a tiny amount. But as soon as you forget to turn it off for a night, it completely drain the battery by morning. High discharge/recharge batteries all have this problem except Lithium ion. That's why Lithium ion batteries are used in slow drain devices.

Since you live in Chicago, depending on which part, you may not want this in your car. Someone will just break your window and steal it.

[///eM_Powered]

Sorry to hear that your ride is already scarred.
But as far as the camera goes, I don't think it will be of any use in keeping inconsiderate individuals from dinging up your nice ride.

Your best bet would be to park where you're able to minimize the odds of getting dinged.

[ellisina4]

I appreciate all of the feedback. I did my research and Purchased the dash cam. I can agree with or dispute any or all thoughts stated here but the point of the post was to find a constant power source in the fuse box behind glove box instead of routing the wiring all the way to the battery in the trunk.
If anyone can help me with that, thank u.
The only possible answer I found so far that may help is OBD2 fuse.

[thetrance]

have a look at http://www.blackboxmycar.com/pages/h...ash-cam-on-bmw
they used a 5 series to install blackvue

[Josparky]

use fuse 121 for the radiator fan for constant power. i've used this for mine. And better use fuse at the back..easier to access.

there's also a metal nut you can unscrew and attach the ground wire to.. This is on the same rear fuse box..

you'll need to extend your wires as it'll have to run to the back of the car. Just cut existing and attach 3 longer cables and run them through the door rubber and side pillar panels.

I run front and rear cameras.

[ellisina4]

Originally Posted by Josparky

use fuse 121 for the radiator fan for constant power. i've used this for mine. And better use fuse at the back..easier to access.

there's also a metal nut you can unscrew and attach the ground wire to.. This is on the same rear fuse box..

you'll need to extend your wires as it'll have to run to the back of the car. Just cut existing and attach 3 longer cables and run them through the door rubber and side pillar panels.

I run front and rear cameras.

Thank u. I still would prefer to connect the dash cam to the front fuse box. The only option I see right now is to sit inside locked car for 20min as it goes into sleep mode and then use the fuse tester to see which one is powered.
On the other hand, looking at the fuse diagram, fuse 121 is in the same category as 43 and 46, so I think this may work.

[493263]

http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1042815&highlight=Stay+on+after+s hut+off

[IanS100]

You must be a darn sight more flexible than me, I can't even get to half the fuses in my front fuse box (2015 F10), I don't understand why BMW would site a fuse box where access is so difficult.

[ellisina4]

Got Thinkware x500 with the rear camera option installed and everything is working great. I used fuse #11 for continuous 12v in parking mode. Took me a while to find which fuse still gets juice when the car is in sleep mode. Definitely recommend x500. Camera and the software are awesome and so easy to use. Here are the correct pictures of the fuse boxes and also a description of what each sign means, courtesy of m5 forum.
Opasha, if you ever come back, thank you for your recommendation on the camera selection.
Also, thank u, Josparky, for the advice.

[hungdynasty]

Fuse 3,OBD,I am using it for both front and rear cam.

[ellisina4]

Originally Posted by hungdynasty

Fuse 3,OBD,I am using it for both front and rear cam.

Do you ever get this warning after leaving the car overnight?

[hungdynasty]

A few times. My experience is that if I leave the cams on for more than five hours, I may get this message sometimes.

[M5Beast_NYC]

Silly questions. which method did you guys use to tap into the fuse box? Did you guys use a fuse tap or tapped into the wire directly?

[ellisina4]

Originally Posted by Carbonm3ny

Silly questions. which method did you guys use to tap into the fuse box? Did you guys use a fuse tap or tapped into the wire directly?

Search Amazon for this: Pico 0956PT 10 Amp ATM Mini Blade Fuse Add-A-Circuit Fuse Holder

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...BY9ANQ306D1GX4

This may be also silly, but make sure to install both original fuse that you pull from the fusebox as well as the additional fuse or the system will not work. I did not do this originally and the whole thing was not working. I used a new fuse to match amperage of the original fuse.

[hungdynasty]

Originally Posted by ellisina4

Search Amazon for this: Pico 0956PT 10 Amp ATM Mini Blade Fuse Add-A-Circuit Fuse Holder

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...BY9ANQ306D1GX4

This may be also silly, but make sure to install both original fuse that you pull from the fusebox as well as the additional fuse or the system will not work. I did not do this originally and the whole thing was not working. I used a new fuse to match amperage of the original fuse.

I used it too. Just make sure you plug this in the position that the current go through the second fuse to the wire. If not the current will go straight to the wire without fuse potection which may be dangerous.

[ellisina4]

In case anyone is interested, I got tired of getting "Battery Discharging while stopped" warning as the dashcam was connected to the ACC and permanent power fuses in the fuse box behind the glove-box. I purchased Cellink B battery from Blackboxmycar for $180 with cigarette lighter plug. I found a very good location for it. In the top of the glove-box, there is an area that perfectly houses the Cellink B battery and there is also a cigarette lighter plug to the right of the glove-box (I have 2015 F10 550i). Also, the battery does not take up glove-box space. The install was 20min and I only connected my Thinkware x500 dashcam to the battery without connecting the battery to the accessory fuse aslo. This way BMW service can’t even comment on additional aftermarket products installed in the car. The battery is charging from the cigarette lighter only while the car is being driven.

[mragarg]

Originally Posted by ellisina4

In case anyone is interested, I got tired of getting "Battery Discharging while stopped" warning as the dashcam was connected to the ACC and permanent power fuses in the fuse box behind the glove-box. I purchased Cellink B battery from Blackboxmycar for $180 with cigarette lighter plug. I found a very good location for it. In the top of the glove-box, there is an area that perfectly houses the Cellink B battery and there is also a cigarette lighter plug to the right of the glove-box (I have 2015 F10 550i). Also, the battery does not take up glove-box space. The install was 20min and I only connected my Thinkware x500 dashcam to the battery without connecting the battery to the accessory fuse aslo. This way BMW service can’t even comment on additional aftermarket products installed in the car. The battery is charging from the cigarette lighter only while the car is being driven.

How do you like the think ware? I'm looking into a dash cam right now as well

[ellisina4]

Originally Posted by mragarg

How do you like the think ware? I'm looking into a dash cam right now as well

I definitely recommend it. Great camera all around: Quality of videos, customization of options, easy to use software and etc.
I shopped around for other brands and I made a good choice by going with Thinkware. Do not waste your money for the F-series camera. I purchased my x500 from Amazon.

[E30toF30]

I know this is an older post but I was also looking for some assistance in doing a dashcam hardwire DIY install.

I had previously done it myself on my F30, but wanted to see if there were any tips on here for the F10.

Anyway, did some more searching and found a video of DIY install for a 2 channel camera specifically on an F10!

I actually found a video these same guys made on an install for an F30 and an F80 which helped me previously with doing the install on my F30. Was pretty stoked to find a video of the install on the F10 specifically! No guesswork on which fueses to tap!

I ended up getting the cam installed in about 50 minutes!
Hopefully this will help others who are searching for info around hardwiring a dashcam!

Coles Notes:
BATT+ (yellow) - #177 (fan) - big 20 amp fuse
ACC+ (red) - #155 (trunk) - small 15 amp fuse

[TTG]

I installed my Blackvue 650 using the above video and it is spot on. It took me less than an hr to do it.

Caution though, you will get the battery discharge message in the morning when you 1st start the car up.I am not too worried about the message as I have also installed power magic pro.

There is a different version of power magic pro for BMWs to make sure that the battery discharge message doesn't show up and I have not gotten around to installing that yet.

[E30toF30]

Originally Posted by TTG

I installed my Blackvue 650 using the above video and it is spot on. It took me less than an hr to do it.

Caution though, you will get the battery discharge message in the morning when you 1st start the car up.I am not too worried about the message as I have also installed power magic pro.

There is a different version of power magic pro for BMWs to make sure that the battery discharge message doesn't show up and I have not gotten around to installing that yet.

I actually used to get that same power drain warning message.
The way I worked around it was to set the camera to turn off after 8 hours.
Reason being the only time my car is ever parked more than a couple hours (let alone 8 hours) is when its in my garage at night. So having it turn off after that time frame works fine for me. Since changing that setting I've not seen the warning again.

The installer in the video makes mention of the higher quality Multi Safer as a much better option over blackvue's power magic pro. I would use that too except my Lukas camera has its own battery management built into the camera.