Viofo A229 Pro 3ch hardwire fuse help

[ToxicMatt]

Hi,

New to the forum.

I currently run a U1000 on my own car and was professional installed if you can call it that as it took him 4 hours to get it right.

Didn’t want to get another thinkware as the app is awful and always disconnects within 30 seconds of connecting.

I have purchased a A229 pro 3ch for the wife’s car, along with the hardwire kit and fuse taps, the fuses included with the taps from VIOFO are 20amp.

I won’t be using a battery pack with this one and wondered if 20amp was too much and what amperage fuse I should be using.

I will be tapping in to a 3amp fuse for constant live and 15amp for ignition live if that makes a different.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Panzer Platform]

wondered if 20amp was too much and what amperage fuse I should be using.

Welcome to the club.
The maximum power consumption of the most power hungry dash cam is approximately 10 Watts.
12.6 Volts x 800mA = 10.08 Watts
If it were my wife’s car I would start with a 1 Amp fuse, and if it blows I would use a 2 Amp fuse.
If it was my ex-wife’s the 20 Amp fuse will be just fine. lol
-Chuck

 

[Nigel]

The maximum power consumption of the most power hungry dash cam is approximately 10 Watts.

Potentially it could be a bit more while the super capacitor is charging, and HWK capacitors are charging, plus while starting the engine, the voltage may be quite low, maybe 10V for a short time, which will increase the Amps drawn by the HWK to get the right Watts.

A 1A fuse is too low.

The purpose of the fuse is only to protect the wires from the fuse tap to the hardwire kit, which are all rated at 5A or above, so a 5A fuse is fine, as is a 2A fuse. I doubt those wires are rated for 20A, so I'm not sure why a 20A fuse is supplied, for safety I would use 5A or 2A.

 

[ToxicMatt]

Thank you for the replies, I have some 3 Amp fuses, guessing this should be fine?

 

[Nigel]

Yes, 3A is fine, anything from 2A to 5A is safe and functional.

 

[ToxicMatt]

Thank you

 

[Panzer Platform]

what amperage fuse I should be using

Well it looks like Nigel has proved me wrong yet again, that was good “peer review”.
I totally forgot to account for “in rush” current on startup when capacitors are depleted.
I throw myself at the mercy of the court, and I’m willing to accept any punishment up to, and including death.
Instead of telling you maximum power CONSUMPTION, I should have quoted maximum power OUTPUT of the Viofo Hardwire Kit.
The specifications for the Hardwire Kit are rated at 10 Watts.
5 Volts x 2 Amps = 10 Watts

After the A139 Pro was released users started experiencing power starvation malfunctions with the hardwire kit which prompted Viofo to upgrade the power wires of the hardwire kit from 24AWG to 20AWG.
This allowed the hardwire kit to provide a maximum OUTPUT of 17.5 Watts.
5 Volts x 3.5 Amps = 17.5 Watts
12.6 Volts x 1.39 Amps = 17.5 Watts

A139 Pro Test & Review PP

That explains it. 1 Minute video will be 437 MB. Yes but further down in your post you said the A139 Pro is making 1.3gb files on 3 min loop. Mine is doing 300mb less for some reason

dashcamtalk.com

I would like to change my previous answer of starting with a 1 Amp fuse, and if it blows use a 2 AMP fuse to;
Use a 2 Amp fuse (nothing higher), and it will never blow due to the power demands of the hardwire kit.

In general the whole point of selecting the appropriate “size” fuse for aftermarket wiring installs is to choose the smallest current capacity that will allow the device to function by providing the highest degree of safety to prevent damage, or a fire.
This was my ex-wife joke.
Allowing 20 Amps of current to flow through a wire when only 2 Amps is needed is unsafe because if the wire experiences a short to ground the potential for damage, and causing a fire is greater compared to only 2 Amps of current.
For the average user without an understanding of electrical theory it is safer to start off with the smallest fuse possible, and work your way up, as opposed to first using a “large capacity” fuse.
Let’s see how many holes Nigel can poke in this post, and if the firing squad is called to readiness. Lol

 

[Nigel]

Let’s see how many holes Nigel can poke in this post, and if the firing squad is called to readiness. Lol

Hmm,

12.6 Volts x 1.39 Amps = 17.5 Watts

Like I said before, turn the key and current pulled by the starter motor will cause the battery volts to drop well below 12.6 volts, 10 volts is quite reasonable, which would result in:

10 Volts x 1.75 Amps = 17.5 Watts

So a 2A fuse will be enough, but a 1A, I think, is quite likely to blow, maybe only the next time you battery charge is a bit low, but I would expect it to blow after a while when using a 3ch dashcam.

Allowing 20 Amps of current to flow through a wire when only 2 Amps is needed is unsafe because if the wire experiences a short to ground the potential for damage, and causing a fire is greater compared to only 2 Amps of current.

If the wire is rated for 20 Amps then it should be safe to put 20A through it, so the risk of a short to ground is removed by a 20A fuse.
Of course it may short to something else that is not rated for 20A, but in general the 20A fuse would be considered as safe as a 2A fuse.
Some hardwire kits only have 2A cabling though, so 2A is good advice, I think all Viofo hardwire kits have at least 5A cables, even though they don't use 5A, so 5A is safe for them.

 

[ToxicMatt]

Thank you both for your replies.

I thought I had a couple 3A fuses but turned out I had a selection of different ones and only 1 3A, no 2A, so I ended up using a 3A for the constant and 5A for the ignition.

Fortunately for me, it seems to be working perfectly. I’m surprised how much better the image quality is then the U1000 on my own car.

 

[Nigel]

I’m surprised how much better the image quality is then the U1000 on my own car.

U1000 was pretty good when it was new, only the Viofo A129 Pro was a little better on image quality, but that was last decade, it is not even Sony Starvis, while the Viofo A229 Pro is Starvis 2, so two generations of image sensor ahead, and the best image quality currently available.

Set the HDR up for Auto, for night time HDR.

 

[ToxicMatt]

U1000 was pretty good when it was new, only the Viofo A129 Pro was a little better on image quality, but that was last decade, it is not even Sony Starvis, while the Viofo A229 Pro is Starvis 2, so two generations of image sensor ahead, and the best image quality currently available.

Set the HDR up for Auto, for night time HDR.

I’ve had the U1000 for about 3 years now, best feature is the speed camera warnings.

Wish Viofo had this, I’d be tempted to change it.