/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.2903633]

Retard here.
Maybe this belongs in /o/ but I like diy better and it is a mod I guess.
How would I cleanly add usb power near these vents? Dashcams come with those ridiculously long wires that you have to tuck in seams (which I'd do) but the way my car is designed the wire still has to creep up into the center console and to the cig lighter and it'll look like shit no matter what.
I don't know why companies dont just fucking put a power option right there at this stage in dashcam ownership but oh well.
When I pop the hood everything looks inacccesable for running wires. I have zero experience here, any good guides or advice? Run some new wire from the circuit box up through the vents maybe? This is a toyota rav 4 prime xse 2022.
It also has a powered rear view mirror with options I've never used but haven't yet figured out how to disassemble without breaking it. Splicing power from that would be less ideal but fine too

[Anonymous No.2903639]

Drill hole where you want it and install one of these, and then tap into a 12v power source.

[Anonymous No.2903646]

>>2903639
Can definitely get one of them, but as a retard the mental block stops me there.
How do I confidently drill without hitting some crucial wires under the dash? How do I get to a powersource and even identify it as 12v? (especially when everything under the hood looks sealed up like a macbook.) How do I not electricute and explode myself in these new hybrids which exlode just by existing in the garage? My searches are coming up with nothing helpful. I don't get why this isn't a popular/documented mod when longwires are as retarded as me

[Anonymous No.2903667]

>>2903646
you're not capable of doing this
give up

[Anonymous No.2903671]

>>2903646
Ask car technicians to do that for you. You're clearly too retarded for this

[Anonymous No.2903702]

>>2903633
you shouldn't run wires through vents. vents are for air. you need hot air for your windscreen to clear fog. blocking vents is bad. wires in hot air is bad. also in there are like flaps and blowers and stuff, you don't want wires getting trapped in those. generally a bad idea.
another bad idea is cutting a big hole from engine bay into cabin. the bit between the engine and where you sit is called the fire wall. probably not a good idea to cut extra holes in it.

normally a dash cam sits where your rearview mirror is, the cable tucks along the top of the windscreen, down the side, down into a footwell and around up into the secret world of wires behind the dashboard where you can easily find 12v accessory power to tap into.
are you mounting yours on the bottom? just tuck it along the bottom of the windcreen and around the side of the dash into the footwell.
it doesn't need to go into the cigarette lighter at all, and i would suggest it probably shouldn't because really you want it on all the time the engine is on (at least) and also not have to unplug it to charge your phone or whatever other zoomer shit you do with it.

[Anonymous No.2903707]

>>2903667
>>2903671
I'm too retarded to stop
>>2903702
What I'm really trying to avoid is having it route up to that center console since it's the only place with a usb connection I can find. If there's a secret wire world behind the dash that's more worth looking into EVEN THOUGH FUCK IT'D BE NICE IF THEY PUT POWER RIGHT THERE LIKE EVERYONE WANTS because it'd be solved with a 2 inch usb cable and actually look not as retarded as me. Thanks for humoring me

[Anonymous No.2903708]

>>2903707
>FUCK IT'D BE NICE IF THEY PUT POWER RIGHT THERE
I have two cars with USB power right at the rear view mirror.

[Anonymous No.2903710]

>>2903633
why put it there? don't dash cams usually hang off the rearview mirror?

[Anonymous No.2903717]

>>2903633
>and to the cig lighter
Wire it to the fusebox. Problem solved.

[Anonymous No.2903720]

>>2903633
There's a ChrisFix video about dashcams. Watch that and then see if you've got any lingering questions.

For now, there's nothing stopping you from pulling your dash and/or center console apart to get at the back of your cigarette lighter or power port or whatever it is these days and splicing wires into that for power. If this sounds like too much for you, man, just get a USB charger with lots of ports and do your best to run the wire cleanly.

[Anonymous No.2903920]

>>2903720
suppose i pull my dash's media screen. Would I be able to get a cable to split power off that without it fucking the unit's power requirements? Seems like it would be the shortest distance and easiest in that case to just drill a hole right behind it for a usb port

[Anonymous No.2903933]

>>2903920
Brother God damn, you actually might be to retarded to pull this off. Your glovebox light is 12 volts, or driver side light is 12 volts, EVERYTHING IS 12 VOLTS. JUST DISCONNECT FROM THAT IF YOU DONT WANT TO RUN A NEW WIRE THE FUSE BOX. THIS IS LIKE BRAIN DEAD SHIT MAN DAMN

[Anonymous No.2904015]

>>2903933
I identified that I am a retard in the op post and like every post after. To be shocked that I'm a retard at this point pretty much makes you a retard.
And I'm just asking if it's possible to get a cable that would split the power so both the center screen and this new proposed connection would work because I don't know electrical shit. I don't know if you can split power like that without consequence in the same way you would like hard drives from a pc power supply or something. I don't know that information because I'm a RETARD, RETARD.

[Anonymous No.2904113]

>>2904015
I am not even sure what splitting power even means man. There is more then enough information in this thread for you to just do it. Here, ill even draw you an electrical diagram. Don't even touch your display, it has no bearing on what you are trying to do. I am 85 percent sure you won't hit any cables drilling the usb into your dash.

[Anonymous No.2904114]

>>2904113
You can put 12 volt wires in your mouth and chew on them, you won't get shocked also. You are attempting to do the most basic wiring i can literally think of.

[Anonymous No.2904157]

>>2903633
If your car has a mirror with buttons on it or a mirror that dims, you can hang the dashcam from the mirror and tap the 12v circuit with a blade tap that is sold on Amazon for that purpose. Can usually find a hanger mount, too, but if you can't then printing one will be easier than drilling your dash and running wire

[Anonymous No.2904465]

>>2904157
>blade tap
Never ever use blade taps, they fucking suck.

[Anonymous No.2904570]

>>2904157
Always use blade taps, they are awesome and convenient.

[Anonymous No.2904629]

>>2904465
>>2904570
I'm getting conflicting info here

and by splitting I just mean tapping into? Like...there's power in the rearview mirror. I want a dashcam there to obv. So...I want them both to be powered. I want to split the power cable at the mirror so one side of the split powers the mirror and one powers the new camera. I don't know why that terminology is confusing in any way. Even if it's the wrong terminology it should be retardedly easy to understand what me, a retard, means by this statement.

And I still haven't gleamed how to actually do it. I thought it'd be as easy as
>disconnect mirror power which presumably has a male connector.
>buy some generic amazon cable for $8.99 that plugs female into that connector and splits it into two males, exactly like a fucking pc power supply splitter cable for additional hard drives like I mentioned above.

is it that simple or not?

[Anonymous No.2904633]

Like jesus christ? this is all I'm asking.
Can I make the cable that plugs into the mirror capable of powering the mirror and a new camera by using something incredibly simple like this so I don't have to fucking drill or wire shit from under the hood? Not wiring a ridiculous path of bullshit is whole reason I made this thread. SEE HOW CABLE MAKES ONE POWER INTO 2 POWER?!?!
god damn help a retard out don't make me drag you to my lack of understanding

[Anonymous No.2904635]

>>2904633
>cut 12v positive wire to mirror
>terminate end with a male spade connector
>install pic related onto male spade connector
>install female spade connector onto the other end of the cut 12v wire that goes to the mirror
>you now have an additional tap point that you can use to feed the camera with another female spade connector
>connect everything and shrink wrap it
You can use the little plastic blade taps, but they suck and will eventually stop working, can't tell you how many of those pieces of shit I've had to replace.

[Anonymous No.2904646]

>>2904635
I at least understand this! Thx. I was hoping it'd be a pop connector + add splitter wire scenario but I've terminated stuff before.
Now, again as a retard, just wondering how to not electricute myself. Disconnect battery first? It's electric gas hybrid so I don't know if there's factors like it being routed in some way i didn't expect and kill me, really unfamiliar with these

[Anonymous No.2904683]

>>2904646
It's impressive to be this clueless. No 12v source is going to kill you, like some other anon said, you could chew on the live wires and be fine. The high voltage in your hybrid system doesn't go anywhere in the cabin and wouldn't be routed through 20ga wires to your mirror.
Disconnect your 12v battery before fucking around so you don't accidentally short the open wire to ground and blow a fuse/upset the bcm.
Honestly though, I would just run a new wire if it were my car, and use a tap fuse off the fuse box so you're not sharing a circuit that wasn't meant to be tapped. You probably won't have any issues, but new cars are built so cheaply that they usually size the wires as small as possible for their designed load. It really should not be hard to tuck a new wire under the plastic a-piller cladding.

[Anonymous No.2904688]

>>2904683
I'm retarded.
i don't know electricity for shit.
I can't find where under the hood I would even run a wire? it's a closed up piece of shit with no clarity.
I don't WANT to run long wires and tuck them under a hundred fingerbiting seams like I've done before.
I don't WANT to go hunt down schematics to learn what 5 hour bullshit nightmare I'm in for to rip my dash out. I always fuck shit like that up.
If you guys keep suggesting that as the only way then I literally need product links to do whatever in the fuse box because I've never ran anything from there and again, I don't WANT TO RUN LONG WIRES.
Man. Wondering if I'm right at home among my retarded kind here. We should mate and make more retards.

[Anonymous No.2904709]

>>2904688
Look in your manual and find where the fusebox is, moron. It's likely in the interior at a kick panel or something. You use something like pic related to tap a clean power wire that isn't running any other components.
I guarantee it's the easiest option, because you are absolutely too retarded to test a bundle of unidentified wires for an ignition + and absolutely WILL fuck it up.
>I don't WANT TO RUN LONG WIRES
Its the only proper way to do it. I'd bet that whatever 12v+ power wire that's at your mirror is no bigger than 22ga, and most cameras are wired with 16-18. You will also probably end up smoking the fuse for the circuit because it wasn't meant to also power a camera. You literally just tuck the wire under the plastic, you dunce. Do you know how many fucking youtube videos there are showing this process? Do the tiniest bit of your own research before crying about your rediculous incompetency.

[Anonymous No.2904822]

>>2904709
>derp fag words
thanks for the info but there is no way to get it up there without exiting a seam and having a shitty visible wire crawling up and over the dash the way toyota designed there bullshit. It's drill or mirror or your idea which is what I said I wasn't going to do since the beginning, which you didn't read because you're a turd who calls a self professed retard a moron like that's going to be some shocking insult.

[Anonymous No.2904855]

>>2904688
>>2904822
>I don't WANT to do it myself

[Anonymous No.2904860]

>>2904822
>hey guys how do I do this
>here's how you do it
>I don't WANT TO DO THAT
Then have someone else do it, you fucking idiot. You preemptively announcing your retardation doesn't prevent me from also pointing out how stupid your posts are. Put the tiniest bit of effort in yourself before asking to be spoon fed.
"Drilling" still requires you tap into a 12v power source under the dash. Again, that 12v source is most easily going to come from a fuse box tap, because you will fuck something up trying to identify and splice into a power harness wire if you're too stupid to tuck a wire under some plastic.
The power wire to the mirror is almost certainly not going to be big enough, though it might be. But, identifying that involves you removing the plastic mirror cladding, reading up on the power demands for the camera, and figuring out the size of the wire in the car. You'll probably end up breaking the mirror.

Just buy a kit (that you can find with literally 1 second of googling) and watch a video. Are you a zoomer with learned helplessness or something?

[Anonymous No.2904862]

>>2904860
>bork bork
are you an ancient near dead boomer who never learned to not act like a superior douchebag to people who are learning things on their own and didn't have a mcmansion life? Dumbass the absolute clean visual is important to me and the retarded wiretuck leaves about 2 feet of it shitty and exposed. You are a godamn ridiculous for not letting that sink in by now. Yes I could have tucked it this whole time just to have it look like ass, you're in a post shitting your ancient pants trying anything to avoid the point of a custom job inquiry. Day of the pillow can't come fast enough lol

[Anonymous No.2904868]

>>2904862
You are given the answer to your problem multiple times by multiple anons. There are tons and tons of videos and resources on how to do exactly what you are trying to do exactly the way you want to do it. You already have enough information in this thread to start figuring out how to wire the camera. Post some pictures or something if you need help ID-ing wires but don't keep bitching that the answer you got wasn't the one you wanted, faglord.
>retarded wiretuck leaves about 2 feet of it shitty and exposed
Shorten the wire or wrap it up and tuck the slack under the dash near the fuse box. It's not that fucking hard to figure out, man.
>You are a godamn ridiculous for not letting that sink in by now.
You can have a clean visual by tucking the fucking wires, christ dude. Legitimately, if you cannot figure out how to cleanly hide a wire around the windshield trim, you should just pay to have the job done, because you are too retarded to not fuck it up.

[Anonymous No.2904965]

>>2904868
didn't read
lol lmao