dash cam power issues

kickass audio · July 10

I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced problems with the t1xx generation where there is no 12v accessory outlet and you only have usb-c and usb 3.0 ports for 12v power. I have been having a problem lately with my vava 4k dash cam where the cameras internal battery dies out and it never was an issue before but I also had it where only 1 of my dozen USB-A to microUSB cables can work when connected to the dashboard mounted USB ports to power on the camera. If I use the factory microUSB cable or any other cable but the 1 magical cable, the camera will get power and turn on but locks itself up hard and won't function unless I plug the camera into the rear seat USB ports that are power only, I use a 120v to USB adapter in the center console to connect the camera to, or I use that magical microUSB cable that lets the camera charge and power on.

I ordered some usb-a data blocker adapters to try and see if that might help but for the last month my truck is somehow trying to pass data through to the dash cam all of a sudden. If the data blockers don't help my problem then I think I might just need to hard wire a 12v outlet so it can run off accessory power when needed and hope that is my fix to this madness.

My truck hasn't had any OTA updates for almost a year now (I still think that's strange that my radio is on the android security patch from February 2023, really makes me feel safe and secure without security updates to the radio and only the apps are updating on the radio) so that isn't something new that messed with the camera. Rebooting the radio or pulling the battery to the truck for a few hours doesn't help the issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions on something else I can try? How the dashboard is setup on the refresh models makes it unnecessarily hard to try and run a wire under the dash for power and ground and I also need to research where I can tap into the 12v accessory line. If I could snag some power from the fuse that is jumpered in the passenger side of the dash for the USB ports where you can select constant 12v power or ACC power only for it that would be easiest but i'm not too big of a fan of the fuse taps.

Phantom 4D · July 10

Following. On my 2019 I had my emergency light bar plugged in to the rear console "cigarette" lighter. My 2023 doesn't have that feature. I hate to, but it looks like I may have to figure out a hard wire fix.

23TB · July 10

Get yourself a 3 pin add a fuse and tap into the passenger side fusebox.

redwngr · July 16

Have you tried moving the block that connects to F27 so it connects to F28 instead?

Front side of passenger side fuse block

kickass audio · July 17

17 minutes ago, redwngr said:

Have you tried moving the block that connects to F27 so it connects to F28 instead?

Front side of passenger side fuse block

I previously was on F28 and switched it to F27 since I don't need the camera recording 24x7 and have it drain my battery on the truck unnecessarily.

So far what might have done the trick is to use a USB data blocker in line with the USB that goes to the camera. Why in the world I have to use that all of a sudden is weird but it was a suggestion my boss gave me and it seems to be working. If by the end of this week the dash cam is still working then that was my fix because usually after 4 days of driving around the camera would freeze up and crash from a dead internal battery on it when I wasn't using the usb data blocker.

kickass audio · July 24

So update on the fuse in the instrument cluster at the passenger side. That circuit swap does nothing to the USB ports on the dashboard and only affects the USB's in the center console or at the back seat. IDK why GM had to make one set of USB's so they are always on retained accessory power only but you can control the other 2.