Cigarette Lighter Charge Stays On When Car Is Off
 

i recently installed a dash cam on my car. the dash is supposed to come on when i turn on the car and off when i turn off the car. the issue is, our cars' cigarette lighter stays on forever. and yes i have tested it, i left the dash cam plugged in on my lunch break and it kept recording the entire hour.

my question is, is there a solution to turning off and on the cig. lighter? i found this thread doing a google search: https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=526646

and secondly, the dash cam has a on and off button, if i leave the cable plugged into the cig light and just turn the dash cam off and on with the button, will it drain the battery.

thanks.....

Following...

Question...I know some BMWs have a 12v charging socket below the dash/glovebox area...if you have it...is that socket "switched" (turns off after 16 minutes or when ignition is turned off)? Or does it stay hot all the time like the other cigarette lighter sockets?

i have the dash cam plugged into that exact 12v charging socket below the dash/glovebox area. i ran the wires under the head liner and under the glove box.

:thumbup: ...guess that answers that question...thanks for the verification and specifics as to which socket you were referencing.


BTW...what's your model year? Asking because some of the early build (or pre facelift models)...the little orange gear-shift light never turns off either...perhaps its related in that if your little orange light never turns off...it also means your 12v charging sockets also remain hot all the time.

can you please elaborate, does the charge from that socket stay on all the time? but i believe its the same with all the socket, if its not. let me know, i can ran the wire to the socket in front of the rear seat.

i have a 2003 4.4i. the little orange gear-shift light is on. i'm at work now. but i can confirm that after work.

I have a 2001 3.0i, and once drained my battery by leaving a GPS plugged into that 12V outlet in the passenger footwell.

And for the OP's question about whether it would work to power off and on each time, sure that would work fine. Except for the time you forget to power off and the battery drains. And then for the time you forget to turn it on and don't have the video you need. So no, you really need to get that switch thing figured out.

I know in other cars, there is sometimes a little relay at the fuse box that switches power for the switched power outlets. Then people short those out to enable power on all the time. You want the opposite, so perhaps adding a relay would do the job.

Whatever the solution is, I bet a lot of us will be interested in it. :popcorn:

I keep my solar charger/battery tender plug into the cigarette lighter underneath the glove box. Sometime I will use the power plug at the back of the truck when I have the solar charger sitting on the retractable cover.

I don't know if it's relevant but when I was using a FM transmitter before and it was connected to my ipod, the plug would stay live if the ipod was playing even long after the X was turned off (till song list ended). But if the ipod was off the transmitter/plug would shut down in about 15 minutes. I think that a live draw on a plug keeps the ibus from shutting down. Try turning on your dashcams accelerometer so it only runs while moving and shuts down after a few minutes of standstill... This might save you from a wiring job.

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interesting, during my lunch break, i will test this out and report back. there charging cable has a blue light indicator, i will turn the dash cam off with the cable still plugged in and see if the blue light stays lit after 15 mins.

from what I've read the glovebox adapter is only live when the car is on. So the torch is being charged while the car is on. Its switched off when the car is turned off so its a perfect spot to use a bmw glovebox adapter to cigarette lighter from eBay. That way your phone or BT adapter or GPS or whatever the hell turns off when the ignition is switched off. I'm going to hard wire a 12v to 5v step down transformer to USB into the glovebox so I can keep the torch as well. having the usb in the glovebox, along with the aux cable I installed for the factory stereo I'll be able to connect my firefly Bluetooth adapter and leave it in the glove box. Solving the problem of the bluetooth staying on all the time.

Also, I really want to make the dash cigarette lighter switched as well but without doing much homework about getting it out, I figure if I can gain access to the wiring in the back I can use a 12v relay to have the stereo switch on and off the lighter. I should work in theory if I grab the correct wire for the DSP amp turn on and use that to trigger the relay and connect the lighter when the stereo powers up.

One thing at a time. Going to do the glovebox USB one this weekend once I get some wire taps from the store.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

Any news? Or is it just that X is haunted and/or clinically insane... [emoji38]

EDIT:
Also forget to say that the interior sensor will keep things active if there's any movement in the interior so checking after dark for the lights glow may be the only true way to verify without changing the status of the interior.

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sorry for the late update. but i did turn the dash cam off and left the cable plugged for 30mins. came back and the light on the cable was still lit, showing that there is still charge from the outlet even after 30 mins with the car turned off.

i believe if you daily drive your car, you can leave the cable plugged is and manually turn off the dash cam or whatever you have plugged into any of the outlets.

Not only that but if you lock the car with kids still in the car, the kids will trigger the alarm because of their movement.

unless you hit the lock button a second time in 10 seconds. ;)

To disable the sensor, just hit the Arm button a second time. The clown nose with burn solid for a minute showing the motion sensor is disabled.

I used this all the time when I locked my child, dog, and a cherished hamster in the car during particularly hot days. ;)

Edit:

THAT is just spooky...:cool:

Just a cautionary FYI:

NEVER lock people inside the car with your remote key or using the exterior driver's door lock cylinder...even if you're planning to disable the IMS. Never do this because not only does it arm DWA (anti-theft alarm siren system which includes the IMS {interior motion sensor} and TILT sensor)...it also DOUBLE-LOCKS the vehicle and disables the INTERIOR & EXTERIOR door handles. So if passengers needed to get out of the car for any reason or emergency...they'd be stuck inside until you came back with the key to unlock the doors. Their only recourse for escape is to bash out a window and crawl through the broken glass (if they don't know the emergency exit procedure...which is only available on BMWs with a 2000-up model year build date..prior to that they'll have to crawl through the broken glass).

If leaving people in the car...if they want to be secured...let THEM lock the vehicle from inside using the door lock pins or by pressing the central lock button on the center console. This puts the vehicle in SINGLE-LOCK mode and the interior door handles are still able to unlock & open the doors.


BTW...don't confuse double-lock with turning the key TWICE in the driver's door lock cylinder or pressing the remote LOCK button TWICE...these are two totally different references. DOUBLE-LOCK is a state of being for the central locking system...turning the key TWICE or pressing the LOCK button TWICE is a procedure...a procedure that disables the IMS and TILT sensors. ;)

I agree with Qsilver7, people should never be locked in the car unless you secure them with zip ties, duct tape or rope first. This will keep them from smashing a window and escaping. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...71ee4123c6.jpg

[emoji38]

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^ ^ ^ ^ :bustingup


...in the same tone as above...this label is in my e38's trunk to help with proper positioning of "cargo" ... :D

Awesome, well played[emoji38]

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This (glovebox flashlight adapter) is what I use to power my permanently mounted Garmin and DashCam as it's the only switched supply in the car (short of tapping into the fuse box, which incidentally is also in the glovebox). All the cigarette lighter power outputs are always ON.

Any update on the glovebox wiring? I'm planning to install a dashcam in my 2001 3.0i, and would like to use that if it exists on my car. I don't have the flashlight, and there is certainly nothing obviously accessible IN the glovebox. But if someone can confirm the right wiring is behind the glovebox even for a car as stripped as mine, I'll tear things apart to get to it.

Alternatively, is there anything switched up top by the rear view mirror? That's likely to be where the cam will be mounted, so it would actually be easiest.

Really hoping to ride someone else's coattails on this one.

If your X didn't come with a flashlight, you don't have the receptacle in the glove box for the flashlight, however, the wiring for the receptacle is probably behind the glove box. My X didn't come with the flashlight, but I installed the flashlight receptacle and bought a flashlight for my X.

Yes I agree, the wiring is there behind a dummy plate. I used the wiring, enlarged the cutout slightly, and clipped in a double USB outlet. Very handy for phone charging.

If you have the HOMELINK UGDO (universal garage door opener) it is switched. It is powered once the ignition goes into KL 15 (ignition position 2 & beyond)...and this is to prevent anyone from smashing your windows if the vehicle is parked outside your home and pressing the HOMELINK button to open your garage door to gain entry. Which is a good reason NOT to leave any garage door opener exposed to view if you park your vehicle outside your home in the drive or on the street.

The HOMELINK wiring harness only has 3 wires:

• One wire supplies 12 volts
• One wire supplies illumination to the switch when the headlights are turned on (the middle wire)
• One wire is ground (probably the brown wire)

Did the same. Removed the flashlight and hooked up the leads to a usb + aux combo. Used the factory aux cable. Then used a firefly Bluetooth. With Spotify on highest quality settings and it’s digital eq settings the X has never EVER sounded better. Tapes were terrible quality.

This is a very helpful thread. Thanks everyone for the useful info. I was thinking about a dash cam and also needing a switched power circuit for my trailer auxiliary power connection.

BUT-------------
 

How about if he wants the dash cam running when he is stopped at a red light or parked temporarily. In those cases I would like the dashcam to be running, NOT just when I am moving. IMHO

What I ended up doing on my 2001 3.0i was to tap off the wires powering the map lights up by the top center of the windshield. From my notes, from several years ago when I did it, ...

Accessing the map light assembly up there, 8P connector to the board: 3rd wire from left is brown = ground. First is blue/red striped; GND when OFF, 12V when ON. Rightmost wire is red/yellow striped, connects to 3 rightmost pins, appeared to be constant 12V, but I now think it goes to GND after sleep.

I connected to the brown GND wire and the rightmost red/yellow striped.

I have power to the dashcam when car is ACC or ON, and then for 16 minutes after car is OFF, when it goes to sleep. Confirmed by the green slow blinking LED on the dashcam - goes dark 16 minutes after turning car OFF.

More specifically, I connected those brown (GND) and red/yellow (switched +12V, but will go to sleep 16 minutes after key out) wires to a standard USB adapter that you might plug into the power outlet. Then the standard USB-A to USB-micro wire that came with the dash cam goes from that adapter to the cam.

So I have dash cam power whenever the key in ON or ACC, and then for 16 more minutes after key is out and conditions are met for the car to put itself to sleep.

I was actually hoping for 24x7 power on, as I have in other cars. The cams are so efficient (~100 mA) that having them serve as always-on motion detectors when parked can be useful for me. I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood, and the cam will awaken and record for a couple of minutes each time a car drives by or someone walks past. Good car batteries and solar maintainers make sure that even the 100 mA draw is not a problem.

If you have sunroof that panel has constant voltage (Terminal 30) supply.