How to Hardwire a Dash Cam in Australia, Step by Step

Hardwiring a dash cam means powering it from your car's fusebox instead of the 12V socket. You use a three-wire kit that taps one fuse that stays live with the ignition off, one fuse that only goes live when you turn the key, and an earth bolt on the chassis. It takes most people one to two hours, and it is the practical way to run parking mode.

The wiring is the easy part. The bit that makes people sweat is popping the first trim panel, and that is mostly a nerve problem rather than a skill problem.

This guide walks the whole job in order, including the Australian details that overseas guides skip: newer cars with no switched fuse, long rear runs in utes and canopies, and what our heat does to a parked battery.

Key takeaways

You only need to hardwire if you want parking mode. For driving footage alone, the 12V plug is fine.
The job needs a circuit tester, the right fuse tap shape for your car, and a nylon trim tool. Buy the tap shape before you start.
Set the low-voltage cutoff before you walk away from the car. That setting, not the kit itself, is what protects your battery.

What hardwiring actually does

A three-wire hardwire kit gives your camera three connections. Each one does a specific job.

The constant feed stays live when the car is off. That is the wire that lets the camera keep watching a parked car.

The switched feed, often labelled ACC or accessory, only carries power when the ignition is on. The camera reads that wire to work out whether you are driving or parked, then changes recording mode to match.

The earth is a ring terminal on a bare metal bolt. It completes the circuit. Without a clean earth, the camera either will not start or behaves oddly.

Here is the part worth saying plainly: not everyone needs this. If you only want footage of your driving, the cigarette plug your camera came with does that job and takes two minutes. Hardwiring earns its time when you want the camera recording while the car sits in a car park or on the street overnight. Our parking mode guide covers what the different parking modes actually record.

What you need before you start

What	Why you need it
Three-wire hardwire kit for your camera	Carries power to the camera and holds the cutoff setting. Kits are model-specific, so the plug and the connector have to match your camera.
Circuit tester or multimeter	Tells you which fuse slot is constant and which is switched. Guessing here is how people tap an airbag circuit.
Add-a-circuit fuse taps	Adds your new fused branch without cutting a factory wire. The whole install stays reversible.
Nylon trim tool	Lifts A-pillar and headliner trim without marking it. A screwdriver dents the panel edge and can push a clip through the plastic.
Spanner or socket for the earth bolt	You need to loosen a chassis bolt and get the ring terminal under it properly.
Cable ties	Stops the slack dropping out of the headliner in six months.

Pro Tip: check the fuse shape in your car before you buy taps. Australian fuseboxes commonly use standard blade, Mini, Micro2 and Low-Profile Mini, and a tap for one shape will not sit in a slot for another. Micro3 is the one that catches people out on some late-model cars, and it usually needs its own adapter.

We put the four common tap shapes, the circuit tester, the trim tool, fuse pullers and cable ties in one box as the Dash Cam DIY Install Kit. The camera-specific three-wire cable is a separate item, and you can match it to your model in our hardwire kits.

Will hardwiring void your car warranty?

A properly completed accessory installation does not automatically remove your Australian Consumer Law rights. A manufacturer or dealer may still dispute coverage for damage that is shown to have been caused by the installation.

That is the honest position, and it is why the method matters. An add-a-circuit tap leaves every factory circuit on its original fuse and cuts nothing, so there is nothing to argue about later. A spliced and soldered join into a factory loom is harder to defend and harder to undo.

Check your vehicle documentation, and use an appropriately qualified installer where the vehicle manufacturer requires one. Our guide to the dash cam fuse tap goes into the warranty question in more detail. This is general information, not legal advice.

The install, step by step

1. Mount the camera and check your vision first

Sit in the driver's seat before you commit to a spot. The camera needs to sit high, inside the area the wipers clear, and out of your line of sight. Placement rules vary by state and territory, so check the rule that applies where you drive. Our guide to dash cam laws in Australia covers each state.

Behind the rear-view mirror suits most cars. It hides the body of the camera, keeps the lens in the wiped zone, and puts the cable run close to the A-pillar.

2. Find the fusebox

Your owner's manual names the location. In most Australian cars the interior fusebox sits in the driver's footwell, behind a kick panel, or inside the glovebox. Some cars have two, and the one under the bonnet is not the one you want.

The manual usually includes a fuse map. Keep it open. It saves you testing every slot.

3. Test for a constant feed and a switched feed

Turn the ignition off and earth your tester on bare metal. Probe the fuse slots. A slot that reads live with the key out is a constant feed.

Now turn the ignition on and test again. A slot that was dead with the key out and reads live now is your switched feed.

Tap non-critical circuits only. Stay away from airbags, ABS, engine management, headlights and anything else that stops the car being safe. If you are not sure what a slot controls, do not use it. We cover the selection in full in which fuse to tap for a dash cam.

4. Fit the fuse taps

Pull the factory fuse with the fuse puller. The factory fuse goes back into the tap, and the new fuse for your camera branch goes into the other slot on the tap. Then push the tap into the empty slot in the fusebox.

Check the orientation. An add-a-circuit tap only feeds your new branch correctly one way around, and the tester will tell you which way that is.

5. Earth the black wire

Find a bolt that goes into bare, unpainted metal on the body or chassis, near the fusebox. Loosen it, slide the ring terminal under, and do it back up firmly.

Paint is an insulator. A ring terminal sitting on a painted surface is the single most common reason a fresh hardwire install does not power up.

6. Route the cable

Route around curtain airbags, never across them. Side-curtain airbags deploy out of the A-pillar and headliner at speed, and a cable run through that path can turn into a problem in a crash. Your vehicle manual shows where they sit. If the manual is not clear, stop and get the work done by someone who can identify them.

The usual path runs along the top edge of the windscreen into the headliner, down the A-pillar, behind the kick panel and across to the fusebox. Tuck the cable rather than forcing it, and re-seat every clip you lifted.

Cable-tie the slack where it cannot rub against a moving part or a sharp edge.

7. Test both modes before the trim goes back

Start the car. The camera should power up and record normally. Turn the car off. The camera should either stay recording or switch into its parking mode, depending on the model.

Test this while the panels are still loose. Finding a problem now costs you five minutes. Finding it after the trim is back costs you the whole job again.

The two fuse numbers people mix up

Search for the right fuse rating and you will find two very different answers. Some hardwiring guides tell you to choose a fuse slot rated somewhere between 10A and 30A. Forum threads tell you to fit a 2A to 5A fuse. People read both and assume one of them is wrong.

Both are correct, because they answer two different questions.

The first number describes the existing factory circuit you are tapping into. The second number describes the new fuse that protects your camera branch, which sits in the other slot on the add-a-circuit tap. A dash cam draws very little current, so its branch wants a small fuse. The factory circuit keeps the rating it always had.

The practical rule is simpler than either number. Use the fuse rating your kit's own manual specifies, and do not substitute a bigger one because it happens to fit. The taps in our own install kit ship with 3A fuses for each blade size for that reason.

Set the low-voltage cutoff before you walk away

Parking mode draws power from your battery while the car is off. A hardwire kit's low-voltage cutoff is the setting that stops the camera before the battery drops too low to start the engine. That setting is what protects the battery, not the kit on its own.

Cutoff options differ between kits, and the right figure depends on your battery type and your car. Use the voltage your kit's manual recommends rather than a number you read somewhere else. Then check it a week later and see how the car cranks.

Our guide on how to stop your dash cam draining your battery works through the settings and the warning signs.

Where Australian cars make this harder

Newer cars with no switched fuse. Plenty of recent models, including many EVs and hybrids sold here, have no fuse slot that behaves like a traditional ACC feed. The camera then has no way to tell driving from parked. There are ways around it, and we go through them in no ACC fuse and why parking mode fails in newer cars.

Utes, vans and canopies. A rear camera in a dual cab, a tray or a canopy needs a longer run than the cable in the box. Measure the route before you start, not after you have the trim off, and check the total length your camera supports.

Heat. A car parked in the open in an Australian summer gets hot enough to matter. That is an argument for keeping cable runs away from anything that gets hot, and for checking your cutoff setting rather than assuming the default suits a hot battery.

EVs and hybrids. The camera still runs off the 12V accessory battery, which is smaller than the one in a petrol car and recharges on the car's own schedule rather than whenever you are driving. Be more conservative with parking mode settings, not less.

When to hand it to an installer

Some jobs are worth paying for. A car where you cannot confidently identify the curtain airbag path, a model with no usable switched fuse, a long rear run through a canopy, or a vehicle still inside a manufacturer warranty that names who may carry out accessory work. Those are all good reasons to book it in.

We do not install cameras ourselves. We spec, supply and support. We keep a directory of independent installers around the country, and many of them offer mobile installation. They are independent businesses, so you book and contract directly with them.

Plenty of people do this themselves and end up with a tidier result than a rushed professional job. If you have read this far, you are probably one of them.

Frequently asked questions

Can I hardwire a dash cam myself?

Yes, if you are comfortable opening a fusebox and lifting a trim panel. The wiring itself is straightforward because an add-a-circuit tap cuts nothing. The two skills that matter are using a circuit tester properly and identifying the curtain airbag path in your car. If either of those is unfamiliar, get the job done for you.

Will a dash cam plugged into the cigarette lighter drain my car battery?

In most cars the 12V socket switches off with the ignition, so the camera stops and draws nothing. Some cars keep one socket live all the time. If yours does, a camera left plugged in will keep drawing power with no cutoff to protect the battery, which is one reason a hardwire kit is the safer way to run parking mode.

Is a hardwire kit the same as an OBD power cable?

No. An OBD cable plugs into the diagnostic port instead of the fusebox, so there is no fuse tapping and no earth bolt. It is quicker to fit and easy to remove. See our guides to the VIOFO OP100 OBD-II cable and the WOLFBOX OBD hardwire kits for how they compare.

Do I need to disconnect the car battery first?

For a fuse tap install, usually not, and disconnecting the battery on a modern car can reset settings and stored data you would rather keep. Turn the ignition off, take the key out, and work carefully. Check your vehicle manual, because some manufacturers do ask for the battery to be isolated before accessory work.

Can I hardwire a front and rear dash cam the same way?

Yes. The hardwire kit powers the front camera, and the rear camera runs off a separate cable from the front unit. The wiring at the fusebox is identical. The extra work is the rear cable run, which is the longest and fiddliest part of a two-channel install.

Still not sure which kit matches your camera, or which fuse to use in your car? Send Michael or Harrison the make, model and year and we will point you at the right parts. Talk to the Guys.

Last reviewed: 14 September 2026. We do not install cameras ourselves; the placement and wiring notes here are guidance for whoever does the work. If a specification, a feature or a claim on this page is wrong or has gone out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Commercial disclosure: The Dash Cam Guys sells the hardwire kits and install tools recommended on this page, so read this as a retailer's guide to its own range rather than an independent survey of the market. No brand paid for, sponsored or supplied anything for this guide. We buy the kits we test out of our own stock, the same stock we sell. Kit specifications and cutoff options are the manufacturers' own published specifications. We do not install cameras ourselves, so the wiring steps here are general guidance rather than a record of work we have done, and we have not published controlled current-draw or cutoff-voltage measurements for every kit we sell. What this page says about Australian Consumer Law is general information rather than legal advice. If a specification, a feature or a claim on this page is wrong or has gone out of date, tell us and we will correct it.