can a product made to be used out of the box be hard wired into the car or not?

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2015 Mazda3
Must a product be specifically made to be hard wired, to be hard wired or can anything be hardwired? My dash cam is ready to use out of the box but I want it hard wired, is this possible? I'd assume the cable is the determining factor? The dash cam uses a cig lighter cable so if hard wiring into the car's system would I need to use a different compatible cable?
 
As long as the circuit you're wiring into has the proper switching and enough spare current capacity, there's no reason why you can't hard-wire a dash cam. I don't imagine that the dash cam would ever draw more than about 2 amps - you'd have plenty of spare capacity if you connected it in parallel with a lighter socket.
 
Industrial hard wiring typically means that there are no connectors or plug/receptacle.
 
It should be pretty straight forward to get any reputable car audio shop to hard wire it, or even DIY if you have enough knowledge.

Assuming that the cigarette plug is just a plug and doesn't have any electronics built into it to regulate the power you can just cut the plug off and hard-wire it.

If there are electronics build in you can buy cigarette lighter sockets designed to be hardwired so you can hard-wire the new socket, and plug it in somewhere out of sight. something like this



Easiest way is just an inline fuse and run wires to the battery.

Slightly more difficult, but a much better option is a relay so that it will only turn on when the vehicle has power and will not drain your battery.

A third best option is to use a relay and a switch in case you have a need to turn off power to the dash cam, without having to disconnect the wiring from the battery.
 
Easiest way is just an inline fuse and run wires to the battery.

Slightly more difficult, but a much better option is a relay so that it will only turn on when the vehicle has power and will not drain your battery.

A third best option is to use a relay and a switch in case you have a need to turn off power to the dash cam, without having to disconnect the wiring from the battery.

I'd agree that for most electronics, a relay on the circuit would be the best option. With a dash cam, though, you might want to leave it on when the car is parked. It doesn't draw an incredible amount of power, and it could prove handy if your car gets vandalized or hit while you're away. [/experience talking]
 
Most external (not built-in) electronic devices have a plug/receptacle either as part of the device itself or at the end of the power cord. Removal for repair or transfer to another vehicle is thus much easier to do. I would not recommend hard-wiring such a device, regardless of whether relays and/or switches are used.
 
I'd agree that for most electronics, a relay on the circuit would be the best option. With a dash cam, though, you might want to leave it on when the car is parked. It doesn't draw an incredible amount of power, and it could prove handy if your car gets vandalized or hit while you're away. [/experience talking]

True a dash cam doesn't use that much power, but most modern cars have so much electronics that even without a dash cam a couple weeks of being parked can kill a battery. There are devices available designed to be hard wired that allow you to plug a dash cam into them and automatically shut off after a specific time or once the voltage drops too low. Also most dash cams don't have enough memory to record more than a days worth of footage, especially if its HD like mine, even with compression 1080p video at 15fps eats up a ton of storage.

@concept personally i do not see a problem in hard-wiring devices into a vehicle, as someone who regularly worked on up-fitted trucks where all kinds of additional electronics is added, hard-wiring is the norm except on the rentals where we had a rats nest of cigarette plugs and splitters and wires and were constantly blowing overloaded cigarette lighter fuses. If you don't plan on selling the vehicle soon hard-wiring is a great option for installing things and makes for a much cleaner install. Many devices have optional hard-wire cords or accessories to facilitate connecting the stock plug to a hard wired location.
 
There are devices available designed to be hard wired that allow you to plug a dash cam into them and automatically shut off after a specific time or once the voltage drops too low.

Wait, you suggested this non-hard-wired setup but then said that hard-wiring is the way to go? The biggest benefits of not hard-wiring were previously explained but being able to use something in multiple vehicles without cutting, soldering, or crimping can be a big plus. My ScanGauge 2 can be easily unplugged and used to troubleshoot issues in any of our cars. If I hard-wired it, that would be a real pain to remove and reinstall.
I do agree that some things like gauges should be hardwired, but even they would benefit from a plug in connector at the gauge, at times.
 
Wait, you suggested this non-hard-wired setup but then said that hard-wiring is the way to go? The biggest benefits of not hard-wiring were previously explained but being able to use something in multiple vehicles without cutting, soldering, or crimping can be a big plus. My ScanGauge 2 can be easily unplugged and used to troubleshoot issues in any of our cars. If I hard-wired it, that would be a real pain to remove and reinstall.
I do agree that some things like gauges should be hardwired, but even they would benefit from a plug in connector at the gauge, at times.

I was suggesting that there isn't a "one size fits all" option for installing electronics and that hard-wiring part of a device while still being able to easily disconnect it is an excellent option. You are so against hard-wiring things in but if you look at a car stereo which is "hard wired" but have a connector at the head unit that can be easily disconnected. for repairs ect.

Hard wired doesn't have to mean the only way to remove it is to cut wires, just means that it is not plugged into the standard cigarette plug, but rather wired in directly to battery or other power source. Whether or not there is another disconnect between the hard-wired power source and the device is irrelevant.
 
I guess your definition and my definition are different. When a light is hard-wired, only the bulb is easily replaceable. I had to rewire 2 fluorescent light fixtures at home in order to replace the bulbs with LED bulbs, since the ballasts are no longer used. If the entire light fixtures were not hard-wired, I would've simply unplugged each one and replaced them with new ones. To me, the light assembly is hard-wired into 110v power. If I added a plug and receptacle to the wiring, the "assembly" would no longer be "hard-wired", at least by my definition.
 
some devices like my dash cam didn't come in a ready-to-hard-wire bundle. My brother's dash cam did which was why it was hard wired with ease for a fee of $75. I think I'll say no to hard wiring for now since I like to be able to take it out and use in another vehicle. My dash cam has a high megapixel camera function as well and can be used as a camera.
 
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