I mentioned a couple of days ago that the radio display and cameras in our 2020 Fit had stopped working. I brought the car to the dealer today. The first thing he said was that if it was mouse damage, it wouldn't be covered by the warranty. I know a replacement of a wiring harness can be ridiculously expensive.

After two hours, they discovered the problem. There is a dash cam plugged into the dashboard USP port. He said that the dash port is for an iPhone. Connecting the dash cam there burned out a fuse panel ($635, plus labor). He said that aftermarket electrical products "are no good." It was my plan to someday run a wire from the battery into the car and to a separate fuse panel for accessories. In addition, I would wire a separate fuse panel off the fuse box for switch-controlled accessories. That's what I did on my 2015. The dash cam has been in the car since it was new - March of this year.

So, could plugging an accessory into the "Apple port" blow out a fuse box?

 

Do you know the rated current draw of the USB port vs. your dashcam?

If your dashcam draws more juice than the USB is rated for, that's on you.

If your dashcam draws the same or less juice than the manufacturer's rating, that's on Honda.

If your dashcam draws more than the rating, sure, it could burn a fuse box or circuit over time.

 

I realized that only the radio LCD is not working. If the whole fuse box was shot, why are all the other circuits working? I looked in the manual, and there is not warning about using either USB port. Also, the dash cam power cord ends in a USB plug. When I reconnect it, I'll use a 12v power port with a USB adapter. I don't see anything about power draw on the dash cam instruction sheet.

 

The fuse should have just blown and that was the end of it. Typically USB is under 2 amps and I wouldn't expect your camera to draw that much but maybe.

If the fuse panel was shot I'd expect other things to not work.

Sounds odd to me but stranger things have happen.

 

Thanks for your comments. Nothing about their claim sounds right.

 

I couldn't find my original post, so I'll continue the story here. 2020 Fit - one morning, the radio and its display are dead. I bring it to the Honda dealer. After two hours of exhaustive testing, they determine that the dash cam, which was connected to the "iPhone USB connection," burned out the fuse panel, but they would cover it under warranty. Of course, there were no blown fuses, and it was only the radio that didn't work, but Honda knows best.

A week later, they say that they replaced whatever they replaced, but the radio still doesn't work. "There must be a short in the radio." It will take them a week to get a new radio, "And when you get the car back, you'll have a brand new radio" - unlike the three-month old radio I had before.

Maybe it's a coincidence, but two weeks after I bought my 2015 Fit, the LaneWatch camera, which displays on the radio's LCD, started acting up. Although other people here had the same problem, and replacing the radio solved the problem, it took my dealer three years to replace the radio.

 

Your original post here, in the ICE subforum: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...y-fusebox.html

If the radio replacement gets you whole, consider yourself fortunate. This could have been an expensive repair, and Honda didn't have to cover damages caused by a third-party device.

 

That's what's so funny about it. Plugging in a dash cam didn't damage anything. There were no blown fuses, and everything except the radio worked. The service guy told me not to connect anything electrical to the car. I guess those power ports and USB points are for decoration.

 

Did you laugh at him? You should have responded with that sarcastic remark.

 

We were both wearing masks, so he couldn't see the large smile spreading across my face. Car service people are like cops: you don't want to laugh at them if you want a smooth life. : )

 

You can’t plug anything Electrical into the car!?! WTF kinda comment is that lmao. Glad you got it taken care of.

 

Right! That's "very bad." Nothing aftermarket. I looked in the manual, and there are no warnings about using the USB connections.

On my 2015, I ran a wire from the battery into the car for a separate fuse box. The dealer didn't like that. He made me disconnect everything before they installed the replacement radio. I installed the fuse box specifically so I wouldn't be tapping into any of the car's wiring.

I saw the 2020 Fit with the radio removed. They had to remove the top of the dash. Quite a job.

 

Which dashcam (supposedly) caused all of this?

 

Viofo, a very good one that was in the car for three months. I suspect identical dash cams are sold under different brand names. I plan to add another one to look out the back window. I've had one in my Fit for a couple of years, although not connected to a USB port. Mine is running off a separate fuse panel connected directly to the battery. When Honda had to replace the radio in my 2015, the dealer first made me disconnect all that fuse panel wiring, and he suggested that it would void the warranty. I use a separate fuse panel to avoid tapping into the car's wiring just for that reason - not messing with the car's wiring.

There is no way that dash cam caused any problems. It doesn't generate electricity that it sends back to the car. There were no fuses blown in any fuse boxes, and everything worked but the radio. Even after they replaced the "burned out" fuse box, if they even did that, the radio still doesn't work.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you Google dash cams, be sure to do it both ways: dash cam and dashcam. They can't make up their minds which is correct. I've bought both. : )

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'll go with what bargainguy said about possibly overtaxing the USB outlet. On page 11 of the A119 manual, it does state that the dashcam USB power cable is supposed to be inserted into the 12/24 volt adapter, which then goes into the cigarette power outlet (which is either 10 or 15 amps).

Most headunit usb power outlets are about 1.1, 2.1 to perhaps 3.0, maybe 5.0 amps if you're lucky.

I have a Viofo A129 and I believe my 12/24 volt adapter is 5.0 to 7.5 amps but I'll double check when I'm home.
EDIT : I think that the most a headunit can put out is 3 amps. Forget the 5 amps that I mentioned. That was for something else.

EDIT 2: Had a look at my Viofo usb to cigarette socket adapter and it's 3.0amps.

 

I believe it was based on USB 2.0. spec says

• Battery Charging Specification 1.1 Added support for dedicated chargers, host chargers behavior for devices with dead batteries
• Battery Charging Specification 1.2:[25] with increased current of 1.5 A on charging ports for unconfigured devices, allowing High Speed communication while having a current up to 1.5 A and allowing a maximum current of 5 A

It was meant for data transfer more so than power, so it may not have been configured for dedicated high current (max 5A) at constant duty. When I had my 2011 that is what I used it for, had a jump drive for all the music I listened to. If the LVR that ran the USB shorted out, that could have caused a cascade failure, especially if the LVR was used to power other things in the HU not just the USB, which I be willing to bet thats how it was built.