2012 civic wont start after wiring mishap

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mythic01

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Hi folks
I attempted to wire a dashcam into my civic today.
Sadly it did not workout the way I would have liked it to.
First, I insert a fusetap with two 15a fuses in it to an otherwise empty circuit...
I found a bolt above the fuse box and affixed the ground to it...
I put my key in and turned on the power to the car that way, but did not start it...
The dashcam turned and I thought everything was perfect...
5 minutes later, I try to start the car and it won't crank. The display comes on perfect, but when I try to start it it just does nothing whatsoever...the display flickers and thats about it....
Does anyone have any suggestions on what went wrong?
I don't see how it could be a dead battery as the car was not running or powering anything long enough for that to occur....?
Thanks
 
Did you pull the fuse tap to try starting the car? Did you check the battery with a multi meter?
 
I replaced the battery and everything works again.
I'm afraid to plug back in my fuse tap now though, in case I run into the same problem....
 
mythic01 said:
I replaced the battery and everything works again.
I'm afraid to plug back in my fuse tap now though, in case I run into the same problem....
Click to expand...
Put it in #23 on the interior fuse panel as I mentioned
 
I have a feeling my problem has something to do with the grounding of the circuit.
I connected the ground terminal to a bolt to the immediate right of the fuse box with some other plugs near it.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was not a proper ground and led to some kind of a short?
Before plugging anything in again I will need a new grounding point. Also I have two 15 amp fuses in the tap. Should I find lower rated fuses?
Thx
 
Did you look at the diy link I posted above on how they wired/ran ground? According to the net, most radar detectors are like ~2 amps. 15amp fuse is overkill, but it’s not going to stop it from working.
 
I plugged the fuse tap back into an empty circuit - number 23. It's currently powering a radar detector, which also has a volt meter..

When the car is idling, the voltage is coming through as 12.5 volts...

When I previously was driving and had the radar detector plugged into the cig lighter, it was showing 14.5 volts.

Now, would you say this is normal or something is wrong here?
 
honda has what's known as dual mode charging, and it sounds like what you experienced with the 2 voltage readings.


Honda’s Dual Mode Charging System

For many years Honda and Acura have utilized a dual mode charging system to increase fuel efficiency and to decrease the drag on the engine when starting. The two modes can accomplish as much as 10% load reduction on the engine by allowing the Electric Control Module (ECM) to determine charging rates based on information gathered from an Electric Load Detector (ELD) andvarious other sensors.

During heavy electrical or mechanical loads (i.e., if the AC clutch is engaged), the ECM will set the charging voltage to 14.4-14.9V (high output mode); during startup and light electrical load conditions, the ECM will set the charging voltage to 12.4-12.9V(low output mode).

In the latter case this anomaly might cause a technician to try to diagnose a low charge problem, although it is normal to have 12.5-12.7 charging voltage when the parameters are met.This might confuse most technicians because it takes more than 12.6 volts to charge a battery. However, while in the low output mode,the alternator is not actually “charging” the battery but it is just holding the battery voltage at 12.5-12.7 volts. The main draw on the battery occurs during startup and after the battery has been charged there is no need to keep the voltage higher than what the vehicle needs. After the battery has been charged most of the current is drawn from the alternator. Thus, this system increases efficiency by charging the battery only when needed.
 
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