I recently fitted a K1S Dashcam (Koonlung K1S) to an Abarth 500, and wanted to have a tidy install with no wires showing if possible. To avoid having it plugged into the 12V lighter socket, I needed to find a suitable place to wire it into the dashboard fuse box. Although the fuse box is described in the manual, it doesn’t indicate which fuses are permanently live, and which are switched live. This information is not readily available on the interwebs either, so I figured it out with a meter and made some partial notes in the table below.
| Fuse | Amps | Duty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| F12 | 7.5 | Right dipped headlamp power supply | |
| F13 | 7.5 | Left dipped headlight and headlight alignment control unit power supply | |
| F32 | 7.5 | Constant | Front, rear and luggage compartment roof lights |
| F36 | 10 | Diagnosis socket, radio, climate control, EOBD | |
| F37 | 5 | Brake light switch, instrument panel node | |
| F38 | 20 | Door central locking | |
| F43 | 15 | Windscreen/rear window washer pump | |
| F47 | 20 | Constant | Driver's side electric windows |
| F48 | 20 | Constant | Passenger side electric window |
| F49 | 5 | Switched | Parking sensor, control backlighting, electric mirrors |
| F50 | 7.5 | Airbag node | |
| F51 | 7.5 | Switched | Radio switch, Blue&Me, climate control, brake lights, clutch |
| F53 | 5 | Instrument panel node |
Obviously, there are a lot of fuses there which are “safety critical” such as the Airbag, Brake Lights etc. which are best avoided. Also, the fuse layout is probably the same on the standard Fiat 500, but you know… they might not be, so use this information at your own risk!
NOTE: I wrote this article for a 2015 model. On the 2017 model, I noticed that F32 and F12 are no longer populated (no fuses are fitted in these positions, and they don’t appear in the manual!)
The picture of the fuse box in the manual is upside down (for right hand drive models) so here’s a rotated version with the fuse ratings added in blue. The Switched (S) and Constant (C) supply fuses are (partially) labelled in red:
To avoid cutting any wiring, I used one of these mini “add-a-circuit” widgets, which allow you make another connection to an existing fuse:
They need to be used with some care, because you could fit the original and new fuses in the wrong places, and fit it in the wrong orientation. As there were no instructions with it, I used the resistance range on my meter to double-check the wiring before fitting the fuses.
In the picture above/below, the left blade is the input side, which needs to go to the live supply in the fuse box. The right hand pin nearest the wire is the output, after the fuse. The original fuse goes in the lower two holes. The new fuse for your added circuit goes in the top two holes, and the output of that fuse is the red wire. Pretty self explanatory really:
When installed in one orientation (12V input to left blade as described above), the input goes through F1 to item A and the input goes through F2 to item B. If either fuse blows, the other item should still have power. However, when installed in the reverse orientation, note that the input will go through F1 to item A but will go through both F1 and F2 in series to item B. So you need to consider the orientation when installing it.
The wire projecting from the side of the “add-a-circuit”, and the fuses projecting sideways can make it impossible to fit in some positions and orientations (e.g. if they interfere with the side of the fuse box). This can limit your choices on which fuses it can be connected to.
Here’s a shot of it fitted in situ on the fuse box. In this case, it’s inserted into F49 (Parking Sensor, control backlighting, electric mirrors). Using a meter, I found that the left terminal in F49 was live with the fuse removed, hence the output wire faces right when installed:
The photo above is from a 2015 model. Here’s another photo from a 2017 model:
Caution: whereas the left terminal of F49 was live, I found that it was the right terminal of F47 and F48 that was live, so it isn’t the same for every fuse.
For the ground connection, I used an eyelet crimp terminal under one of the two bolts which secures the bonnet release handle to the chassis. This is a very short distance from the fuse box, so easy to run a wire.
Thank you for this. This is the most detailed install of this kind I have seen. I had an idea for how I wanted to install this, but wanted to make sure of how to do it.
No problem, I’m pleased you found it useful.
Very useful. Thank you for your contribution to the community.
Thanks, glad it helped.
Thank you James.
We all think of things like this after the fact most of the time. Like having your car broke into and then installing an alarm. Well someone scuffed my Abarth bumper, so now I am looking to get a good parking dash cam. This wiring was the one thing I was not looking forward to going through.
Very detailed and informative. Thanks again.
Thanks Kenny, I’m pleased you found it useful.
Sorry to hear about your car, I can sympathise as both our cars were damaged last year. The dashcam proved to be useful when someone ran into the side of (T-boned) mine last year (now I’m on my second Abarth..)
I guess you will also install a battery saver to prevent it discharging your car battery? There’s plenty of room under the dashboard to tuck one away.
Best regards
James
Amazing and detailed article, well done and thanks for that
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this easy to follow installation guide.
My dash cam was a birthday present in a January and I hadn’t a clue how to hardwire it and had quotes of £50 to £70 to fit it. I recently found your article and fitted it in about 20 minutes, easy peasy. Many thanks.
Great, I’m glad it helped!
Thank you James, I found your article invaluable as it addressed all the problems I encountered when trying to hard wire my dashcam in my 595 competizione. I’m looking forward to having another go at it armed with your advice!
Great, good luck with the install!
I went online with low expectations for finding anything worthwhile. Instead I found *exactly* what I needed here + the bonus of understanding that the hot side in the fuse box can be L or R and that there’s an up & down for the fuse tap widget. Bravo for making it clear!
No worries, glad it helped!
Everything you need to know all in one place, detailed, knowledgeable and excellently writen. I only wish I had seen this a few days ago 🙁
Superb, well done!
Thanks for the kind words!
Holy thread resurrection – but a quick note to say thank you for the above – saved my bacon while fitting dashcam to my daughters Fiat 500 (Fifi)
I used F51 (constant feed – but with Nextbase hardwire kit which has battery saver protection (turns off power to Dashcam if battery volts/Watts gets to a set level)
I struggled with finding a ground location – ended up using the one of the nuts which holds the Bonnet release mechanism. (Just read your end paragraph). Wish I’d read that a day ago !! 🙂
Cheers,
Seyre
Great, glad it helped!
Cheers
James
Thanks from Belgium.
It works well.
Thanks, good to know
Hey, thank you so much for this. It absolutely gave me the info I needed to install my hardwired dash cam.
But I do have a question, which side is live for the F32 fuse? I don’t have a meter to check it with. Thanks so much!
Hi there, pleased it helped!
Looking at my diagram, it looks like I didn’t label F32… now it was quite a while ago, so I’ll need to pull the fuse on my car and check with a meter to answer the question!
Anyway, I should have chance to check that for you at some point this weekend, bear with me…
James
OK, so I’ve had a look at this and my current Abarth (2017 595 Turismo) is different… both F32 and F12 are unpopulated (no fuses fitted in those holders).
I checked with a meter and both fuse holders appear to be disconnected – no 12V present with ignition on/off.
Also, the manual no longer lists those fuses (only 10 of the 14 fuses are listed in the table on P100 of the manual, and it doesn’t list a function for fuse F32 or F12).
So it looks like they don’t use those fuses on newer models?
Out of interest, which year is yours?
This article was written for my old 2015 car, and the 2017 model is obviously different…
Hi Everyone,
I really could do with some assistance .
I’m wanting to hardwire a dash cam into my Abarth unfortunately there is a fuse tap already in the internal fuse box location F31 and space as you know is very limited.
I need a constant and also a switched socket.
I have no idea what this fuse tap is for as I have only just noticed it so it would of been there before I purchase my Abarth back in 2019 my Abarth is on a 16 plate.
Could the fuse tap be for the Beats audio system?
Any help would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Simon.
Hi Simon
I doubt that the fuse tap would be used for a factory or dealer option like Beats audio, I suspect it was added by a previous owner, but I’m not sure what for.
I would be tempted to disconnect it, replace the original fuse, and see what (if anything) happens!
Perhaps they had some additional kit that they removed, but didn’t remove the fuse tap. We can only speculate of course.
Would be interested to know what you discover…
Kind regards
James
I will bump this as STILL the most comprehensive guide to getting this done. Thanks for the effort.
You should get some kind of award!
Thanks! It’s great to know that people are still finding this useful, and I appreciate you taking the trouble to write in here.
This guide was a life saver for fitting my dashcam did exactly the same as you’ve done, my only question is although when I turn the car off you can see the dash cam turning off and indeed is off you try to turn it on and it’s defiantly off I still have a slow drain I did a test by forcing the dash cam to stay on and see if it continued to stay charged which it did could this be a problem with the install or do you think it may be the hardwire kit it’s self?
Again thank you for this great guide
Hi Damien
That’s really odd! If I understand correctly, it sounds as if you turn off the ignition and the dashcam powers off, but you still have a slight current drain. I didn’t have that issue myself. It’s peculiar, as it suggests that the voltage has dropped sufficiently to cause the dashcam to shut down, but there is still a voltage present which causes some current to flow. It’s really hard to see how that could happen. I don’t think this is something that I could diagnose without having physical access to the car and a multimeter. My first thought would be to remove the new wiring and use a voltmeter to check for the voltage present on each pin of the fuse holder (versus ground) with the ignition on/off (this will tell you which side of the fuse holder is the supply side, and you can see if the voltage drops to zero with the ignition off). Assuming that looks OK, that would eliminate the fuse box and existing wiring as the root cause. Then I would check the newly introduced wiring.
hi james
would the layout for fitting a dashcam to abarth 500e
be the same
regards
paul
I’m not sure, as I’ve only ever done this on my own car, but the odds are good that they will be the same if they’re a similar year.
You can verify it with a multimeter of course, which is how I figured out the wiring on mine.
Regards
James
H James,
I hope you can answer this for me, I have a 2016 series 3 RHD and wondering if I should also use the same switched fuse as you the F49 for my next base 622 dash cam, I cant see why not but I hate working with electronics lol.
Great how to guide btw. 🙂
Hi Jonny
I’ve installed this on a 2015 and 2017 model, so as the 2016 model is in between, it seems likely it would be the same. The only way to be 100% sure is to test with a multimeter of course…
Anyway, I’ve just uploaded another photo above of the 2017 model fuses, in case that helps.
Good luck with it!
James