Randy, I had tried both. First, I used the cig attachment, and then when I had the power, I spliced it and hardwired it. I got the same results both ways though. My buddy Josh helped me out, who installs stereo and home security systems, so there was little that could go wrong. He seemed to think there was something wrong with the camera, which there could be, but who knows. It didnt seem that the camera was holding a power current at all times. Perhaps there is a short in it. I can only speculate. If yours works great, go with it. It may just be that I got a defected one. Like I said, it works "sometimes", but not well enough to make full use of. I may try again this summer when I have more time. I will try to get my hands on another camera and see how that goes.

Since you did test yours out, tell me, when your camera was actually getting juice, what visuals did the actual camera show? The flickered image on the screen was the only way I knew I had a connection. I sure wish there was some sort of indicator on the actual camera to know if it was holding a current.