[Mike Betts]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

...this camera was connected to the main power source (through a spike not directly of course)...

I read in another post that this was a 12V camera and not the CMU2cam.

Since this is a sensor (albeit a sophisticated one) the camera should be connected to the fuse panel via a circuit breaker (20A) and not to a spike. The spike output can go from +12 to -12V and negative excursions would fry the camera.

The 12V battery should mitigate any inductive spikes and the only thing you have to worry about is undervoltage dips when large loads are present on the 12V bus. A UV dip should cause a solid state device to stop working temporarily but should not cause a catastrophic failure.

Pay very careful attention to the specs on your device. If a solid state device lists 12V as a maximum voltage, it will likely be destroyed by 12.1V!

Most 12V (nominal) devices will have a maximum voltage of 16 to 18V.

You may want to post the part number of the component and let one of our resident experts give it a look over.

At a very minimum, loose the Spike and wire directly to the CB on the fuse panel.

Mike