Joined up to post this, hope someone has some knowledge they'd like to share :)

I've wired in a dashcam to the central fuse box (2009 s-max) and I do NOT want to use a fuse which is permanently live. I thought I'll use the wipers or foglights, but having tried both of those, power does not stop being fed to them?

The dashcam has a light on it so I knew it was being powered. I thought hmmm, the power may still be supplied for a while after locking the car so I locked it and came back after an hour - but the power light was still on (could see through the window)

I don't want to drain the battery so need to either find one which isn't permanently on, or could someone explain why all the logical fuses which should not be live still carry on being live?

Thanks :)

Something like heated seats, heated windscreen, rear demisters, things like that are usually ignition only.

I've got mine wired in to heated steering on my Focus.

17 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Something like heated seats, heated windscreen, rear demisters, things like that are usually ignition only.

I've got mine wired in to heated steering on my Focus.

That's the logical thought process I went through too, but then found the ones I tried were always on. Any idea on the power-down time for the non-ignition circuits? As I've read that certain circuits stay on for a certain amount of time, and I can't spend an hour on every circuit to see if they power down!

Wiper fuses are usually a safe bet.

Sent from my SM-G930F

4th fuse down, right row, 7.5amp fuse

I agree with the above, try the rear wiper.

some will question why the rear wiper? Well it's an ignition live circuit for one but also not a critical one should anything happen with regards to blowing fuse (depending which way round your fuse tap is). 

Hi, it all depends on the type of camera you have, my camera can be programed to operate under various vehicle movements , it also has a unit that detects battery voltage and when it drops to 12.4 volts the power to the camera is automatically switched off, mine is wired to a perminantly live fuze down on the right, but  stays on unti about 10 seconds after you have locked the vehicle, and come on when you unlock the car or when the vehicle is rocked or moved when you are away from the vehicle.