Dash cams

[Astonbarlow]

Hi all,

Had a few run ins recently with my car. Had someone smash the side in and leave, so nice £600 quid repair just before Christmas! Then hit some debris on the motorway around 3 week later cracking 2 alloys and blowing 3 tyres! So thinking a dash cam may be useful for any future issues that may arise.

I was thinking I'd need one with a motion and force sensor, for when those kind people in car parks leave a bit of their door on your car. Obviously don't want to spoil the looks of the scirocco so would preferably want one that tucks away behind the rear view mirror.

I've seen the road Angel halo, it's a good price but only records in 720p hd, anyone got a cam at 720? Is it clear enough to view plates properly? The next base 512 is my next choice, but it's got a screen, making it slightly bulkier and maybe a little to obvious for me to see when driving.

So any advice/ experience? What are you guys using in your cars and how well have the cams performed?

Cheers all!

[Viking]

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AlanH]

I bought a Hewlett Packard dash cam. Plumbed all the cable in so no visible wiring. Very easy to route cables pics to follow in a few minutes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AlanH]

Just a few pics to show how little cable shows

Cable around mirror


Cable leading to 12v supply


View inside car.


View from outside car


Hope that helps


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Paddy_R]

Is the 12v socket switched or permanent? I have a dash cam but haven't got round to fitting it yet as I though the 12v was permanent.

[Astonbarlow]

Good pictures, out of interest how did you wire it on the roof? I know how to remove the a pillar trim but unsure about removing the roof trim. Looking at hardwiring into the fuse box to keep permanently on. More concerned about it recording when I'm not around more than when I'm in the car.

How's the dash cam? I've been looking at a fair few, but some can be ridiculously expensive!

I assume the 12V supply doesn't stay on when ignition is off?

[moulin12]

Best place to research dashcams is https://dashcamtalk.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Forum https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's no perfect dash-cam out there at the moment: it's still an evolving technological space.

The Street Guardian is getting good reviews, but it's not dual-cam. Most discreet single camera I know of is the Mobius, has reasonable quality vid though I think it's parking sensor can act up sometimes.

Neither of the above are dual-cam, which you would ideally want for car parking cover. You could hook up two of each, but that would present a power drain, as well as be a bit fussy for monitoring/viewing files.

A consideration is whether you're simply looking for car parking cover for an hour or two at a time (e.g. when leaving the car at a supermarket) or whether you're looking for overnight protection. For the former you can choose to hardwire using a battery discharge prevention device to limit either the number of hours the dash-cam is switched on or to trigger off when the car battery reaches a set level of low voltage. Note, a dash-cam draws most of its power simply by being on and monitoring, whether its recording or not. Myself, I'd be a bit wary of using hardwire for a car parking solution (rather than simply driving solution) due to wear and tear on the car battery.

I have a Blackvue DR650 2-ch (front and rear). Vid quality is average (especially in very dimly lit streets) but captures number plates without issue, has gps, g-sensor, motion sensor, wifi, and cloud push notification capability (email/phone notifications if g-sensor or motion sensor activated). I've choose not to hardwire but instead use a dash-cam battery (takes an hour to charge, either at home or via the 12v socket when driving) and provides around 18 hours of power.

[Astonbarlow]

I was looking at the black view cameras, the seem to have decent ratings. I'm more concerned with cover when I'm not with the car. Mostly car parks, but recently there has been trouble in the area with cars, so paranoid that I may get mine damaged. If I used a dash cam battery, how discreet are they? Mainly just don't like wires hanging around, that's my main pet hate. I'd be happy not to hardwire if the battery lasts so long, as i could quick charge it on a drive to work and then it would be fine for a few days.

Have you got any pictures of yours in the car? As yours is one I'm mainly considering.

Cheers for the reply

[moulin12]

I can get you up some pictures tomorrow, though bear in mind I no longer have a Scirocco! My front cam (which also houses the computer) is reasonably discreet from the outside since it sits high up behind a factory installed tint, while the small (roughly 2" x 3/4" cylinder) rear cam sits high up on the hatch on a factory 20 per cent tint and is impossible to see from the outside without full scrutiny!

Unfortunately, there are no cheap options if you want extended dash-cam car parking protection. This is not only because any dual-cam set-up with car parking mode is going to cost upwards of £200 or more (whether as two singles or as a dedicated dual-cam) but particularly because dash-cam batteries are expensive. There aren't too many choices available, they all have to be purchased from overseas, and the cheapest is around £150 once delivery charges and import duties are taken into consideration.

Best currently on the market is the cellink battery B. I've had mine around 3 months. It's used daily, and it still charges as quickly and retains the same amount of power as it did when I bought it. Price? You won't get much change from £200, with delivery charges and import duties.

Wiring of the dual-cam set-up on my car is very discreet indeed - for most cars you can simply use a plastic tool / implement to push wires under trim and door seals. Front to back, there are no wires on view other then 1" strands of the power cord and rear cam connector as these enter the front cam.

Wiring of the battery can be equally discreet - in the glove box, under the seat etc, again, simply pushing wires under trim. Ultimately, it will be as discreet as you 12v socket allows. On my car, one of my additional 12v sockets - I have 4 :-) - is under the glove box (though near the front, so there is the ungainly 12v cigar connector of the inline battery protruding downwards).

Removing the battery to recharge (if not having driven the vehicle enough to complete an inline charge) simply requires disconnecting the inline cigar lighter socket. I can describe more / show pics should you still be interested.

If the above is too expensive for your tastes, then the other option to go with is as earlier mentioned - use a battery discharge device as part of your hard-wiring. Magic Power is the designated such unit for Blackvues: " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This will normally give you up to a couple of hours of protection though, again, putting a constant drain on the car battery is not really a good idea. I wouldn't configure it for more than a hour's power.

Some argue that the Blackvues are a case of design (good form factor) over pic quality, but the quality is acceptable to me - as a trade off for the form factor as well as the additional features (e.g. cloud push notification). I attach two night time shots from minor, fairly dimly lit roads. Bear in mind that I've had to significantly compress the images to upload. (The number plate in the rear shot doesn't appear that clear in the compressed picture, but believe me it is!)

Bear in mind, also, that if your street is very dimly lit then you're not going to get good enough shots of vandals (though you will capture a car's plates, assuming that car has its lights on). This is true of any camera, to degrees.

Give me a shout if I can be of any more help.

[Astonbarlow]

Yeah anymore pictures will help. I'm looking into the hardwiring with the power magic pro, I think that would be my best option. I understand it does put extra strain on the battery, but from what I understand the current drawn is relatively low in comparison to the supply current the battery is able to give. I use my car every day for a 50 min commute, so will easily have it back to full charge. Those pictures look like good quality, clearly can read number plates, which is my main concern. With regards to vandals, if they have their hoods up, the police pretty much regard them as invisible on CCTV!

You've been a great help, I think I may lean towards the blackvue cameras, as they are considerably more discreet than the next base designs. I had my eyes on the road Angel halo, but feel that it's 720p front and 480p rear resolution is a little bit of a let down for the price they are asking. Would rather pay abit more for something that I can rely upon if needed!

As you may know the scirocco have a rear 12V supply in the boot, I was tempted to use that, but was a little concerned if the camera did not continue running when my car was left. I'll keep reading and looking around, but blackvue defiantly look like the front runner.

[moulin12]

No probs, I'll look to get some pictures of the install up as soon as I can.

As I say, there's no perfect dash-cam out there: they all seem to have their strengths and weakness. When it comes to dual-cams and form factor, then the only other one I'd consider at the moment is the Thinkware F750, and which is clearly following in BV's footsteps: http://www.thinkware.com/Products" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . It has additional features, such as road cam detection and line departure warning, though annoyingly you can't turn off the audio for these, and which would drive me bonkers. Besides, the cloud-based push notification facility on BVs trumps all for me.

You might have a problem with using the rear 12v socket unless you use the front cam as the rear cam, least with the BV, since it appears sensitive to the amperage drops that occur with using socket extensions. I know this because I tried to set up my battery using my boot socket: even bypassing the battery, the socket extensions couldn't carry the power. (I tried two, reputed to be the correct amperage type). Whether this is a feature of all dash-cams or just the BV, I don't know.

Interestingly, I understand that the reason why there are fewer dash-cams without screens than with screens is because dash-cams are a Korean phenomenon (and indeed, many dash-cam manufacturers / brands are Korean). This situation arose because of the high number of people throwing themselves at cars at road lights etc in attempt to file injury claims. However, car theft is not prevalent in Korea (a cultural statement) and so there is/was no need for having discreet cameras. However, the dash-cams began to pick up interest in the US where, like us, the culture is somewhat different (!), hence the development of more discreet cameras.

[moulin12]

Ok, so here's the first of some pics (can only upload 5 pics per post). First thing to note is that, as previously mentioned, if you want a truly discreet cam then the Mobius is probably the best out there. As you can see, the BV front camera is quite big, just that its horizontal form factor means that you can position it high up on the windscreen, and which is particularly useful if you have a widescreen tint. In all but very bright conditions (and you would still need to be looking for a cam), neither the front cam or rear cam can be seen from the outside.

Front cam from outside 1c.jpg

Front cam from outside 2.JPG

Front cam from outside 2_c.jpg

Rear cam from outside 1.jpg

Rear cam from outside 1_highlighted.jpg

Beading courtesy of Wolf Chemical's Paint Guard and AF's Glisten :-)

Further post to follow.

[moulin12]

Of course, you can see the cam if you're snooping / doing car shopping...

Front cam from outside_side view.jpg

To mention a couple of things on positioning. Firstly I have no problem with the quality of the vid through either the front widescreen screen tint or rear tint - still good at night and, if anything, possibly helps polarize for day-time driving. Second, I have chosen to position on the passenger side, partly because I just didn't want the distraction of the camera on the driver's side but also there is some question over the legality of having a camera (or indeed sat nav) on the driver's side if it intrudes on the swept area of the windscreen. It does mean that under rainy conditions I have raindrops in view in the very top half of my vids, but this doesn't distract from capturing events, and of course in the event of a collision a licence plate would captured lower down. I have no desire to collect holiday snaps of my driving or in compiling poor driver vids! Surprisingly, I still nearly equal converge over each side of the car.

This pic has been taken quite close, so tends to make the unit's presence feel bigger than it is...

Front cam inside.jpg

Rear cam...

Rear cam from inside.jpg

Next post - wires (or mainly lack of).

[moulin12]

The following should be more or less possible on most car types.

The power cord to the front cam and the connecting wire for the rear cam simply tuck under the headlining...

Power cord and rear cam connector_1a.jpg

and then down the A-post (should only be 'just' tucked in, to avoid hampering the airbag)

Power cord and rear cam connector route - 2.jpg

At the bottom of the A-Post, the wires transition seamlessly to under the door seal (clearly just inside the flap of the inner seal, to avoid chaffing)

Power cord and rear cam connector route - 3.jpg

And then the power cord (only) goes under the glove box

Power cord and rear cam connector route - 4.jpg

(Memo to self - must clean down that side...)

and tucked in around the back of the glove box and then run under the central console to the 12v socket

Power cord and rear cam connector route - 5.jpg

Next - rear cam connector route.

[moulin12]

The rear connector cord carries on under and around the front door seal and them seamlessly feeds under the BC post trim..

Rear cam connector route - 6.jpg

It runs under the BC trim, seamlessly feeds into the rear door seal, then under the D post trim, then under the headlining, where it then exits into the hatch space...

Rear cam connector route - 7.jpg

Now, this is the bit where the neatness of the solution is let down. In theory, you should be able to remove the D post trim and parts of the parcel shelf mounting (which on my car include speakers), so that you can feed the wire up through the tailgate electrics gaiters, so that the wire is (a) not on view and (b) has more protection when opening and closing the tailgate. To this point, I haven't had to remove any trim, and I'm not inclined to on a relatively new car, so this is the ungainly workaround.

Rear cam connector route - 8.jpg

[Astonbarlow]

Thanks for the posts and images, really informative. I've been looking at the cameras your using and they are in the price range I've been looking at. The units seem relatively sleek and hidden. I'm not overly worried about them being seen from the outside, with a little luck it may prevent people from doing damage. I'm more concerned about me seeing it in the car/ neatness! So these pictures help a lot on the routing of the wires. You mentioned the camera has push notifications when motion and g sensor have been triggered, so does your camera continue working when you have left the car? Running through the 12V supply?

I think I should be able to install it quite well within the car, with minimal wires seen. Also viewed a quick tutorial last night on how to feed the wires through the roof liner from the A-pillar.

Out of interest what car have you got now?

[moulin12]

You mentioned the camera has push notifications when motion and g sensor have been triggered, so does your camera continue working when you have left the car? Running through the 12V supply?

I think I should be able to install it quite well within the car, with minimal wires seen. Also viewed a quick tutorial last night on how to feed the wires through the roof liner from the A-pillar.

Out of interest what car have you got now?

As mentioned, my camera is powered by a cellink battery when parked up. I didn't bother including the wiring setup in the above since all it consists of is a battery under the seat with a cigar lighter connector going to glove box 12v, and with the cigar lighter connector for the dash cam going to the battery (wires hidden by the central console). That is, the battery is 'in-line' - car charges the battery, battery powers the dashcam).

If you buy a new DR650 it will be cloud enabled, and which in principle allows you receive push notifications if there is a g-sensor or motion sensor event. However, it isn't that straightforward, since you need to route the camera wifi to the cloud server. Since my main concern is parking on my street, I can do this on a home set up. However, I've yet to try this when 'mobile', and which would probably require a mobile router.

I posted about my car at the end of this thread:-

http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/forum/ ... =2&t=20780" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Astonbarlow]

Yeah when I posted it asking, I realised you already mentioned about the battery set-up! I've been looking and power magic pro do a hardwired/battery set up. Basically cam runs on external battery when car is off, then once this battery is drained after 10 hours or so, the car battery begins to take over, also with a time and voltage drop limiter. Also then recharges external battery once car is turned on. Sounds like a set up I may go for.

Also very nice car! I thought Beamer when I seen one of your images with the nav/multimedia display.

Thanks for all your help, it's been very informative, I'll probably buy and install the cam next week. I'll try and do an installation guide at same time, make it easier for people who'd like to do it in the future (if I succeed in a good set-up!).

[moulin12]

Your very welcome, and thank you.

Just to point out, in case there is any confusion here, the power magic pro doesn't use an external battery: it uses your car battery, once the ignition has switched off (usually within 10 mins). You can set the PMP to use the car battery to power the dash cam for x amount of time or until the car battery's voltage has been reduced to a given level (there are recommendations out there on the settings).

Good luck!

[mikezero]

For some comprehensive video reviews on dash cams, I recommend this site:

http://www.techmoan.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;