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Dash cams, what to get and where to get it (Q&A only)

Max Power

Can anyone recommend me one?

Are they easy to install?

Mod note - this technical thread is for three things only:
acquirement, installation and operation of dash cams.
Do not post your dash videos or argue over small stuff.

Only post if you are committed to buying and have questions, general chat will be removed.

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Comments

Riva10

Try eBay. Fuse taps are much cheaper than Micks Garage

blade1

Riva10 wrote: »

Try eBay. Fuse taps are much cheaper than Micks Garage

Also,probably stating the obvious here but make sure it's the correct type whether it be standard,mini or micro.

Anyone need a fuse?

TheChizler

blade1 wrote: »

Also,probably stating the obvious here but make sure it's the correct type whether it be standard,mini or micro.

My main reason for wanting to go to a bricks and mortar shop! Loads of eBay listings say mini but have a picture of micro. Also I have no idea of the size needed for the van, was hoping their knowledge would help cause I can't find anything online.

It's a surprise present so can't ask the owner. Not about to rob the potential father in-law's keys either!

2forjoy

zapata wrote: »

Got my 1st dash cam last week, I can only say what a pain in the a$ it is having to remove the card to get footage. Camera is also screwed onto the window mount and not quick release.
Wireless connectivity through an app will be top of my list on the next dash cam.

I have a 312 and been removing the card weekly to get the saved vids off it . All the movements I had to but anither card last week cost 25e as the card was faulty .
My next one will definately be wireless. Other than that im happy with it .

Slippin Jimmy

Considering getting a dash cam in the front and rear of my car. I see that a lot of people are recommending halfords for doing a hardwire install. Do they hide the wires behind the pillars on the car? Has anyone got it fitted by them and were happy with the way it was done?

Magic ]=)

zapata wrote: »

Got my 1st dash cam last week, I can only say what a pain in the a$$ it is having to remove the card to get footage. Camera is also screwed onto the window mount and not quick release.
Wireless connectivity through an app will be top of my list on the next dash cam.

Do you need to keep all the recordings ?? I'd only download vids if there was something worth sharing or keeping. Other then that I'd allow loop recording to overwrite older vids if the cam have ability to overwrite.

LeakingLava

Where would you guys suggest to get a cheap yet good enough 32GB microSD to run the Nextbase 212? I am looking into it myself, haven't got it yet, but will buy the microSD as I have just received the €7 ****cam from china(thanks BA) and would still like to try it out despite it being crap just because I can't afford the nextbase yet :pac:

joujoujou

mymemory.co.uk

zapata

LeakingLava wrote: »

Where would you guys suggest to get a cheap yet good enough 32GB microSD to run the Nextbase 212? I am looking into it myself, haven't got it yet, but will buy the microSD as I have just received the €7 ****cam from china(thanks BA) and would still like to try it out despite it being crap just because I can't afford the nextbase yet :pac:

www.Memoryc.com located in Celbridge - Option to collect or via post.
Shop local.

zapata

'Magic wrote:

;105041421']Do you need to keep all the recordings ?? I'd only download vids if there was something worth sharing or keeping. Other then that I'd allow loop recording to overwrite older vids if the cam have ability to overwrite.

Dawww, nope I don't need all the vids and it is set to overwrite.
Micro sd cards are fiddly fcukers and one false move and its lost down vent and just for one 10 second incident the card has to be removed, placed in an adapter, copied to pc, removed from adapter, placed carefully back in the camera - rinse and repeat.

I was just giving anyone else the heads up to take an easier route through wireless\wifi access.
Anyone that drives a lot will see incidents of interest everyday.

It is a statement and it is not compulsory to reply.

Cortina_MK_IV

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

Considering getting a dash cam in the front and rear of my car. I see that a lot of people are recommending halfords for doing a hardwire install. Do they hide the wires behind the pillars on the car? Has anyone got it fitted by them and were happy with the way it was done?

Yes the wires are hidden away, a nice tidy job. I had it done over a year ago (front only for now) and happy with it.

v240gltse

hi all
up for sale is my sons A6 in good nick and with NCT . Discount if you are from Boards ;-D

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/audi-a6-in-good-working-order/17017492

regards

brendan

dodzy

2002 Focus 1.6 petril, tidy. NCT till Feb 18. Needs nothing really. Couple of body marks can be seen in pics. €350 would take it.

http://www.adverts.ie/car/ford/focus/2002-ford-focus/14026437

Sexual Chocolate

Any opinions on Garmin dashcams ? Particularly the 45 and 55 models ?

uncle-mofo

http://www.adverts.ie/13992927

2008 mk5 golf TDI. Very well looked after and serviced religiously with the proper 505.01 oil which is tough to get. Mainly motorway miles.

Timing belt done in the past year, always genuine parts used when needed.

€4,450

BArra

were meant to have heat shutdown problems but apparently that was fixed with a software update, also interested to hear about anybody with a garmin dash 45

LeakingLava

Sorry guys to bug you again. Just another question regarding hardwiring. After the fuse tap, is it one of these that you connect to it then? Also, is there a name for the terminal that goes into the fuse tap? Of course I would prefer to purchase the correct terminal for it rather than the 'U' connection that's on the ad. Another question is, are these Chinese ones reliable enough or am I risking burning my car down? :pac:

blade1

LeakingLava wrote: »

Sorry guys to bug you again. Just another question regarding hardwiring. After the fuse tap, is it one of these that you connect to it then? Also, is there a name for the terminal that goes into the fuse tap? Of course I would prefer to purchase the correct terminal for it rather than the 'U' connection that's on the ad. Another question is, are these Chinese ones reliable enough or am I risking burning my car down? :pac:

That U connection is your earth so you'll be finding a bolt somewhere in your car for that.
You need a fuse piggy back for the other wire that will crimp onto it.

LeakingLava

blade1 wrote: »

That U connection is your earth so you'll be finding a bolt somewhere in your car for that.
You need a fuse piggy back for the other wire that will crimp onto it.

That does make sense regarding the U connection, however, the ad says that the U is for easy connection directly to the battery. Of course, this is not what I am going to do, so this is where the fuse tap comes in and I now understand that it is just a matter of crimping and it wasn't an actual connection that slots in.

What I will do then is probably buy a U connection for the black wire (earth), then just cut the U off the red to crimp it into a fuse tap. Makes sense. Thanks a lot!

Another option I was thinking of was just to buy a multiple cigarette socket and wire it to a fuse tap into the fusebox then keep the multi-socket in the glovebox compartment for other uses too. I just have to work out amperages so that I don't overload. Can't really find general information regarding how much max current these multi-sockets can pull, though.

nanook5

LeakingLava wrote: »

Sorry guys to bug you again. Just another question regarding hardwiring. After the fuse tap, is it one of these that you connect to it then? Also, is there a name for the terminal that goes into the fuse tap? Of course I would prefer to purchase the correct terminal for it rather than the 'U' connection that's on the ad. Another question is, are these Chinese ones reliable enough or am I risking burning my car down? :pac:

Those Chinese ones will be fine. I currently have them in 3 cars , no problems 1 year in. It's effectively stepping the voltage down from 12V to 5V so the camera doesn't get overloaded with power.

blade1

@LeakingLava I hadn't looked at the link when I answered you and now see that they have the U on the live wire.
But yes crimp red wire to fuse tap and use u connecter or something similar for the earth.

jaxxx

Quick question regarding hardwiring. I've had my cam a few months now, but never got it wired. Would I be better off just taking it to an auto electrician or getting the Harvey Norman kit and getting them to do it (it was in HN's that I bought it)? All this time I've just had it plugged into the socket with the wire hanging down. Cheers guys.

No way in hell would I do it myself FYI. I'm useless at that sorta thing.

by8auj6csd3ioq

Quick question regarding hardwiring. I've had my cam a few months now, but never got it wired. Would I be better off just taking it to an auto electrician or getting the Harvey Norman kit and getting them to do it (it was in HN's that I bought it)? All this time I've just had it plugged into the socket with the wire hanging down. Cheers guys.

excuse me butting in but is it annoying having to plug it out each time you stop to go into a shop etc. It would run the battery down otherwise? What dashcam did you get at HN and can you link the kit please thanks

TheChizler

Greysen Abundant Terrapin wrote: »

excuse me butting in but is it annoying having to plug it out each time you stop to go into a shop etc. It would run the battery down otherwise? What dashcam did you get at HN and can you link the kit please thanks

Most of the time they're wired to an accessory circuit so only comes on with the ignition.

vectra

Greysen Abundant Terrapin wrote: »

excuse me butting in but is it annoying having to plug it out each time you stop to go into a shop etc. It would run the battery down otherwise? What dashcam did you get at HN and can you link the kit please thanks

I still have mine plugged into the cig, socket as I am finding it virtually impossible to locate a Micro Piggyback fuse holder.
As it happens the cig lighter stays live for 90 minutes after ign. off.
This i find handy when parked in town.

by8auj6csd3ioq

I still have mine plugged into the cig, socket as I am finding it virtually impossible to locate a Micro Piggyback fuse holder.
As it happens the cig lighter stays live for 90 minutes after ign. off.
This i find handy when parked in town.

Does that not run down the battery?How far would you drive between times of 90 mins live cig which camera is drawing? What is a Micro Piggyback fuse holder

vectra

Greysen Abundant Terrapin wrote: »

Does that not run down the battery?How far would you drive between times of 90 mins live cig which camera is drawing? What is a Micro Piggyback fuse holder

Battery seems to hold up fine. Then again it is a new car so battery would be at its best, On saying that I feel these cams draw very little.

A Piggyback fuse holder is one of these

Fuse holder

TheChizler

Does anyone know how the reverse trigger signal normally makes its way back to the DVR? I'm replacing the basic rear view camera with a backup camera that's moulded into the brake light, but of course the connections are different.

The dashcam/DVR has a 2.5 mm TRRS connector, 5 V on the tip (pin 1) and ground on the sleeve (pin 4). Rear camera is normally on, and if I apply 9 V (just had a 9 V battery lying around) to the reversing trigger wire attached to the rear camera the camera's LEDs come on, the head unit switches the reversing camera to full screen and something applies a guidelines overlay, don't know if it's the head unit or camera doing this.

If I hook the connector that came with it up to a bench power supply I can see a regular pulsating signal common mode ~ 1 V on pin 3 which I presume is video (PAL) but my oscilloscope's resolution isn't fine enough to go into detail. If I put 9 V on the trigger wire nothing changes obviously on pin 2 or 3 so I'm stumped as to how the the head unit detects it. It's not modulated into the video signal is it?

The replacement backup camera comes with a DC jack, yellow RCA connector for video, and a white RCA connector for God knows what. Hooked it up to the TV and there was no sound and I can't see a mic on the camera so not that. Reverse trigger? The seller's ad claims it has guidelines overlay built in but have no idea how to activate them. He hasn't really been any help when I asked these questions. I've ordered a 2.5 mm TRRS to RCA cable to try it out with the head unit so I'm kind of stuck until that arrives.

If I can figure out how to trigger head unit when the reverse lights come on I'll be happy.

I got the rear camera from here but the scan of the instructions lies. What actually came in the box is this:

blade1

vectra wrote: »

I still have mine plugged into the cig, socket as I am finding it virtually impossible to locate a Micro Piggyback fuse holder.

Here you go

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F182302303041

vectra

blade1 wrote: »

Here you go

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F182302303041

I was looking at ones lke that but mine doesn't have the black part in the centre. I would imagine that would stop it fitting in.
If you scroll down the page and look at the mini ones, Mine look like that only Mini ones are too big. I am at a loss over them.