New dash cam

[umbertob]

From the top center of the window where the camera is located, I tucked it under the plastic window frame molding, ran it to the top left side of the window and "jumped" from there to under the rubber window seal molding, ran it down the LH pillar behind the rubber seal to reach behind the LH side panel of the load space area, and finally spliced the wires for the 12V socket in the trunk to get juice to the camera. I can take some photos later if this is not clear.

 

[ycharlie]

yes please!

 

[mbw]

Thanks Umbertob for posting that. I need to spend a weekend on my LR4 just wiring everything... traxide and such.

 

[TLB]

Umberto, thanks a lot for a great review. Any other reason, except the price, you did not go with " CPUSB01 miniUSB BDP Hard Wire Kit". Just curious.
Could you please post an actual video recordered by a dash cam mounted on your LR4?
I would like to see the view ( angle). I know that quality of video is great. Really thinking about buying this camera for my LR4. I would probably hard wire it with constant recording just will have to figure out how to do this with a kit mention above. ( I have no electrical skills )

 

[umbertob]

I decided to install a 12VDC socket up there instead of a hard wiring kit for convenience and "future compatibility", since I determined there was enough clearance to install one above the overhead console. Pretty much every dash camera / radar detector / whetever car accessory on the market comes standard with a cigarette lighter power adapter, but very few (if any) include a hard wiring kit. If I ever switch cameras in the future, instead of hunting down another, possibly proprietary hard wiring kit, I can simply plug the supplied adapter into the cig lighter socket I installed up there.

Here is a short video from the Street Guardian of a nearby trail our local LR club was on last week, to give you an idea of the field-of-view. Those are very challenging conditions for a dash cam, constant shaking from a rocky and rutted trail, late afternoon sun playing peek-a-boo on canyon walls throwing off exposure, dusty windshield, lots of reflections.. Plus I sped up the video 2 to 8x, so there are introduced artifacts in the YouTube upload, at normal speed the quality is way clearer of course.

West Freeman Trail Video

I'll see if I can upload a "normal" clip from on-road driving as well ti give you a better idea, but 135 degrees is pretty much as wide an angle as you want to keep the image sharp and also minimize "fish bowl", fisheye distortions that wider angle cameras always seem to suffer from.

 

[TLB]

I love it. I saw recordings from this dash cam mounted on passenger cars but not on LR4. I am going to order it and will try to hard wire it the way you did it. You may expect some PM from me with some questions in a near future. . Thanks a lot.

 

[umbertob]

Any time. ycharlie, sorry I missed your note asking for some photos of the wire run between 12V socket in the trunk and camera on the rear window. Here they are, don't know if they help much but that's how I did it...

1. Closeup of Blackvue camera, mounted smack in the center of the rear window's upper edge, lens pointing slightly downward to get a full view of the street and traffic behind me. You see the power cable on the side, tucked behind the camera body.

2. Camera body removed, the power cable is tucked under the plastic window trim behind the camera body.

3. Cable runs under plastic trim to near the driver's side corner of the window and "exits" the trim (note I made a little notch with a Dremel to avoid the wire from getting pinched and damaged between the two sharp edges of the plastic panels), crossing over from the liftgate window to under the rubber seal around the lift gate. The rubber seal can be removed and the wire routed under, then just press the seal back in its base.

4. I marked in yellow the "hidden" run of the power cable under the seal, around the door and all the way down to behind the side panel on the load space area, where the cable draws power from the 12V socket. If your hard wiring kit doesn't include it already - but it normally does - you should install a small inline fuse on the positive lead right here, before the camera power wire splices into the 12V lead of the socket.

 

[ycharlie]

Thank you sir!!

 

[chrisdal]

Dash Cam power supply

I am trying to wire a dash cam into my 2010 Freelander 2 (UK model). The kit I am using requires that I tap into a switched power source in the passenger bay fuse box using a fuse tap cable. When I use the cable I discover that all fuses are live even with the ignition switched off. I am using fuses such as tail gate wiper, windscreen washer, and others that should only be live when the ignition is on. Can you suggest what I am doing wrong.

 

[cperez]

Great writeup; enjoyed reading that!