[ASM33]

Has anyone had a front and rear dash cam fitted yet?

i've already had a near miss with a nutter diving into my moving lane trying to avoid the queue on the slip road at spaghetti (M6N), and people driving up close to the rear expecting me to press on but I'm trying to keep it steady while the engine run in.

I was looking at the thinkware f770/f750 and also the blackvue DR650S-2CH, had a web chat on dash witness.com, but was told that the F-Pace couldn't have front and rear cameras because was too long! Haven't been able to verify this however.

Front camera only would do as well but I would appreciate any thoughts and advice.

 

[Mick1963]

I've fitted a Roadhawk hd2 to the front, never bothered with a rear camera. If you need one at the back maybe just buy an extra camera and wire up to a rear power supply one without a screen would be smaller and less visible.
Mine is completely hidden from the drivers view behind the line of the mirror, and not in the way for passengers either.
Hope that helps

 

[RaVolVoR]

I have fitted the Blackvue DR650-GW 2ch (model before the S which has only come out in last month!) and the rear cable is long enough, unless the S model has shorter cable. I'm hardwiring it tomorrow and hopefully will post what I did once complete.

 

[Mbadger77]

Ok explain for somebody who doesn't know what your on about.

Is this a cam that's active all the time ? Isn't this distracting ?
What are rear mirrors and side mirrors for - I know there are blind spots mind,
What's the cams for - especially front cam - why would you use that ??

Thanks

 

[Mick1963]

It's a useful safety feature. You don't know it's there, not in sight / view but records vehicle movements then if you unfortunate to have an accident it's all recorded as evidence. This is good ( or bad if you were the one at fault ) !

 

[ASM33]

Ok explain for somebody who doesn't know what your on about.

Is this a cam that's active all the time ? Isn't this distracting ?
What are rear mirrors and side mirrors for - I know there are blind spots mind,
What's the cams for - especially front cam - why would you use that ??

Thanks

What is a dash cam you ask? It is not a driving aid per se as you suggest.

A dash cam allows continuous recording so when some twat pulls out and crashes into you and denies liability, you have hard evidence to defend yourself. Also useful for crash for cash scams when the car in front slams on its brakes, you rear-end them and 5 people walk out clutching their necks.

Some even record when not in motion so if someone keys your car or clips you in a car park you can know about it. The top end ones can stream to your mobile.

I'd say a dash cam is a worthwhile investment overall.

 

[RaVolVoR]

Ok explain for somebody who doesn't know what your on about.

Is this a cam that's active all the time ? Isn't this distracting ?
What are rear mirrors and side mirrors for - I know there are blind spots mind,
What's the cams for - especially front cam - why would you use that ??

Thanks

What is a dash cam you ask? It is not a driving aid per se as you suggest.

A dash cam allows continuous recording so when some twat pulls out and crashes into you and denies liability, you have hard evidence to defend yourself. Also useful for crash for cash scams when the car in front slams on its brakes, you rear-end them and 5 people walk out clutching their necks.

Some even record when not in motion so if someone keys your car or clips you in a car park you can know about it. The top end ones can stream to your mobile.

I'd say a dash cam is a worthwhile investment overall.

Exactly I have a good friend who turned right at a traffic light with right turn filter. Prat in Jeep With bull bars broadsided him. Nor serious injuries they traded details and a week later he denied he was there. Bull bars gone. No evidence. Friends insurance had to payout there is no lawful way to change that except have evidence in first place.

Blackvue camera is not in line of vision and will keep record. I have turned off sound recording so that I don't have to justify foul language when said Pratt drives into my car.

In a £50k car in SE London I am target for the fake accident bozos who know I have insurance and will try to claim for fake accidents or worse stil staged ones.

Call it another policy like protecting precious alloys, except in this case it could save more. I hope. I never use the information.

 

[RaVolVoR]

Note its not a safety feature, it is a safe guarding feature, protecting good drivers from Pratts and Bozos making false claims.

 

[FP761]

I've fitted dash cams myself on nearly every vehicle I've had for the last 2yrs, why? Too many idiots on the road. ..

dash cams are good for recording incidents, but not licence plates persay. .. unless you have APN.. which means the footage except the plate would be visible.. as APN uses low light as the plate reflects especially at night.

In all, get a dash cam and fit it yourself, that way you can hard wire it to it's on all the time, I have one in the FE, have even left it for weeks and battery doesn't drain (yet).

you can have the cams saver screen on, have it off after a few mins (if you find it a distraction) and still records or actually monitor what's been recorded by leaving it be, in all I find it a deterrent when pple can see it's on as they walk by during the day or at night; as the screen shines when in use.

Not sure about rear ones, but any bump to the rear would be picked up by the front cam being on.

I went for the 405 dashcam bought from halfords, had them fit it and when ignition off it's off... so the rest of my vehicles I did it myself ))) now all are on all the time, and no fuses blown or battery drain to report in 2 yrs. .. hence the FE now has one...

It doesn't matter about quality of cam either, as dash cams record incidents-whos to blame etc unless it's so clear you can pick up the plate, not normally needed in an incident as you'd get the details anyway, right...

 

[Mbadger77]

Ahh right never had a clue. I've seen motorcyclists with them which I understand of of course the bloody cyclists though a fair percentage of them have them for the wrong reasons. I've seen twats almost go,looking for it and get what they can on camera.

Good to know there is a car version. Not sure it's something I'd go for but will have a look as never knew they existed. Seen ones that record for break ins / damage etc so same thing I guess.

Thanks

 

[Mbadger77]

Ok so just looked at one. Road hawk DC2
So it's a small camera that fits behind your rear view mirror so you don't see it then you have to fit a power wire around the edge ?
Looks a bit messy ? If hard wired where does the cable go.

Do you leave it on all night when parked ? Does it run the power down of left on for days. Rear view same deal but you mount it on back window ?

 

[FP761]

If you do it yourself the fuse box is under the front passenger foot well.

You'll have to find an earth point (under the passenger foot sill scuff plate), and trace the wire up along the door and under the roof liner. Halfords recommend me not to do it as the wire may impede the side air bag, but I did it anyways, pushing the wire underneath what I assume (given the angle) was the air bag housing itself. In all honesty I don't expect to crash the car.

This hard wire will have the cam on all the time, with little drain on battery.

I've never done the rear, but same deal really.

 

[JLRnumber5]

In all honesty I don't expect to crash the car..

:shock: :? :roll:

You've already had someone drive into you right?

Were you expecting that one?

 

[Mbadger77]

In all honesty I don't expect to crash the car..

:shock: :? :roll:

You've already had someone drive into you right?

Were you expecting that one?

I didn't expect to wait 10-11 months after placing my deposit for my car and guess what .......

 

[ASM33]

Right, it may not be worth going for cameras with wifi streaming to smartphone when the vehicle is parked and locked.

I've tried to work out if the wifi hotspot can be accessed while the engine is off and the vehicle locked, and it seems that it switches off (quite a rudimentary test, I put my phone on wifi settings and placed it on the seat, closed the door, locked that car and the jaguar wifi source disappeared on the available list as i looked at it through the window).

Would be interesting if there is a way to keep the wifi hotspot on at all times, I have checked the manual and instructional videos but no luck. Also can't find anything in ICTP settings.

 

[AndyS]

OK...... Found time to install my BlackVue 2 camera system (DR530W-2CH) into car today. Bought this when a lorry driver hit back of my wife's car on motorway and somehow managed to get away with it - So thought if there is a next time i'm getting it on film!

Thought I'd post some tips to those thinking of doing same, especially as seen in this thread that someone just assumed that they have got the cable away from the air-bag housing! Air bags are there to save lives, so treat with caution and never do something to interrupt them if they go off.

First thing is to get the wiring up in middle of front windscreen..... If you remove the roof console, by gently inserting a small flat screwdriver up near any of the corners the clips will release....

Next remove the roof handle grip, and the rubber door seal from the passenger side front door area, this will give you a small hole where the handle was fixed from which you can then feed any wires around the back of the air bag (be careful not to damage anything here), the wires can then be fed underneath the headlining towards the centre area and then thru a hole out to the windscreen.

Wires can then be routed inside the rubber door seal and down towards where the internal fuse-box is in passenger foot-well. You can remove the plastic cover for the fuse box (need to lift up the cover on the door well, undo a single torx screw, also remove the screw out of the bonnet opener and remove handle, plus remove the cover from underneath the glove box (3 plastic clamps). This will then reveal the fues box which can then be removed to give access to cables.

Find suitable connection points for your particular camera (mine required permanent live plus aux live), you can also get an earth here. Connect everything up and test before you put all panels and fittings back. If you are doing a rear camera as well then you can get wire all way to the back by simply routing just inside the panoramic roof (assuming you have one), once here then you can route to the hatch area through the existing rubber grommets etc and then fasten to the plastic trim (I looked to route underneath this but seems to be an integral part of the whole hatch assembly so decided to use clips.......

Great set-up and total piece of mind now

 

[FP761]

In all honesty I don't expect to crash the car..

:shock: :? :roll:

You've already had someone drive into you right?

Were you expecting that one?

Touche )))

 

[RaVolVoR]

OK...... Found time to install my BlackVue 2 camera system (DR530W-2CH) into car today.

I've installed the same, here's what I did, hope this helps others. http://www.fpaceforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1100

 

[nigelmwilliams7]

Hi all

I have fitted a Nextbase front facing no worries, hardwired into the fusebox in the passenger side well.
Now I have brought a cheaper LANKA 1080p for the rear, all working well as currently plugged into the socket in the boot.
I want to hardwire the rear one as well and have identified the fusr box in the boot.

Has anyone experience of removing the rubber cable/pipe ducts at the top of the hatch to thread the necessary cabling?
I have removed the rhs rubber conduit but the cables within it seem firm, very little movement to free them up.

Any advice would be recommended as either of these rubber conduits seem ideal to thread the power cable through

 

[Deltasierra]

Not just useful for recording accidents, a mate of mine has Disco 4 with one, parks it at Heathrow for 3 days, the bozos there fancied a bit of off-roading in it then parked it on an industrial estate. He sent the SD card with the evidence to the Airport Authority and that company got kicked off, a good result.