Front & Rear Dashcam Install Guide (+ Pictures) - [2016 Ford Edge]

[Trent Edge]

WARNING: Do this at your own risk. After watching some crash tests online, I’m happy with where I’ve placed my cabling but you may disagree, with regards to airbags. Plus, be careful prying the trim off.

 

Did this today and has taken me most of the day, mainly due to the rain, however you could probably do this in a few hours. Thought I'd share to help anybody out that want's to give it a go. I have hard wired a Thinkware F800 PRO front and rear dashcam into my 2016 Ford Edge Sport (UK RHD). A little background, I have no electrical experience, just read a lot on the internet and hardwired a simple dashcam into my previous car, so can't be to hard.

What You’ll Need (To do it the way I did):

-          Dashcam(s)
-          Hardwire Kit
-          “Micro3” & “Micro2” Fuse Taps
-          Crimping Tool
-          Grabby/Reachy Thing (I used a couple large zip ties with that thin wire stuff, see pics)
-          Long Nose Pliers
-          socket set
-          Voltage Tester (Screwdriver like thing with a bulb in)
-          Couple Flat Head Screwdrivers (Thick and thin)

 

 

(1) Placing the Front Camera

Self explanatory. Put mine just below the blue strip so the centre rain sensor cover doesn’t block the camera view much.

 

 

(2) Crimping and Power Cable Routing

I used the fuse box in the passenger foot well. Just push up with a screwdriver in the 2 spots to lift the tabs out.

 

(Page 285 of the handbook has the fuse box diagram) I used (Micro3) fuse (8+9) for the battery feed (Always live) and (Micro2) fuse 36 for the Accessory feed (Ignition live). Make sure they are the same in yours, or find 2 fuses that work for you. Use the voltage tester to check which fuses are always live and which are live only when the ignition is on. Small piece of metal in the pic below for the earth.

 

Depending on what dash cam you use, check online for which wire goes where as, especially Thinkware, they’ve changed it round recently.

 

NOTE: Plug both fuse taps in and tape the earth to some metal to test the wiring works before routing it all!

I started on the side, this panel comes away with a bit of force straight out from the 4 clips. Be careful not to disconnect the airbag switch. Followed by the second panel which again, just pops out with a bit of force.

 

I fed my pully/grabby thing through this gap initially, to get the plug end around the back of the fuse box. Then fed it it behind the big bunch of cables on the left of the footwell so it’s out of the way.

 

Then fed my grabby thing through this gap to pull the plug up through.

 

I held the cable against the back, so it will be behind the second panel I pulled off, ready to route around the windscreen.

 

I then routed it around the bottom edge and up the side and top. There was literally not a single bit of excess wire here, so luckily it just reached.

 

I tried to fit the fuses but the fuse taps I bought wouldn’t fit in the box because of some excess plastic getting in the way. I used a Stanley knife to shave the excess plastic off.

 

It is important which way the Micro2 fuse taps go in (Or any standard 2 slot fuse for that matter). I’m no expert, but after a lot of research, I found that generally speaking, the live side of a fuse slot needs to go in the opposite side to which the cable sticks out from the fuse tap. To find the live side of a fuse slot I used a tiny screwdriver to slot into the fuse slot and used my voltage tester on the screwdriver. I found for the slot I used (No. 36) it was the top half of the fuse slot that was live so the fuse taps were slotted with the wire going down. The Micro3 doesnt matter as it’s the centre that is live. See the picture for which slot the original and new fuse goes in to. Finally, loosened the bolt in the back and attached the earth cable there.

NOTE: When I pulled out fuse 36 to test for the live side, the manual didn’t state these were included in this fuse, but a chime went off and it reported the front camera and collision assist system had a fault. Once I replaced this fuse, they all went away and everything works as normal. Bit worrying at first! Obviously it came up on the dash as this is the ignition live fuse, so needed the ignition on to test. All good now.

 

 

(3) Rear Camera Mounting and Cable Routing

Initially, I plugged the rear camera cable in and just chucked it through the car and plugged the camera in. Using live view on my phone I found where I wanted it and stuck it on. Right near the top in the centre (slight gap in the heating elements was perfect place for it). To do this I just climbed in the boot and shut it. Was gona get out, realised there was no button, went to put the seats down and climb through when I realised I had the car keys in my pocket, keep them on you to open the boot back up!

Unplugged the rear camera and began from the front. Starting at the top again, I tucked the cable in the roof lining occasionally using the flat edge of a screwdriver to push a little further in.

I then fed it around the end of the airbag in the harder trim (check crash test videos online to make sure you’re happy with this location. I made sure to leave plenty of excess in a couple places further on)

After that, I continued along the top of the door by just lifting the rubber seal and tucking the cable into the roof lining again.

 

Once at the centre pillar, I went to tuck the cable, plus excess into the trim with a screwdriver again, and unintentionally the soft trim popped off by 2 clips at the top, made it easier to get the excess in and then just clipped back on.

 

Around the top of the rear door just the same as the front, then into the harder trim again at the back of the car. This just tucks in very easily without removing any trim. I also put a load more excess cable in here.

 

Once at the back, I removed the centre plastic trim with the boot open. Several clips that just pop out, near the sides, you’ll need to push slightly down and out towards you. This panel takes a bit more force than any others.

 

I continued routing the cable from the side, under the roof trim and again guessing how much more cable I needed, put a load more excess in there. The next part was to release the rubber cable pipe on the top near the boot hinge. Theres 2 tabs either side and a large on at the opposite end. See the pic below, takes a little bit of force. Then fed the cable through the gap using my grabby thing again.

 

Now, probably the hardest bit, I put my grabby thing through the flexi tube to pull the cable through... that was fine... getting it back through with the plug and cable is another matter. Took a bit of force but have to be so careful not to damage any of the existing wires.

 

Last cable routing, forgot to take a picture of the exact place but the pic below will do. Put my grabby thing through the top and out near the flexi tube to pull the cable through.

 

Plugged the rear camera in and put the plastic trim back on. It sits with a gap at the top so the cable sits there with no problem.

 

Finished by testing it all worked... and surprisingly it did! Camera is hidden well behind the rear view mirror and both cameras are within the wiper swipe. Barely notice the rear camera in the mirror whilst driving. On another note, the camera isn’t the most amazing quality, but I got it for the parking mode with built in voltage monitor so as not to flatten the battery. Will see how it goes over the next few weeks.

[Hamster]

Very good post.

H

[Wizzo]

Brilliant. Thanks for taking the time to explain and show pictures. 👍👍

[Edge of Reason]

Great effort. I’m thinking of getting a dual dashcam myself, so this guide will certainly help. I’m no stranger to stripping cars down, having fitted USB and modules to my Focus ST, which came out before USB was an option. My finished effort there resembled a factory fit and I created a similar guide to how you have done yours and uploaded it to the ST owners site. Well done. 

[shocks]

great detail thanks

[Trent Edge]

Just thought I'd put an update after having the dashcam in for almost a couple months.

Everything still appears to be working good. I set the voltage sensor in the dashcam to 12.0v and it wasn't working very well, it would record for a second or 2 then cut out so changed it a couple times and ended up at 11.7v. I was a little concerned this would be too low and would end up with a flat battery. After many days of testing it works perfectly.

I can leave it to record on motion detection and G-sensing setting with a shut off timer of 72 hours and the car will start after 3 days with absolutely no noticeable difference. There was some cold temps near the beginning but will have to see how it copes in winter, may be a different story but can always change the settings.

The G-sensing is good but when on that setting only, it'll record 1 second after impact for 20 seconds saving power. I wasn't too happy with that and wanted more coverage so put it on the other setting for motion and g-sensing. The motion setting is set at its lowest but still picks up any small movement, so if there's any vegetation blowing in the wind or similar, I'm finding it's recording 24/7 near enough.

It takes up to a 128gb memory card so plenty of space and can set up partitioning on the app. May seem a bit overkill but after spending a descent amount on a car and all this stemming down from my previous car being hit in a car park leaving a fairly bad dent across 2 doors, I wanted it for "just in case".

[GrumpyJohn]

Hi Trent Edge. Just wondered if you had any issues since your last update. The reason I ask is I followed your brilliant install document and like you installed Thinkware 800pro which has worked great since beginning of May.

However since mid July I have had 3 instances of No Key Detected and the car not starting luckily the last time in Fords service dept car park and they could not get the car started but bizarrely the fault cleared itself overnight. Its probably totally not related  but Ford service and technical support cant find an issue with the car and there are no fault codes. The wiring looms have been checked by Fords and no issues found. The dashcam wiring has now been disconnected to see if issue appears again but I’m told there are keyless detector senses in the roof at the back and perhaps the dashcam is affecting them. Another thought is It may also be a heat related issue but at the moment the car is passing all tests. 

[Trent Edge]

Hi, sorry haven't had any problems like that at all, still all going good as before. Have since had a new steering wheel put on by Ford cause of the adaptive steering fault.

However, when it was in the Ford garage for an engine management light on they took it out for a test drive afterwards and I just happened to look at some of the footage, and as the guy left the garage, the car was beeping and it was the "Transmission Not In Park" warning on the dash (As he said it out loud). A strange thing considering it was just in drive with parking brake off and he was moving. Switched the car off and on and has never happened again. I know it's not the same but it seems to be that the car has these electrical hiccups at times especially with what I've heard about the Mustang.

Sounds stupid and I'm sure you've checked, but is the battery ok in the fob? If there's no faults recorded in the car it really sounds like it could be the battery and if not the fob itself.

[GrumpyJohn]

Car was in Ford service on 3/8 for “no key detected” fault and they checked fobs etc and all passed.

Bizarre thing is the key fob still works when you press button but keyless touch on door handles is dead. Once that happens the “no key detected” message comes up on the dash and you cannot start car as everything is locked ie steering lock, auto gearbox and brakes. Its been in Ford service again since friday but they cant find anything wrong. Even putting the key on the recovery slot in the armrest fails to detect the key. Car is undergoing more tests today and due back to me tomorrow if nothing found. dashcam wiring has been disconnected to eliminate it and I can only hope pulling the looms apart to inspect may have fixed it.  

Thanks for your update. 

[Edge of Reason]

My touch sensor on the drivers door occasionally fails but if I tap the rear door handle it works fine. The next time I use the car it works perfectly. I think the Edge and other Fords using a similar loom, like the Mustang, just haven’t been de-bugged correctly. It’s almost like we are using ‘beta’ software and we are the testers. 

[Trent Edge]

On 8/7/2018 at 8:02 PM, Edge of Reason said:

It’s almost like we are using ‘beta’ software and we are the testers. 

I think that sums it up perfectly!

[simonb65]

On 8/10/2018 at 1:31 PM, Trent Edge said:

I think that sums it up perfectly!

Having worked in the industry, the problem is not that it hasn't been tested, its just the level of testing that the software goes through. By that I mean, the testing is only as good as the person who writes the test schedule. If they aren't thinking of the what-if's, i.e. the unusual conditions, the failure conditions, the interactions with other systems and only concentrating on ensuring that the feature does what it is supposed to do, when it is supposed to do it ... you get lots of bugs and unusual behaviour when customers get their hands on it. Those what-if's should come out of a DFMEA analysis/review of the system.

The delay wipers in my Kuga worked fine at every speed you selected (great set of test points and all would have passed), but if you selected a short delay from a higher delay and near the end of the long delay, it paused for about 15 seconds!! (probably due to the way the code was counting up the delay and waiting for the timeout to match rather than be larger than). Now, that could have been caught during testing had the test engineer anticipated that event or even by the coder who should have asked himself the question 'what if this happens when this is in that state'.  

Unfortunately, there is no direct way to report back bugs to the development team. You report an issue to a dealer and they just scratch their a**e and tell you they don't understand it. The only issues you get reported back from within the industry is from the engineers or production line quality ... and from my experience, sadly that doesn't catch many issues at all.

To make it worse, the next car will be coded differently again, rather than building on what is already available, introducing different issues yet again. As a customer, you just can't win, you will always be a Beta tester whether you like it or not! ... and NO, its not right!

[Edge of Reason]

Simon, I get what you’re saying but one day I get out the car having parked it and I double tap the drivers door handle and it locks. The next day I do the same and it doesn’t lock, forcing me to double tap the rear offside door handle, which works. That’s not an unusual event. I always park the car and turn everything off in the same order. Being a retired traffic officer, that’s what we do. Systems are our friends. 

[simonb65]

1 hour ago, Edge of Reason said:

Simon, I get what you’re saying but one day I get out the car having parked it and I double tap the drivers door handle and it locks. The next day I do the same and it doesn’t lock, forcing me to double tap the rear offside door handle, which works. That’s not an unusual event. I always park the car and turn everything off in the same order. Being a retired traffic officer, that’s what we do. Systems are our friends. 

Why do you 'double tap' ?? just lightly touch the 3 small indented ribs on the top surface of the handle. I don't think double tapping is helping you there!

Then again, it maybe that the touch sensor sensitivity hasn't been setup correctly on your drivers door. Normally touch devices are 'calibrated' to eliminate the effects of distance from the sensor to the touch surface, the material between those two (plastic skin of the handle) and any contaminants (i.e. oil, water, etc) that may be on the surface. A bad connection to the sensor, in the handle or door, or a faulty door module will cause issues too.

[KugaEdge]

Er for the same reason you should also press the lock button on the remote key fob twice if using  the key fob. That's how you lock the car properly i.e. deadlocked. If you only press or tap once the car isn't deadlocked,  if someone breaks a window they can reach in and open the door using the interior catch. You can't do that if it's deadlocked.

You can tell by doing it in two stages if you don't believe it. Tap once and it locks, indicators flash once. Tap again twice in quick succession and you will hear a different locking noise and indicators flash twice, now deadlocked. Of course you can go straight to this state by double tapping in the first place.

All modern Fords are the  same, two clicks or taps if keyless to lock properly.

[Edge of Reason]

@simonb65 What @KugaEdge said. I like to deadlock the car. Personal choice I suppose. 

[simonb65]

5 hours ago, Edge of Reason said:

@simonb65 What @KugaEdge said. I like to deadlock the car. Personal choice I suppose. 

I knew a double click on the fob deadlocked, but never though of double locking using the door handle. I though it deadlocked on a single tap on the door! ... You learn something new every day! Can I order a large slice of humble pie please :-)

[AjM]

Help please.  I have just completed the install of my dash cam and used fuse 36 for the piggyback ignition live.  Initially all looked good and worked. Turned the engine off and left it for a few mins.  I did not lock the car.

Came back and the car is now seemingly dead, although the boot opens and shuts using the button on the dash and the interior lights work everything else is dead.  The dash, radio everything.  The key does not do anything.

The only thing that works is the green light on the start button.  If I push it you can here the injectors and the fuel pump fire up but nothing else happens. 

I have tried disconnecting the battery and no change

Please help!!!

[Hamster]

Disconnect the dash cam and see if the car is OK. If it is check for correct fuse and close wiring short.

H

[AjM]

I have taken the piggyback out replaced the orig fuse and no different

[Trent Edge]

Strange! I know it isn't much help but could be a coincidence. From my own experiences and reading stories here, the Edge seems to have so many intermittent electrical gremlins.

Literally just reversed into my drive 10 mins ago and the parking sensors starting beeping as I get closer to the garage, but this time, the radio volume doesn't lower and the beeping sounds very strange. It'll prob be fine next time but that's a perfect example.

Anyway....... Have you checked that you haven't accidentally blown another fuse. If not, remove the dashcam and all evidence of the installation and take it to Ford.

[Trent Edge]

Also, I'm sure it's the same, but in case it's not, did you check your manual as to what fuse 36 provides power to?

[AjM]

I am not sure which fuse would control everything?  I have ford assist coming any second, no time for removal....

[AjM]

Same one you used, pre collision assist, front camera etc.  Not what the book says it is...  I found that not one fuse corresponded to the book, ones that were spare were in use and vice versa etc

[Trent Edge]

There shouldn't be any one fuse controlling everything. That's the point in having all the different fuses. Can't see how it would have caused this problem apart from some sort of short circuit somewhere that has blown a load of fuses. Sure it'll be fine. Let us know what the result is