Got a brand new mk4 Focus last Friday and I'm installing a dashcam hardwire kit. I have access to the fuse box and have the correct micro2 fuse tap but unsure where I should ground this to? My Fiesta was easy as there were screws onto the body in that area but the Focus is different. It's all plastic and material. Can I just ground it to a screw or does it need to be metal (bodywork)

I grounded mine to the bolt just under the edge of the passenger carpet beneath the fusebox.

22 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I grounded mine to the bolt just under the edge of the passenger carpet beneath the fusebox.

Is that the bolt on the white plastic box? There's two of them that I say on the bottom left and right.

It's been a while since I did mine, I'd have to have a look, unless you can grab a pic of yours, it might jog my memory where I grounded it. 😅

I fitted my dashcam (front/rear) to my Mk4 yesterday. to make it easy for access I removed the whole golve box which took about 2 minutes as its only held in with 2 x 10mm hex head screws and 2 x 7mm hex head screws. Gives you a lot of space to work and easy to connect to a nice solid earth. I fastened the power supply to the metal dash support with a couple of large Ty-Raps.

I did have to move the rear camera off the back window since it killed my DAB radio signal. Just moved it on to the plastic trim on the tailgate and all was well.

10 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

It's been a while since I did mine, I'd have to have a look, unless you can grab a pic of yours, it might jog my memory where I grounded it. 😅

Bad picture as I took it off a video. The bolt I was referring to is behind the wire at the bottom of the picture.

6 minutes ago, unofix said:

I fitted my dashcam (front/rear) to my Mk4 yesterday. to make it easy for access I removed the whole golve box which took about 2 minutes as its only held in with 2 x 10mm hex head screws and 2 x 7mm hex head screws. Gives you a lot of space to work and easy to connect to a nice solid earth. I fastened the power supply to the metal dash support with a couple of large Ty-Raps.

I did have to move the rear camera off the back window since it killed my DAB radio signal. Just moved it on to the plastic trim on the tailgate and all was well.

I'll look at doing this tomorrow. Thanks

Hi Daniel, if you need pictures of my earth point I can quickly take the glovebox out, just let me know.

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

Hi Daniel, if you need pictures of my earth point I can quickly take the glovebox out, just let me know.

If you can, that would be great.

Hi, here are some photos of the installation (14 in total) will try and up load in 2 lots of 7

Second batch of 7 photos

Thanks for these. They will make the installation much easier.

Just used Halfords fit service for my dashcam £35. Would recommend the service.

Hi Andy, I'm amazed that Halfords do a full hardwire install for only £35. Did you have to buy the power supply and dashcam from Halfords?

You should have joined the Ford Owners Club and you would have saved 15% off

My dashcam was from Halfords and I had the old receipt not that it was requested.

the next base fixing kit and install was £35.00.

didn’t join the club to save £5.00

Hi Andy, thats fantastic value. I see Halfords are selling the Next Base fixing kit for £20, so they are only charging £15 to do the install. I guess they must be making the profit on the sale of the dashcam.

And they only use bits of the kit and keep the rest!! 

but for £35 all in who cares

 

9 hours ago, Andyr55 said:

And they only use bits of the kit and keep the rest!! 

but for £35 all in who cares

 

Or have fun fitting it yourself for free

Hmm... okay. This isn't going as planned.

I can see the top of the fusebox from under the glovebox but it's hidden by a hard plastic front and the manual just says "lift away the carpet."

I don't want to pull too hard in case something snaps. So any thoughts on how to take the plastic cover away? I don't want to take the glovebox itself off as I can't see that would help access the fuses hidden behind the panel. Is this a new thing on Fords?

Just pull it towards yourself. From memory there are 3 metal spring clips attached to the underside of it and it is a bit tight but not excessively so. 

Hi Anubis, you might want to take the glovebox out so that you can get to a bolt/screw for the negative chassis that you need for the power supply.

Take care which fuse you connect to for the dashcam. Not all circuits that are ignition controlled stay live when the start/stop system turns the engine off as I found out yesterday when my own dashcam turned off when start/stop turned the engine off - Maybe piggyback off the radio fuse (20 Amp) as the radio stays on.

@AnubisJust pull it forward and take glovebox off too to be able to earth it.

@unofix I used fuse 3, not had issues with it turning off with stop/start feature but hadn't thought to check.

No need to remove glove box ? you can easily earth cam under one of the fuseboard retaining screws.

Which fuse are you piggy back on?

No need to remove glovebox. The fuses and a ground point are all behind the cover. Mine is grounded here.