Hi All,  I recently had a Nextbase 522gw front and rear dash cam fitted to my 2019 Focus Vignale at Halfords. Unfortunately the rear dash cam causes the DAB signal for LBC, my station of choice to cut out in areas where I had no problem before.

The fitter at Halfords has tried rerouting  the cable down the drivers side floor, instead of the roof, and fitted a couple of magnets to reduce interference, but that made things worse, so he has removed them.  His only other suggestion is to reroute the cable down the passenger side.  Does anybody have any other suggestions, including alternative dash cams?  Thanks in advance.

Original post deleted by accident.

all makes of dashcam cause this problem due to the frequency that they operate on.

Route the cable along the floor as much as possible and only bring it up to the tailgate when it gets to the back of the car.

Do NOT mount the camera on the rear window. Mount it on the plastic trim at the top about 100mm back from the window

Thank you!

Hi Steve,

I have a 2019 Ford focus ST Line x and recently had a Nextbase 522gw F&R camera professionally fitted via the hardwire route.  I have the cable fitted via the LHS of the vehicle in the roof lining and it too cuts out the DAB radio signal or makes it patchy where I had no issues before.  Went back to the installer and they added additional ferrite cores which made things worse.  When I unplug the rear camera the signal returns but still with intermittent issues.  I am now led to believe that the DAB & FM Booster packs that are located in the top part of the boot lid use the rear windscreen as an ariel and thus the position of the camera hinders the reception.  There are some installation companies whom 'claim' they have perfected ways of eliminating our issue but will not divulge (much to my annoyance) and also claim this is a common issue on cheap brands (I class nextbase as not a cheap system) and on brands such as Blackvue and Thinkware there is no issues but I am reluctant to spend an extra £200 on such system.  I know when I type my reg in to the Ford accessories catalogue it makes no reference to dash cameras but somebody did tell me that on another system they have listed Pioneer VREC-DZ700DC 2-Channel Front & Rear Dash Camera Full HD GPS WIFI 16GB.  So I am confused!  

Thanks for the info!

38 minutes ago, unofix said:

Original post deleted by accident.

all makes of dashcam cause this problem due to the frequency that they operate on.

Route the cable along the floor as much as possible and only bring it up to the tailgate when it gets to the back of the car.

Do NOT mount the camera on the rear window. Mount it on the plastic trim at the top about 100mm back from the window

At unofix, how do you account for the new height difference and the mount supplied to give you the picture intended as if the camera was mounted in the centre top of the rear windscren?  Do you use a different mount and is it screwed in to the plastic???

Hi James, See the link to my old post below this. The photos show my rear camera fitted on to the plastic trim of the tailgate

The major thing is not to stick the camera on the rear window otherwise it will cause major interference with the heated rear window aerial.

No matter how much you pay for your camera they are all made in China. I've yet to see a single one that has passed an EMC test, and to be honest even if it claimed to meet EMC regulations i would not believe it unless it was tested in the UK or Germany.

My dashcam is only stuck on using the provided very strong sticky foam pad, to the plastic trim of the tailgate. Almost all rear dashcams can be mounted this way and it reduces the DAB problem by about 80%. To fix the remaining 20% of the problem you need to keep the dashcam cable away from the aerial cable as much as possible. It is possible to buy a braided screen tube to run the dashcam cable through which further reduces the problem.

On 4/27/2021 at 12:24 AM, unofix said:

Hi Nev, trust me on this. The problem is the rear mounted dashcam, the scan frequency of the camera masks the DAB signal that the HRW is trying to pick up.

Disconnect the cable to the rear dashcam by unpluging the rear camera cable from the front dashcam. Even better if you can uplug the cable at both ends.

The DAB signal should return to full strengh - The front dashcam does not cause a problem so just leave it working.

Assuming that the DAB signal returns and all is good then all you need to do to fix the problem is very carefully remove the rear dashcam off the window, and position it further back on the top plastic trim of the tailgate.

  

 

Thanks Unofix.  That’s really helpful.

19 hours ago, SteveP1041 said:

...DAB signal for LBC, my station of choice to cut out in areas where I had no problem before.

 

You should call into James O'Brien where he will explain in a 15 minute soliloquy that the fault is all down to Brexit, as is every other ill on mankind LOL  🤣

On 10/19/2021 at 9:41 PM, unofix said:

Hi James, See the link to my old post below this. The photos show my rear camera fitted on to the plastic trim of the tailgate

The major thing is not to stick the camera on the rear window otherwise it will cause major interference with the heated rear window aerial.

No matter how much you pay for your camera they are all made in China. I've yet to see a single one that has passed an EMC test, and to be honest even if it claimed to meet EMC regulations i would not believe it unless it was tested in the UK or Germany.

My dashcam is only stuck on using the provided very strong sticky foam pad, to the plastic trim of the tailgate. Almost all rear dashcams can be mounted this way and it reduces the DAB problem by about 80%. To fix the remaining 20% of the problem you need to keep the dashcam cable away from the aerial cable as much as possible. It is possible to buy a braided screen tube to run the dashcam cable through which further reduces the problem.

Hi unofix,

Many thanks for the photos and guidance on using a braided cable tube.  Would you recommend putting the cable in the headlining or under the floor/door sills?

If the cable will reach it is better on the floor along the sills 

10 hours ago, unofix said:

If the cable will reach it is better on the floor along the sills 

Many thanks for the advice.  Would you use the nextbase hardwire kit or go for using power from the onboard 12v outlet adaptor?

10 minutes ago, medic1517 said:

Would you use the nextbase hardwire kit or go for using power from the onboard 12v outlet adaptor?

In theory, the dash cam will turn itself off when deprived of power. Just make sure if you do end up using a 12v outlet, that it turns off with the ignition, and isn't permanently powered...

1 hour ago, medic1517 said:

Would you use the nextbase hardwire kit or go for using power from the onboard 12v outlet adapto

I would use a hardwire kit, (any with the correct plug for your camera will do). Use a piggy back fuse holder to connect your camera supply.

Focus Mk4 - Fuse 3 - micro 2 type

Old post but still relevant.

Just fitted my rear camera and pretty much lost DAB instantly.

Nextbase 422gw withe rear camera.

Did you feed the camera wire through the rubber on the left hand side or the right and did you you run the wire along the roof or the sill?

 

Thanks

I have a Nextbase 522gw camera fitted to my focus and apart from the fact it contiuously freezes up if its left on, it has never interfered with radio or heated screen. Camera is on the rear screen and wiring is via passengers side roof lining. Nextbase is a piece of crap afaic, this is the second one i bought from Halfrauds the first was returned as it had exactly the same problem. It was fitted with their SD card which i ended up junking and replacing with a larger capacity one that seems to help for a while but original fault came back. Might try wiring it to a switchable power source so it goes off with ign. Then the collision monitor system on it wont work ! Cant win.

1 hour ago, Delboy777 said:

I have a Nextbase 522gw camera fitted to my focus and apart from the fact it contiuously freezes up if its left on...

I've had dash cams for over 15 years. From experience, they are extremely sensitive to SD cards, they MUST be a well branded one. Any sign of a Chinese copy, it'll simply not work. I solely use SanDisk from an authorised dealer to avoid frauds which are rife. NextBase though do sell their own 'branded' cards which are expensive, but don't cause any issues....

3 hours ago, Scottyghia said:

Did you feed the camera wire through the rubber on the left hand side or the right and did you you run the wire along the roof or the sill?

To be honest I can't remember which rubber tube I fed the camera cable through. I will have put it through the opposite one to the side with the aerial cable.

I ran the camera cable along the roof ( I always do that on any car). Just make sure that it does not obstruct the side airbag curtain. Push the camera cable well past the airbag curtain and towards the centre of the roof.

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

I've had dash cams for over 15 years. From experience, they are extremely sensitive to SD cards, they MUST be a well branded one. Any sign of a Chinese copy, it'll simply not work. I solely use SanDisk from an authorised dealer to avoid frauds which are rife. NextBase though do sell their own 'branded' cards which are expensive, but don't cause any issues....

I used the one supplied with the camera, it was branded as being nextbase, it wouldnt work. I replaced it with a sandisk one which is the genuine article. I previously used it on a camera system on my motorbike and it worked perfectly. Its this freezing up thing thats the problem. I have it wired so that its permanantly live so the collision part of it works if my car is hit and im not about. If i forget to switch the camera off when i exit the car then within no time flat, the ***** thing freezes up and i have to do a reset with a pen on the little switch underneath it. Maybe if i changed it over to a switched live it might be ok. It only ever freezes if its left recording while car is stationary ! Dont know why that would be tbh.

1 minute ago, Delboy777 said:

I used the one supplied with the camera, it was branded as being nextbase,...

If it's still under warranty, contact NextBase, they are very good on customer service, it definitely shouldn't display that fault.

12 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

If it's still under warranty, contact NextBase, they are very good on customer service, it definitely shouldn't display that fault.

Ive been back to Halfrauds and to be fair they contacted Nextbase and the camera was swopped out. However they gave me back the sd card that came with the original package, thats the one that seems not to work. I think its nothing to do with the card its the camera and i cant be bothered going back again. I will change it to switched live and see what happens. If that doesnt fix it then i will junk the thing ive no time for stuff that doesnt work. I will never buy Nextbase again thats for sure !

1 minute ago, Delboy777 said:

 However they gave me back the sd card that came with the original package'''

If you've had the same fault with 2 cameras, and the only constant is the SD card, logic would direct you to a faulty SD card...

1 minute ago, StephenFord said:

If you've had the same fault with 2 cameras, and the only constant is the SD card, logic would direct you to a faulty SD card...

Yes thats why i changed it. The camera works fine until its left on for a while with car stationary, then it always freezes and it wont do a thing, not even switch off ! It has to be reset every time

how is the camera powered - if using the junk 12v cigarette adapter, its well known they create lots of nasty electrical noise that throws Audio in a tailspin