James

When you routed the parking sensor wires through the pierced hole, did you bother making it water tight? I'm thinking whether to sugru it afterwards but wondering whether it is actually needed

Also, where exactly do I access the wires for the rear 12v socket in the rear of the arm rest?

Think I am gonna route the tap the power wire into that and then onto the switch

With any luck my new camera will arrive tomorrow, tracking says its currently at the Swansea depot

I have already started the job in preparation ready for when it does arrive by deciding where the switch will live

Originally I did want it around the dash somewhere and looked at fitting it in the recess underneath the garage door, though after taking the garage door and centre console trim out I soon discovered that this would not be possible

I then thought about cutting the hole to mount it in the front of the flappy door that hides the obd port. I did not like this idea though as when the doors open there will be visible wires running to the back of it and onto the switch, plus this would be a more permanent fixture as should I ever wish to remove the switch I'll be left with a hole so the whole flappy hingey door will need replacing

For this reason I counted out the entire dash as wherever I fit the switch it won't be easily reversed

Ran my eyes around the cabin for an alternative suitable place to mount the switch and while the centre console trim was still removed I noticed that the cup holders was very easily removed as with a gentle tug they simply unclip and pull out. As they are small and easily removed they will be easy and cheap to replace if needed

Got out my handy dual blade jcb knife and used the serrated blade to pierce a small hole in the cup holder and gradually twisted it and enlarged the hole till it was big enough to mount the switch

All fitted back in place with the addition of a small discreet rocker switch

Best bit is because of how small and discreet the switch is and the shape of the bottom of a can, I can still comfortably use the cup holder as if the switch wasn't there

So now when the new camera arrives I'll extend the supplied power cable with some twin core speaker cable, I'll mount the camera to the grill mesh with some double sided 3M, thread the wiring up the front of the front bumper, through the slam panel, cable tie in place around the engine and through the grommet into the glove box.

Once in the dash I'll route the video wire up around the seal around the passenger side A pillar into the roof lining and connect to the monitor already in place. With the power wire I'll route it from the glove box area, into the centre console, connect it to the rocker switch and then tap it into the 12v supply for the rear 12v socket in the arm rest

So then whenever I want to see how close the front end is to something I can simply click the switch in the cup holder as and when required

Good result mate! And no I monitored it for a few months but never once was there any moisture. Even with the bonnet up in the peeing rain I didn't bother sealing it, but a bit of under seal liquid rubber wouldn't hurt!

Nice discreet switch there! Although I have been tempted to use the two large triangles St the top corners of the stereo for switches, but I don't like switches being visible (at least not types like the rocker, but that's just my opinion) but on a plus side yours is moreso our the way and isn't Interfered with, though I suppose if it gets wet it may not work so well?

I spy a resealable No Fear can ;)

Did you find a new source or an old piccy? :d

James the triangles you speak of is where I would have put the switch but they are both already used up. One has the power start button and I've already butchered a hole in the spare blanking plate to accomodate a rather handy twin usb port. So alas I had to seek an alternative home for the switch. Yup if it gets wet there may be a problem so I will just have to try and not spill a drink on it.

And yes Uncle your eyes do not deceive you. On your heads up I popped into asda and low and behold they have indeed brought back the resealable can.

I noticed on the box they was in it boldy states 'New Resealable Can'. Should have said Old resealable can. Either way though I'm a happy bunny and my local tesco needs to start restocking the new/old cans as asda is a bit of a mission

And yes Uncle your eyes do not deceive you. On your heads up I popped into asda and low and behold they have indeed brought back the resealable can.

I noticed on the box they was in it boldy states 'New Resealable Can'. Should have said Old resealable can. Either way though I'm a happy bunny and my local tesco needs to start restocking the new/old cans as asda is a bit of a mission

Ah, Companies and their cheeky marketing ploys ;)

My local Tesco's don't even stock the stuff, useless goits.

I thought it was an air freshener lol

Lol no fear must have noticed they wasn't selling any of the new standard cans so they was forced to bring back the old cans

At first only asda used to sell them so I had to make a trip there every few weeks to buy a case or 2 at a time. Then tesco must have caught on as my local store starting selling em but I still had to buy a case at a time when I could just because they sold like mad and I'd often find a big empty hole on the shelf where some goits had nabbed them all already.

Then no fear swapped the cans and suddenly tesco werent selling any at all and there was always full cases of em left on the shelf. Tesco must have dropped them when they realised they'd stopping selling the stuff.

Now asda has brought back the old can so hopefully tesco will follow suit

My camera has arrived today and I was really hoping to get it fitted and wired in but I'm unexpectedly having to work tonight so I had to sleep in late.

Hopefully I'll get the camera cracked out tomorrow and report back with photos

So the camera was fitted yesterday

Took a few hours longer than expected but down to silly reasons like it being an almighty faff trying to get the video wire through the rubber seal due to the shape and bulk of it's plug

The actual wiring side was rather easy, apart from accidentally blowing a fuse

Here's the camera fitted, temporarily stuck in place crudely with 3 sticky pads

Quite discreet through and barely noticeable from a distance

First impressions was that the display is spot on

But I quickly thought that it is actually pretty pointless as the whole point of it is to see how close objects are, when in fact it makes objects appeal a lot further away than they actually are. Large things maybe 50-100yards away appear miles and miles away and don't even register

See here as an example

The white van and the for sale sign isn't very far away but appears quite far away and small on the screen

Or here, the disabled sign and the car are actually quite close but appear as tiny blips

I don't think I am just being picky as my rear camera can see things clearly from further away just fine when it is essentially the same camera as the front

I have it a cheeky run on a nearly empty motorway this morning, a lorry wasn't too far away, maybe 100 yards away and the camera couldnt even see it, I creeped closer and closer and it still didn't see it. Eventually it registered as a tiny blip and only really come into view when I was basically tailgating the thing and even then it looked quite far away

Gonna have to look into this as I'm quite disappointed

Hopefully you can find the right one. Look for a camera with a less wide angle. The smaller the better as it focuses the attention on what's ahead

Front facing cameras as in cameras with no guidance lines are very few and far between. Think ive seen 3 and this is the only one that was suitable

Think they are all just the same camera in a different housing

Contacted the seller and basically said the camera they sold me is naff at it's intended purpose. Will see what they come back with..

In the meantime, decided to swap out the blue led switch for a red one to match the rest of the stock lighting/submarine lighting

Also decided to waterproof it at the same time.

Looks pretty good