Dashcam fit

[Juan Carr]

Advice appreciated.

I've just ordered a Focus ST from a dealer in Hereford.  I want a dashcam fitted - anyone in that area able to fit one to the vehicle whilst it's at the dealer so that when I pitch up to collect it, everything's in place?

As in, no trailing wires, all nice and neat and it just works?

[Dee_82]

Daylight robbery getting someone to fit it, and if your only going for a front camera then its even easier.

[mikeyd1]

I want to fit one also but not technicly minded at all lol

[trailertrash]

Halfords have a deal on fitting Nextbase dashcams for £30 including the hardwire fitting kit which retails at £20. Fitting only £10 in other words 'though I can't speak for the value of the hardwire kit...

[Dee_82]

there really isn't anything hard about hard wiring these things in, you need a hardware kit obviously, one specific for your camera and 1 or 2 biggy back fuses depending if you get a camera with parking mode or not.

Parking mode is in my opinion the single most important feature you want on a camera, if someone reverses in to your car whilst you aren't in it, your screwed.

 

 

[mikeyd1]

Does parking mode drain the battery tho

[trailertrash]

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Does parking mode drain the battery tho

Not the vehicle battery, no. I can only speak for my Nextbase 312GW which turns off with the ignition. It has Parking Mode fed by its internal battery which is sufficient for 6 mins of recording/playback but it has to be specifically selected when parking. A bit of a pain fiddling with menu settings to select it, i.e. no one touch button. Given the rest of the technical wizardry it's beyond me why Parking Mode has to be manually selected and that it's not automatic once the unit detects the ignition switching off. The manual states that when Parking Mode is selected the Cam enters stand-by until a jolt automatically switches it on to record for 30 secs after which it re-enters stand-by mode again. Not ideal as there could be a second or two lag by which time the 'offender' could be far enough away on the recording to dispute any claim.

TBH I've only just read up about it to do with this thread. I'm still unlikely to use Parking mode though as a) I'll forget to set it when I park, and b) Most places I park 'nose-in' so Parking Mode would be useless even if I remembered to set it.

I do wonder how long it will be before dash and rear cams are factory-fitted as standard, or at least a paid-for option from new. Maybe even side cams too!

Edit: ...and we'll all look like Google Street-View cars 

 

[mikeyd1]

I want one now i see a front and rear one in Halfords but dont really want 16yo fitting it to my new car thats the only thing im worried about

[trailertrash]

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I want one now i see a front and rear one in halfords but dont really want 16yo fitting it to my new car thats the only thing im worried about

Yeah, I get that. I've no personal experience of Halfords' fitting service other than having faulty Wiper Blades replaced and fitted FOC, but re Dash-Cam fitting they're hardly likely to expose themselves to damage and compensation claims by using untrained or incompetent fitters. Just my opinion but I'm sure some here have horror stories...

[mikeyd1]

Hmm might take a drive down there

[hywelkidd]

I had mine (Next base 512) fitted by my local Halfords (due to the offer they had on at the time) and it was incredibly simple. He removed the passenger side sun visor to tuck the wire above the headlining and ran the cable down the A pillar to the fuse box with a cable tie to tidy up the excess wire.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[trailertrash]

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Hmm might take a drive down there

I believe fitting of more complicated stuff like dash-cams has to be pre-booked, and in any case unlikely on a Sunday afternoon an hour from closing.

Maybe phone first?

Good luck.

[hywelkidd]

Hmm might take a drive down there

I believe fitting of more complicated stuff like dash-cams has to be pre-booked, and in any case unlikely on a Sunday afternoon an hour from closing.

Maybe phone first?

Good luck.

Yeah I had to book mine in. I went in the morning and had it fitted that afternoon.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Dee_82]

Not every dash cam is equal, batteries in dashcams are not generally speaking all that good, the reason is that they suffer big time when they get hot, they are usually also not replaceable meaning when the battery dies you might find the functionality of it is seriously reduced, they also tend to be of Chinese origin, which are usually just rebadged units sold to the masses, you can normally find much cheaper versions than what you will find in Halfords etc. 

The other big producers of far superior cameras are the Koreans, they tend to be more expensive, they tend to have true parking mode, use supercaps and are of much better quality.

Most good dashcams use super capacitors, they provide enough power to finish recording in the even of an accident by keeping the unit powered if the battery is disconnected, they are not supposed to power a camera for any length of time.

Most good cameras have proper parking mode, this is a mode that turns the camera to record at a reduced FPS / bitrate whilst the engine is off (like the video I posted), this will use the car battery, however most good cameras have a low battery cut off that will disable the camera should it detect the battery is loosing some of its charge. this is normally enough to allow recording through out the night without any bother, because I do a lot of driving I can get two nights and days on the trot before it turns off.  I have never had a flat battery, even on the coldest of mornings

wiring in a proper camera with parking mode usually consists of connecting an earth cable to any earth point (most metal fixings within the car) there will be an always on live connection and an ACC power supply (on when engine is on)

then by using http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Piggy-Back-Mini-Blade-Fuse-Holder-with-3-Fuses-12V-15A-Fuse-Tap-ATM-Add-Circuit-/222183575200?hash=item33bb2c4ea0:g:E1YAAOSwoydWr5RX you just need to find a valid fuse in the fuse box, take that fuse out, then plug that fuse in to this piggy back adaptor, plug the piggy back adaptor in to the fusebox (in the position you just took the fuse from), do that for both always on and ACC and the job is done, just route the cables around the car above the headliner..   

 

 

 

[trailertrash]

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Not every dash cam is equal...

Thanks for that informative post Darren. Very interesting.

Which Dash-Cam have you chosen?

[mikeyd1]

Just been Halfords the have a next base duo but reviews aint that great anyone have any suggestion what i should get and do i need a rear camra?

[trailertrash]

6 minutes ago, mikeyd1 said:

Just been halfords the have a next base duo but reviews aint that great anyone have any suggestion what i should get and do i need a rear camra?

Hi Mike, As I've said, I have the 312GW from Halfords and I've no opinion either way regarding its suitability. It's never been used 'in anger' so it is what it is until that happens, if you get my drift. I've been lazy about exploring its features and only in the last hour or so discovered that it even has a Parking Mode, albeit flakey. I've never even looked at what it has recorded! It was recommended by Ford Owners Club not long ago mostly, I think, to do with its satellite location and w-fi connection ability to smart phones and tablets to view recorded footage. If the truth's known, I fancied a gadget and the 312GW fitted the bill, but it's probably at least as good as most and better than some. And others are better than it...

It's £10 cheaper at Halfords now than what I paid too.

Re rear view, my own opinion and with no experience in law is that if someone hits you up where the sun don't shine, they are at fault. They shouldn't have been so close irrespective of how bad a driver you might be or how fast you were going. Drive defensively and assume the other bloke is an a55hole. That has always been the case as far as I know, it's all to do with stopping distance and road conditions. Maybe rear view is a gimmick, I honestly don't know and I'd be genuinely interested to get other opinions. Rear view Parking Mode is, of course, a completely different kettle of fish!

[mikeyd1]

Ok good answer about rear it makes sense ill look up the one u have purchesed. Thanks for ur input much appreciated

[trailertrash]

1 minute ago, mikeyd1 said:

Thanks for ur input much appreciated

Very welcome mate and, as always, good luck!

[Dee_82]

My camera is the think ware F750 dual cam http://www.thinkware.com/Products/Dashcam/F750

Its just been superseded by the F770, however I have discovered that the two units are actually identical in all ways bar looks and that you can add all the features of the 770 to the 750 with a simple update.

Unless you are particularly fond of the F770 looks, you can just buy a F750 and convert it saving you some pennies :)

if you check out the forums on here https://dashcamtalk.com/ you will find loads of info on all sorts of camera, the front page has a list of cams, you may notice that some of them look suspiciously like other branded cams you have seen, that's because they are problem identical rebadged clones.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the cameras on that list, it doesn't get updated all that good and some of devices are a little old now or missing. the forums are the best place to go.  On that site you will even find a whole bunch of manufactures and developers who will usually listen you, most of them tend to be Chinese tbh, but the ones on there that do contribute tend to be striving for a better product.

anyhow, that's the best place for finding out stuff about dashcams

Couple of points to consider.

Bitrate - Higher the bitrate the clearer the image and less artefacts it will have, if anyone has watched a shoddy old DVD recorded on to a computer that's only a few hundred MB you will know what I mean.

Resolution - 1080p vs 720p your better off having 1080p at a lower bit rate rather than 720p at a higher bit rate.

field of view, 140ish degrees, anything less and you will loss whats going on to the sides.

Front and Rear? Do you need a rear camera? nope, you don't need one, but answer yourself this, if someone runs in to the back of you and does a runner, will you be quick enough to memorise the number plate possibly in a mirror before they get out of view?  1 single claim against your insurance for something not your fault could potentially cost you a lot more than the cost of a camera.

Front rear quality - Generally speaking, if you have a single cam, it will probably record in a higher quality, a dual cam setup places a lot more strain on the recording unit and so the quality tends to be slightly less, not significantly so, but enough to cause artefacts in tree lined roads (lots of detail to record) or lower light conditions, youll get more noise and blocking.

Supercaps!

parking mode!

 

 

 

 

[mikeyd1]

Looking at the 312 looks pretty good. Might get that one

[mikeyd1]

So do u just leave the cam in the car. Will actract thieves? Do these get stolen?

[Juan Carr]

I feel a bit of a radish saying this but..........as per my original post:

"I want a dashcam fitted - anyone in that area able to fit one to the vehicle whilst it's at the dealer so that when I pitch up to collect it, everything's in place?

As in, no trailing wires, all nice and neat and it just works?"

 

Sometimes communicating with perpetual internet forum inhabitants can be very frustrating...................

[trailertrash]

Given that there has been no appropriate reply perhaps you should be talking to the dealer, Juan Carr

[Dee_82]

2 hours ago, mikeyd1 said:

So do u just leave the cam in the car. Will actract thieves? Do these get stolen?

I live in a pretty dodgy area, no one batters an eye at it, the front cam is pretty well hidden if installed correctly.  plus you should declare it to your insurance company, might get a discount but if nothing else its covered if its nicked! 

course if you get one with a massive screen on it, which is just pointless, then it will stand out a lot more. 

2 hours ago, Juan Carr said:

I feel a bit of a radish saying this but..........as per my original post:

"I want a dashcam fitted - anyone in that area able to fit one to the vehicle whilst it's at the dealer so that when I pitch up to collect it, everything's in place?

As in, no trailing wires, all nice and neat and it just works?"

 

Sometimes communicating with perpetual internet forum inhabitants can be very frustrating...................

Yeah, we don't have an answer, but  rather than say nothing and leave you hanging we have tried to help you and anyone else who stumbles on this thread make a good informed decision on their cam and fitting it.