Wanting to hardware my dash cam however being a garmin one I've had to buy a 12v plug, so the live side is going into an add a circuit fuse into the passenger side fuse box, and the bag will be attached to a suitable point on the chassis,

 

I don't really want to have it round the door jamb and under the glove box I'd rather go a more direct route and put a small hole in the top of the front part of the dash or a pillar trim and down,

What's under the front n/s dash area I should be aware of before I get busy,

Don't really want to hit some of the loom or the interior structure

 

Mk2.5 focus

Thanks

 

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No need to drill any holes simply run the cable behind the headlining towards the passenger a pillar trim then pull back the door rubber seal from the joint upwards to roughly the curios the door. Then gently pull away the a pillar trim from the top then run the cable down the a pillar 

remove the small piece of trim with the air bag sign on it then run the cable into the fuse box. 

What make of dash cam have you got as I hard wired mine in at the weekend using a piggyback fuse (f100) it took no time at all and it's great as you don't see wires and turns off with ignition 

If you remove the passenger door seal, you can thread wires down behind the A pillar trim, and thread them in behind the dash (without removing plugs - some of it is a little tricky but doable), simply replace the seal once done. I always think when I do my mods about how i would go about reversing them if necessary - so far everything I have done (minus a couple of wires who's insulation I have separated with scotchlocks) is entirely reversible to stock - if I were to ever need to sell the car (especially to the trade, who might not want a heavily modded car!)

There is a large metal part of the chassis running under the dash - obviously airbag also, plus heater vents etc. You can run a very direct route if you have small enough plugs/cables.

Thanks for the replies,

It was my dad's car before I took ownership so he's stuck some tiny hooks down the side of the a pillar and window which is a bit annoying as makes access to the a post a bit fiddly, they seem to be welded onto the glass [emoji23]

If I'm not too busy at work today I'll have a little look at removing the door seal.

@tangodaz it's a garmin cam so needs to have the 12v socket on it to work. Don't know why they've done it that way but the one in my van is the same

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Have you looked on eBay for a changing kit?

8 hours ago, stants said:

Thanks for the replies,

It was my dad's car before I took ownership so he's stuck some tiny hooks down the side of the a pillar and window which is a bit annoying as makes access to the a post a bit fiddly, they seem to be welded onto the glass

If I'm not too busy at work today I'll have a little look at removing the door seal.

@tangodaz it's a garmin cam so needs to have the 12v socket on it to work. Don't know why they've done it that way but the one in my van is the same

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Strong dental floss is good for removing strong adhesive - do a see-sawing action through the glue and you can then get enough purchase to get the rest off. You can tuck wires between the door seal and the A pillar too to save removing it (indeed, my rear camera wire is just tucked between the seal and the a pillar).

I have this on my desk at work, was gonna hard wire the van one but never got round to it,

So the plan is the 12v adaptor plug has a 10amp fuse but too long so i'm Going to cut down the wiring and solder & shrink wrap the piggy back 10amp fuse on attach to spare ign live fuse spot, then run it underneath the glove box, I've already 're routed the cam cabling behind the door weather strip and poked it through to glove box 🖒 then hopefully will be a case of plugging in and job jobbed !

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Mine is attached in a similar way, but I ordered a 12V socket without the wiring and just soldered some twin core automotive wire on, and crimped it to the fuse tap.

You will probably find that if you unscrew the 12V socket you can get to the back of it and resolder the (shorter) wire to the back of it, meaning no excessive joins.

Cheers for the heads up I ran out of time today to do any more so I'll have a look in the morning

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As others have said, there's a fair size gap from the bottom of A pillar to behind the glovebox. I've had it off 3 times now, one for dashcam, one for bluetooth hands free and the other for reversing camera

just having read this topic, CURIOUS  but where do you pick up the earth point from?

Fuse box under the glove box, just tap into it with this

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If you remove the small end cap of the passenger dash it has the passenger air bag sign on it you will see a bolt i undid this slightly and then clamped the earth wire behind it doing it up afterwards 

just having read this topic, CURIOUS  but where do you pick up the earth point from?

The majority of my ignition switched stuff is actually wired to the cigarette lighter (which switches on with a relay). For the other things I've earthed to one of the bolts on the fuse box bracket.

In my Mk3.5 Mondeo & Mk 3.5 Focus I ran the cable through the headlining and down behind the door seal, and under the glovebox, never had a issue an it isn't noticeable.