Dash Cameras

[samnkeez]

I am thinking about fitting a dash cam on our motorhome . Ideally I don't want one that is difficult to fit.

Any suggestions or recommendations ?

[HymerVan]

You could use one such as a Garmin nüviCam™ LMT-D which is fitted on the back of a Sat-nav. Neat and uncomplicated but not cheap (around £300) . Otherwise they usually fit onto the windscreen with a "fixed" glue on mount or a sucker like a sat-nav. They need power (5v supply like a satnav) which they can get via their cable (which drops the voltage) plugged into an accessory socket. Alternatively they can be permanently wired in. If permanently wired in the voltage need to be dropped. If you buy a Next-base you can get a wiring kit on e-bay for around £10 although make sure its the genuine product not a clone. Other manufacturers probably also offer kits.

 

Wiring into a fuse on the top of the dashboard should be a DIY job otherwise Halfords claim to do it for £30. I got Dave Newell to wire mine in (with a switch) when doing other work. The hassle of not having to plug in and have trailing wires is a big incentive to have it switched on because according to sods law if you don't have it switched on that is when you will have an accident.

[derek pringle]

hi samnkeez,

I have just purchased a Nextbase 412 gw from Halfords at 15% sale discount. It is plug and play from cigar lighter or you can buy a voucher for them to hardwire it in for £30. Beauty is the voucher price includes the fitting kit required which is normally 10 to 15 £. I am waiting for the xmas rush to go and will then get it hardwired.

camera £109

32 g memory card£15

you pay the £30 fitting when you get it done, if you want it doing, I just don't like wires everywhere.

good luck

merry xmas

derek

ps there were a range of cams at different prices

[Solomongrundy]

Mine is fitted to the interior mirror mount, Fiat Ducato, and the Remis blinds close without a problem.

 

Powered from socket by device shown below – which has retractable cable.

 

[Arthur Brown]

Hi

I used the mirror mount by using the bit on the back of the mirror. (Just a point, Fiat provide a windscreen mount rear view mirror which lets you look at the interior of your van) So, remove the mirror, take the first bit off and attach your camera mount then it slides into the windscreen mount - (other part.) As the last post indicated, blinds still work as they are designed to close around the mirror. I ran the cable up then around the windscreen within the headlining then down the screen pillar and into the fuse box. I purchased three or four adapters at one of the shows. It is based on a blade fuse which replaces a fuse slot but whatever was plugged into it plugs into the adapter and has a spare socket for another blade fuse. This saves having to split into wiring but keeps everything fused. Good bit of kit sold by one of the rear view camera stalls. Good luck, merry xmas

Art

[Ocsid]

Arthur Brown - 2016-12-22 9:27 PM

 

. I purchased three or four adapters at one of the shows. It is based on a blade fuse which replaces a fuse slot but whatever was plugged into it plugs into the adapter and has a spare socket for another blade fuse. This saves having to split into wiring but keeps everything fused. Good bit of kit sold by one of the rear view camera stalls. Good luck, merry xmas

Art

 

These that can be obtained from Halfords or much cheaper searching the internet?

 

http://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/stereo-fitting-accessories/autoleads-blade-add-a-fuse

[Derek Uzzell]

Arthur Brown - 2016-12-22 9:27 PM

 

Hi

I used the mirror mount by using the bit on the back of the mirror. (Just a point, Fiat provide a windscreen mount rear view mirror which lets you look at the interior of your van) So, remove the mirror, take the first bit off and attach your camera mount then it slides into the windscreen mount - (other part.)...

 

It’s worth highlighting that the rear-view mirror on Ducato X290 vehicles uses a bloody-minded ‘twist fit’ retention system rather than the ‘slide on’ method employed on the preceding X250 range. The X290 retention arrangement is described by Robinhood in his 11 June 2015 8:00 AM posting here

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Rearview-mirror-on-x290/38474/

 

Using a ‘piggy-back’ fuse-holder to hard-wire a dash-cam was discussed here

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Wiring-dash-cam/41988/

 

http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Dash-cam-hard-wiring/41838/

[RogerThat]

I think I'm missing something on these piggy back fuse holders.

 

Well, either I am, or the thousands of happy customers who've bought them are (lol)

 

Let's say I put a 20A piggy back fuse on to an existing 20A fuse. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but am I not now pulling 40A through the wire on the underside of the fuse box which was only designed to carry 20A?

 

What's that burning smell (?)

 

 

[Ocsid]

Only if the two circuits pull the fuse blowing current at the same time.

 

If the original circuit was 20 amps then that fuse goes back into the new slot, the one without a tail wire, if you are putting a dash cam on the tail then I suspect you would put in a black 1 Amp fuse into that port.

 

Clearly, it needs a modicum of thought not to use these devices where the summation of the normal loads is too high for the wiring; a short that blows a quick acting fuse, correctly sized is unlikely to result in burning out the wiring.

[Derek Uzzell]

RogerThat

 

The following link (referred to in the 2nd link I provided above) discusses what you’ve mentioned (though “argues about” would be more apt)

 

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/piggy-back-fuseholders-a-right-way-and-a-wrong-way.7524/

 

In your scenario (where 2 x 20A fuses are involved) depending on how the piggy-back fuse-holder were installed, it would be possible to place a 40A load (2 x 20A) on the wiring supplying the fuse-way that originally had just a 20A fuse in it, or for the overall load to be limited to 20A (in which case, if 2 x 20A loads were actually being produced, the arrangement would not work).

 

Realism should prevail, though, and (as is said on the above link) the small amperage requirement of a dash-cam means that - as long as there’s some spare 'amperage capacity’ in the fuse-way into which the piggy-back fuse-holder will be inserted - it should not matter which way round it is.

[RogerThat]

Ocsid - 2016-12-23 5:09 PM

 

Only if the two circuits pull the fuse blowing current at the same time.

 

This was indeed my train of thought on this one. It depends on which fuse people piggy back to. Most will simply look for the first permalive/ignlive that does what they need. I'm not sure that many people would pay much attention to whether both devices / items would be in use together :'(

 

Ocsid - 2016-12-23 5:09 PM

 

If the original circuit was 20 amps then that fuse goes back into the new slot, the one without a tail wire, if you are putting a dash cam on the tail then I suspect you would put in a black 1 Amp fuse into that port.

 

Clearly, it needs a modicum of thought not to use these devices where the summation of the normal loads is too high for the wiring; a short that blows a quick acting fuse, correctly sized is unlikely to result in burning out the wiring.

 

Granted, my 20A example was at the extreme end of the scale, I don't suppose a sub-1w device in the dash cam example here would make any difference really.

 

Thing is, if someone were to use a piggy back fuse on a high current device, and they put the piggyback in place "back to front" the original fuse wouldn't blow as it wouldn't be getting 40A though it, it'd only be getting 20A. But the wiring under the fuse box would be getting 20A from the original use plus 20A from the back to front piggyback device so it could be running 40A without the 'main' fuse seeing it.

 

Or maybe I've misunderstood the piggyback gadget, does it ONLY pull current from the point 'after' the original fuse?

 

Sorry, I'm not sure I explained that very well lol!

 

Caution is indeed required :)

[Derek Uzzell]

RogerThat - 2016-12-23 5:43 PM

 

...Most will simply look for the first permalive/ignlive that does what they need. I'm not sure that many people would pay much attention to whether both devices / items would be in use together :'(

 

 

The discussions on here and elsewhere suggest that people planning to employ piggy-back fuse-holders generally do give some thought about how the things should be used. For those that don’t, there’s a Murphy’s Law variant that goes

 

"It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.”

 

[Alanb]

With respect, as regards loading of the wiring, I think that something seems to have been overlooked here.

 

A supply for a dashcam would sensibly be taken from an ignition switch controlled supply. On my early 2006 Ducato there is a block of 8 fuses on the LHS fuse panel which meet this criterea, and the sum of the original fuses ratings is 65A. Given that not all are used, it is not likely that any small additional current extracted via an "addafuse" would present a problem.

 

The difficulty that I have encountered with these "addafuse" devices, is that the Fiat fuse bodies fit into a slot which is too narrow to accept the "addafuse".

 

As regards mounting a dashcam, I would be interested in a method that does not interfere with the Remis blinds, and retains the rear view mirror, also the camera should not intrude into the drivers view. At the moment I can only think of a custom made bracket, but there seems to be a shortage of suitable mounting points. I have thought about an RAC 03 dashcam, which mounts onto the rearview mirror, but it seems that it would probably foul the Remis blind.

[Derek Uzzell]

Alanb - 2016-12-26 10:34 PM

 

...The difficulty that I have encountered with these "addafuse" devices, is that the Fiat fuse bodies fit into a slot which is too narrow to accept the "addafuse”...

 

 

The type of ‘add-a-fuse’ chosen needs to match the type of fuse (eg standard or mini) used in the vehicle’s fuse-box, but that's stating the obvious.

 

I vaguely recall on-line comments that it may prove difficult to insert an add-a-fuse into a fuse-box slot, but I fitted one without any problems when adding instrument-cluster lighting to my 2015 Ducato X290.

[Alanb]

Derek,

 

Thanks for your information. I had no difficulty using "addafuse" on our Saab 93, and 2013 Skoda Fabia, when I wanted to make 12v sockets permanently live, so that I could easily plug in an external charger, or charge mobile phones etc.

However on the Ducato I had to resort to using an inline fuseholder bridging between appropriate points.

 

I will have to compare "addafuse" devices more closely, if I get as far as adding a dedicated inline socket for a dashcam.

[Derek Uzzell]

The ‘add-a-fuse’ I required for my Ducato needed to fit in a fuse-slot designed to accept an APM-type ‘miniature’ fuse. The technical characteristics of this sort of fuse are described here

 

http://www.optifuse.com/PDFs/APM.pdf

 

and it will be seen that small variations in the width, thickness and distance apart of the fuse ‘prongs' are permissible.

 

Logically, any fuse that matches the miniature APM dimensional specification should fit into my Ducato’s fuse-slots, but if the prongs of the fuse are at the maximum allowed sizes for width, thickness and distance apart inserting that fuse into the fuse-slot may well prove challenging.

 

On sight alone it’s apparent that the quality of manufacture of automotive fuses varies considerably and, as add-a-fuses can be obtained pretty cheaply

 

http://tinyurl.com/j792gc6

 

perhaps Rolls-Royce quality should not be anticipated. There’s also the difference in shape and the extra length (presumably for stability) of the add-a-fuse prongs to take into account.

 

(Although I said above that I fitted an add-a-fuse “without any problems”, thinking back I believe I used a PTFE dry lubricant on the prongs to aid insertion into the fuse-slot.)

[athiest]

Hi all, I have had a dash cam fitted by me to my car & MH. They are both fitted too the windscreen with the suction devices as supplied. Some years ago the MOT fitter was going to fail my cars MOT because the camera "fitted 2 inches above the dash and not in line of sight"should not be fitted during the MOT. He did pass it that time but told me to remove it next time. "A"

[Airstream]

I have one of the older models from

 

http://www.blackvue.eu/index.php

 

Records and displays speed time and location

 

Fits on leading edge ie near windscreen on the clipboard on my 2006 x250 without interfering with the remission blind

 

Ray