Dash Cam Recommendations?

[vmSeattle]

I'm thinking of installing a dash cam on my i3. Has anyone done this? Thinking of a Finevu CR500HD but is there a way to wire these things up so we're not using the 12V sockets? The interior of the car is beautiful and don't want to have any visible cables. Any pointers or help would be appreciated.

 

[Jetfuel]

used an android app on my sony 2nex phone (double as a media player too, my voice phone in the car is an iPhone) and a window mount suction cup about the review mirror. all and all it works well. 128 gb chip in the Sony 2nex phone (so sim chip) and i charge it when i need to parked off a SIStech solar cell on the back deck of the car. so every thing is very clean and stores in the car. I looked at all the dedicated dash cams but the cameras were always not as good as the newerish phones. so i went the phone way and have been very happy with it. post a pic when you get that far.

 

[crossie]

The Transcend DrivePro 200 is one of the better options out there at the moment:
http://ca.transcend-info.com/Products/No-498

Techmoan has a review and downloadable samples here:
http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2014/7/7/transcend-drivepro-200-dashcam-review.html

You can route the cables easily inside the headliner and the trim and wire it directly to the 12v.
I'm going to fit a dashcam to my i3 but waiting to see what is on the market at delivery time.

The FineVu is a piece of junk BTW. Low bitrate and outperformed by cameras a third of the price.

 

[Sargeo]

I have a 2 x Transcend DrivePro 200s and they work fine. Playback is good, simple to install. I run the cable round the windscreen trim down to the footwell. I have heard that some people have Hotwired into the rear view mirror to obtain power if you have a power source there?

 

[Tummy]

I have a Mini 801 that I took out of my old car and recently purchased a B40 / A118 Novatek.

I haven't mounted either one yet.

 

[Gazza]

Does anyone know if dash cams such as the Drivepro 200 (it appears to receive only good reviews) are capable of operating from an auxilary power source other than the vehicles 12 volt socket. I am thinking for instance if the car is parked somewhere and is obviously switched off or powered down can the camera be left operating for security whilst it is unattended. Just wondering!!!

Regards

 

[KurtEndress]

The DrivePro 200 is powered by a 5V USB connection, so a USB power supply should be able to run it. You might have an issue with recording length if you leave it unattended for a long time. I believe one of the reviews said it could record 2 hours 20 min of HD video on the included 16 GB card.

 

[Gazza]

Thanks Kurt. Car to be delivered in November so will chase up the agents here in Australia at that time. Even a reasonably short recording time could be useful I reckon...Cheers

Gazza

 

[kc1]

Innovv C3 is good because you can thread just the camera part, and hide the control part in the glove box for a more discreet installation, and it's not exposed to radiant heat from the sun. It has connecting leads for an auxiliary input into the screen and can be wired for 5v USB. I've got one installed in another car but haven't dug around behind the i3 dash to see it can be connected to the screen/fuse box yet. I'll have a go next month.

 

[mark1]

Have a Blackvue DR550GW-2ch hard wired with Power Magic in the M3, it's a decent camera other than the front/rear cable lack of shielding knocks out the DAB radio, looking for a replacement cable.

 

[gwilensky]

You can also use a GoPro, which can be mounted anywhere and controlled from the GoPro app running on an iPhone but accessed via the iDrive system. Video is recorded but preview is disabled when the vehicle is in motion, though.

 

[crossie]

My car is being delivered in 2 weeks so it was time to look for a new dashcam to replace the DR32 from my old vehicle.
I just placed an order for the VicoVation Marcus 4:

http://www.vicovation.com/product.asp?IDno=22&lang=en

I'm particularly looking forward to using the 2560x1080 mode.

 

[alohart]

For i3's with front-facing cameras and disc drives, some clever person needs to hack the system so that X hours of front camera video could be stored on the disc drive for later retrieval, if desired.

 

[crossie]

For i3's with front-facing cameras and disc drives, some clever person needs to hack the system so that X hours of front camera video could be stored on the disc drive for later retrieval, if desired.

The hardware is simply not there to do it. The Intel automotive platform in the car doesn't have the ability to encode video from the dashcam and run everything else.
Compared with contemporary dashcams the camera is also not great.

 

[fixedgear]

I have successfully installed a blackvue 650 dual channel dashcam without hardwiring it.

All the cables are hidden.

There are no visible cables except for the plug which is plugged into the 12v socket in the trunk and not in the front dashboard.

I didn't want to hard wire anything into the car but I also didn't want to plug it into the dash, I think the plug in the trunk is a great alternative.

Also, keep in mind that the pillar behind the rearview mirrior is huge on this car so I mounted the camera to the left of the pillar on the drivers side and not the passenger side.

I also mounted the rear camera on the drivers side on the bottom of the glass.

I did that for the following reasons.
1) if you top mount it, the top wing/lip on the hatch will obstruct the view.
2) if you mount it in the bottom center, the wiper will not clean that area. There will be a half circle of dirt.
3) if you mount it on the bottom passenger side, the wiper rests there and will block the view

The only suitable position I found was bottom of glass on the drivers side. The wiper clears this area also.

Power cable was routed starting from the back of the car and going along the passenger side.
Channel 2 cable was routed starting from the front of the car and going along the drivers side.

Let me know if you have any questions. I will post the footage and some photos soon.

 

[fixedgear]

 

[fixedgear]

After using this set up for some time. I have realized that the socket in the trunk has power when the car is charging and also when it's not plugged in but preconditioning.

When the car is off, not charging and not preconditioning, there is no power to the 12v socket and no risk in draining your 12v battery when parked for a while.

Alternatively, if you are plugged in or preconditioning, the parking mode of the camera will activate and it will record when it detects motion.

 

[crossie]

I got my new Marcus4 in the mail. Awesome quality images from it, particularly at night.

I'm not happy with the idea of wiring it into the 12v if I'm going to end up with the entire sd card overwritten with footage of the car park everytime I plug in to charge or start preconditioning.

Anyone have any ideas for alternative power sources? There was some suggestion of 5v power going to the BMW front facing camera, But I doubt 1A-1.2A@5v could be spared.

 

[fixedgear]

I personally like those features. I'm not sure about your model camera but you may be able to turn off parking mode so it won't record when the car isn't moving.

 

[crossie]

I personally like those features. I'm not sure about your model camera but you may be able to turn off parking mode so it won't record when the car isn't moving.

My real problem is that like most dashcams there is no parking mode. And therefore no motion activated recording.
Which means that if the camera gets power while my i3 is charging I get 3/12 hours of footage of the car park, overwriting the last trip.