What vehicle do you drive?

Frenzied Wombat said:

Thanks for the feedback. Based on my research to date the main issues have been a combo of:

1) Uses USB power and a battery for when the car is off, but battery overheats in hot climate (here in Texas for example)
2) Uses hardwire for constant power, even when car is off, but jacking into the cars circuitry just kinda sounds scary.. I've also heard about a lot of buggy inconsistencies with this function. Plus, hiding all the wires..
3) No cellular function. Something happens to your car and you won't immediately know about it


I was looking at the OwlCam at one point, but looks like they've been bought out and suspended sales. What was cool about these is that all power and parking mode functionality was provided through a single cable that plugged into the OBD of the car, and it had support for LTE for both live view and immediate alerts. Camera basically has a SIM card. However, after looking at reviews, it got a lot of things right like the ODB/LTE, but a lack of cloud storage and a delay in sending alerts were big issues.

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For 1:
The cams with a capacitor, instead of a battery, are defiantly the way to go in hot weather, but regardless, you will need to hard wire it for the best connection. Last I read, leaving things connected through OBD is not recommended, as it creates a security hole in your cars computer, and can cause it to mess up.

For 2:
The easiest wiring option, that I have seen, is to have a kit that plugs into the GM powered mirror, made for radar detectors, but should be adaptable for cams. The next easiest method would be to use an adapter that goes through the interior fuse box (not sure how safe that is though). The most reliable solution is ultimately going to be running a wire to your battery. It isn't that hard, and neither is popping off the interior molding to hide said wire. I'm sure there are a thousand YouTube videos showing you how to do this for your vehicle. For a direct hardwire, make sure the cam has a built in switch that will turn off parking mode, if the power level drops too low.

For 3:
Streaming over cellular to cloud storage sounds terrible and I doubt we are close to having reliable tech (or companies) to support this kind of feature in the US. Have you ever streamed a 1080 HD movie over your cell phone hotspot? How many hours of that streaming do you think it would take before you hit your cell plan's cap? It would need to have it's own sim card for it work when it's not close to your phone, so that means you are going to be paying for a extra line, just for the cam.

Even the home cams like Ring and Nest, that have a steady wifi connection, have issues sending immediate alerts. It all smells like a marketing gimmick at this point.

If I was worried about someone stealing my car or vandalizing it, I would get a system build for it (LoJack), and use a traditional cam for the purpose it's designed for (recording evidence of the crime).

Burns said:

For 1:
The cams with a capacitor, instead of a battery, are defiantly the way to go in hot weather, but regardless, you will need to hard wire it for the best connection. Last I read, leaving things connected through OBD is not recommended, as it creates a security hole in your cars computer, and can cause it to mess up.

For 2:
The easiest wiring option, that I have seen, is to have a kit that plugs into the GM powered mirror, made for radar detectors, but should be adaptable for cams. The next easiest method would be to use an adapter that goes through the interior fuse box (not sure how safe that is though). The most reliable solution is ultimately going to be running a wire to your battery. It isn't that hard, and neither is popping off the interior molding to hide said wire. I'm sure there are a thousand YouTube videos showing you how to do this for your vehicle. For a direct hardwire, make sure the cam has a built in switch that will turn off parking mode, if the power level drops too low.

For 3:
Streaming over cellular to cloud storage sounds terrible and I doubt we are close to having reliable tech (or companies) to support this kind of feature in the US. Have you ever streamed a 1080 HD movie over your cell phone hotspot? How many hours of that streaming do you think it would take before you hit your cell plan's cap? It would need to have it's own sim card for it work when it's not close to your phone, so that means you are going to be paying for a extra line, just for the cam.

Even the home cams like Ring and Nest, that have a steady wifi connection, have issues sending immediate alerts. It all smells like a marketing gimmick at this point.

If I was worried about someone stealing my car or vandalizing it, I would get a system build for it (LoJack), and use a traditional cam for the purpose it's designed for (recording evidence of the crime).

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I believe the cellular function is meant for parking mode only, activates only on motion/vibration, and when there is no wifi..

The Viofo model above uses a hardwire that goes to the fuse box. My Audi is so goddamned computerized and filled with useless tech I fear wtf would happen when jacking into the fuse box, and the stupid battery is actually under the spare tire in the trunk and will throw computer errors if you mess with it.

Really wish auto manufacturers besides Tesla offered something so simple to integrate cleanly and with better functionality/reliability than these jury rigged systems. If you feel the need to offer me a stereo upgrade for $5,000 as an option, ffs let me choose an integrated dashcam for 1k. Rolled into a finance I wouldn't sweat that cost one bit, especially if it allowed me to catch the plate of these assholes that ding the car while parked and drive off.

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm surprised nobody has done some sort of mod/convert of an Android or even Iphone into a dashcam. You'd solve the live alert issue, cellular issue, and power issue, plus wouldn't even need any wires beyond a USB charger, and the battery could handle power between car power ups. Only real issue would be thermal, but some sort of custom case could mitigate that.

Frenzied Wombat said:

I believe the cellular function is meant for parking mode only, activates only on motion/vibration, and when there is no wifi..

The Viofo model above uses a hardwire that goes to the fuse box. My Audi is so goddamned computerized and filled with useless tech I fear wtf would happen when jacking into the fuse box, and the stupid battery is actually under the spare tire in the trunk and will throw computer errors if you mess with it.

Really wish auto manufacturers besides Tesla offered something so simple to integrate cleanly and with better functionality/reliability than these jury rigged systems. If you feel the need to offer me a stereo upgrade for $5,000 as an option, ffs let me choose an integrated dashcam for 1k. Rolled into a finance I wouldn't sweat that cost one bit, especially if it allowed me to catch the plate of these assholes that ding the car while parked and drive off.

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm surprised nobody has done some sort of mod/convert of an Android or even Iphone into a dashcam. You'd solve the live alert issue, cellular issue, and power issue, plus wouldn't even need any wires beyond a USB charger, and the battery could handle power between car power ups. Only real issue would be thermal, but some sort of custom case could mitigate that.

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I hadn't looked at the fuse tap power option very closely, since I have a custom power set up for mine, which I set up when I redid the audio in the car. Throwing codes will really depends on the fuse(s) you use.

Low battery or a battery on the verge of failing will cause funky issues in a bunch of modern cars, but the power getting fed from the battery normally fluctuates, as well as the draw, like when you plug your phone into the USB port. So, I cant imagine the car would be able to notice an extra few items wired directly to the battery and throw codes from it. A trunk battery can have it's upsides; sure, it take more wire, but you don't have to find an opening to go through the firewall, which is nice.

There is always the option of having a professional do it. If you are in Houston or DFW, there are dozens of high end car audio shops, around town, that could do it (not Car Toys or Best Buy) in an hour or so. They should know the issues of Euro car fuse taps and wiring problems already.


I did a quick search and found a install video from an Australian with a BMW, and it looks close to what you are describing. He does mentions the car's computer monitoring the battery. I like the way he sets up the constant power direct to the battery and only uses the fuse tap for switched power (to tell it when to go into parking mode). I doubt the camera would draw enough power to toss codes directly from the battery, other than trigger the cars own disconnect feature, if power gets too low. He also moves & installs the inline fuses close to the battery, which is a top notch proper install (long unfused wire sections are dangerous).


As for using a phone, I think I have seen hardware set ups for it and apps, if you can find them buried in the app stores. It looks like the window mounted, GPS type, phone holder, and it is highly visible from the outside. I would be worried about window shopping thieves (it is a concern for me, even with the more discreet cameras and one reason I want the best camera with the smallest footprint).

Bought the insight last year and love it. Hate not having an SUV but rarely go to the mountains anymore

Homsar said:

Bought the insight last year and love it. Hate not having an SUV but rarely go to the mountains anymore

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That red thing in front of it must be its supply of fuel for the year.

Lol

Fucker said:

That red thing in front of it must be its supply of fuel for the year.

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I only have a 9 gallon tank and I get $1 off gas so I fill up gas cans and give to friends. It cost less than $20 to fill my tank

a_skeleton_03 said:

I am a tall dude and a BMW is pretty short to the ground, also it seems like North Carolina has very small parking spots. So as I try to get my body out of the car it scrapes there. So far it’s light and washable but I wonder if I need a stick on kick plate.

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Never liked the look of kick plates and I would assume that, if left on for any amount of time, will cause a slight color difference between sun faded area above the plate, and whats behind it. So, I just keep cleaning the doors off when the scuffs accumulate. Although, If you are hitting your foot every couple of days, it would be certainly be annoying to have to clean it every month, or less.

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers work fairly well, you could try keeping one in the car and quickly rubbing them off, when they start to build up.

Mist said:

What car should I buy?

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WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Fuel economy? Sedan? SUV? Truck? AWD? FWD? RWD? Price range?