The higher quality cameras (have 1 in all 3 vehicles) are hard wired with 3 wires. 1 constant/hot, 1 keyed hot, 1 ground. Mine monitors voltage at all times through the constant. When Keyes off, it goes into a motion sensor and impact mode. If anyone walks in front or behind, it records for 3po seconds. If my truck/car gets bumped, it records for 30 seconds and will continue to record as long as there is motion.

I can also set it to shut down at the voltage of my choosing (set at 11.2v). So there is no need to wire anything to a switch or outfitter etc on the better cameras.

 

I have dual 1080p cameras with wifi. Wifi allows you to change any settings with your cell phone via the app. You can also update the firmware through it as well as watch and of the recordings through your phone.

The way I have my rear mounted, I can see my 5th wheel hitch. So I can connect my phone up and watch through it as I hook up.

Lastly, if there was ever an accident, you have instant proof of what happened.

 

What kind of camera set up do you have? What model?

 

Here's one of his posts with the details you're looking for: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post17610541

 

A word of caution if you haven't already come across this in other posts; do not use the double stick tape contained in the Rexing kit. It does not hold and creates a big mess when trying to get it off your windshield and the plastic fastening/release piece on the rexing itself.

 

That's all very subjective. Qualities that are mandatory to you, I might not care about. And vice versa. But in my opinion I like having wifi to view footage from the cam on my phone or iPad. I also like using the app to change or reset settings. A rear cam isn't that important to me compared to wifi. But it is to you and that's what matters.

 

This is the one I use in my truck and commuter car. This one does not have wifi but has other features I wanted (lane departure warning as well as when at a stop and the car in front starts moving, the camera makes a quiet "coo coo" sound to tell me to start going if I havent started to move).

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/review-lukas-lk-9390-ad-dual-1080p-dashcam-sony-imx322-3-5-touch-screen-and-gps.15126/

This is the wifi one I have in my wife's explorer. They run about $400 for them back when I got them. I also added filters to the lense to help with how much glare there is from the sun in the day time. You can read about it in my review on the 2nd link.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/review-lukas-9370.16177/#post-222935

 

Thanks, all. Wifi would be nice, but i have a microSD slot on my tablet and SD slot on my computer if needed to view instantly. The V1P has a little screen on it, which I find cool for positioning, etc. It's a little bulky, though. I have it mounted at the top of the windshield on my side of the rearview mirror and it seems a bit bulky. Next time, I probably would not get one with a screen on it and I would probably get one with internal GPS. But, it does what I need and the video quality is much better than the camera I have in my other truck. I started with dash cams in my Raptor because a lady cut me off and then slammed on her brakes causing me to rearend her. She lied to the officers on the scene and she lied to the judge saying she never changed lanes/cut me off. Since that experience I have been determined to have video evidence in case something like this ever happened again.

 

I went with a different brand (Thinkware F800 Pro), but was a piece of cake to do myself and hard-wire in both the front & back cameras. Lots of room in the headliner - so much so that I wrapped the cord with some pieces of velcro every 6in or so just to give it some volume to ensure it stays tucked in. Very easy to also come down the pillars - just pop the the weather stripping off, tuck in and pop back on. Picked mine up at blackboxmycar.com. I tapped into the passenger side fuse panel (on a switched fuse) with a an "add-a-fuse". I did find the add-a-fuse was a little too thick to properly fit, and used a box knife to trim a bit of plastic from the add-a-fuse until a perfect fit. I also put in a Cell-Link battery pack under the passenger seat to provide power when the truck is switched off and still have parking mode on the camera. Installation was very easy - There may have been a screw or two holding on the door sill plate that I removed to get the cord to go under the seat for the Cell-Link battery... but other than that, I don't remember using any tools other than a panel removal tool to pop the access door off the side of the dashboard. There was a video either on blackboxmycar.com or you tube of a guy putting one into an F150 that I found helpful and referred to a couple of times.

 

I just got the Thinkware F800. I want to be able to use the parking mode so I put it on the power supply at work and checked the current draw. It is pulling 200ma in normal mode which is about 1 amp every 5 hours. I can't imagine I'll drain my medium duty (snow plow pkg) battery unless I park for a week with it on.....

 

I have left mine on my f350 for 2 weeks in parking mode and not tell a difference when starting. Same with my explorer.

 

I believe when hardwired, it also has circuitry to shut down when the voltage drops to a certain level to protect the dead battery scenario.

 

Ordered the VIOFO A129 Duo. https://www.blackboxmycar.com/collec...cts/viofo-a129

Got only the two cameras and a 128G card includes GPS logging module and I added the remote to save a video segment. I'll mount it up and use the supplied dual power plug for the time being. I rarely park the truck away from home for more than an hour or two, so if I think I need parking mode I'll just keep the camera powered and let it run (unless I can modify the parameters outside of parking mode for Time Lapse or Bitrate).
I already did the FORScan mod for extended power port timeout to 4 hours and expect the truck will shut down power using the internal Ford battery voltage monitor. I did not disable battery monitoring. I can simply unplug the camera when parked in the shop or in camp for an extended time.
The option to hard-wire is still available if I just have to have it for parking mode but I'd still have to unplug the camera (at the housing) to kill parking mode in the garage.. not ideal to repeatedly plug/unplug the mini or micro-USB.
Also, I'd only need to buy a cable kit and GPS with mount to transfer the cameras to another vehicle.