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I'm looking to add a dash camera to my truck. I do not want a suction cup mount. I've seen ones that mount to the rear view mirror arm.
They also need power. Has anyone looked at the power panel behind the right foot kick area or do you just use one of the ports we have.
Do any of you have them or have a reccommmendation of what you like or don't like.. Photos would be great..Thanks
Check out YouTube and you'll find ideas. I used a multimeter on the passenger side fuze panel and found a fuze that was ignition/acc switched and then used fusetap for source of power. See
I'm looking to add a dash camera to my truck. I do not want a suction cup mount. I've seen ones that mount to the rear view mirror arm.
They also need power. Has anyone looked at the power panel behind the right foot kick area or do you just use one of the ports we have.
Do any of you have them or have a reccommmendation of what you like or don't like.. Photos would be great..Thanks
I mounted my dashcam directly to the shroud behind the mirror (It's easy to remove and probably cheap to replace if I want). I drilled a hold and disassembled the dashcam suction cup mount. See pics.
My wires go into the shroud, up to the headliner, across the headliner, down the A-pillar, and terminate behind the passenger side kick panel.
Behind the passenger side kick panel are quite a few fuses. I picked one that is ignition controlled and installed an add-a-circuit fuse.
Now, my dashcam turns on and off with the truck (the dashcam has an always on function, but I have it disabled).
Some people pull their DC power from the overhead console...if I installed one today, that is probably what I would do. I don't have any exposed wiring, except from the dashcamera to inside that shroud.
Also, my dashcam is a Cobra CDR895d. It's been great. However, it is a couple of years old now and I'm sure there are better/newer units available today.
Tips:
Look for a unit that doesn't use batteries for backup power, get one that has capacitors or super-capacitors. The Summer heat and Winter cold is rough on batteries....capacitors are a better option.
It's nice to have front and rear cameras, so that is something else to consider. If it has a rear camera, you can just run the wire above your headliner to the rear window and mount it.
Newer ones have wireless video transfer to your phone, mine doesn't. However, if I had to replace mine today...I'd probably get one with that capability.
Size and profile were important to me, as I didn't want to obscure much of my view...my unit works great where it is and doesn't get in the way.
Mine also has an auto-dark feature (maybe they all do?) where the screen turns off after a minute...so it doesn't effect your night vision.
Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else worth passing along. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.
Last edited by Kingofwylietx; Dec 7, 2018 at 09:53 AM.
Reason: added more info
My truck has the basic mirror and my dash cam is hidden neatly behind the mirror. I used black rtv to hold the camera suction cup to the glass dot matrix. I ran the usb cord in the head liner and down to the radio usb.
We have dash cams on both of our trucks. The main thing that we are somewhat disappointed with is the night-time performance. If there are no street lights, the headlights are just not enough for the ones we have.
I've never looked at the nighttime performance.
I'll have to pull the card and take a look. I guess it can only be as good as your headlights or the ambient light....unless you get one with thermal capability.
Now I'm curious about mine....
Edit: My night video looks fine. However, I don't have anything on it that is totally away from city lights. The best I have is suburban right now.
I'm traveling next week, so I'll look at it then....I drive to some fairly remote areas at times.
Thanks, So far. After looking on the net I'm getting a little closer. There is a lot on the net which is expected. Viofo has both dual and single cameras and rated near the top.. The 129 is dual and the 119 is single and look pretty good for what I want. They are both held on by tape and fit, on the 2 videos I watched, up behind the mirror out of the way.
Only the "A" piller needs to come off to hide the wire and I"m assuming the 2 screws holding the hand grabber is all that needs to be removed. Does the kick panel just snap in?
One video shows a guy hiding the power unit under the upper light in the head liner (you need something to drop the voltage for the usb port) and a piggy back fuse adapter so the camera only runs on the acc or eng run which I will do too.
If I buy any dual port a cable need to go from the front camera all the way to it. They include a 13' cable which is great but in not sure how to run it. I'm sure on the edges of the headliner over the doors.
Not bought yet ...still learning
I've never looked at the nighttime performance.
I'll have to pull the card and take a look. I guess it can only be as good as your headlights or the ambient light....unless you get one with thermal capability.
Now I'm curious about mine....
Edit: My night video looks fine. However, I don't have anything on it that is totally away from city lights. The best I have is suburban right now.
I'm traveling next week, so I'll look at it then....I drive to some fairly remote areas at times.
We pull videos from ours quite often, and we live in a rural area. The last 20 miles home are dark, dark, dark. In town, quite a different story.
I added the Viofo A119 V2 with GPS a few months ago. There are a couple of good dash camera review channels on YouTube and this was generally the best for the price (from Amazon). It’s not a 4K camera, but I didn’t want to pay $300-400 just for the unit. I watched a bunch of videos and it seems like all the cameras (from any mfg and at any price point) are still pretty susceptible to the elements (especially heat) and don’t last more than a few years. The older unit/version actually got better reviews, but I decided to with this one so I had the latest hardware and I’m hoping software updates will enhance the features.
Overall I’m pretty happy. For power, I stuffed the wire along the seam to the A-pillar and then ran it down, under the dash (left side) and then pulled it out near the power port. Not the perfect install, but lets me easily remove it when needed and pull power if it ever errors out and starts making noise. The night vision isn’t as good as I’d like, but the GPS works fine even attached behind the black sunscreen crap on the window.
........
Only the "A" piller needs to come off to hide the wire and I"m assuming the 2 screws holding the hand grabber is all that needs to be removed. Does the kick panel just snap in?
One video shows a guy hiding the power unit under the upper light in the head liner (you need something to drop the voltage for the usb port) and a piggy back fuse adapter so the camera only runs on the acc or eng run which I will do too.
If I buy any dual port a cable need to go from the front camera all the way to it. They include a 13' cable which is great but in not sure how to run it. I'm sure on the edges of the headliner over the doors.
Not bought yet ...still learning
You are correct. To remove the A-pillar you must take out the 2 screws in the handle.
There is a small 12v to 5v buck puck you can buy to drop he voltage.
It’s easy to stuff the wire into the headliner via the edge. You’ll need to pull the rubber seals/gaskets down from the top portion of the door opening. You literally just pull them off. Any extra cable can be left in the headliner.
So the regular power cord stuffs into (under) the trim without a big to do?
Yes sir.
Originally Posted by oldakerw
Yes except you need to run down the side pillar, bolts under the handhold caps.
Exactly like this.
Now, once I got to the side of the dash at the bottom of the A-pillar, I pulled off the oddly shaped piece at the end of the dash. If you’ve pulled back the rubber door sill, this makes it easier to route the cable.
I've been meaning to make a video about mine. I use the Pioneer ND-DVR100. It sticks to the windshield with very strong 3M tape and has a quick release plate so you can pull it down to mess with menus and stuff.
This is my second or third dash cam and it's phenomenal. Very small, and very good quality video.
