Adding dashcam. Any tips?

[sheltonfilms]

. . . how hard it is to access the passenger compartment fuse box in the XSport.

I was doing the recon this afternoon in preparation for my hard wired dashcam and V1 install this weekend. So I have to keep a 7mm socket or wrench in the car because the fuse box is stuffed sideways under / up in the dash buried behind the lower dash trim. First time I have ever run into something like this. Also love that the owners manual makes no mention of this ("the passenger compartment fuse box is located to the left of the steering column under the brake" - sure it is ). I had to Google to find the fuse box location.

Really no big deal, I hope I will not be in there again, but what a design. Still love my XSport but wow, they couldn't do better than this?? Our Audi has the fuses front and center on the dashboard end caps and they are immediately accessible when the doors are open. Oh well...

You can always remove the underside panel permanently.

My buddy bought a used one and it didn't have this panel there, so I guess the previous owner said "to hell with it."

Picture for anyone's reference.

 

[explosportguy]

You can always remove the underside panel permanently.

My buddy bought a used one and it didn't have this panel there, so I guess the previous owner said "to hell with it."

Picture for anyone's reference.

+1 on that mod. That lower cover is probably history. Either that or I'll run a decent gage positive out of the box and a ground to an accessible area and positap into them for the camera and radar detector. Really want to leave the fuse box accessible without tools, so I'll most likely dump the lower cover along with running the long leads.

 

[explosportguy]

Hard wired my V1 and dash cam this afternoon. Used the 10amp steering wheel heater location (fuse 36 if I remember correctly). Switched and only hot when the engine is running - just what I wanted. No problem hiding the cable in the windshield header or A pillar. I couldn't put the fuse box cover back on due to the height of my fuse tap and I had no intention of putting that goofy lower dash cover back on anyway. NBD as far as I am concerned, at least the fuses are accessible now. Stashed the transformers and extra wire behind the carpet under the e-brake above the dead pedal (lots of room there). Used positaps for the connection to my hot lead and ground. Anyway install looks good (invisible) and the positaps and fuse tap insure that it is a safe, solid install. It's a M806 dashcam with 256gb of storage, CP filter and GPS imprinted on the image (it also creates a separate GPS log file). V1 over Escort for a lot of personal reasons. Add Waze on the iPhones and FM Walkie talkies for car to car and we're good to go.

So far so good. I'll post some pics when I get a chance. Going to make the same installs on the S5 and then we'll be ready to caravan from Texas the Catskills in Oct (just did this same run on my r1100s in August - 1,784 miles - great fun). Just hope the S5 can stay with me

 

[SurrealOne]

why not tap into the mirror power. Also most police and troopers are using Lidar guns now and that V1 will not save you from a Lidar gun.

 

[explosportguy]

why not tap into the mirror power. Also most police and troopers are using Lidar guns now and that V1 will not save you from a Lidar gun.

The mirror power is a good idea. Frankly, I went with the fuse box install because its the way I've always done it

I agree with you regarding the LIDAR. That's the same for all detectors - even if you get the alert, you're already cooked. Also, times have changed since we expatriated in 2004 with challenges like the fixed speed cam locations that use inductive sensing instead of radar. Add to this the onboard car systems, third brake lights, etc, that can trigger your detector and you have to question their effectiveness. Escort added GPS so they have auto false learning and a camera database, but unless there is some kind of breakthrough I think the detectors play less of a role than a phone app like Waze in today's world.

Besides, on a long trip like this, limiting the duration and number of stops does more for elapsed time than speed can ever do. We're old now and we'll probably stay within 5-10 mph of the speed limits anyway. When I did the trip on the bike in August I just ran with the faster traffic which was plenty fast enough.

 

[peterk9]

. . . how hard it is to access the passenger compartment fuse box in the XSport.

I was doing the recon this afternoon in preparation for my hard wired dashcam and V1 install this weekend. So I have to keep a 7mm socket or wrench in the car because the fuse box is stuffed sideways under / up in the dash buried behind the lower dash trim. First time I have ever run into something like this. Also love that the owners manual makes no mention of this ("the passenger compartment fuse box is located to the left of the steering column under the brake" - sure it is ). I had to Google to find the fuse box location.

Really no big deal, I hope I will not be in there again, but what a design. Still love my XSport but wow, they couldn't do better than this?? Our Audi has the fuses front and center on the dashboard end caps and they are immediately accessible when the doors are open. Oh well...

There is a thread on the location c/w picture;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=320569&highlight=fuse+box

Peter

 

[explosportguy]

There is a thread on the location c/w picture;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=320569&highlight=fuse+box

Peter

Thanks Peter. Good to know I'm not alone in my thoughts regarding the fuse box location.

 

[SickSix]

Oh man, that fuse box location is the worst! I hard-wired my radar detector about a week after buying my Ex, and it must have taken me 10 minutes just to figure out where the fuse box was. Complete install should have been 30 min, but ended up taking over an hour.

 

[explosportguy]

Oh man, that fuse box location is the worst! I hard-wired my radar detector about a week after buying my Ex, and it must have taken me 10 minutes just to figure out where the fuse box was. Complete install should have been 30 min, but ended up taking over an hour.

Hi Sicksix, 10min, wow that's great. I finally gave up after two separate attempts and Googled it.

 

[SurrealOne]

This saved me time and money. And for my 2014 Ex SPT it was the green and Black wires on the mirror power plug. The nice part it is also a switched power. mix that with a nice blendmount.
http://www.mirrortap.com/

 

[explosportguy]

This saved me time and money. And for my 2014 Ex SPT it was the green and Black wires on the mirror power plug. The nice part it is also a switched power. mix that with a nice blendmount.
http://www.mirrortap.com/

Good info on the switched mirror power source. If I were to do it over, this is probably the way I would go. Where did you get your ground?

 

[SurrealOne]

My wires

For me the black was ground. In this pic you can see the plug setup.

 

[explosportguy]

For me the black was ground. In this pic you can see the plug setup.

Perfect, thanks

 

[KeyserS]

Thanks for the posts relevant to the topic
I don't like external wires sprouting out of the mirror, I can't even stand the mesh tube from the headliner to the mirror. Working on heat shrink or something less ugly for that.

I pulled out the sunglasses holder/dome light housing, easy pop out.

Tracked down the blue and white wire and the black wire on the proximal end from the mirror. Used 3M pinch locks to wire them to the + and - leads on the V1. Tried it, zip. V1 fine, convertor came of of another car, is fine. Redid wiring and contacts again, still nothing. Pretty wimpy wires out of there.

Sunroof tap may be better, that motor draws more current. Prob going to use chassis ground with sheet metal screw I guess.

Any ideas? I cannot believe nobody has hooked up V1/dashcams/whatever in the entire forum. AMG/BMW forums I'm on are pages deep with threads.

I use a bluetooth unit and an Android program YAV1 with my V1 to tune frequency scans, do GPS lockouts, etc ., so I need it up close so I can get to it.
After seeing what dash cams do, I'm putting them front and rear in the street cars. I've got telemetry for the track cars along with f/r cams +steering and pedal cam, so I've done this a bit. American cars after '71-'72 baffle me

We've got heated wheel in the Sport, so doubt I can use that. Heated wheels draw a dumpload of current, I'm hesitant to add any load to it.

Options? (technical, not philosophical radar musings)??

 

[SurrealOne]

I would suggest a better more integrated unit then the V1. Also take a look at some sort of laser protection. Almost all radar detectors have laser detection but if you ge hit with a Lidar gun its to late. Most state troopers and highway patrol even local law enforcement are now using Lidar. You can have have a much smaller keypad with the headunit imstalled under the hood. No need for all that mirror wire problems.

 

[explosportguy]

I would suggest a better more integrated unit then the V1. Also take a look at some sort of laser protection. Almost all radar detectors have laser detection but if you ge hit with a Lidar gun its to late. Most state troopers and highway patrol even local law enforcement are now using Lidar. You can have have a much smaller keypad with the headunit imstalled under the hood. No need for all that mirror wire problems.

All true. For me it's a case of old dogs learning new tricks. I've already got the V1s with the latest upgrades, so they'll be good enough for our old f@rt needs . I'm out of town now, but I'll post some pics of how everything ended up being installed for the dash cams and V1s when I have a chance to snap some pics.

The install effort was a wash between the Sport and the S5. The Sport fuse box was a you-know-what to access but the wiring run was easy due to the loosey-goosey trim fittings. The S5 fuse boxes were easy-peasy to access but the wiring runs were tough due to the zero tolerance build of the Audi. Got it done to our satisfaction though. Pics to follow.

 

[explosportguy]

Thanks for the posts relevant to the topic
I don't like external wires sprouting out of the mirror, I can't even stand the mesh tube from the headliner to the mirror. Working on heat shrink or something less ugly for that.

I pulled out the sunglasses holder/dome light housing, easy pop out.

Tracked down the blue and white wire and the black wire on the proximal end from the mirror. Used 3M pinch locks to wire them to the + and - leads on the V1. Tried it, zip. V1 fine, convertor came of of another car, is fine. Redid wiring and contacts again, still nothing. Pretty wimpy wires out of there.

Sunroof tap may be better, that motor draws more current. Prob going to use chassis ground with sheet metal screw I guess.

Any ideas? I cannot believe nobody has hooked up V1/dashcams/whatever in the entire forum. AMG/BMW forums I'm on are pages deep with threads.

I use a bluetooth unit and an Android program YAV1 with my V1 to tune frequency scans, do GPS lockouts, etc ., so I need it up close so I can get to it.
After seeing what dash cams do, I'm putting them front and rear in the street cars. I've got telemetry for the track cars along with f/r cams +steering and pedal cam, so I've done this a bit. American cars after '71-'72 baffle me

We've got heated wheel in the Sport, so doubt I can use that. Heated wheels draw a dumpload of current, I'm hesitant to add any load to it.

Options? (technical, not philosophical radar musings)??

Hi Keyser, great post, thanks. I don't recall what circuits I finally settled on for the S5 or the Sport. I'll check and post them when I take the install pics. Neither the V1 or m806 draw much current, so I wasn't too concerned about it. In the Sport, I made a ground lead from the under dash chassis support by the OBDII connector. On the Audi, I ran a ground from one of the main dash support bolts on both the driver and passenger side (more on why 2 grounds later).

I'm going to check out YAV1 also for custom V1 config. I ran across it the other day.

After I figured out that the s5 'A' black fuse blocks are switched and the brown 'B' blocks are always hot, life got a lot easier More to come when I get a chance.

 

[SurrealOne]

Drive Cam/Dashcam

Anybody have or use any dashcam recording devices? I'm looking for something small with front and back cams.

 

[613GT500]

Anybody have or use any dashcam recording devices? I'm looking for something small with front and back cams.

On my current two vehicles, I'm using a blackvue dr600 (forget the exact model name) and has been working very well.
It's not overly expensive, at USD $200 when on sale, but I can't justify buying a 3rd one for my new Sport, so I'm going to try a different model Dome GS98C; which is currently on sale for $73.

Both are small in profile, has a built in GPS, good resolution and large field of view.
Still waiting on both the vehicle and dashcam, so no real world review yet.

 

[SurrealOne]

I really like the blackveu but I have been reading some bad reviews on amazon so iam on the fence about the blackveu.