Dashcam fitted to USB power on rear view mirror

[TheArcher]

I fitted a Viofo A129 front and rear cam as recommended by Tom's Man Shed on Youtube. I followed his instructions and hard wired the set up into the fuse box. In the Viofo kit there is a switch that enables you to set the 12v battery level below which the camera stops functioning. I have set mine to 12.4v. My camera has been running in sentry mode now for 4 months. No problems have arisen.

I'm thinking of getting the Viofo too, so thank you. I don't need sentry mode, but my Next base 512gw seems to have given up the ghost.
Can you tell me if the screen can be set up to show GPS speed?

 

[Sparqx]

lol probably on the same boat as most our cars lol

Finally got the custom 30cm cable and fitted it today. It’s the perfect length to go from the USB port on the mirror over to the passenger side going behind the mirror so it is out of sight.

 

[Susanna]

Finally got the custom 30cm cable and fitted it today. It’s the perfect length to go from the USB port on the mirror over to the passenger side going behind the mirror so it is out of sight.

Glad that the length is perfect, so thank you for posting the photos. I received mine yesterday (I have plenty of things for the new MG - just need the actual car now), but I realised my dash cam needs a straight mini USB, not the angled one I bought . New lead ordered now.

If anyone can make use of mine, they can have them.

 

[TheArcher]

You don't need to leave the car on... just like you wouldn't need to leave an ICE car running... the small amount of current draw from a tiny dash cam would is almost negligible in comparison to the capacity of the 12v battery lol. and the amount of times it would activate, I bet the battery would lose more juice from the many systems that require constant power to keep clocks in sync. I wouldn't mind betting that the OTA system has constant power too. For someone with the handle of Gadget Geek I would have thought you would be clued up on stuff like this Tesla for instance has a sentry mode, and that uses ALL of the cameras, the proximity sensors and impact sensors... also flashes the lights on and hazards when you get too close to them and then fires up the big screen with a SENTRY MODE alert for all to see lol

I quite agree. The dashcam are designed to do this.

 

[Ukchris]

This may be a stupid question, but is the USB port by the rear view mirror on the zs gen2 for a dash cam ?

 

[N2STY]

This may be a stupid question, but is the USB port by the rear view mirror on the zs gen2 for a dash cam ?

Yes it is for just power only no data

 

[Susanna]

@Ukchris
It works perfectly, and makes for a very neat installation. I bought a 30cm ‘ribbon’ lead, with an angled USB connection from Aliexpress, it’s almost invisible.

 

[jo bro]

I have front and rear cameras hard wired in to fuse box using a permanent supply and ignition supply so it automatically starts recording when driving and drops into motion activation when parked up

No problems as yet but it’s early days, I have set the camera to shutdown if battery voltage drops and lots of them will shutdown after a few days of no ignition activity anyway, this would only be an issue if the vehicle was parked up for long periods of time and the camera had no shutdown feature

Hi there, are you able to kindly upload a phot of how the fuse box wiring is done please? The rear view usb port shuts the cameras down when the car is shut, not ideal so thinking about using the fuse box, thanks a lot

 

[Ruislip Resident]

General question here. I have a next base. It works fine and us from a few years ago. It's only front facing and uses the power from the USB by the mirror. My question is, with the new dash cams that have a rear facing camera extra bit, do you attach them to the front windscreen looking back through the car and out the rear window. Or do you attach them to the rear windscreen and have to do some fancy wiring to both power them up and link them up to the main unit with the microsd recording card?

 

[Gadget Geek]

General question here. I have a next base. It works fine and us from a few years ago. It's only front facing and uses the power from the USB by the mirror. My question is, with the new dash cams that have a rear facing camera extra bit, do you attach them to the front windscreen looking back through the car and out the rear window. Or do you attach them to the rear windscreen and have to do some fancy wiring to both power them up and link them up to the main unit with the microsd recording card?

It depends on the type of dashcam.

 

[Roldorf]

Hi there, are you able to kindly upload a phot of how the fuse box wiring is done please? The rear view usb port shuts the cameras down when the car is shut, not ideal so thinking about using the fuse box, thanks a lot

All you need is a dashcam that can wake up when the car is jiggled. It obviously needs an internal power supply to be able to do that (The one I bought does 'Nextbase'). You can set the sensitivity of the vibration that will start it recording. Much easier than all that wiring and it wont drain your battery.

 

[Susanna]

@Ruislip Resident I have a Nextbase dash cam with the rearward facing camera extra. It literally just plugs into the side of the main body, and gives a pic in pic on the screen. Seems pretty clear too. Hope that helps.

 

[PremierscfcEV]

Finally got the custom 30cm cable and fitted it today. It’s the perfect length to go from the USB port on the mirror over to the passenger side going behind the mirror so it is out of sight.

Where did you get the custon cable from in the end?

 

[Susanna]

I bought a lead from aliexpress - there were many choices of end fittings, so I bought one with an angled usb A, and the cable bit is a flat, narrow ribbon type. It’s virtually invisible.