[sandeepmohan]

This install was long over due. Primarily a little hesitation to pull off a DIY at the risk of screwing things up. Fortunately; I found all the parts and with a little reading up and You Tube as guides, I could pull off this DIY in less than an hour. I did screw up arranging the wires near the voltage converter box and I was too lazy in pulling out the wires from the A Pillar and headliner to redo it all over again. The 3.7mm (inner) forked spade I used for the negative terminal needs improvement in the way I have connected it to the dash board mount screw. I chose the wrong color for it too (Being a negative terminal). I have bought a 12mm M5 flat head screw and nut to correct this and fortunately there is a unpainted screw hole of the same size to use for the negative terminal.

What all did I buy for this install?

Transcend Dashcam 230 which is supplied with a 32Gb Micro SD card in the box.
A 12volt to Micro USB 5volt wire in adapter
A pack of Forked Spades
A fuse tap
One M5 12mm flat head screw and nut
A 5amp fuse for the fuse tap
Double Side Sellotape (To stick the wire in adapter)

For this install, I tapped the fuse that powers cigarette lighter socket. This powers up and down along with ignition so there isn't a risk of draining out the battery. Besides; the dash cam has a tiny little internal battery to get it going in the event the car takes a hit while parked.

3.7mm Forked Spades


Wire in Adapter. One end has a Mini and Micro USB terminal. The other end is bare wire which you crimp or solder to the Fuse Tap for the positive and a Forked Spade for the Negative.


Next up is the fuse tap. This is what makes things simple. It lets you pop into a fuse socket and take a fused output without cutting or splicing wires, while still keeping your cigarette lighter socket active. Off course, you may need to do some cutting and spicing to join some of the other wires.



The dash cam and mount


Where I placed the wire in adapter


Fuse tap inserted into in-cabin fuse board. Not clearly visible. Red fuse is 10amps and orange fuse is 5amps which is the power out for the wire in adapter


Negative terminal fixed to a unpainted dashboard mount frame. I am not happy about this and will correct it in the next few days. I bought a fork spade that is too small. Will be replacing it with a 12mm flat head M5 screw which can go into a empty screw hole right beside the voltage adapter.


Tidied up the wires a bit but I made some mistakes in routing the wires properly.


....and we are done


Popped the lid back and things are nice and tidy

[Sebring]

Why don't car manufacturers give us dash cams that are in-built? I'll gladly trade the automatic rain sensor for this little wonder. Dash cams are very badly needed necessities in the cities that we live in.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Why don't car manufacturers give us dash cams that are in-built? I'll gladly trade the automatic rain sensor for this little wonder. Dash cams are very badly needed necessities in the cities that we live in.

Privacy issues. Cars are not designed and configured keeping such necessities in mind. Not everyone would like their driving to be recorded. And in some countries, you cant take a video of everything around your car due to privacy laws. Hence, expecting dashcams as inbuilt equipment is a little far fetched IMO. Perhaps as an accessory, which many manufacturers offer.

[digitalnirvana]

Hi all, apologies for this oft repeated question but I am a bit short of time due to the 11.11 sale tomorrow. I want to purchase a dual camera (front & back) dashcam and would want the reverse camera (to be purchased separately and installed additionally to the rear dashcam) to be integrated into the feed.

It should also support GPS. Android auto / screen mirroring is a bonus but not mandatory.

I think I'd come across a device like this on this thread but can't find it now.

I do not want this device to be clipped on to the IRVM. It should have a standalone display screen


Any Aliexpress products which fit the bill please?

Here are the products I have shortlisted (considering the fact that approx 7k for two cameras is the max I can spend, so the Viofo A129 duo was not considered).

I also found the device I was mentioning in my previous post - it's from Junsun and comes with a screen, GPS, Wifi, music/video, and two cameras.

[BigBrad]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Why don't car manufacturers give us dash cams that are in-built? I'll gladly trade the automatic rain sensor for this little wonder. Dash cams are very badly needed necessities in the cities that we live in.

One of those rare cars that have such an option from factory:

https://youtu.be/131RrlN1BHA

[aniyo]

HI All, I have a rather unique query. I have an old Lumia 1520 in a perfectly working condition. It has great cam, infact it had the best cam of during its time.
I have moved to OnePlus since 2 years and that phone was rusting till I recently got it and cleaned it. It is still responsive.

I was thinking if I can use the phone as a dashcam, it has 32GB internal memory and expandable to 128GB. I have currently deleted everything from the phone and was thinking if it is good option to use it as a dashcam.

Here is the plan. I will buy a mobile mount and stick it to the windshield. Clamp the phone on it and remove the phone when the car is parked thereby saving it from the harsh sun. I also plan to put a extra 32GB in the mobile making it 64GB unit. It has a big 3400 mAh battery that is good for 6-7 hours of continuous video recording. I can always connect a cable if needed.
Planning to use this on my Nexon

[Mr. Nobody]

Originally Posted by aniyo

HI All, I have a rather unique query. I have an old Lumia 1520 in a perfectly working condition. It has great cam, infact it had the best cam of during its time.
I have moved to OnePlus since 2 years and that phone was rusting till I recently got it and cleaned it. It is still responsive.

I was thinking if I can use the phone as a dashcam, it has 32GB internal memory and expandable to 128GB. I have currently deleted everything from the phone and was thinking if it is good option to use it as a dashcam.

Here is the plan. I will buy a mobile mount and stick it to the windshield. Clamp the phone on it and remove the phone when the car is parked thereby saving it from the harsh sun. I also plan to put a extra 32GB in the mobile making it 64GB unit. It has a big 3400 mAh battery that is good for 6-7 hours of continuous video recording. I can always connect a cable if needed.
Planning to use this on my Nexon

Wont it be a hassle to start & stop the cam videos, fix it and remove it every-time? Also on the glass it will be heating up a lot more and may obstruct a bit of the vision due to larger physical space while a dashcam is very discreet and can be invisible. Dashcams also have a wider field of vision that a phone camera will lack.

I would suggest sell off the phone and buy a cam with the money.

[aniyo]

Originally Posted by Mr. Nobody

Wont it be a hassle to start & stop the cam videos, fix it and remove it every-time? Also on the glass it will be heating up a lot more and may obstruct a bit of the vision due to larger physical space while a dashcam is very discreet and can be invisible. Dashcams also have a wider field of vision that a phone camera will lack.

I would suggest sell off the phone and buy a cam with the money.

Lumia 1520 has a dedicated camera button that can be customized for starting on video mode.

Obstructing vision is a concern I too have. Tata has an official accessory for dash cam (Blaupunkt i think). I am thinking that as well.

Lumia 1520 has a wide angle lense. 26mm I think. And has a fantastic battery backup.

No one on earth will buy a windows phone. To be honest it still clicks better photos than my Oneplus 5T . No point in selling

[Torq]

Originally Posted by aniyo

use the phone as a dashcam. I will buy a mobile mount and stick it to the windshield. Clamp the phone on it and remove the phone when the car is parked thereby saving it from the harsh sun.

There's a few dedicated apps in the playstore itself for your usecase scenario. Give them a try and compare.
With regards to your cellphone battery, Li-ion batteries in phones are huge (10-20 times bigger than traditional dash cams) hence even when running, the phone might heat up and cause thermal shutdown or worse, battery bulging or small explosion of the battery itself. Be careful. I would suggest angling the Phone mount, and the central ac vents such that the Ac keeps the phone cool. I have done such thing in my Tiago as my oneplus 6 keeps heating up when navigating and getting charged at the same time!
Wire type phone mount such as those that we get on traffic signals are a decent option for this particular situation.

[aniyo]

Originally Posted by Torq

There's a few dedicated apps in the playstore itself for your usecase scenario. Give them a try and compare.
With regards to your cellphone battery, Li-ion batteries in phones are huge (10-20 times bigger than traditional dash cams) hence even when running, the phone might heat up and cause thermal shutdown or worse, battery bulging or small explosion of the battery itself. Be careful. I would suggest angling the Phone mount, and the central ac vents such that the Ac keeps the phone cool. I have done such thing in my Tiago as my oneplus 6 keeps heating up when navigating and getting charged at the same time!
Wire type phone mount such as those that we get on traffic signals are a decent option for this particular situation.

Not sure if I can sideload android app on windows phone will try that for sure.

I have used both the Lumia and Oneplus for navigation on Brio for 2-3 hours at stretch. They did heat up but I did not have any issues with the phone. Also Nexon AC is far better then Brio, that should help. I generally use the phones without any cover for navigation to aid heat dissipation.

Also the Lumia will not have a sim or any other app working in background. The whole load will be from the camera alone.

[Mr. Nobody]

Originally Posted by aniyo

Lumia 1520 has a dedicated camera button that can be customized for starting on video mode.

Obstructing vision is a concern I too have. Tata has an official accessory for dash cam (Blaupunkt i think). I am thinking that as well.

Lumia 1520 has a wide angle lense. 26mm I think. And has a fantastic battery backup.

No one on earth will buy a windows phone. To be honest it still clicks better photos than my Oneplus 5T . No point in selling

Try it out then and compare with a dashcam footage and see if focus is there without blur in night and day both. The wider angle in dash cams is much wider and covers more.

[nishp]

Originally Posted by aniyo

HI All, I have a rather unique query. I have an old Lumia 1520 in a perfectly working condition.

Here is the plan. I will buy a mobile mount and stick it to the windshield.

I strongly suggest NOT to use phone as your dashcam. The batteries can blow up anytime. It is very dangerous, the reason why most of the dashcams come with capacitors instead of batteries.

[aniyo]

Originally Posted by nishp

I strongly suggest NOT to use phone as your dashcam. The batteries can blow up anytime. It is very dangerous, the reason why most of the dashcams come with capacitors instead of batteries.

I agree heating is a concern and issue, however I felt as the phone will not have a sim or net or any other app running in the background and people do watch movies for long on the phone and many phones are used for Navigation for hours at end so I though the phone maybe able to handle this as well.

But heating is on my mind and will be checking regularly on this. I still have not made up my mind, just that if I have a spare phone why not use it

[Mortis]

Are there any dashcams that are meant to be attached to the dashboard instead of the windshield ? Preferably one in triangle shaped body like the Viofo A119 ? I feel that this would be less obtrusive.

Also any review on the 70mai Mirror front and back dashcam ?
And lastly GPS - yes or no ?

[akshays]

So Im too lazy to dig out an old thread of mine and the discussion was precisely the same. While one member suggested a dash cam, I provided my view of using a mobile phone instead of the cam. The reason - flexibility i get to use it with the cars at home. Cheap John me. But here's the deal. i used my earlier iphone 6, picked up a Techsense mobile holder, downloaded the Nexar app and away I drove. The biggest problems are 2 - due to heat, the suction cup loses its ability and keeps dropping off and 2. the mobile phone used to get red hot. I changed my phone to an iphone XS and the mobile holder couldnt hold the weight of the phone and I never got to use the app while doing my highway runs. I finally got myself the 70Mai 1s from Aliexpress. Paid about 4k including a 64gb card. This is damn light and with the electrostatic sticker, I hope it doesnt fall off. My first roadtrip in my new Ivtec and the dashcam is tomorrow and driving down to Madras. Lets see how the 70Mai 1s functions. Keep you posted.