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How To: Dashcam install

19K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Godrix 
#1 ·
Some people have been asking about dashcams recently on here and thought I'd do a write up of the install I did earlier on in the year. I'm going to try and keep it brief, but also do a step-by-step guide of what I did. FYI I hate seeing wires - so I've done it so none are visible!

So I went for a Blackvue DR430-2ch. I hate the screen on most dashcams, wanted two cameras, and didn't want to spend a fortune. I also wanted the ability to record whilst parked, and have GPS on them. This does require an addition GPS module for this model but still turns out they were a good buy!

Here's the total of what I spent (Cheapest when I bought them):
Cameras: £209.95
GPS: £28.99
Power Magic Pro: £26.11
Add-a-fuse x 2: £3 each
Trim/ panel/ pry tool kit: £5.99 (turned out to be priceless!)
Total: £277.05

Anyway, here's some pictures of the end result of the front and back:

Tire Motor vehicle Hood Automotive tire Light


(The only place you can see a wire is where it plugs into the rear camera)
Car Plant Automotive mirror Vehicle Automotive design


Now for how I did it:
I started with the back camera. Get the camera in the position you want it, making use the wire comes out on the passenger side. I then managed to pry the plastic trim away just enough I could feed the wire down, all the way to flexi tube that takes all the other wires to the boot lid. This tube can be loosened from each end, and can allow the wire to be fed through. Just make sure you put it back perfectly when you've finished - don't want water getting in‼

From here, the back panel can be prised out a little, allowing you to grab the cable from the tube. The wire can then be fed along the top of this panel all the way to the door. See picture below:

Vehicle Car Fixture Automotive design Automotive exterior

(For some reason in this picture is looks like the panel wasn't put back very well - I've just checked and its absolutely fine and looks better in real life!)

From here, the wire can be brought all the way down the side of the door. This is easy to do and fits just down the back of the rubber strip between the car and the door. Do this all the way down to the join in the plastic.

From here it's a little harder. Pry one of the plastic panels up (can't remember if it's the right or left one any longer). Just enough to get access to underneath. You'll notice all the other wires running front to back of the car. Do the same with the join in the plastic at the front door. Pics for where the joins are:

Light Automotive tire Grey Automotive design Material property

Car Light Automotive design Automotive tire Automotive exterior


This will allow you to see the same wires as at the back door. From here the cable can be fed all the way through underneath the pillar between the front and back doors. This gets the cable into the front of the car. From here, I brought the cable all the way up round the door, again in the black rubber. This goes all the way round to the top of the A pillar where theres a join.

Next is the power cable, the power cable has to go all the way from the front camera, to the panel visible when you open the passenger door. (This is expanded upon in the next bit!

To do this, the wire is fed up the rubber trim, from this panel to the top of the A pillar. Now comes the careful bit! Carefully feed both cable across the join between the A pillar and the roof trim. The cables can then simply be tucked in along the tip of the windscreen for the rest of the distance to the dashcam.

That's pretty much how the wiring was completed from both power and the cable between the cameras. I also hit the GPS wire up at the top of the windscreen. The last bit to do was to power the dashcams from the fuse box. Ill put this in a comment to this post to stop it growing too long!
 

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#2 ·
Wiring the cameras into the fusebox:

For this I chose to use a power magic PRO, also located behind the panel on the passenger side. This can be seen here:

Hood Automotive tire Motor vehicle Automotive lighting Automotive design


(This is within the before-mentioned cubby hole behind the panel, only visible with the passenger door opened.)

Following manufacturer instructions, and add-a-fuse taps, I wired it to the fusebox. The earth point can be found right where the power magic pro is located - seen below:

Automotive tire Automotive design Automotive exterior Carbon Automotive lighting


I think its an M8 bolt, just place the ground on the bolt, and put an additional nut to keep it on.

The switched live, and permeant live were added to fuses behind the glovebox. Pop off the cover and I used fuses F39 (front/rear door unit) and F47 (rear windscreen wiper). F39 is a permeant live fuse, whilst F47 is switched live, only powered when the car is on. These fuses allow the dashcams to record whilst the car is moving, and whilst parked, marking the footage differently. A quick picture of the fuses in place can be seen below:

Circuit component Electrical wiring Control panel Electronic engineering Computer hardware


This pretty much sums up what I did to get it working, feel free to post any comments/ questions.
 

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#4 ·
Looking good.

The chap who did mine ran the camera cable from the boot at the head lining height. Then down the A pillar to the dash drivers side to the OCD port area to put the power master and get power.
But it dose not really matter as there is more than one way to skin a cat as such. As long as the wires are hidden I am happy.
 
#5 ·
Dave,

There are certainly many different ways to route the cables - I just didn't want to take it at headlining height the whole way because I did want to go too close to the airbags and mess something up! All wires are as hidden as they can be - couldn't have it any other way!

Yaz2010,

I got the cameras from Amazon UK, the cheapest place to buy them at the time. I don't have a more detailed guide, are there any specific areas that I didn't cover well enough? I just threw this guide together after seeing lots of people questioning how to do it with getting a professional install.
 
#9 ·
Did you find out exact airbag placement in the A-pillar for the front camera? I installed mine as you describe, routing the cable over the join between the top of the pillar and the roof trim. However, looking at the airbag placement in the manual it seems like the airbag continues down beyond that to about half way down the A-pillar. It's hard to find out exactly how it deploys but from the NCAP video it looks like this setup could interfere with it:



I've moved mine to run down between the windscreen and the pillar, coming across at the top of the dashboard, but it's not as neat as your solution.
 
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