Hidden Dash Cam

Ok. That's a dud.

Apparently TroyTempest is better with a multimeter than I am:

5 wires going into the interior light panel (above your head)

1) Constant earth - ok
2) Power for illuminated switches - ok
3) 2 x Earths to the door switches (courtesy lights) ok
4) Constant power - not ok!

Looks like it's the white wire in the climate control then. I'll get it when I wire in my heated seats.


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This is the white wire. 12v switched and about a 3mm thick core. I'm not sure what the draw on the climate control panel is but surely this gauge of wire is excessive!?!

I'm running a t-splice down to the space under the tray in front of the gear stick and adding in a fuse (accessible) because I can't see anything fusing this wire before it starts a fire - must be 15A!





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The wire for the rear camera has now been fed down the opposite side of the windscreen. Tucked into the door seal and trim and into the main cable run along the door cill.

Still need to work out where best to put it. Ideally it would be above the reg plate but the boot trim and cable run (rubbery tube) is resisting my gentle poking so far...


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Bit of a set back. In my haste to finish what has become an ever more time consuming task I hastily spliced the ends of the camera power supply and my switched live.

It would appear that the cigarette socket connector I detached contains some rather important voltage regulator functionality. The drift of smoke gently wafting out of the vent holes was a pretty clear sign I'd melted it.

New plan - use the 12v socket I was putting in anyway for future proofing. Who knew how quickly the future would come?

New camera ordered - £28


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my rear parking camera was only about £6 from ebay, came with cabling for signal and power. I ran it down the passenger sill, up to the head lining then to the tailgate and feed it through the rubber gaiter into the tailgate inner space, then down the pillar and into the rear trim panel. I mounted the camera on the inside of the car in a 3D printed custom box which velcros to the top of the trim panel, the camera looking through the rear window.
As worked perfectly so far and the camera is in the warm / dry car and centre mounted. The guide lines for reversing are also spot on such that when I run out of the red bar I am about 12" away from the obsticle

Let me know if I can be of any assistance (getting the cables through the tailgate boot was the biggest PITA, took about 1 hour and lots of patience
Cheers,
 
as im uncomfortable with wiring / electrics, when i put my mobius in i just used a piggyback fuse in the fuse box, connected that to a 12v to 5v convertor that came with 2 female usb slots.

hid all that in the hole down by the earthing point above the wheel arch and then just ran a usb cable up the a pillar and through the roof lining.

all hidden away and works on ignition as its connected to the wipers i believe.

total novice way of doing it and took around an hour (most of which was spend removing the interior plastics and refitting correctly!
 
I would have gone for simpler but was adding on other wiring too so it didn't seems so bad.

Two 12v sockets and 2usb in the coin cubby, an aux and USB audio in and another 12v socket in the space in front of the gear stick.


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So, my dash cam powers off if I turn on the heated mirrors.

Guess I need to take the front off and check my connection and see if my negative is actually a switched positive or if it's just voltage drop from the load of the heating elements.

Or just not use the heaters...


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Pinkythelabrat said:
So, my dash cam powers off if I turn on the heated mirrors.

Guess I need to take the front off and check my connection and see if my negative is actually a switched positive or if it's just voltage drop from the load of the heating elements.

Or just not use the heaters...


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Click to expand...

Hi Depronman and others,

Where's a good negative to take behind the air con panel?

Thick white 12v switched positive - check!

Now where to run the other side?


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Pinkythelabrat said:
Hi Depronman and others,

Where's a good negative to take behind the air con panel?

Thick white 12v switched positive - check!

Now where to run the other side?


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Click to expand...

The negative on a car is any earth!

So you just need to find a good earth spot, a nearby screw on the metal somewhere.

Steve B
 
exactly, any body point where there is a screw / bolt etc remove the paint first and add a little Vaseline before tightening the screw / bolt

Cheers,
 
depronman said:
exactly, any body point where there is a screw / bolt etc remove the paint first and add a little Vaseline before tightening the screw / bolt

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Thanks fellas.

I had kinda thought that since the earth pin is attached to the metal frame but didn't wanna look stupid. I also wasn't sure if there was any continuous metal in the middle of the centre console.

Looking stupid is second nature nowadays.

Thanks advisor peeps!


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Finally reconnected the dash cam wiring today. I kept the positive as the ignition switched supply to the back of the climate control unit. The negative/earth I attached to the metal frame which supports the Central column. If you take off the glovebox there is a nice big screw mounting the plastic boxes containing the stereo etc onto the aluminium frame and it’s continuous with the chassis. One ring crimp and a bit of screwing and now the camera doesn’t turn off when I put the heated mirrors on.

Success!

Now I need to hide the wiring to the rear camera and move it to the tailgate. At the moment it’s just mounted in the centre of the rear headrest but it could look a bit more professional.


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Thats an epic story of setbacks, explosions, sex (where is strikethrough when you need it?) and success.

Well done Alex.

Now on to the thermostat!

:)
 
That’s about the limits of my skill I’m afraid. I suspect someone else might have just managed this...

The thermostat is where the explosions will take place!


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For future reference, any solid brown wire is an earth (negative). Behind the radio head-unit is a good place, but you could also have tapped off from the interior light area by the mirror - I've done just that with my own dash cam. Saves routing the wiring all the way round the headliner, the A pillar trim and down to the dash.
 
Skipton01 said:
For future reference, any solid brown wire is an earth (negative). Behind the radio head-unit is a good place, but you could also have tapped off from the interior light area by the mirror - I've done just that with my own dash cam. Saves routing the wiring all the way round the headliner, the A pillar trim and down to the dash.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike,

I ended up having to also hide a 12v accessory socket so the extra space down there came in handy but I did think there must be some way to tap into the lights power supply.

Unfortunately I wasn’t brave enough to pull all the roof lining away and get in about it. I always give things a wee tug and if they resist too much I reckon they’re about to break and stop. Mr Audi made things very solidly so this often leaves me being too gentle!

Now to tackle the wires to the boot tailgate for the rear view.


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Pinkythelabrat said:
Now to tackle the wires to the boot tailgate for the rear view.
Click to expand...

Now there's a task and a half. If you want to do it properly and run it inside the corrugated rubber tube, you'll have to disassemble the roof lining and/or the D pillar trim. Not for the faint hearted.
 
I’ve given the various bits a few tugs to see how they come apart but they’ve been stubbornly well put together... I was thinking I might just ‘tuck it in’ and have a little bit visible across the trim. It won’t really be that noticeable and should save some pain.

I do need to pull apart the boot interior to get off a number plate light as well so might do it at the same time.

Thanks for the warning.


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