[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by jmwilson125

I Also did that haha with a 3d printer. I did it for a tablet up to 7"

REALLY? You still have the program set up? My iPad mini wedges in there perfectly between the dash and the console but want it more secure.

I wasn't planning to go too crazy since I will only use it rarely on long drives for Escort Live or OBD app for when I am really trying to avoid LEOs. Right now my lead candidate is a pair of belkin cup holders mounted to a speck candy shell case, so I can just wedge the whole thing in there. I don't want to buy another mini just for this so it all has to be easily removable.

[jmwilson125]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

REALLY? You still have the program set up? My iPad mini wedges in there perfectly between the dash and the console but want it more secure.

I wasn't planning to go too crazy since I will only use it rarely on long drives for Escort Live or OBD app for when I am really trying to avoid LEOs. Right now my lead candidate is a pair of belkin cup holders mounted to a speck candy shell case, so I can just wedge the whole thing in there. I don't want to buy another mini just for this so it all has to be easily removable.

Shoot me a pm or an email and I can send you some pictures. If you are very interested I could maybe get one printed for you.

Right now I have mine wrapped in black suede to match mperformance interior with one of those grippy mats.

[BEM-S4]

So I ordered a Goluk T3 since it's small, basic, comes with an iPhone app and importantly for my install uses a standard USB cable for charging. Question for guys who use parking mode. Rather than hardwire it to my battery which is harder since it's in the trunk, anyone use a backup battery for an iPhone or whatever? So plug battery into USB and then plug camera into battery? Seems like it should work and be a much easier install. Plan to mount camera behind my Nav screen could just run wire to glovebox and plug everything into the USB port there.

[jmwilson125]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

So I ordered a Goluk T3 since it's small, basic, comes with an iPhone app and importantly for my install uses a standard USB cable for charging. Question for guys who use parking mode. Rather than hardwire it to my battery which is harder since it's in the trunk, anyone use a backup battery for an iPhone or whatever? So plug battery into USB and then plug camera into battery? Seems like it should work and be a much easier install. Plan to mount camera behind my Nav screen could just run wire to glovebox and plug everything into the USB port there.

Sounds like it would work. You'd prob need a pretty high capacity one though. I'm not sure how much the camera will drain it over night. I like the company Anker on Amazon. They have pretty quality stuff at a good price. I think they really focus on these battery packs and quick charging.

[jmwilson125]

Does anyone know if there is an empty fuse location under the hood that is "permanently on".

Are there any hardwire alternatives other than directly to the battery that will ensure that camera stays on for sentry mode?

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by jmwilson125

Sounds like it would work. You'd prob need a pretty high capacity one though. I'm not sure how much the camera will drain it over night. I like the company Anker on Amazon. They have pretty quality stuff at a good price. I think they really focus on these battery packs and quick charging.

I was actually looking at the Anker. From what I understand, excuse my terminology which I doubt is right, most of the cameras Goluk included in parking mode use something like "sip mode" and require very little power when not in use. Then when the motion detector hits the thing powers up. Granted if you park on a sidewalk in Manhattan it would be running 24x7 but assuming that's not the case power draw would be relatively low.

My main concern would be how the power pack actually works. So when car is on and it's getting power, does the batter charge while it's passing power through to camera? Or am I basically filling up the battery while the camera is draining it so I'm not ahead of the game?

[jmwilson125]

Originally Posted by BEM-S4

I was actually looking at the Anker. From what I understand, excuse my terminology which I doubt is right, most of the cameras Goluk included in parking mode use something like "sip mode" and require very little power when not in use. Then when the motion detector hits the thing powers up. Granted if you park on a sidewalk in Manhattan it would be running 24x7 but assuming that's not the case power draw would be relatively low.

My main concern would be how the power pack actually works. So when car is on and it's getting power, does the batter charge while it's passing power through to camera? Or am I basically filling up the battery while the camera is draining it so I'm not ahead of the game?

Good point. A lot of thing don't like to charge other things while they are charging. It simply might not supply power to the camera while charging.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by jmwilson125

Good point. A lot of thing don't like to charge other things while they are charging. It simply might not supply power to the camera while charging.

It's so rare that I leave my car someplace that it would be needed, maybe I will just plan ahead and charge it at home. My car is basically in my garage at home or garage at the office, so don't want to turn an easy install into a nightmare just to facilitate something that I would use once a month.

Actually decided to order after some asshole in a white volvo with blue racing stripes tried to run me off the road and passed me and 3 other cars (blowing through a stop sign) doing close to 100mph in a 25 no passing double yellow zone.

[M1K RX]

I have Backvue units fitted front and rear and can't fault them, Dash cams should be fit and forget but I use a lot of the features on this set up all of the time. I have just handed some of the footage over to the Police here in the UK to use for prosecution and they were very happy with what I had captured ..
Remember buy cheep buy twice.

[BEM-S4]

Just finished my Goluk T3 install took all of 5 mins. The tab from the mount fits nicely in the gap between the Nav screen and the dash with a couple of wraps of fabric tape for an extra snug fit. I replaced the included USB cable with a 90 degree one. Then it's just a matter of popping off the speaker grille and pulling the center vent to run the wire for power. Can do either glovebox or in this case I ran it to armrest where I have a USB hub. View probably a little better if mounted top of windshield but that's hard to do and run wires in a convertible and I didn't want to see the camera from the drivers seat. Can post more details if anyone is interested. Under $100 all-in. I'd have done front and rear but again convertible complicates that quite a bit.

[BEM-S4]

Here's another pic of mount

[overcoil]

Bem-54 tell me more about your power connection, are you simply plugged into the USB and constantly drawing a small maintenance voltage for the 'impact while parked' mode/

Or is your cam only functional while driving?

does the power from the USB turn off completely after the car has been parked for about 20-minutes?

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Bem-54 tell me more about your power connection, are you simply plugged into the USB and constantly drawing a small maintenance voltage for the 'impact while parked' mode/

Or is your cam only functional while driving?

does the power from the USB turn off completely after the car has been parked for about 20-minutes?

Power shuts off completely after 20 minutes or whatever the timeout is. 99% of the time my car is either parked at my home garage or work garage so I'm not really too worried about the parking mode. I was mostly concerned with recording while driving.

We take GF's sedan when we park anyplace the car could get messed with. That said in this case were I to park my car someplace and want the dash cam on - I always have one or two of those backup iPhone charger battery packs in my bag. I tested the dash cam it works off that (it's USB) so in the very rare event my my car is parked someplace shady I'd just plug it into that. Should last a full day since the camera is on sip mode most of the time.

I really didn't want to overcomplicate matters for something that's an issue once a month at the most. Even then plugging it into the battery pack is a 2 second job.

[overcoil]

Bem-54 great info, where did you order the cam from?
Is the camera compatible with Apple and USB-C connections ?
I'm not visualizing how you route the wire into the center console cubby, but I'd probably just run mine exposed.

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Bem-54 great info, where did you order the cam from?
Is the camera compatible with Apple and USB-C connections ?
I'm not visualizing how you route the wire into the center console cubby, but I'd probably just run mine exposed.

Amazon for the camera, it's compatible with Apple not sure what USB protocol it uses. The app works on my iPhone though.

The cable is seriously easy. That said I removed my center speaker so probably easier since I have more room to work in there. Grille pops right off just lift up held in with pressure clips. Center vents pull straight out.

From there I found it easiest to feed small end up micro USB up through speaker area. Then large end you just shove down to passenger footwell and pop it out. From there tuck it under the tunnel and pop up into armrest.

If you pull the grille and the vent you'll have no problem seeing what to do.

[BEM-S4]

Check this thread it explains everything about running the wires with pics. But in this case you'd have one more step of running the wire up to the speaker area. If you remove the grille you'll see daylight between the two vent ducts.

http://f20.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=702457

You could also probably pull the vent and unbolt the screen and fish the wire behind but I'm a big believer in screw with cheap parts (grille) vs expensive parts.

[overcoil]

BEN-54 appreciate the help, have a great July 4th !

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

BEN-54 appreciate the help, have a great July 4th !

NP you too! Any questions ping me next week.

[bryan_G01]

install looks great.

[jmwilson125]

Originally Posted by jmwilson125

Does anyone know if there is an empty fuse location under the hood that is "permanently on".

Are there any hardwire alternatives other than directly to the battery that will ensure that camera stays on for sentry mode?

For anyone interested I used 160 for power wire and 159 for acc wire in the trunk. So far so good. I will have to test over the next few days and confirm that the sentry mode is working over night, and that I do not get a battery drain warning.

I am worried about battery drain issue as I love near the city so there is a lot of movement all the time. Also I don't daily drive safe sometimes it sits for a couple days.

[BEM-S4]

Just FYI for folks looking to do something similar I moved the camera to top of windshield for a a better viewing angle. The mounting tab fits nicely under the trim. Running the USB under the trim and into the glovebox was a 5 minute install.

In all honestly I'd skip the dash option. You and up seeing a lot of dash as the camera is a touch too low. Was worth a shot.

[jmwilson125]

Fyi i have my blacksys cam hardwired so that the sentry mode works.

Even with the cameras voltage cuttoff i still get a voltage draining error when i start the car in the morning