I'm still a die hard Garmin user, but I want to know how these windshield units are powered. The ones that you adhere to the windshield.

They all look as you have to remove the headliner to install the wire around to the fuse panel.

I'd love just to run the wire to the dome light.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
I'm still a die hard Garmin user, but I want to know how these windshield units are powered. The ones that you adhere to the windshield.

They all look as you have to remove the headliner to install the wire around to the fuse panel.

I'd love just to run the wire to the dome light.

Depends on the vehicle and what you want to do.
I’ll eventually run mine directly to a 2nd battery because it has motion sense and wifi I can connect to the house to record anytime motion is sensed also there is a bump sensor I believe as well.

For the moment have have a dongle plugged into my rear view mirror that gives a USB port but is only powered with the vehicle on.

https://dongar.tech/

You in theory could hardwire it to the dome light but that is likely an always on power source so you would have to manually shut the unit down when shutting the car off and would likely want to install a low voltage disconnect on you battery so you don’t come out to a dead battery.

I have a 2004 4Runner that features a rear window that rolls down. Who here has a rear cam with a roll down window? Where did you mount the camera?

 
Whatever brand you end up getting, invest in a good SD card that is designed for video monitoring, dash cams, etc. (i.e., designed to be written over many, many times).
 
The Samsung PRO Endurance 64GB 100MB/s (U1) MicroSDXC is highly rated among such SD cards.

No experience on the personal car cameras but I will likely place one in my next vehicle.

I managed a commercial fleet of 15 buses for a dozen years. The cameras saved us several times in insurance claims from he said/she said arguments, even if the police report put my Driver at fault.

Had a few where my Driver really did mess up, but I could re-train, discipline of terminate appropriately. Had one that showed the Driver fall asleep at the wheel and hit a parked brand new GMC Denali. $20k claim, had to fire that guy.

quote:

I'd love just to run the wire to the dome light.

Isn't the dome light powered off most of the time, unless you turn on the switch or have a door open.

IF you have a newer vehicle as was said some harnesses are there to tap power from the rear view mirror.

If you have an overhead console, might be able to tap into the power source for an overhead lamp switch on the hot side.

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
I have a 2004 4Runner that features a rear window that rolls down. Who here has a rear cam with a roll down window? Where did you mount the camera?

I drive a 2007 4Runner, I have a front facing only setup because of the roll down rear window. Our other car has front and rear though. I never found a viable solution for the 4Runner.

quote:

Originally posted by dry-fly:

I drive a 2007 4Runner, I have a front facing only setup because of the roll down rear window. Our other car has front and rear though. I never found a viable solution for the 4Runner.

If I ever get to getting a rear cam, I'll probably fabricate some sort of bracket out of sheet metal. Something like this

https://external-content.duckd...image.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Just purchased a couple Apeman combination dashcam rear view cameras, will update when installed. They are 1080P

If you didnt want to run the chord through the headliner etc or have dangling chord, could you put a powerbank in a pocket on a sunvisor and run a short chord to the camera?

Resurrecting this thread because I just got a Garmin Mini 2 and OBD power cord. The hardest thing about the entire installation was when my phone took a dump and Mrs. Mike had to started the app again.
I ran the wires tucked in the headliner at the edge of the front of the liner, then down the trim along the A pillar. My F150 has Oh Shit grabs on the A pillar and I had to take two 10mm screws out of the grab bar to remove the trim and then I found there are wire runs next to the pillar. Ran it all down to the OBD and Velcroed it to the body to keep the excess wire out of the way.

According to the book, I can turn it on by physically hitting a button, the inboard motion sensor will turn it on or I can use voice commands. Technically the thing is always recording it’s just me telling the camera to save the info, otherwise it overwrites on the mini SD card.

The power block has two spots so it looks like I could run another camera to the rear window if I choose to buy another camera.

Seems super easy. I can view the camera data on my phone.

I’ll let you know if anything is captured in the coming weeks.

Don't waste a lot of money buying a Dash Cam. You can get a decent one for $50 or so that will do the job. I bought a couple of them several years ago and both are going strong. Just try finding one that is popular.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

I'd love just to run the wire to the dome light.

Isn't the dome light powered off most of the time, unless you turn on the switch or have a door open.

Dome lights in every car that I have owned have a three-position switch:

1. "Normal" -- light is controlled by the door switch,
   
   
2. Off -- dome light does not turn on when you open the door, and
   
   
3. On -- dome light is on whether the door is open or closed.

I'm pretty sure that the third option indicates that there is always power running to the dome light fixture to one side of the switch for this function.

Nobody has mentioned ease of installation. Suggestions? Thank you. Cheers

quote:

Originally posted by photohause:
Nobody has mentioned ease of installation. Suggestions? Thank you. Cheers

Cross your fingers they make one of these for your vehicle.
https://dongar.tech/
Plug right into the back of your rear view.

quote:

Originally posted by photohause:
Nobody has mentioned ease of installation. Suggestions? Thank you. Cheers

I described the installation above. It was super easy. Longest part was rebooting my phone during the download of the app.

I wired everything up and used the camera to find the best place before sticking it to the windshield.

Mars, since they don't make a dongar to get power from my rearview mirror, I simply ran the power cord underneath the headliner by the windshield, down the pillar, and connect to the fuse box.

You can choose a "constant on" or "only on when the car is running" fuse to connect to. They also make nice connectors to jump off the fuse.

Which is way better than what I did in the late 70's to power other items. Yes, I simply wrapped one end of the fuse with the wire and pushed it back into the fuse box.

quote:

Originally posted by photohause:
Nobody has mentioned ease of installation. Suggestions? Thank you. Cheers

One option nobody has mentioned is to put the camera in the lower middle of the windshield. I have my Mazda's Rove R2 attached this way. The infotainment screen, which sticks up from the dash, hides the bottom portion of the camera from view. The cord snakes down flat to the power adaptor plug in front of the transmission selector. I've checked the video and the camera has a full range of view in this position, reads license plates, etc.

My Mazda's headliner and side pillar panels are tight, and I didn't want to futz around with them. The situation is different in my Forester, I could put a Rove up high and had no trouble tucking the wire down along the relatively loose side pillar panel, along the door's weather stripping, and then underneath the glove box to the power receptacle.

One other thoughtful feature of the Rove R2 is that it comes with a transparent cling sheet. The idea is to put the cling sheet on your windshield and then use the permanent mount to attach to that -- now you've got a more secure mount than the suction cup, but one that can still be re-positioned by peeling off and repositioning the cling sheet.

I've been reading these threads with interest, and I'm wondering why nobody makes something to tap into a car's already installed cameras. Both my and my wife's cars have front and rear cameras.

Anybody know of anything like that?