2 Finevu DCs p/car + 4 cars = Big headache

extraoneya

Active Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
375
Reaction score
152
Location
Calif, USA, near the ocean
Country
United States
Dash Cam
2 Finevu Pros for front & rear
I’ve posted here in the General forum, since my experience deals as much w/ the mounting & installation as w/ the Finevu’s performance. I’ve tried to mention things for folks who r interested in generic mounting & installation, as well as those looking at Finevu products specifically.

After reading postings, articles & watching videos I decided to buy an initial pair of DCs & transfer them between 4 cars.

My logic……..Although experienced w/ still photography, I’m unfamiliar w/ video & DCs, & didn’t want to spend the $$ to equip all the cars at once only to be disappointed in my choices later on. DCs will be coming out that r better, smaller & cheaper then what's available now. As I gain experience, I’ll purchase new cams & assign the older ones to certain cars. I have the time to transfer them between vehicles, since I’m retired & don’t have to jump in the car because I’m late for work.

I purchased 2 identical cams since what happens behind u is as important as what occurs in front. The available 2 chl. sets have an inferior cam facing rearward. Doing it my way increases the installation difficulty exponentially.

I also wanted the cams to be discreet & most mounts that come w/ DCs r anything but.

I decided on 2 Finevu Pros because of their shape, size, & image quality. Feedback indicated they were mostly reliable, & the dealer advertised a English manual & firmware. They were in the price range I was willing to spend. I purchased them from blackboxmycar, who has been a pleasure to work with.

What increased the installation difficultly was that the 4 cars r quite different from each other. The Motor Pool consists of; #1- a 2014 Minivan, #2- 1965 station wagon, #3- 1965 “El Camino” type of coupe/pickup & #4- 1966 sports/muscle car. The older cars have little room behind the mirror, use small fuse boxes w/ old style fuses & their cig lighters intrude more into the passenger compartment then current cars. (folks smoked more in the 60s).

Here’s what I started with;

DSC00019 low.jpg

DSC00027-low.jpg

I’m making this a work-in-progress thread & will add a post as new info becomes available. It will be updated as each car gets up & running w/ the cams. In the sample videos, I’ve included day, night, urban & rural scenes. Please keep coming back if u’r interested. Or as the cop on the beat used to say, “Move along folks, there’s nothing to see here”.

My initial impressions of the Finevu Pros are as follows. Keep in mind that these r the only cams I have experience with, so I can only compare them to others that I’ve read about. Refer to the images to see my settings.

Pros of the Pros;
  • Excellent video quality.
  • Good viewing area. Seems a good comprise between the angle & minimizing the fisheye effect.
  • It’s shape is more compact then many others. The box-type construction allows it to be easily aimed & hidden. It doesn’t seem to stick out as much as a tube-type cam would.
  • Excellent manual.
  • Nice interface & easy to change settings.
  • Easy to remove the cam from it’s mount.
Cons:
  • The Polaroid filter is Poo-Poo. It’s held on by a very weak magnetic field. This allows it to be rotated & removed. But it falls off at the slightest touch or jarring. If u look at it wrong, it’ll fall off. The filter dropped into the window defroster vent of car #4. It took 3 hours of labor & the purchase of an additional tool before I retrieved it. If it had moved 2 inches during my retrieval attempts, the dashboard would have had to be dismantled! Did anyone from Finevu actually try this thing before offering it for sale? Total incompetence on Finevu’s part. (Yes, I’m still angry).
  • Too aggressive sharpening. See my post > http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/dont-let-this-fool-u-in-judging-video-quality.4059/
  • Misleading settings. “Nighttime Brightness”? in the future, I’m sure DCs will be able to differentiate day from night while dealing w/ headlights, etc. But for now, let’s call this what it is, “Brightness”. It increases brightness under all conditions. It seems to reveal details at night, but washes it out during daytime. I compromised by setting it 1 notch brighter only on the rear cam.
  • Shock sensitivity while driving is too sensitive even at it’s lowest setting. I had to turn it off as it would activate pulling out a driveway or hitting a pothole.
  • Painfully slow transfer rates moving the vids to a computer. Around 2.50 – 3.10 MBps, tested on 2 desktops & a laptop, either brand new or 2 yrs. old.
  • Large & bright LEDs. At least there’s only 2 facing towards the rear. Primarily a problem at night. I’m still playing around w/ the best way to handle this annoyance.
Settings> Front cam>

finevu front tab1.jpg

finevu front tab2-low sharp.jpg

finevu front tab3.jpg

Rear Cam>

finevu rear tab1.jpg

finevu rear tab2-low sharp.jpg

finevu rear tab3.jpg


Onto the cars>> #1- 2014 Honda Odyssey (base model).

The dual cig lighter outlet wasn’t needed for the van & was too intrusive for the older cars. The Honda has an outlet in the front & rear. Plugging into these outlets forgoes the Finevu’s Parking Mode protection since the plugs aren’t hot. After finishing the other cars, I’ll hardwire the DCs here also.

I’m impressed w/ Niko’s magnetic mounts (not taking anything away from the other posters here, all of u have provided fantastic info & inspiration). I had several rolls of magnetic tape (w/ adhesive on the back side). Although these have the strongest magnetic pull available in tape form, it wasn’t enough to grip the cam when driving on rough roads. This resulted in the loss of several days labor & necessitated the consumption of numerous beers in order to ease the pain of failure.

I thought Niko’s use of the ridges on plastic containers particularly clever. As I practiced on a piece, I was struck w/ resemblance to plastic trim I had used for other projects. This led me to McMaster-Carr. The plastic trim pieces had to be purchased in 25 ft. lengths, but their rubber trim could be purchased by the foot. I ordered 2 feet each of 4 different styles & widths.

DSC00022 low.jpg
reached limit on photos, cont. next post.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
3rd post

This is version 1.0. The trim is easy to remove & if I keep this setup, I’ll trim the trim (hehe!) neater.

OTOH….I’m not sure this mount is as effective as the magnetic type. Although it’s stealthy, secures the cams while driving, yet allows for easy insertion & removal, it hasn’t been tested under all possible conditions. I’ll have to wait until we get one of r many +100F days in Los Angeles. I’ll drive over the ridge (I live where the climate is moderate) & park for a while. If I come back to a cam lying on the floor, with melted black rubber dripping from the window…..

These illustrate the rest of the front installation.

DSC00052.JPG DSC00062.JPG DSC00063.JPG DSC00053.JPG DSC00072.JPG DSC00069.JPG

The rear cam.

Placing the cam in the center of the rear window made it too visible. But placing it on the side blocked significant viewing area. I came up with this wood offset. With dual lock Velcro, it’s easy to remove & is secure. DSC00109.JPG DSC00129.JPG DSC00132.JPG DSC00131.JPG
I’m still learning how to edit videos. I should know enough to post the Honda’s w/in a couple of days. Also, I just read that it isn’t possible to upload vids here. How do I go about it? I don’t want to post the vids on youtube as I only want to make them available to this forum not to the general public.
 
Nice DIY project.
As per videos, you can post them to youtube and make them "unlisted" from video setting preferences, this way they will not be available from general search, only available to the users who has link to your video.
You can also upload original files to mega.co.nz and share with us download links.
 
Very nice setup. Are going to duplicate the front setup in the other cars or custom each one? I like the rear set up, simple, effective and looks good. Thanks for sharing
 
Nice DIY project.
As per videos, you can post them to youtube and make them "unlisted" from video setting preferences, this way they will not be available from general search, only available to the users who has link to your video.
You can also upload original files to mega.co.nz and share with us download links.
Thanks, I'll look into both options

Very nice setup. Are going to duplicate the front setup in the other cars or custom each one? I like the rear set up, simple, effective and looks good. Thanks for sharing
No, the other cars will get very different installations. Each car has taken me a long time to figure out the best method of mounting & wiring. I can't use the old car's cig lighter because the outlets reach into the driving area (unlike the van) & look crappy. (I mean, who cares what a Minivan's interior looks like, eh?).

In the van, the back does look better. I doubt if I update the mounting there. The pics however make the front look worse then it really does. It actually blends in nicely w/ the mirror. As I said, this is v1.0.....truth be told...I could care less what the van looks like....although it's boring, safe, dependable, & economical, it has no Soul...the other cars have plenty of Soul, but r fun, unsafe, unreliable & expensive to maintain...but I drive them more often o_O :rolleyes:
 
Great idea for the rear installation. Recently I've been evaluating my options for mounting a rear cam and your idea would've never occurred to me. Please keep us updated to see how you deal with the installations in your other cars.

PS: Also make sure to keep the humor bits in the pictures :D
 
Great idea for the rear installation. Recently I've been evaluating my options for mounting a rear cam and your idea would've never occurred to me. Please keep us updated to see how you deal with the installations in your other cars.PS: Also make sure to keep the humor bits in the pictures :D

Glad ya like the mount. It could however, be a head smacker if people use the rear door often.
Humor?......what humor?...I've always been known as a serious type of guy :rolleyes:
 
HEY! I got 10 trophies. Note to Admin; can those be redeemed for free beer.......please?
btw...what do those square county flags mean underneath my avatar?
 
Last edited:
Finally got this darn post processing figured out ...at least enough to start posting decent sample vids.

One of the DCs (designated as the rear cam) has been giving me probs since I started.....corrupt files that I couldn't move to my HD, failure to record & being unable to get into FORMAT mode. In my first long test of the cams, the front cam record the full 4hrs of the drive & parking, with the rear only recording half of that.

Continuing blackboxmycar's excellent service, Alex is sending me a replacement card to see if that cures the probs. It should come this week.

Here's the footage from the first car, the Honda van. Note that although the rear cam is adjusted 1 step higher for brightness, it's video is darker. That's because it's pointing in the direction of the fallen Sun, u see it brighten up at the end, when the van turns into the light.


I've got car #3 hardwired & will post the installation pics & vids shortly
 
1965 Datsun N320- Sport Truck


This was the first car where I did some slicing & splicing on the wires to avoid using the cig lighter socket.

6 additional extra power/usb cables & 2 mounts were purchased from blackboxmycar. I wanted to use the male plugs of the cables to avoid having to install an in-line fuse. For the 2 female ends, I obtained 2 sets of the depicted dual power outlets….which didn’t work out at all. I wasted several hours mounting & adapting them to the Datsun only to find that male plugs would not stay inside. It was like trying to grip the plugs w/ a block of butter. There was no catch mechanism at all.

DSC00074.JPG

DSC00113.JPG

I first spliced the receiving socket into the always ON wires of the horn, but found the side effect of constant blaring horns to be a tad too much. Running new wires from the fuse box solved that. …btw…the installation is not visible unless u stick u’r head under the dashboard.

DSC00127.JPG

I found this at a local shop which worked great. Two were needed per car & the clips had to be cut off, but they held the male plug tightly….(since this site is PG rated, I’m trying real hard to avoid inserting an additional comment here).

DSC00120.JPG
DSC00122.JPG
DSC00125.JPG

I'll post the rest of this installation in a few hours.
 
Continuing w/ the Datsun installation>>

A note on the rear mounting. Using the Dual Lock Velcro on both the mount & rear window rubber strip made it too difficult to remove the cam. It would grab the weather-strip w/ it (I didn’t want to glue the Velcro onto the paint). I’ve used the 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips for hanging wall decorations for years. I discovered that the hard side of those strips stays attached to the Dual Lock strip, but at a weaker rate then another dual lock. It’s just enough however, to hold the light weight of the cam however.

The blue masking tape marks the driver’s shoulder & head region. The cam was mounted w/in that area to mask the rear cam from the cars behind you.

DSC00082.JPG

DSC00088.JPG

DSC00090.JPG
DSC00094.JPG

DSC00096.JPG
DSC00103.JPG
DSC00126.JPG
DSC00133.JPG
The vids from this car will be uploaded later today.
 
Uh huh... I understand some of these words. But it looks you're putting yourself though hell.
 
Uh huh... I understand some of these words. But it looks you're putting yourself though hell.

Actually I’ve made a few trips to Hell and Back. I didn't stay long during the last trip because I didn’t like my ex-wife’s cooking.

Here’s a short vid from the Datsun, driving & park mode. A couple of things to note, the !>)!(!$ ! Polaroid lens was on the front cam & the rear cam is looking through a window that has a Polaroid film on it.

I wish those 2 admiring females were 30 yrs. younger & I was 10 yrs younger.

That’s it until I get the station wagon finished. If you have any questions, let’m rip.

 
I like how you can see the her at the side door through the reflection of the back window. I was worried the rear camera would shake, yet only on big hits does it move. Nice job
 
I like how you can see the her at the side door through the reflection of the back window. I was worried the rear camera would shake, yet only on big hits does it move. Nice job
Thanks. Yea, the film on the rear window has that effect.

The cam seems to hold, even though that car bounces like it doesn't have shocks. That lump in the bed is a 70 LB. sand bag that I had to put in there to keep the rear wheels on the ground.
 
Is that why your camera is bouncing around like it has Parkinson's?
 
Is that why your camera is bouncing around like it has Parkinson's?

Yup, that car hops down the road. My back hurts for hours after driving it (seriously).

But I did discover that the dual lock strip I glued to the mirror was allowing some up & down jiggle. As shown in the photo, I only used a narrow strip on the mirror side, I've since revised it to be as large as what's on the cam mount. It definitely helped.
 
Moving right along....the 3rd car was ready for a test run today

1965 Plymouth Valiant Station Wagon

I spent some time looking at where to place the rear cam. After trying a few spots, it just wasn't possible to get a secure mounting. After a couple of hours, I realized that all this effort was a waste of time. Any traditional spot facing rearward was a recipe for disaster. As u can see from the pic, the rear glass slides downward into the lift gate. The glass & gate tilt at a angle leaning towards the front of the car, so anything at the roof line inside, if it were to drop, could fall out of the car onto the road if the glass wasn't rolled up all the way. I often drive with the glass rolled partly down.

Sooooo, onto Plan B. A solution was to place the DC on the driver's side along the rear seat. It's not the best for the rear view, since the inside of the car takes up a large amount of the viewing area. It does offer the benefit of getting a good view along the sides, since the car has large curved side windows. Oh well, I'm stuck w/ it for now & I'll see how it plays out in practice.

Getting to the fuses was a real PITA, The box was stuck in a hard to get at location. Spent several hours under there as well as additional hours getting my back & shoulders to some resemblance of normality so I didn't look like the Hunchback Of Notre Dame.

Here's the pics of the installation. I should have the vids ready from a drive I took today shortly.

no go1.jpg
no go.jpg
wood block.jpg
wood block1.jpg
mirror.jpg
tuck.jpg
fusebox.1.jpg
fusebox.jpg
plugs.jpg
 
Here’s a sample video from the station wagon. If there r any car guys following this thread, they might get a kick out of the beginning. That’s Dick Guldstrand’s shop in Burbank Calif. Dick was (among other things) a well known race car driver back in the 60s & 70s. I should say he is, since at 86 yrs. he’s still racing & active in the classic & hot rod scenes.

 
Back
Top