Mobius DIY built-in into rear centre brake light

[niko]

NB!
ANY DIY MAY VOID WARRANTY OF THE PRODUCT !
ACT ON YOUR OWN RISK !!!
....................................................................................

I have been testing Mobius for few weeks. Overall I like it, especially tiny size which allow discrete installation.
As per front camera, I am using other dash camera which is much better at night, but for the rear I am planning to install a Mobius due to its tiny size.
Also I will add a demo video from mobius day time recording mounted at the back of the car.

IDEAS:
I have few ideas on how to install Mobius in rear for most discrete result.
I will share all my ideas in 4 posts due to too many pictures.

FIRST IDEA, - using special Mobius lens extension cable to built in lens into the centre of rear brake light. Main Mobius body can be left inside car for menu buttons and memory card access.
Why into brake light ? - this is most discrete location for camera lens. Also, for cars which have tinted rear windows, they can leave out of tint rear brake light, this way giving clear rear windows view for much better video quality recording. ( brake light can be also tinted for better overall match ).










Below I did some "photoshop", just to show how the effect would look like. I did not had much time to do full project, so just wanted to share my ideas with others, who might find this idea useful and have time to implement this idea.
Also as above mentioned ( for cars with rear windows tinted), red brake light can be slightly tinted to match overall rear windows tint-look.




Here I am using extension AV cable connected to my car multimedia to aim Mobius camera angle.

 

[niko]

SECOND IDEA:
for people who do not want mess around with lens extension cables, - to built in Mobius whole unit into the rear centre brake light.
There will be few opsticals. One of them is LED lights strip. So depends on size and configurations everyone has to see how it can be done.






Mobius will be fully behind rear brake light red transparent cover, - only lens will be sticking out ( drill hole through red brake light for Mobius lens )




Below is "photoshop", cut wholes in the rear brake light holder for Mobius heat sink and access to menu buttons.

 

[niko]

THIRD IDEA is to built-in / install whole Mobius unit behind rear centre brake light.
Challenge will be to run power cable through red brake plastic glass and also access to memory card.

 

[niko]

FORTH idea is most easiest. Use 3M ( double-side tape ) to mount Mobius at the rear centre of windows. Run power cable under ceiling liner to closest power source ( hard-wire to interior rear side reading lights )
The only draw-back with this installation is if your car has tinted rear windows. This will reduce a video quality of dash camera. Therefore you might consider DIY built-in camera into rear centre brake light ( above ideas )




















Below you can see RED LED light on the Mobius that can be seen from rear-view mirror to check status of the camera.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Looks good! If you have the skills time and energy, do it the hard way, 1'st option of course! (fully stealth/discrete) Any of the other options seem fine if you don't want to go the extra mile.

I'm going to stay on a singled fromt camera system until the new A7L-A based Dual Camera's come out.
http://www.ambarella.com/products/autom ... tions.html

Only then will I look at rear options like you have.

 

[niko]

Here is my video from Mobius mounted in rear

 

[Street Guardian USA]

"This video has been removed by the user"

 

[niko]

"This video has been removed by the user"

St _ pid youtube "copyright" on using / listening other artist songs on radio / car mp3, showed me "matched third party", so i have removed it. Will upload soon again without voice.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Now that I'll have a spare Mini 0801 camera soon, I might put the spare dashcam in the back for rear recording.

You inspired me to investigate using my rear brake light as a possible location. I have a convertible so it's slightly more challenging. (smart car showing in my profile photo) I rarely drive with the back fully collapsed, there is less wind with just the roof open.

I think I'm better off fixing the camera to my rear hard glass window pain. There is already a support wire for power I can follow up to the glass exactly where my camera should probably go. (see lower left first part of video) It was worth entertaining the idea though for, I opened the brake light up and don't have as much room as you do anway.

Here is an image gallery ~> http://imgur.com/a/tPH7F#0
And video.......

 

[niko]

For your car it is really challenging.
I think building into rear centre brake light is practical only for those cars where brake light is inside car, behind rear glass, so the camera will not get dirty. If camera is behind the rear glass( like in my car ) and if glass will get dirty, - you just wipe it. If with cars like in your case, you mount camera into externally located rear centre brake light, - then every time camera get dirty, you wipe it, - you scratch lenses. Hope you know what I mean.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Yeah the area my brake light is NOT weather proof at all, my bulb wire plug is totally weather sealed with a rubber boot even.

I've decided the only practical place is inside, on the lower right side of the rear window. (lower left if looking at my video)

I'm still looking forward to seeing what you do though.

 

[niko]

Yeah the area my brake light is NOT weather proof at all, my bulb wire plug is totally weather sealed with a rubber boot even.

I've decided the only practical place is inside, on the lower right side of the rear window. (lower left if looking at my video)

I'm still looking forward to seeing what you do though.

I have paused my idea of integrating mobius into the rear centre brake light till "they" will release a wide angle lens and do something to firmware, because despite having nt96650+ar0330, - night video quality is not that good as dod ls300w - series dash cams, however hardware allows to achieve much better night time results. So I will wait and use mobius mounted as shown in my 4th post, attached with double-sided tape under brake light.

 

[niko]

Here is video from Mobius mounted at the back, top centre of rear windows ( check my photos posted before ) just under the brake light, there for you do not see rear window heating elements like you might see on most other 2ch dash cameras.
Select 1080p video quality.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Looks good enough! What do you use as your front camera? (do you have two Mobius?)

 

[niko]

Looks good enough! What do you use as your front camera? (do you have two Mobius?)

For the past 2.5y I have tested over 40 different dash cams and Panorama2 is my No.1 choice.Still after 5 month of use I have not found better one than Panorama2. ( tested many high priced Kroean dash cams as well)

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Looks good enough! What do you use as your front camera? (do you have two Mobius?)

For the past 2.5y I have tested over 40 different dash cams and Panorama2 is my No.1 choice.Still after 5 month of use I have not found better one than Panorama2. ( tested many high priced Kroean dash cams as well)

Interesting.....
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1208
(external GPS antenna sounds like a pain, slightly too big now that I'm used to the Mini 0801)
I'm glad you're happy though. I'm sure I'll be upgrading to something new by 2014 once Jokiin's and other ones stuff hits the Market.

 

[niko]

Looks good enough! What do you use as your front camera? (do you have two Mobius?)

For the past 2.5y I have tested over 40 different dash cams and Panorama2 is my No.1 choice.Still after 5 month of use I have not found better one than Panorama2. ( tested many high priced Kroean dash cams as well)

Interesting.....
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1208
(external GPS antenna sounds like a pain, slightly too big now that I'm used to the Mini 0801)
I'm glad you're happy though. I'm sure I'll be upgrading to something new by 2014 once Jokiin's and other ones stuff hits the Market.

Nothing is "pain" if you read whole thread, - you understand. It had some minor bugs with gps signal readings, but for now it all sorted.
It a little bit bigger than Mini 0801, but with more functionality, and it actually can be hidden discretly behind the mirror:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2216

Most important video quality is very hard to beat. Non of existing dash cams I know can have better night video quality. Also very quick rec start and almost instant gps lock.
Very reliable dash cams. Truly high standard quality built inside-out and strong firmware platform.
Yes, new generation A7 cpu based sash cams is different story and can not be compared to other lower generation products.

Anyway, I think here is not the right place to discuss other dash cameras, - this would be off topic.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Ah ok, yeah I'd probably go up to a slightly bigger camera for outstanding video quality. (I don't mind running an external GPS cord if necessary) I see you found a way to shorten the dashcam mount attachment to fit tighter against the window for behind the mirror discreteness. I remember looking at that but didn't realize which camera you were using at the time. (good to know)

If we use two separate DashCams instead of a combined dual DashCamera, It's not as easy to play back both videos at the same time.

I'm going to suggest registratorviewer look into adding this feature.

I guess the only way for now is to use a Video editing software package that allows Picture in Picture etc. I like how some youtube examples have one video in the upper left and one in the lower right. (same size, slightly over lapped) Have you found the best way to do this?

 

[niko]

Ah ok, yeah I'd probably go up to a slightly bigger camera for outstanding video quality. (I don't mind running an external GPS cord if necessary) I see you found a way to shorten the dashcam mount attachment to fit tighter against the window for behind the mirror discreteness. I remember looking at that but didn't realize which camera you were using at the time. (good to know)

If we use two separate DashCams instead of a combined dual DashCamera, It's not as easy to play back both videos at the same time.

I'm going to suggest registratorviewer look into adding this feature.

I guess the only way for now is to use a Video editing software package that allows Picture in Picture etc. I like how some youtube examples have one video in the upper left and one in the lower right. (same size, slightly over lapped) Have you found the best way to do this?

I use AVS video editor. Very happy with it.

 

[horaceCJ]

Hello everybody

I had the same idea, but with the retired 808#16 that was replace in front of the car by the Mobius. My main concern was how the red light of the brakes will affect the video and the answer is bellow. The lens module is taped like in this photoshop niko made, but between bulbs 2 and 3 (out of 5 in total). The cover is longer and in this test movie was not attached firmly, it should match the black line on the rear glass.

The video quality is much lower than the Mobius, but I guess the "special effects" would be the same on any camera mounted in a closed space suddenly illuminated by a red light
So I'm considering a discrete fake rear brake light in the bottom of the window, this way I could put the camera in the trunk. I don't like it inside the car as the headlinner and the central brake light housing are light gray, so the camera is very visible.