Mounting issue I haven't spotted in any thread

[dino]

Hi guys! I'm a complete rookie to dashcams however I've been watching this forum for some time, and I have to say I am amazed by the ingeniousness of the various installations you guys come up with. Now I'm in possession of my first ever dashcam. After carefully reading reviews and comparisons I went for the Mobius. A brilliant camera, and when I got it in my hands and after I had been able to play with it; Instant love!

So, I want the installation in my car to be...

- Not too obvious from the outside.
- Clean and not distracting from the inside.
- I don't want the installation to leave the car chopped up with holes the day I decide to remove my camera.
- ...and as I don't want the camera to come flying and kill me in case of an accident; Safe.

Now to my dilemma of trying to mount this little sweetie to my car, a 2010 Seat Altea XL. For some reason the Spanish engineers have placed both wipers at the bottom of each A-pillar (in resting position the wipers are hidden inside the pillars), making their movement go down-towards each other to the centre of the windscreen. Fine. Unfortunately that makes the upper/centre part behind the rear mirror the least wiped area of the entire screen. To attach my camera there, at the most obvious and best location, I have to place it almost halfway down the windscreen to get inside what's kept clean by the wipers. Not exactly stelthy or non-distracting, is it?

In lack of better ideas and to at least have the camera up and running it is currently placed in the upper left corner of the windscreen, drivers side, behind the sunshade. I used one existent screw and a little metallic DIY-bracket to attach the camera, giving me a very much non-centred view of what goes on in front of the car. It's a surprisingly stelthy place and the camera catches a lot of what goes on to the passenger side of my car, however much of the left side-action is obviously out of view.

Anyone else been dealing with this wiper movement issue?

I'm thinking of maybe sacrifice some of the stealth, make a longer bracket to move the camera forward a few more centimetres and have the lens as close to the windscreen as possible. Hopefully that will enhance the left facing view. I'm not so sure it will work though, I haven't got that much space left till the camera catches the windscreen already, and honestly, the left A-pillar isn't that exciting to watch. Not even close...

Anyway. Any idea would be very much appreciated.

Thanks! Take care, drive safely!

dino

 

[Dashmellow]

Something I've considered doing at some point is to deploy two Mobius front cameras because I live in a jurisdiction that requires an inspection sticker right behind the rear view mirror in the dash cam "sweet spot" which makes placement of dash cams a challenge. I would place both cameras on either side of the rear view mirror facing slightly outwards away from center with some overlap. In your case, you could mount two cameras, one where you have it now and one on the exact opposite side of the windscreen. This would give you very wide and comprehensive road coverage but of course would involve the expense and installation of an extra camera.

Obviously, this isn't the answer you were expecting but I thought I'd put it out there for your consideration.

 

[niko]

Something I've considered doing at some point is to deploy two Mobius front cameras I would place both cameras on either side of the rear view mirror facing slightly outwards away from center with some overlap. In your case, you could mount two cameras, one where you have it now and one on the exact opposite side of the windscreen. This would give you very wide and comprehensive road coverage

I had same idea from "day 1" when bought mobius. Each of them mount into A-pillar corner facing opposite side of bonnet corner. In this case could use narrow-angle lens ( not mobius A-lens ones, but better quality for night video ), lets say 100 degree diagonal. 2 cam with narrow FOV will bring nubmerplates closer and total FOV would be super-wide. But those ideas are still "on the paper" due to the lack of time

I live in a jurisdiction that requires an inspection sticker right behind the rear view mirror in the dash cam "sweet spot" which makes placement of dash cams a challenge.

Maybe in protest against " jurisdiction that requires an inspection sticker right behind the rear view mirror in the dash cam "sweet spot" ", you might consider moving to other, more dash-cam-friendly state ?

 

[Hilts]

Welcome to the wonderful World of the Mobius, dino!

We used to own a 2005 Seat Altea, the area you are talking about behind the mirror never got wiped. Don't know why Seat tried to re-invent the wiper system, those massively thick A-Pillars created a horrible blind spot which was a nightmare on roundabouts!!

Anyhow, have you considered following @BobDiaz method of Mobius installation/stealth baseball cap (when parked) approach??.....

I mounted my Mobius on my dash:





The biggest advantage is it's very EASY to hide the camera...



... and this is what the camera sees:

There are plenty more Mobius mounting ideas & solutions to be found here too..
http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-mounting-solutions.2654/

 

[sludgeguts]

As far as I'm concerned, the cam 'sweet spot' is as high in the screen as possible and mounted as far over to the right as possible (Right-hand drive) so as not to be in my eyeline.
I reckon I have achieved this in both my car and my bus at work.
The F70 in the car is mounted to a parcel shelf immediately above the screen, making the cam as flat as possible. From the outside, if you look really carefully, you can just see the lens at one side of the thickest part of the end of the cam (it's a slight wedge-shape) so it's around 27mm deep x 87mm wide (my thumb just about covers this!). From my POV, I can 'just' see along the underside of the cam.
The mobius is mounted on a bracket which is secured to a mounting point of the sun visor & for additional stability, there is a screw through the headlining (it's a sort of fluffy card affair!), held by a bit of metal acting as a lock.
Again, from my POV, it's barely noticeable.
but in both instances, the lens is covered by the sweep of the wiper

 

[Xybone]

The Honda Civic(?) has this same issue, where the middle top doesn't get wiped. You could just mount it in the passenger section, where it does get wiped.

 

[dino]

Welcome to the wonderful World of the Mobius, dino!

Have you considered following @BobDiaz method of Mobius installation/stealth baseball cap approach??.....

/

Actually, I have. First I laughed out loud, but then I started to consider something like that, however adopted to a little more permanent solution... like scissor a hole in my cap and stick the lens out of it! It never got that far though, all my caps are still intact. However that thought gave me an idea and I went scavenging in the kitchen and stole some circular-looking plastic tin from my wife. Painted satin black and equipped with a suitable hole just enough to give the mobius lens a nice view I tried have it sitting on the dashboard. It all looked a little silly, I admit that, but it worked. Unfortunately the camera didn't gain enough height to have a decent view out the windscreen.

 

[Hilts]

It looks like it might be a Mobius B Lens (Wide Angle) using the Wide FOV setting.... if so, have you tried using it with the Narrow FOV setting? That might get rid of the view of most of your A-Pillar.

It's probably a stupid suggestion, as I am sure you've probably tried all sorts of settings, but just in case you haven't...

That is how I run mine, as I prefer the footage it provides.

 

[Dashmellow]

I had same idea from "day 1" when bought mobius. Each of them mount into A-pillar corner facing opposite side of bonnet corner. In this case could use narrow-angle lens ( not mobius A-lens ones, but better quality for night video ), lets say 100 degree diagonal. 2 cam with narrow FOV will bring nubmerplates closer and total FOV would be super-wide. But those ideas are still "on the paper" due to the lack of time

Yes, a narrower angle lens on two cameras would be ideal. It would be cool if footage from both cameras could be stitched together in post processing to achieve a seamless wide video. Actually, this could be an interesting concept for a manufacturer of "multi-channel" cameras where the stitching together of the overlapped footage from each A-pillar camera could happen automatically in a console mounted DVR.

Maybe in protest against " jurisdiction that requires an inspection sticker right behind the rear view mirror in the dash cam "sweet spot" ", you might consider moving to other, more dash-cam-friendly state ?

Yeah, I should move to a state with a better sticker location. Actually, just last week I had my once yearly vehicle inspection and I showed some dash cam footage on my iPad to the guys at the inspection station along with my dash cameras and explained the problem. They were very intrigued about the idea of dash cams and agreed to move the sticker over two inches and up to the left of the rear view mirror mount instead of the required spot in the middle just below and behind the mirror. It makes a world of difference! I now have my camera positioned almost in the middle and it is much better than what I have been living with. I just hope some cop doesn't pull me over and write me a ticket, but the car dealership thinks it will be ok.[/QUOTE]

 

[niko]

Yes, a narrower angle lens on two cameras would be ideal. It would be cool if footage from both cameras could be stitched together in post processing to achieve a seamless wide video. Actually, this could be an interesting concept for a manufacturer of "multi-channel" cameras where the stitching together of the overlapped footage from each A-pillar camera could happen automatically in a console mounted DVR.



Yeah, I should move to a state with a better sticker location. Actually, just last week I had my once yearly vehicle inspection and I showed some dash cam footage on my iPad to the guys at the inspection station along with my dash cameras and explained the problem. They were very intrigued about the idea of dash cams and agreed to move the sticker over two inches and up to the left of the rear view mirror mount instead of the required spot in the middle just below and behind the mirror. It makes a world of difference! I now have my camera positioned almost in the middle and it is much better than what I have been living with. I just hope some cop doesn't pull me over and write me a ticket, but the car dealership thinks it will be ok.

[/QUOTE]

Woww... so, you kinda negotiated with inspector-guy and he agreed / accepted ?
Did he gave you some paperworks, that moving sticker to the side ( from originally required place ) is fine and acceptable by them, in case cop stops you and will start asking stupid questions about sticker positioning ?
In Ireland "they" dont care where sticker is, - most important is that is on windshield and visible to the police ( Garda, - as they call police here ). You can stick it to any bottom, top, side edge of windshield. Weclome to Ireland, - land of Guinness, Leprechauns and River Dance!

 

[jokiin]

They dropped stickers altogether in most states of Australia

 

[Dashmellow]

Yeah, I was surprised the guy agreed. It's still pretty close to where it belongs and I figure if I get stopped by a cop I can just say, "I dunno officer. That's where they stuck it." They didn't give me any paper work except the inspection and emissions report....and my new sticker!

 

[Dashmellow]

They dropped stickers altogether in most states of Australia

Well, then. That's where I need to move to!

 

[niko]

Well, then. That's where I need to move to!

Why Australia ? , do you like Fosters more than Guinness ? LOL

 

[Dashmellow]

Why Australia ? , do you like Fosters more than Guinness ? LOL

No, not really. Maybe you're right. Actually, I live here in Vermont, New England and we have had a wonderful renaissance of craft micro-breweries over the last twenty years who make amazing beer like I've rarely tasted before except for when I lived for awhile in Bavaria. Maybe I should stay here after all, even with the lousy inspection sticker placement problem? .......wiki

 

[roadbug]

[QUOTE="niko, post: 67416, member: 1443"Woww... so, you kinda negotiated with inspector-guy and he agreed / accepted ?
Did he gave you some paperworks, that moving sticker to the side ( from originally required place ) is fine and acceptable by them, in case cop stops you and will start asking stupid questions about sticker positioning ?
In Ireland "they" dont care where sticker is, - most important is that is on windshield and visible to the police ( Garda, - as they call police here ). You can stick it to any bottom, top, side edge of windshield. Weclome to Ireland, - land of Guinness, Leprechauns and River Dance! [/QUOTE]
I would imagine that the statute says something like "top middle of the windshield" or something else vague, so they can get away with moving it a few inches any direction without any trouble. OR if the politicians who drafted it are really anal there are specifications listed in fractions of an inch! (doubtful) By not giving him paperwork they left it open so he will not get a ticket (just my opinion here). When I was younger living in Indiana when we still had inspections I got pulled over once. I had been speeding but there was no way they could prove it under the circumstances. So they started looking for some other way of ticketing me. At one point they looked at my inspection sticker; it had a wrinkle in it which made it difficult to read parts of the sticker. When he told me he was going to write a ticket for the sticker being unreadable I told him no way, the inspector had installed the sticker that way and if he had any problems with how it was installed to take it up with the inspection station. I left that encounter without any tickets.

 

[Dashmellow]

I would imagine that the statute says something like "top middle of the windshield" or something else vague, so they can get away with moving it a few inches any direction without any trouble. OR if the politicians who drafted it are really anal there are specifications listed in fractions of an inch! (doubtful)

The wording of the statute here states, "All periodic inspection stickers shall be placed on the inside top center of the windshield. If the windshield is tinted, the inspection sticker shall be centered on the windshield just below the tint edge."
The word "center" is really a more specific term than "middle". Lawmakers generally don't seem to use terms like "middle" when they craft statutes like this. The law about such things also uses language like, "Failure to Comply", etc. etc. Generally, around here it seems to come down to how law enforcement decides to interpret things like "center" if they notice something out of place. So my sticker now is definitely not in the "center" when you see me coming down the road but it's reasonably close. I think they won't bother me.

Interestingly, there is some wiggle room about inspection sticker placement if you have a camera or sensor in your rear view mirror. "If rear view mirror contains a camera or sensor, the sticker shall be affixed to the right of the device".

So apparently rear-view mirror style dash cams are legal where I live but not other types if they are attached to the back of the windscreen. It is technically illegal here to attach anything to the rear of your windshield other than a rear view mirror. This would include dash cams but wherever I go, I see people with GPS units, toll transponders, satellite radios and cell phone holders attached to their windshields and so apparently the law is not being enforced. Sometimes, I ask people when I see them with a device planted right in the middle of their windscreen (definitely obstructing their view of the road) if they've ever been hassled by the cops about it and everyone says no.

Here is the wording of the State statute here about this":

23 V.S.A. §1125 ~ Obstructing Windshields
"No person shall paste, stick, or paint advertising matter or other things on or over any transparent part of a motor vehicle windshield, vent windows, or side windows located immediately to the left and right of the operator, nor hang any object, other than a rear view mirror, in back of the windshield."

Edit: Here's a cropped screen shot from one of my dash cams showing the unfortunate required inspection sticker location where I live. Also, my apologies for veering so far off topic here.

 

[GJHS]

Hi guys! I'm a complete rookie to dashcams however I've been watching this forum for some time, and I have to say I am amazed by the ingeniousness of the various installations you guys come up with. Now I'm in possession of my first ever dashcam. After carefully reading reviews and comparisons I went for the Mobius. A brilliant camera, and when I got it in my hands and after I had been able to play with it; Instant love!

So, I want the installation in my car to be...

- Not too obvious from the outside.
- Clean and not distracting from the inside.
- I don't want the installation to leave the car chopped up with holes the day I decide to remove my camera.
- ...and as I don't want the camera to come flying and kill me in case of an accident; Safe.

Now to my dilemma of trying to mount this little sweetie to my car, a 2010 Seat Altea XL. For some reason the Spanish engineers have placed both wipers at the bottom of each A-pillar (in resting position the wipers are hidden inside the pillars), making their movement go down-towards each other to the centre of the windscreen. Fine. Unfortunately that makes the upper/centre part behind the rear mirror the least wiped area of the entire screen. To attach my camera there, at the most obvious and best location, I have to place it almost halfway down the windscreen to get inside what's kept clean by the wipers. Not exactly stelthy or non-distracting, is it?

In lack of better ideas and to at least have the camera up and running it is currently placed in the upper left corner of the windscreen, drivers side, behind the sunshade. I used one existent screw and a little metallic DIY-bracket to attach the camera, giving me a very much non-centred view of what goes on in front of the car. It's a surprisingly stelthy place and the camera catches a lot of what goes on to the passenger side of my car, however much of the left side-action is obviously out of view.

Anyone else been dealing with this wiper movement issue?

I'm thinking of maybe sacrifice some of the stealth, make a longer bracket to move the camera forward a few more centimetres and have the lens as close to the windscreen as possible. Hopefully that will enhance the left facing view. I'm not so sure it will work though, I haven't got that much space left till the camera catches the windscreen already, and honestly, the left A-pillar isn't that exciting to watch. Not even close...

Anyway. Any idea would be very much appreciated.

Thanks! Take care, drive safely!

dino

@dino another option is to take advantage of the Mobius 8" lens extension cable. This way you can mount the lens low on the rear view mirror and the Mobius higher and hidden. The lens module itself is tiny so it shouldn't attract much attention and the cable makes it flexible enough to change location when necessary.

 

[Dashmellow]

Actually, I have. First I laughed out loud, but then I started to consider something like that, however adopted to a little more permanent solution... like scissor a hole in my cap and stick the lens out of it! It never got that far though, all my caps are still intact. However that thought gave me an idea and I went scavenging in the kitchen and stole some circular-looking plastic tin from my wife. Painted satin black and equipped with a suitable hole just enough to give the mobius lens a nice view I tried have it sitting on the dashboard. It all looked a little silly, I admit that, but it worked. Unfortunately the camera didn't gain enough height to have a decent view out the windscreen.

If you haven't yet taken a look, there is an entire thread here dedicated to "Mobius mounting solutions". Member @BobDiaz mounted his Mobius on the dashboard (with a heat sink) as seen in this photo. Perhaps this method would give you the height you need. It seemed to work for him based on the footage he's posted. You may find it useful to view his whole post on the subject.

 

[Hilts]

Ahem! @Dashmellow is it Groundhog day??!
I'm getting that deja-vu feeling... Great minds think alike!!

But seriously when is Groundhog day?