A119 - DIY dash hidden cam mod

Rombo

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I was always convinced that dashcam should be hard wired in the car and you don't need to disconnect it every time you go home. But in some places in the world you can't just leave dashcam in your car without risking to get it stolen by somebody break in your car. So i wanted to find a camera that i can embed in the car plastic either to hide completely, or make it look as a part of the car electronics.

Most of the dashcams on the market have the camera module hard soldered to it's mainboard, but when i saw that camera on A119 rotates, i understood that it is connected through a cable, so can be detached from the block (Thanks Gibson99 for posting pictures of inside the camera in his blog). I made the following changes to construction:

1) replaced the cable that connects camera to mainboard with a longer one (15cm). 28pin cable is needed

2) i cut a hole in car plastic and mounted the camera deeper into it
(unfortunately it is not visible on pictures)

3) as the camera was no longer installed in the Dashcam case, the case size could be reduced, so i cut it a half.

4) as i removed the back cover of the device, which holds connector to GPS, i still needed to connect it. after several different experiments i decided to solder 4 wires from GPS connector directly to main board. I could not solder to the original connector, because it is too small, but with help of multimeter i found 4 spots on the main board that are linked to it - 2 spots on one side of the board 2 spots on the other side.

Here are some pictures. I'm sorry for the quality of work, i don't have proper tools and proper hands, but it is ok for me.

IMG_2069.JPG IMG_2163.JPG IMG_3012.JPG IMG_3014.JPG
PS you may ask why camera is white - this was an attempt to paint it in the color of car plastic, but it turned bright when drying.
 
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Nice to see somebody try something new [emoji1474][emoji1360]
 
Mobius has had a remotable lens for awhile, but definitely liking that @Rombo saw the potential here and then did so well with it :D

Phil
 
Thanks Phil, you are right! i was inspired by Mobius and actually i bought one to be used as a dash cam with the camera detached same way, but realised i'm missing some features in it's software, as well a GPS module, that's why i bought A119. So Mobius will take it's place is the rear camera or in RC toys.
 
It takes a brave man.....
 
I always thought exposing the ribbon cable could cause it to have some interference, Have you noticed any?
 
what does it look like from outside the car?
 
Welcome to DCT @wayne halford :)

I'd try without adding shielding to the cable at first; it may not be needed ;) Sometimes shielding will reflect things to adjacent wires inside the shielded area causing problems where none existed before. At best it may change the capacitence value of something in the shielded area to something beyond what the hardware can handle. Half the fun is in the experimenting so give it a try and let us know what happens. As long as you can undo a change all that can be lost is a little time, and much knowledge can be gained in the process :cool:

Phil
 
Rombo, where did you get the 28 pin flat ribbon cable from?

I have looked everywhere and can’t find a 28 pin.

I opened the unit up to see if there were any marks on the one used but when I search S51G_SFPC_28P50MM_V02. Nothing comes up.

Cheers
 

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You little beauty Matt, I’ve looked everywhere to no luck. Bet it took you 30 seconds.
 
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