7.5 meter mini 2.0 usb lead

[Tony lovelock]

Hi,

I will soon be owning a transit custom (2018) van within the next few weeks. I’m wanting to use my existing mobius as a rear dash cam mounted on the roof rack. It’s a short wheel base van but I’m having to use power from inside the cab as I don’t think there is a 12v source in the rear. I was looking at this 7.5 meter usb lead to power/charge & record. Would this work for what I need? Or is the lead too long? I’m hoping to get away with a 5.0 meter usb lead. Cheers

https://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters-c1/usb-c449/7-5m-usb-2-0-cable-type-a-to-mini-b-black-p6692

 

[TonyM]

Hi,

I will soon be owning a transit custom (2018) van within the next few weeks. I’m wanting to use my existing mobius as a rear dash cam mounted on the roof rack. It’s a short wheel base van but I’m having to use power from inside the cab as I don’t think there is a 12v source in the rear. I was looking at this 7.5 meter usb lead to power/charge & record. Would this work for what I need? Or is the lead too long? I’m hoping to get away with a 5.0 meter usb lead. Cheers

https://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters-c1/usb-c449/7-5m-usb-2-0-cable-type-a-to-mini-b-black-p6692

I think that might be OK. I use a 5m cable for my rear-facing mobius. I notice 5m cables are much cheaper than 7.5m cables.

When you say mounted on the roof rack, do you mean the camera will be outside the vehicle?

 

[Tony lovelock]

Yeah on the outside but I’m in the design process to make up a metal housing for it so it will be waterproof but obviously the lens would be affected by water droplets etc

 

[kamkar]

You could fairly easy make a 12V outlet in the rear, i did that in my little cheap car and now have 3 outlets back there and a 2A usb plug too.
A long and too poor quality USB cable cost me footage of me getting rear ended, worst part is i knew the moobius back there was working sporadic weeks if not months in advance

 

[Tony lovelock]

I’m not very good at electrics on vehicles though lol would love to have a modified rear 12v outlet

 

[Nigel]

That is bit long, I would make the 7 meters from 12v cable and have the 12v-5v converter close to the camera, that way you can use a normal USB cable and not worry about too much voltage loss, voltage loss in the 12v cable doesn't matter, but it would be half the amount anyway since the current at 12v is only half that at 5v.

 

[Tony lovelock]

I’m hoping I don’t need to buy a 7.5 or 5 meter lead as have had issues in past, currently using a 2.5 meter lead & it’s been fine. Hoping to get the right amount with the use of a nextbase 4 meter in car 12v charger but we’re see

 

[SawMaster]

I've run mine on a 3m extension cable and a 2m cam cable. I think the extension was a Belkin and the cam cable??? PS is a 2.4A Anker ciggie adapter. Mobius, Vantrue N2 Pro, and different G1W series cams have all been happy with that. Of the lot, Mobius has always seem most reliable, even functioning properly when the battery was too weak to turn the engine over. So with a hot PS and a good cable I'm sure you'll be OK

Phil

 

[Tony lovelock]

In the past I purchased a amazon usb male to female extension lead (can’t think if it was 3 meters or so long) then use a shorter mini usb lead upto the mobius & I had issues as it wouldn’t record but only go into photo mode I think (solid blue light) dont want that problem again...

 

[Tony lovelock]

I've run mine on a 3m extension cable and a 2m cam cable. I think the extension was a Belkin and the cam cable??? PS is a 2.4A Anker ciggie adapter. Mobius, Vantrue N2 Pro, and different G1W series cams have all been happy with that. Of the lot, Mobius has always seem most reliable, even functioning properly when the battery was too weak to turn the engine over. So with a hot PS and a good cable I'm sure you'll be OK

Phil

Was it this belkin usb Extension lead? Belkin Pro Series USB Extension Cable 3m https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B0000DG4WN

 

[Radius8]

Go with Nigel's suggestion. It will minimize power delivery and interference issues associated with long USB cables of low quality. You want the most stable and clean 5 V supply to the camera as you can get for trouble free operation.

 

[SawMaster]

Was it this belkin usb Extension lead? Belkin Pro Series USB Extension Cable 3m https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B0000DG4WN

Not that one, and it may not even be Belkin- I really can't remember. I bought it over 5 years ago at Walmart and it was the best they sold. IIRC (which I may not!) it was $35. All I know for certain is that it's an opaque gold color and it has been working very well all that time including being swapped into the van I drive now from the old one. I originally bought it to extend my wifi device from my desk to a window so I could access my neighbor's internet (with their permission) and the cheap cable I first tried didn't work at that length.

Phil

 

[Deleted member 37895]

I would tap the fuse box and run a 12v line to the rear to a socket mounted in the back. You can ground the socket to the body if there are any exposed screws. Then plug a USB charger into that socket

 

[Tony lovelock]

I purchased a genuine ford 12v socket charger, plugged into the rear 12v plug on the van & it worked! So no need to hardwire or anything like that now. Appreciate the comments & the help anyway guys