A119 Side Mounted

[SuperGoop]

I have my Viofo A119 side mounted. The A119's horizontally adjustable lens is very helpful. It allows me to aim it slightly forward so that my side mirror does not block the view.

As expected, motion blur of stationary objects is much more pronounced (because they are moving sideways across the lens). However, it is great for capturing licence plates of cars alongside. Cars travelling at similar speeds alongside does not blur at all, even at very low light. For some reason, I thought this screenshot looks nice at 50km/h. Thought I'd share it:

 

[borik]

"side mounted" on a windshield?!
what resolution did you use?
would you make a picture of your side mounted camera, please?

 

[SuperGoop]

It is not mounted to my windshield. It is mounted on a side window. I am using the default 1440p resolution. I'll see if I can post a picture later.

I wanted to do this years ago with my A118C, but couldn't because its lens doesn't pivot horizontally like the A119, and my side mirror would block half the image.

I only have the A119 on the driver (left) side now. I like it so much that I may purchase another A119 for the passenger (right) side as well.

The passenger side is much less important because you tend to flow with the traffic, whereas, the on the left side, you are capturing incoming traffic against you on the road and at intersections. The right side captures only the sidewalk with no cars sometimes.

Right now, I have 3 dashcams installed. The front is a DDPai M6+ with Vico Power hardwire kit which provides automatic time-lasped parking mode.

Question: If I get one more to total 4 dashcams (front, rear, left, right, plus my regular accessories like two iPhone chargers and a Bluetooth receiver), can my car battery handle it? My car and battery is pretty new. The alternator is putting out 13.8v - 14.0v when driving.

 

[SuperGoop]

Here are some pictures of the side mount:

 

[borik]

very nice!!

 

[SuperGoop]

Another benefit is I can often capture the driver's face (depending on window glare), for identity and whether or not s/he is distracted on the phone or otherwise.

 

[Sunny]

Nice place to place a camera but it only records when a car comes past the mirror.
What about on the middle or rear door side?

 

[Dashmellow]

@SuperGoop, I really like what you've done here using the A119 this way. I've done a little bit of experimentation using the SG9655GC as a side camera but with a different mounting technique. ("ceiling mount" in a recessed rear window cowling.)

Why not add a post about this to the, "Is there such a thing as a side view dash cam?" thread where people not necessarily looking for A119 info might see it?

 

[Yooshaw]

Nice set-up, wish my car had an A-Pillar window like that.

 

[SuperGoop]

Nice place to place a camera but it only records when a car comes past the mirror.
What about on the middle or rear door side?

This is the best I can do. However, it can actually capture very far back since the car mirror itself is angled backwards. It can see beyond the rear doors. I'll try to post a picture later. My side dashcam starts where my front dashcam ends (with just a small amount of overlapping).

 

[SuperGoop]

Here is a sample showing how far back and forward it captures. I have almost completely passed the Ford Escape SUV in the adjacent lane. You can also see licences & driver's faces quite clearly, depending on lighting conditions.

In this sample, I was lucky to capture licenses in both direct sunlight (the SUV) and in the shadow (the Van) at the same time, at extreme angles too! I have Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) enabled. Not sure if that helped.

 

[SuperGoop]

@SuperGoop, I really like what you've done here using the A119 this way. I've done a little bit of experimentation using the SG9655GC as a side camera but with a different mounting technique. ("ceiling mount" in a recessed rear window cowling.)

Why not add a post about this to the, "Is there such a thing as a side view dash cam?" thread where people not necessarily looking for A119 info might see it?

Thanks! I didn't know about that other post. I'll add a post there about this for now.

 

[SuperGoop]

Nice set-up, wish my car had an A-Pillar window like that.

I noticed the popular Civic and a bunch of other cars have the small A-pillar windows. Usually in cars with a along slanted windshield. Hopefully this will work for them also. @Yooshaw I just noticed your DDPai Mini 2 is listed as "dead". Sorry to hear that. I was following your reviews of it a while ago.

 

[Yooshaw]

I noticed the popular Civic and a bunch of other cars have the small A-pillar windows. Usually in cars with a along slanted windshield. Hopefully this will work for them also. @Yooshaw I just noticed your DDPai Mini 2 is listed as "dead". Sorry to hear that. I was following your reviews of it a while ago.

Even with an external fan mounted and opening up the unit on the end for airflow, it died on me. I think it died of another issue (some discreet component failure). Unfortunately since I hacked it up, warranty was out of the question. It's now fully disassembled and tucked away in a box.

 

[borik]

Question: If I get one more to total 4 dashcams (front, rear, left, right, plus my regular accessories like two iPhone chargers and a Bluetooth receiver), can my car battery handle it? My car and battery is pretty new. The alternator is putting out 13.8v - 14.0v when driving.

Bestek could help, provides up to 200W. I use a power bank to power my cameras. you might see it mounted with a 3M tape in the low left corner on the picture:

 

[SuperGoop]

@borik Thanks for the info. My concern is more about whether my car can handle 4 dashcams together with all my usual accessories, headlights, wipers, radio, etc. I am not concerned about the USB charger, because I use different ones for different dashcam. The USB chargers are not shared.

 

[borik]

get 2 power banks, 1 for each 2 cameras, and you'll be happy. i use this setup. one power bank 26.8A provides enough power to run 2 cameras for over 24 hours and recharges overnight without drawing a single amp from your new car. what else would you want?

 

[Yooshaw]

@borik Thanks for the info. My concern is more about whether my car can handle 4 dashcams together with all my usual accessories, headlights, wipers, radio, etc. I am not concerned about the USB charger, because I use different ones for different dashcam. The USB chargers are not shared.

Your car can probably handle it - you're probably pulling around 2 amps, maybe a little more (maybe 3 amps) for all 4 cameras. Are you hardwired? As long as your within your fuse ratings on the circuit you are on, you will be fine. Most cigarette plugs are fused at 10 amps.

Are you using parking mode for all 4? If so, seriously consider a discharge prevention device, or external battery packs. Your car battery will thank you down the road, literally.

 

[SuperGoop]

@Yooshaw Thanks for that. Good info about the amps draw. I think I should be ok then.

I am using parking mode only for the DDPai M6+ on the front windshield, which is hardwired with my VicoVation Vico-Power PLUS, set to turn off either after 2 hours, OR if the car battery drops below 12.2V. I prefer not to use external battery packs, because I prefer the "set-and-forget" setup.

 

[borik]

I prefer the "set-and-forget" setup.

but you still check your SD cards everyday if you have any video at all, right?
and before you start driving you still verify that your cameras actually began recording, right?