Basic dash cam information I think I have right.

[country_hick]

6 reasons to own a dash cam. read this.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/6-reasons-you-should-own-a-dashcam.5022/

When it comes to dash cams you take the huge risk of buying something that is not what you think you are buying. To many generics exist. Several of these generic cameras are made to much lower specifications. As a result these could have a very short life and have substandard performance when they do work. Buying only from recommended sellers as shown on this site can help protect you.

Buying directly from China is cheaper, but you risk huge shipping costs (Possibly $50 or more) if you have to return the dash cam. Even if you do return the cam the seller can refuse to accept it. Then you have lost all of your money. A seller in your country gives you much better legal protection and probably service. Using square trade on ebay may help to protect you. Then again, square trade had some complaints filed against them.

Read this to see how shipping defective cams back to China can be a real problem..
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/best-place-to-buy-0806.8669/page-6

How many dash cams should we install?

One facing forward is a good start. 2 pointing to each side can provide better proof of what really happened. Sometimes in a crash you do not see what comes at you from the side with just a front facing cam. A rear facing dash cam might come in handy. If you get rear ended and the other driver commits hit and run you can probably catch the drivers face and his license plate. For the extremely paranoid having another 1 or 2 cams covering the interior of your car could prove what happens if you get stopped and your car is searched. You could prove the police planted evidence if it were to ever happen.

If your car or truck has interior lights that do not shut off as soon as the doors close this can provide a few extra minutes of recording time.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/wire-dashcam-interior-lights-live-feed-longer-recordings.2363/

Lens. How to clean.
Your lens being plastic or glass does make a difference.
How do we know if our lens is plastic or glass???

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/cleaning-lens-with-alcohol.2222/

water is the safest although I'd just clarify that as being a damp cloth only, if it's a glass lens it's not going to have problems with mild cleaning fluids however it's all too easy for it to get elsewhere so I'd still avoid using them and just stick to the damp cloth, personally I use a microfibre cleaning cloth (dry), there's more chance of a dirty windscreen in most cars, don't use household glass cleaners as it develops a haze on the inside of the windows about 12 hours later

if it's a plastic lens like most cheap cameras have don't use anything other than a dry cloth, don't use tissues or cotton buds as they leave bits behind that may be too small to notice but will show up in your videos

Battery verses capacitor.

Lipo batteries can overheat. They can catch fire. They can also die after a few months of normal use. Recharging a frozen lipo battery can lead to bad results including a very short life. Lipo batteries do not do well in hot weather especailly inside a locked car. They can expand and overheat causing dash cam damage.

Capacitor. If made well this holds enough power to shut down the dash cam and save the last file. In a crash if the charging cable gets disconnected you could lose power and stop recording before you wish to. (Apparently a super capacitor wears a cape and fights crimes.)

Memory cards. (Good quality name brand sd cards not cheap no-name ebay junk)

Keep a spare in your car or truck in case you need it. After something happens you can swap out cards to protect your recording. You can also replace a failed sd card quickly with your spare.

Read this for more sd card information related to dash cams.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...s-best-what’s-even-suitable.3565/#post-119762

Is formatting required? Read your owners manual. It may say yes and to do so often.

The sd card needs to be formatted before it is first used. Some dash cams with issues may require much more frequent formatting. If your dash cam captures to many events and locks the file you may run out of free room and need to format the sd card.

Strictly speaking there's no requirement to format, it's just preventative maintenance as a file error could cause recordings to fail

The problem with cheap no name memory is not just cheaper components, a lot of cheap cards use second hand flash memory, it's a lot more common than you might expect

The better quality Flash Memory has around 10,000 ---> 1,000,000 write cycles.
Source: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/white_paper_flash_memory

where are we with endurance now? - in 2013
Today's commodity 2D MLC flash has raw wear-out in the 2,000 to 3,000 write cycle range.

Pioneers of 3D flash say their SSD endurance is better. But how much of that is due to more expensive substrate materials and how much is done by the controller isn't clear yet. So for the purposes of this article everything below is about 2D (planar) nand flash.
Source: http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html (link seems to be broken)

Let's assume that our 32GB card can hold 4 hours of video and we'll look at a low 2,000 cycle rate and the 10,000 rate. Every 4 hours of video recording results in 1 cycle of the card.

2,000 cycles x 4 hours = 8,000 hours of operation or 333 days of continuous operation.
10,000 cycles x 4 hours = 40,000 hours of operation or 1,667 days or about 4.5 years of continuous operation.

This brings up an interesting thing, if you set the recording data rate from a high 17Mbps to a low 12Mbps, the cycle time is longer almost 6 hours. This would lengthen the life of the card by almost 1.5x.

If your car is on for 1 hour a day 5 days a week your dash cam will be on 261 days or 261 hours a year. In theory a 32GB sd card should last at least 30.65 years. However, there will always be exceptions and failures.

 

[niko]

6 reasons to own a dash cam. read this.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/6-reasons-you-should-own-a-dashcam.5022/

When it comes to dash cams you take the huge risk of buying something that is not what you think you are buying. To many generics exist. Several of these generic cameras are made to much lower specifications. As a result these could have a very short life and have substandard performance when they do work. Buying only from recommended sellers as shown on this site can help protect you.

Buying directly from China is cheaper, but you risk huge shipping costs (Possibly $50 or more) if you have to return the dash cam. Even if you do return the cam the seller can refuse to accept it. Then you have lost all of your money. A seller in your country gives you much better legal protection and probably service. Using square trade on ebay may help to protect you. Then again, square trade had some complaints filed against them.

Read this to see how shipping defective cams back to China can be a real problem..
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/best-place-to-buy-0806.8669/page-6

How many dash cams should we install?

One facing forward is a good start. 2 pointing to each side can provide better proof of what really happened. Sometimes in a crash you do not see what comes at you from the side with just a front facing cam. A rear facing dash cam might come in handy. If you get rear ended and the other driver commits hit and run you can probably catch the drivers face and his license plate. For the extremely paranoid having another 1 or 2 cams covering the interior of your car could prove what happens if you get stopped and your car is searched. You could prove the police planted evidence if it were to ever happen.

If your car or truck has interior lights that do not shut off as soon as the doors close this can provide a few extra minutes of recording time.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/wire-dashcam-interior-lights-live-feed-longer-recordings.2363/

Lens. How to clean.
Your lens being plastic or glass does make a difference.
How do we know if our lens is plastic or glass???

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/cleaning-lens-with-alcohol.2222/


Battery verses capacitor.

Lipo batteries can overheat. They can catch fire. They can also die after a few months of normal use. Recharging a frozen lipo battery can lead to bad results including a very short life. Lipo batteries do not do well in hot weather especailly inside a locked car. They can expand and overheat causing dash cam damage.

Capacitor. If made well this holds enough power to shut down the dash cam and save the last file. In a crash if the charging cable gets disconnected you could lose power and stop recording before you wish to. (Apparently a super capacitor wears a cape and fights crimes.)

Memory cards. (Good quality name brand sd cards not cheap no-name ebay junk)

Keep a spare in your car or truck in case you need it. After something happens you can swap out cards to protect your recording. You can also replace a failed sd card quickly with your spare.

Read this for more sd card information reklated to dash cams.
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/memory-cards-what’s-best-what’s-even-suitable.3565/#post-119762

Is formatting required? Read your owners manual. It may so yes and to do so often.

The sd card needs to be formatted before it is first used. Some dash cams with issues may require much more frequent formatting. If your dash cam captures to many events and locks the file you may run out of free room and need to format the sd card.







If your car is on for 1 hour a day 5 days a week your dash cam will be on 261 days or 261 hours a year. In theory a 32GB sd card should last at least 30.65 years. However, there will always be exceptions and failures.

Nice and clear !
BOOKMARKED

 

[country_hick]

I kept reading that the Horizontal Field Of View matters. The HFOV is how much coverage you get out of a complete 360 degree circle from your dash cam.

I was told that one dash cam has different options for lenses and FOV.

It could be ordered and then set up from 46° HFOV at the least to 131° HFOV at the most. I was curious how much difference this could make. Once I was curious I found a picture of a truck from the top and a protractor and copied them. I then used the numbers I wanted. I did cut off 1 degree as 130 is much easier to deal with and the results are almost identical.

This shows what 46 degrees coverage gives you. A lot of coverage area is missing.


130 degrees coverage has overlap everywhere.


This shows how minor location changes inside a vehicle can change your coverage area. Notice the thin white lines.


If you use 130 degree coverage on the sides and 46 degree on the front and back here is what you get. This may be a good solution as you might get better detail ahead and behind and more coverage on the sides.


It is safe to say that the width of a cameras coverage can allow you to prove or not be able to prove something that happened. However, it may also be true that wide side coverage and narrower but better defined front and rear coverage combined will give you a better chance of catching a license plate number with all other factors being equal.

These pictures are good in theory. The way your car or truck is made along with how and where you mount the cams can reduce the total area you are able to record. You may find that a super wide HFOV is not usable in your exact circumstances.

It also looks to me that a rear view cam with 130 degrees of coverage properly set up might even be able to see what happens on each side of your trailer. That would depend on how close to your vehicle and reverse cam the trailer actually is.

The one down side to a wider HFOV is your pictures get distorted and things look to be the wrong distance from you because of the lenses curvature.

 

[niko]

I kept reading that the Horizontal Field Of View matters. The HFOV is how much coverage you get out of a complete 360 degree circle from your dash cam.

I was told that one dash cam has different options for lenses and FOV.

It could be ordered and then set up from 46° HFOV at the least to 131° HFOV at the most. I was curious how much difference this could make. Once I was curious I found a picture of a truck from the top and a protractor and copied them. I then used the numbers I wanted. I did cut off 1 degree as 130 is much easier to deal with and the results are almost identical.

This shows what 46 degrees coverage gives you. A lot of coverage area is missing.


130 degrees coverage has overlap everywhere.


This shows how minor location changes inside a vehicle can change your coverage area. Notice the thin white lines.


If you use 130 degree coverage on the sides and 46 degree on the front and back here is what you get. This may be a good solution as you might get better detail ahead and behind and more coverage on the sides.


It is safe to say that the width of a cameras coverage can allow you to prove or not be able to prove something that happened. However, it may also be true that wide side coverage and narrower but better defined front and rear coverage combined will give you a better chance of catching a license plate number with all other factors being equal.

These pictures are good in theory. The way your car or truck is made along with how and where you mount the cams can reduce the total are you are able to record. You may find that a super wide HFOV is not usable in your exact circumstances.

It also looks to me that a rear view cam with 130 degrees of coverage properly set up might even be able to see what happens on each side of your trailer. That would depend on how close to your vehicle and reverse cam the trailer actually is.

In theory all is right. The only concern is about last picture ( 46 front /rear and 130 sides ). Problem is that even side camera 130 will cover view of side lane car, but the object will be much further than front cam FOV and vital details like numberplates will be much smaller.
My personal sympathy is twin front cameras with narrow fov lens, something like Garmin GDR190 uses, but with each lens 50-60 degree.
Twin narrow front, twin narrow rear, single lens wide fov sides.

 

[efoo]

Twin narrow front, twin narrow rear, single lens wide fov sides.

Haha, personally I think that setup is overkill. I believe most of us here only run one dashcam, facing the front. Some of us run two dashcams, one facing the front and one facing the rear. I wonder what percentage of users actually run four or more dashcams to cover 360-degree surrounding views? OCD or paranoia?

 

[country_hick]

Nah, 8 cams is overkill.

I can see a front and a rear cam setup being worthwhile. The side cams might be useful in a very small percentage of car crash cases.

By showing visually what coverage can be obtained anyone can decide if they want to install a dash cam or more than one.
The biggest reason I see for side cams is dealing with police stops. The front and rear cams should show what you were doing when you were sitting at a red light. The front cam will show what you were doing with a green or yellow light or even no light at all. Of course if you want full surveillance from your car in case someone vandalizes it 4 cams are required.

I also recognize that the wider then HFOV is the less detail and more distortion come into the picture. To me that means side views with a wide HFOV are good enough. You have to already be in serious trouble to run into someone with the side of your car or truck. Typically someone else hits your side. The front cam would show the true story of what you were doing at the time of the crash.

 

[wozzzzza]

I wonder what percentage of users actually run four or more dashcams to cover 360-degree surrounding views? OCD or paranoia?

that would be me if I had my own car but the wife wont let me do 4 so I only have 2.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Battery verses capacitor.

Lipo batteries can overheat. They can catch fire. They can also die after a few months of normal use. Recharging a frozen lipo battery can lead to bad results including a very short life. Lipo batteries do not do well in hot weather especailly inside a locked car. They can expand and overheat causing dash cam damage.

Capacitor. If made well this holds enough power to shut down the dash cam and save the last file. In a crash if the charging cable gets disconnected you could lose power and stop recording before you wish to. (Apparently a super capacitor wears a cape and fights crimes.)

 

[niko]

@ "overkill", - it's only a matter of time when we see cars with 10-15 cameras installed ( 4 cams for parking, 4 cams as dashcams, 1-2 inner cameras and so on ) . It's same as with mobile phones comparing to what was 15-20y ago and now.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

that would be me if I had my own car but the wife wont let me do 4 so I only have 2.

 

[niko]

First I did not get this, but now I am ...

wife wont let me do 4 so I only have 2.

 

[efoo]

@ "overkill", - it's only a matter of time when we see cars with 10-15 cameras installed ( 4 cams for parking, 4 cams as dashcams, 1-2 inner cameras and so on ) . It's same as with mobile phones comparing to what was 15-20y ago and now.

I know but I am only just talking about cameras as what we have discussed here (mainly for accidents), not about those cameras now common in cars i.e rear view camera, radar-detecting cruise control, etc. As for inner camera, unless you are a taxi driver for your safety when ferrying strangers, installing inner camera is just like having a selfie. One person from another forum called these people narcissistic wankers

 

[niko]

I know but I am only just talking about cameras as what we have discussed here (mainly for accidents), not about those cameras now common in cars i.e rear view camera, radar-detecting cruise control, etc. As for inner camera, unless you are a taxi driver for your safety when ferrying strangers, installing inner camera is just like having a selfie. One person from another forum called these people narcissistic wankers

Inner camera facing to side of driver window is must be, to record corrupt policemans or other similar actions.

 

[efoo]

Inner camera facing to side of driver window is must be, to record corrupt policemans or other similar actions.

Haha, lots of corrupted policemen in Ireland? I doubt it. So far the number of times I have recorded something I consider as interesting/exciting/pissed-me-off on the road with my front facing dashcam in the past one and a half years, I would say fewer than 10 times. The number of times I have been stopped by a police who I suspect is corrupted in the past 20 years, zero

 

[wozzzzza]

wife stopped by cops just yesterday.

 

[jokiin]

they must be bored round your way, here they just ask you to count to 10 for the breath test machine and off you go

 

[wozzzzza]

sometimes I wonder, they didn't look too busy, trying to find something wrong with it by the looks, at the end he is staring at the window, wonder if he was looking at my stealthy mounted dash cam trying to work out what it is.