Cable routing, hiding camera out of sight, etc

BadgerSquirrel

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Hey,

I picked up a cheap G1W from eBay and threw an old MicroSD card in it just as an intro to dashcams. If it doesn't turn out to be a major pain in the arse and I feel I'm getting some value out of it then I might upgrade in future.

I want the cam to be as inconspicuous as possible as I really can't be bothered to remove and re-mount it every time I get in and out of the car. So my thinking is to mount it behind the rear view mirror as high up as possible, as I feel like if it was up there then it's not the obvious place thieves might glance for TomToms and the like. Do people tend to have issues with windows getting smashed in to grab dashcams? Hopefully people won't bother for the sake of a 15 quid plasticky cam...

Anyway... I had a complete nightmare last night getting the cable to play ball. I could run it along the top of the windscreen fine as the padded roof material seemed to pull away a little bit and allow me to stuff the cable behind it.

However down the left-hand side of the windscreen the plastic is pretty solid, there was no way I was stuffing the cable behind it. I had a roll of black insulation tape on me which I thought I could run down along the length of the cable, holding the cable in place the corner of the joint, but this lasted for about 10 seconds before it fell off. Repeatedly. It didn't seem to want to stick to the cold glass or the plastic trim. In the end I gave up. Didn't even get to think about how I would route this cable round the glove compartment and to the cigarette lighter socket (guessing the insulation tape wouldn't want to stick to this either)

So... first question: how do you guys get around these problems? Is there a certain kind of ultra strong, narrow tape which I can use for this kind of thing? Not arsed too much about how it looks from the inside (part of our wing mirror is held on with gaffa tape...) - I would use gaffa here but it's a major pain in the arse to remove at a later date (it kind of deteriorates) and ideally I want to be able to remove this easily at a later date should I replace the cam or should we ever sell the car or pass it on to a family member or something, without leaving a mess behind.

Secondly... I'm wondering whether I could get something like this and cut a hole in it for the lens, which might make it even more hidden?

Also happy to hear about any other ideas or suggestions to make this as inconspicuous as possible.

Cheers!
 
I picked up a cheap G1W from eBay ... down the left-hand side of the windscreen the plastic is pretty solid, there was no way I was stuffing the cable behind it.
Welcome to DCT. I suspect that a £15 G1W won't contain the 'proper' Novatek 96650 CPU, but never mind, it's better than no dashcam.

I used a windscreen ice scraper to gently lever the A pillar trim just enough to slip the cable into the temporary gap I'd created.

image.jpg
 
Hmm, I'll have to have a look into the CPU issues, thanks. Either way, dead cheap so just investigating whether this is something I can make work for me and live with, and if so, I'll probably upgrade in future.

OK thanks, I hadn't tried brute force, my girlfriend and I are sort-of borrowing this car indefinitely (realistically we'll probably have it until it is no longer economical to repair, or we need an upgrade) so don't want to do any damage, but I guess it is only plastic trim, can probably get a replacement part if I do snap any clips or anything.

Any tips on making these things as hidden as possible? Currently I can't seem to get the mount to fit anywhere particularly high up, it's always dangling down at at least the same height as my rear view mirror (would like it further up out of the way)

Cheers.
 
Any tips on making these things as hidden as possible? Currently I can't seem to get the mount to fit anywhere particularly high up, it's always dangling down at at least the same height as my rear view mirror (would like it further up out of the way)

Does it have a chromed lens bezel & white text? Use a marker pen to make the camera black. If the mirror stalk has a tubular profile you may be able to attach the camera to the mirror stalk using a particular mount. Much less conspicuous than a mount that's attached to the windscreen.

image.jpg
 
Good plan, I'll look into it, thanks. Although even that mount seems like it would hang down a bit too far. Are there any that can mount to the side? Like this horrendous diagram...

2015-10-29 11.08.29.jpg

For now i've crudely covered the chrome bezel and the white infrared LED with black tape, but I do have a black sharpie somewhere.
 
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