Discreet Transcend DP200 Install - BMW 5 Series

[rsmck]

Originally I was going to use the Mobius as various installation techniques are well documented but we have a Transcend DP200 in our other car and I love the WiFi feature to be able to grab clips off the camera without removing the SD card so I set about trying to install it in our BMW 520d...

Problem #1 the BMW has a camera cluster of it's own directly behind the rear view mirror. This seems to be common with many modern cars with 'camera-assisted systems' e.g. adaptive lighting, lane departure warning etc. Therefore when the DP200 was mounted to the side of this, the housing of the OEM camera obstructed much of the right hand side of the image.

Problem #2 BMW for some reason saw fit to put the fuse box in the boot... as opposed to our other car (Seat) which has it easily behind a removable panel on the end of the dashboard.

Problem #3 (well, not really a problem, but just a personal opinion) I don't like the look of the DP200 - the huge silver ring is really prominent and might as well advertise "steal me" if it's permanently glued to the windscreen. The other one we have is sprayed black

Determined there must be another way I dismantled the DP200 and quickly discovered you can extend the lens from the DP200 a short distance without issue in much the same way as you can with the Mobius.




The next pleasant surprise is there's a little empty space near the top in the plastic trim that hides the OEM camera which, coincidentally, is almost exactly the same height as the circuit board the DP200 camera sits on;



So, a couple of spare trim pieces later and some Sugru ...



Not quite as OEM looking as I'd hoped (the lens sticks out further than anticipated) but it's a good start. [EDIT: Later I modified this a bit, see below, the lens is now further back - still not perfect but an improvement]

At the moment there's still a few issues I need to sort out;

• My initial 'tap' for power from the rear view mirror connection has been unreliable, so I've removed it and it's plugged in to the lighter socket for now. [Resolved, See below]
  
• Also the 'dash cam power box' I had (was supplied with my Mobius) is horribly manufactured, and I'm just not 'happy' with it, so going to come up with a better solution for 5v power up there (which I'll post here when done). [Resolved, See below]
• I want the DP200 display, SD card and buttons to be accessible (you can actually fit it inside the back of the trim piece but that's not ideal and has potential heat issues) so need to fashion some sort of replacement flat / plain 'back casing' now that the lens isn't on it [Resolved, See below]
• I'm experiencing some interference with DAB which seems to be a common problem with the Transcend DP200 which is very disappointing (not least because even if they admit it's a fault and release a fix I've well and truly invalidated the warranty of this one ) - [Partially improved, see below]

This sort of solution isn't for everyone, but hopefully this writeup will help someone else (especially when it's complete) and if anyone can suggest solutions to the above - please do comment.

 

[rsmck]

Power (the way that didn't really work)

Just because it might help someone else - I did successfully get power from the rear view mirror connection using a 'mirror-tap' or 'invisicord' style solution (but not using either of those specific products) - I'm not using this setup at the moment.

I was keen to find something easily removable and as the car is still under warranty didn't want to cut into cables for obvious reasons so the 'pin in the back of the rear view mirror connector' seemed the ideal solution. The commercial Mirror-Tap product isn't readily available in the UK so I created my own with a couple of ø1.3mm pins from another connector and some heatshrink.

The correct pins to 'tap' on a BMW 520d F11 LCI seem to be the bottom center pin (+ve) and the top right pin (-ve) - also looking at another similar BMW (2012 F10) that a friend has, the pinout appears to be the same - however I cannot stress enough it is not a good idea to go sticking pins into the back of connectors if you're not 100% sure of the function of these. Always test for a switched 12v and a -ve using a meter.

The end result looks something like this;



I've since removed this because it seemed to fail intermittently. I don't think that was due to the power tap, but rather the "Car DVR Power Box" which never filled me with confidence, so I took a look inside and promptly removed it from my car;



The new plan is to cannibalise a well-known branded USB car charger (e.g. Kingston or Belkin), which also might produce less RF interference, and to rebuild the power tap with some slightly thicker pins

 

[vibeone]

Nice guide Ross. Far more technical than my own install, but I'll get there!

 

[rsmck]

Slight update to this now that it's finally (properly) installed;

I adapted an off-the shelf 12v USB charger (from Belkin) as I was much happier with the quality of it than the "Car DVR Box" that is shown above (it is, however, jammed in the same plastic box of the original one!) with my own interpretation of the Invisicord product (although it should be noted he now sells a USB version for Dashcams and such like). I also added an inline fuse. This change has also greatly improved the issues I was having with DAB reception both with the hardwire box shown above and the PSU that Transcend included in the box.



Mounting the DP200 itself was much easier than expected... Cut a hole through the trim that the USB cable fits in snugly and just plug it in - the device is light enough that this doesn't seem to cause any undue stress, although I'll keep an eye on it. So I've ended up with something that looks like this (and is easily removable);



(I've also redone the actual placing of the lens / sensor module to bring it a bit closer to the trim, so more discreet than before. Despite redoing this three times it's still slightly squint, but I've stopped caring - it will serve the intended purpose fine - just annoying for sharing the amusing clips it inevitably captures )

When installed it's very unobtrusive although I do wish it was possible for the screen to not switch on in the first place, rather than wait one minute before switching off. The blinking red LED is out of sight from the driver's position although (as you can just about see in the image before the bright green LED of the USB charger needs a bit of tape over it.. That's actually visible from the outside at the moment;




Overall I'm quite pleased with it. I've seen many 'concealed dashcam' installations using the Mobius (which will probably go on the rear at some point) however the DP200 image quality was significantly better and I like the WiFi feature.

 

[rsmck]

Finally, this is the main reason I installed it this way (other than neatness) - as mentioned above the car's own camera cluster obscured quite a large area even with the DP200 mounted as close as possible to the windscreen.

This shows (roughly) the same location, different lane sorry! in both the original position when testing out the cam and in the new 'installed' position (which is squint!)

 

[rsmck]

It's really difficult to get a photo of this from the outside without copious amounts of reflections, but here it can be seen alongside the OEM rain/light sensor and driver assistance camera (really, why can manufacturers not just enable recording a feed from those?!) ... sorry for the rain - it's Scotland, in November.

 

[niko]

It's really difficult to get a photo of this from the outside without copious amounts of reflections, but here it can be seen alongside the OEM rain/light sensor and driver assistance camera (really, why can manufacturers not just enable recording a feed from those?!) ... sorry for the rain - it's Scotland, in November.

View attachment 9294

Audi and VW has OEM solution of dashcam built into rain sensor. BMW has aftermarket solution.

Best way to make good picture of dashcam is in nice sunny day, clear blue sky, no clouds, sun shining ditectly towards windshield.

 

[reverend]

This is a great install - the easiest way to get a picture is to use something with a CPL filter as that will remove the reflections

 

[rsmck]

Audi and VW has OEM solution of dashcam built into rain sensor.
BMW has aftermarket solution.

Didn't know this ... you'd think with the cameras on the BMW and the, rather nice, iDrive system they would be able to do it just in software - The BMW aftermarket solution is terrible I believe.

Best way to make good picture of dashcam is in nice sunny day, clear blue sky, no clouds, sun shining ditectly towards windshield.

Again, Scotland in November

 

[niko]

Didn't know this ... you'd think with the cameras on the BMW and the, rather nice, iDrive system they would be able to do it just in software - The BMW aftermarket solution is terrible I believe.

Again, Scotland in November

Audi, BMW, VW dedicated DVRs design point of view is quite nice OEM look, but performance ( video quality ) is at the level of 40-50usd chinese dashcams. So, its going to take some time before we may see same high quality video performance as on DP200.

Scotland in November is similar to Ireland: - once per week for 10min you may see a part-clear sky with sun shining. So, its kinda lottery.

 

[Stuart Roberts]

Today I put together something just like this. But the pins I used are D-sub type pins. Soldered them nicely to the wires, went to install my creation but the pins are too short. No contact is made and they don't seem to clip in very snugly.

I'm going into pins 3 and 10 (as tested with a multimeter). I have tested my hardwire creation and camera work work together by simply holding the contact pins against the visible part of the wires on the rear of the block. It works.

I just need to know how long the pins should be, or where I can get ones that work ok.

Any ideas?

Stu

 

[Stuart Roberts]

This is what I have...

 

[erkme73]

Two happiest days of my life: When I bought my 2013 X5, and when I sold it two years later for a $30k loss. BMW has some of the most nanny-fied cars out there. Could not get over all of the 'safety' features that kept me from driving/operating the car the way I wanted to. Open the driver door with it in gear, it slams it into park. Try closing the power hatchback from anything other than the button on the door, impossible. Want to shift from neutral into drive? You have to put your foot on the brake, and press the little button on the side of the shifter as you put it into drive. Do it in the wrong order, the car yells at you, and you have to start over (just ignore the people honking at you at the light). I have a list as long as my arm over why I'll never own a BMW. Sorry to poo-poo your ride - just thought if this is read by someone considering this brand, they ought to know.

 

[DT MI]

...Open the driver door with it in gear, it slams it into park. ...

That's one of those things that sound really good on paper but there are just so many scenarios when it doesn't work out so well in real life.

 

[erkme73]

That's one of those things that sound really good on paper but there are just so many scenarios when it doesn't work out so well in real life.

Yes, like sticking your head out the door as your backing up, to see if you'll clear [whatever]. Usually in the rain, since the water drops on the 360° OEM cameras distort everything.

 

[DT MI]

Yes, like sticking your head out the door as your backing up, to see if you'll clear [whatever]. Usually in the rain, since the water drops on the 360° OEM cameras distort everything.

That's the first scenario the came to mind when I read your post.

 

[rsmck]

Two happiest days of my life: When I bought my 2013 X5, and when I sold it two years later for a $30k loss. BMW has some of the most nanny-fied cars out there. Could not get over all of the 'safety' features that kept me from driving/operating the car the way I wanted to.

Each to their own I guess, but I've not found it like that at all

Open the driver door with it in gear, it slams it into park.

Mine doesn't do that (2014 5 Series), maybe it's a US thing ?

Try closing the power hatchback from anything other than the button on the door, impossible.

Why would you need to? Also, mine does close fine manually, there's a bit more resistance on one that doesn't have an electric motor connected to it but that's to be expected.

Want to shift from neutral into drive? You have to put your foot on the brake, and press the little button on the side of the shifter as you put it into drive. Do it in the wrong order, the car yells at you, and you have to start over (just ignore the people honking at you at the light).

My last car (Audi) was like that as well, and I must say in a combined 80,000 miles of driving it never gave me a problem - most modern automatic transmissions require the brake to be pressed before selecting a gear, not after.

I have a list as long as my arm over why I'll never own a BMW. Sorry to poo-poo your ride - just thought if this is read by someone considering this brand, they ought to know.

Cars are a very individual taste I guess. The only thing I dislike about mine is the windscreen wipers, they're terrible. In almost every other way it's one of the best vehicles I've driven and a remarkable number of people (and reviews) agree.

I've said for 15+ years I'd never own a BMW, they have a bit of a reputation sadly, and after 2 weeks of having one as a hire car on the German autobahns I came home and bought one

 

[rsmck]

This is what I have...

Sorry, just saw this now when sending a link to this thread to someone else, been a bit busy lately and not been around here..

The pins I used were removed from a 3 or 5 (can't remember sorry) XLR plug however the pin itself isn't long enough, the trick is to solder the cable on well enough and with a thin bit of solder that the bit covered in tape can be pushed in as well.

Also, it's not as tight as I'd like it to be, I used some cloth tape to secure it to the main wiring loom which prevents any movement.

 

[erkme73]

Why would you need to? Also, mine does close fine manually, there's a bit more resistance on one that doesn't have an electric motor connected to it but that's to be expected.

To each their own, and obviously my pet peeves aren't universal. As to why you might want to close the hatchback remotely (key fob, or from the dash)? Well, if you inadvertently push the 'open' button while sitting in traffic (say at a red light), while it's raining... you now have to put the car in park, get out, walk to the back and press the button - standing in the rain. I know, slim odds, but it happens. A 1990 Dodge caravan had power doors that would open OR close from the driver seat. My new 2015 Highlander has auto close on everything. I can shift into gear w/o foot on brake, or pressing an extra button on the shifter.

BTW, talking about buttons, I just remembered another one... The lock/unlock button is located IN THE CENTER of the dash on the X5. That is, if you want to lock or unlock the car (say your wife just walked away with the keys) you have to CLIMB INTO THE CAR to get to the button. WHY? Why not do what every other car manufacturer does and put the lock/unlock on the door?

Thanks for getting my blood pressure up again Tongue firmly planted in cheek...

 

[Caesium]

Nice install tips, might do this on my E70

By the way:
I can open and close my power tailgate from inside the car, the bootlid button or the remote.

Also if you know what you're doing, you can code the auto park feature out so that it doesn't shift to park when opening the door.
The door locking button is in the centre so that the passenger can also lock and unlock without having to reach over. Simple when you think about it.