Exterior options?

[Shep]

Visibility to the sides and rear of my DeLorean is okay for me, but a dash cam needs far better visibility than that. There really isn't any good interior location for the dash cam except the windshield. I'm looking for more dash cams for the sides and rear.

Must-Haves
- Exterior mounted, weatherproof
- Securable (screws etc.)
- Small camera size (hideaway DVR preferable)

Highly Desired Optionals
- Flush mount
- CPL (if flush mount unavailable)
- Parking mode

Right now, the Street Guardian SGZC12RC V2 fits my "must-haves" but doesn't meet the optionals beyond the parking mode. Due to the install, I would either need to make it flush-mount by drilling a hole into the black plastic trim, or I would need a "backup camera" size/shape and would need to mount it behind glass, hence the CPL.

I am struggling to find many examples of exterior/weatherproof cameras in general, which certainly isn't helping. Does anyone know of some other exterior cameras?

 

[kamkar]

I think you can get a waterproof rear camera for some of the Lukas dual cameras, at least thats what my fuzzy logic come up with.
But they will not have a CPL option for the rear camera, and the main unit is large for most lukas cameras.

 

[Shep]

Don't want to go dual, that would mean three "front" cameras that I have nowhere to place.

Literally googled "remote dash cam" on Google Images to see what was out there, and finally came across three threads of interest:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-remote-lense-s.5125/
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-remote-lens-take-2.10718/
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/custom-mobius-install-with-remote-lens.19137/

Mobius seems to be the way to go here, and the main body can be easily hidden in an area that won't be exposed to the elements in all three locations. The only question becomes: can I make it weatherproof enough to hold up to the elements? I'll ask in one of the Mobius forums. Just wish I came across this a month ago when I started digging for something like this!

 

[Harsh]

If the Mobius is being considered, you may not need to do too much towards waterproofing, the unit could be stuck and hidden behind the rear bumper or the licence plate area with the remote lens secured and sticking out just enough through a hole.

As the engine is in the rear, I'm guessing high temperatures could be an issue unless there's good separation.

 

[jokiin]

we do have a waterproof external cam option for the RC and it's the same style as a reverse camera, not quite as small though and not something that can be flush mounted either

 

[Shep]

@jokiin how easy is it to add a CPL filter to that camera? Even as a DIY? My original plan was to do that, and heck I'm only short a couple external cameras, but without a CPL that approach may be useless.

As an FYI, here are my installation options right now:

Side:



Flush mount would be a drilled hole in the black plastic part, "backup camera" would be behind the glass.

Rear:



Camera is the circle above the license plate, and the boxes are the Vico Power Plus and the body of the unit (if I go the Mobius route, might not for this one).

If the Mobius is being considered, you may not need to do too much towards waterproofing, the unit could be stuck and hidden behind the rear bumper or the licence plate area with the remote lens secured and sticking out just enough through a hole.

That's actually good to know. My concern was more or less how much of it could be exposed before it runs into issues with potential water damage, so it sounds like as long as I make sure it's as hidden as possible, it should be good!

As the engine is in the rear, I'm guessing high temperatures could be an issue unless there's good separation.

That's true, I'm not entirely certain how much heat I can stave off before it becomes an issue. My current thought is to thermally insulate the space behind the license plate surround, then put both a Vico Power Plus and the Mobius behind the bezel itself, thus insulated from the engine. Don't know how much of a factor the exhaust will be though.

Any particular recommendations on the various model of Mobius cameras out there? I'm seeing a few options and I don't know what the most recent one is or the best one is for my use case.

 

[jokiin]

CPL would have to be some sort of DIY, @niko has posted some pics of the waterproof camera somewhere here previously

 

[niko]

The pictures of SGZC12RC + External camera different mounting options installed in my car as a demo.

 

[Shep]

I appear to have not mentioned this yet, my apologies: I have one single SGRCWPC "backup camera" on hand, with three SGZC12RC dash cam units spare. The original plan was to install all three in the spots mentioned. I may do a "dry run" with a mobius and a SGRCWPC and see what gives a better image and go with that, I'm honestly split right down the middle of which approach would be better, both need some custom work for them. Just need to figure out which Mobius to compare to...

 

[Harsh]

Going by what early adopters and Beta testers have to say about the Mobius 2, as of now the Mobius 1 would be a better choice.

 

[Shep]

I suddenly had an idea, and it didn't quite work, but it's worth a mention:

I tried seeing if the SGGCCPL polarizing lens for the GC units would fit properly. The black bezel was too small, however the CPL itself was actually properly sized for the external camera.

@jokiin do you have any SGGCCPL units that only have the lens part of the CPL handy? I'd like to try 3D printing my own housing for the external camera. Would rather not bastardize a functional SGGCCPL if you have any spares. (Actually, I could use some of the regular SGRCCPL units too, need a couple for my Subaru).



In the meantime, I'm still struggling with the Mobius options. Might follow up with a Mobius vendor to be on the safe side, but I see there's supercapacitor options, some V3 thing, various lens options, hoo boy there's a lot to pick from. I'd like a supercapacitor to power the thing, also a narrow lens option and a wide lens option.

Going off of buymobius.com, is this one a good choice?

EDIT:
Forgot to mention, I'll be running both the SG RC and the Mobius on my Subaru for a while, mostly so I can figure out which one gives better footage for the type of driving I do. I think this will be the true deciding factor on which one I rely on.

EDIT 2:
Followed up with Spytec, they guided me to which Mobius cams to buy. Nabbing a couple, will ping jokiin privately about the CPL filter thing.