F750 - interesting technical issues

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Dippy

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I have almost completed my installation but have hit some technical issues which I thought I'd share.

Rear camera orientation
I made the mistake of thinking that the rear camera should be mounted with the bracket and connector on the left such that the visible CE label is upright. This is not true. The bracket must be at the right and so the label is upside-down

90 degree connectors
I wanted a neat installation so bought some angled micro-USB extension cables. Aside from the fact that due to the point above I got the wrong one for the rear camera, I discovered that it DOES matter if the cables are 4-wire or 5-wire. According to my tests and my assumption, a 4-wire extension cable will ONLY work if connected to the rear camera. If connected to the front camera, the rear camera will not be recognised. I have put a question into Thinkware about this, with my assumption that the front camera does use the OTG function in the USB cable and somehow it still works if the connection is open only at the rear camera end.

GPS
Before I had the rear camera connected the GPS would connect (after a variable delay). As soon as I connected the rear camera it would not. I had installed the front camera so that both the power and USB cable were routed over the top of the unit, then up through the gap between the unit and its mount, before then going into the car trim. Having been on a car journey when GPS did not connect, I disconnected the micro-USB cable at the front camera and within moments GPS connected. I then changed the routing of the USB cable so that it was behind the camera, and after it rebooted the GPS connected again. However during the return journey GPS did not connect. This is still an open issue for me so clearly the routing of the USB cable is critical as to whether not my GPS will connect.

DAB
Not an issue as such, in fact quite the reverse. One of the reasons I decided not to get a Blackview was that I read reports about DAB interference from the cable for the rear camera, including from someone with the same model of car that I have. The good news is that there has been absolutely no DAB interference from my system, even with the cable being run quite close to the car antenna.
 
The connector/adaptor issue is strange. I now have a selection of different adaptors and cables and some of them simply won't allow the rear camera to be recognised if they are connected at the front camera. Yet they work as data cables when I use them between a PC and an android tablet. I have a solution for the rear - an extension cable with a 90 degree plug which will fit and finish that off neatly. However for the front I am resorting to make my own extension cable using individual parts. When I first decided to fit a dashcam I never considered that this would be such a problem!
 
I have an update on this. Since my front camera is only partially behind my rear view mirror such that the right hand side where the cables are is visible whilst driving, I am being rather obsessive about the cables being as neat as possible, and certainly that the plug for the rear camera should be as small as possible. This is why I really need a right angle adaptor instead of the 'straight' cable which comes in the F750 kit. To this ends I have now procured the parts I need to make my own micro-USB extension cable, and these parts have made it easier for me to check the connections on the various pre-made extension cables and adaptors I have bought so far. The vast majority of these have only 4 of the 5 connections made. The ID connection is open circuit.

Now Thinkware tech support could not confirm this, but according to my tests, the F750 main unit clearly uses the ID connection in determining if a rear camera is connected. I have found that if a 4-connection adapter is used at the main camera end, the rear camera will not be recognised. However a 4-connection adapter can be used at the rear camera and it will be recognised. What this suggests to me is that possible ID is connected inside the rear camera, however since there is a 6 metre cable connecting the main camera to the rear camera, even if the ID wire is not connected at the rear camera, it is possible that the connection of a 6 metre 'floating' wire is sufficient to 'fool' the circuitry into believing that the camera is connected.

The net result of this is that finding a right-angle cable or adaptor for the rear camera is not really a problem. I bought the L25LEFT cable from Hiniko which is advertised as not having ID connected and I can confirm this, and this WILL work at the rear camera as long as ID is connected at the front. However in my case this cable is not long enough to squeeze in the trim so I also bought the L50LEFT cable which is long enough. However unlike the L25LEFT cable, the L50LEFT cable DOES have the ID connection (I have informed Hiniko of this). So not only is it a solution for my rear camera installation, it can also be used at the main camera at the front. The only issue is that compared to the L25LEFT cable, the right angle plug on the L50LEFT cable is bigger. Now if I had no other option then I would be very satisfied to use it, however as I noted I bought parts to make my own cable and the right-angle plug assembly is significantly smaller so I am planning to make my own extension cable to use at the front. Rather than buy suitable 5-core cable to use (one pair must be twisted and the cable must be screened) I have bought some cheap USB cables and am planning to cut the plugs off and use the cable. I think I shall need to use the screen for GROUND so that the other 4 wires can be used for +Ve, ID and of course the data pair. I shall update when I have made and tested the cable.
 
Hey Dippy. nice write up on the job progress there!
Have you completed your own cables yet?
 
Yes I did. I have done a write-up here.
 
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