How do you reduce glare on IR dash camera?

[jfsoto1988]

I am testing a Thinkware 360 degree dash cam setup on my 2006 Nissan Pathfinder SE SUV.

My setup is F200 in the front, two F50 (with anti tampering cases)for the rear sides, & F200 IR interior for the rear.

The foldup rear window that these older SUVs have might make running the cable for the regular rear camera impossible.

Is there a way to reduce night glare on the IR camera? I think that is the best I can adjust the lens and I cant move it too close to the mirror either.

 

[DAP]

An IR camera is intended to capture what happens inside the vehicle. To do so, it has IR LEDs to illuminate the interior. It is not going to see much outside due to the inside of the vehicle being much brighter due to the LED illumination. If your goal is to see what is happening outside the car, get a normal visible light dash cam.

 

[kamkar]

Yes the weak IR emitters on a dashcam will not reach far, it will have to be so strong to be of any good outside that you will overexpose the cabin part of the footage.
Regarding a rear camera, you dont have to install that off the glass, i have 2 rear cameras the one are mounted off the rear hatch frame ( small Jap 5 door hatchback ) but the #2 are mounted of the glass as otherwise it will be hard to fit both close to each other and within wiper reach + they of course still have to be at the top of the rear window for stealth reasons.
The 1 camera are routed thru the rubber grommets, the other one are just routed off to the side with a little slack in the back so the rear hatch can be opened and closed.

you will never get any outside footage worth a damn with a inside / cabin camera, though during testing a uber cam i did get a plate capture at night on the car behind me, but i do wish that major luck write off was on a lotto ticket instead.

As i understand it your Nissan it is not a electric rear window just one that can be opened like the hatch, so should be no problem mounting a camera there. at the top of the glass.
It is the only way you will get outside footage worth mentioning.

 

[SawMaster]

Looking through the rear glass from the front is not optimal even in daytime, and at night headlight glare from behind renders it even worse. A 'cabin cam' with IR won't see outside at night and the best you can do then is turn the IR emitters off, which greatly dims the interior view and still leaves you with the headlight glare problem.

It may take some thinking and DIY innovating, but there's almost always to mount a rear cam (or any cam) well. They don't have to be mounted as the manufacturer intended. You can get ideas for mounting HERE on the "Where did you mount the cam?" thread on DCT. Hatchbacks can still have on-the-glass mounting if the cabling is routed well, most folks do that going through existing wiring boots but there are other ways.

Phil

 

[DAP]

A rear dash cam (not IR) mounted on the front windshield is not useless:

But you do get better results with it mounted on the rear window.

Edit: looking at the thumbnail is misleading. Youtube cranked the brightness of that image, and wiped out the view rearward. The actual video is ok though.

 

[SawMaster]

I've tested some "Taxi/Rideshare" cams with a cabin-cam at the front, and they sort of do OK daytime. With convertible top cars (drop-head cars in the UK) sometimes that's the best that can be done without altering the car or making an ugly mount system. Better than nothing, but a real rear cam will always be better.

Phil