What is this, twenty questions?
OK, as you can see under my avatar I own 4 Mobius cameras. Two came from the manufacturer on eBay and two came from Banggood, as did the capacitors. (One of them was actually built from spare parts bought from Banggood and a lens module I already owned.) The whole thing is wired with two 15 foot and two 10 foot USB-A to mini-B 5 pin cables from Monoprice (two of which I have modified to eliminate the data wires). All four cables are plugged into two 4.8 amp dual port USB cigarette lighter plug adapters. (My vehicle has two 12V ports up front)
Edit: I run all four cameras in full time "parking mode" using two battery banks when away from the vehicle......lasts many, many hours.
how do you switch between powering from the car cigar lighter to the power banks? just manually detach the plugs from there to the power banks whenever you leave?
All 4 cameras finally installed.
I found the best angle was to have the side cams film the other side of the car
(ie the cam on the left films through the interior to the right).
This way the cam sees everything that's happening around the car.
(i put some velcro on the magnet to make sure it won't slide)
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that is the solution that I am thinking on using. you get total side coverage BUT there could be some lack of detail giving that the cams will be getting different lightning conditions from the view on the inside of the car and the exterior, and this can happen more in parking mode at night. and this is the main reason I want a 4CH setup, to get hold of vandals while parked.
the other major solution is to mount the side cams on the C/D pillar facing vertically to the front. this has the drawback of catching only action close to the doors.
how do you use a magnet to attach the cam to the headliner if it is made of tissue/fabric? and doesn't those powerful magnets interfere with the dash cam itself? magnets and electronics don't do well...
I got around the airbag issue by running the wire around the frame of the door to the front hinge, with enough slack to allow the door to open and close.
I had to mount the camera at the top of the rear window for 2 reasons. One, since the side windows are slightly curved, the plane is more vertical toward the bottom and slightly angled at the top. This means the maximum camera viewing angle is higher at the top than at the bottom (which is an issue with the wedge cams like the SG, which can just barely adjust high enough for a proper view when mounted as a side cam). This is why I chose to not mount the cam on the small "rear vent" window (the small triangular piece behind the main rear window). It is too small and too "vertical" to allow the SG to mount with a optimal view (lens would point down toward the ground too much even at max adjustable lens angle). Two, if you mount the camera at the bottom or middle of the window, it can't be rolled down - and you risk breaking the mount and/or the camera if the window is accidentally rolled down.
i have the same issues with air bag curtains. i guess they all deploy down vertically, and the the headliner that joins the side window frames will pop out in microseconds, so the cams need to be placed above that.
the other problem I have is passing the wires. I don't want to mess with airbags or have the wires holding the deployment of the air bags. there is that problem with the A pillar air bag where one has to turn off the key, disconnect the battery, wait about 10 minutes for fully discharge the capacitors in the car that may activate the air bag, and only then pass the wires behind the air bag plastic cover and thru the side of the air bag so to not affect its deploying. when coming to the side curtain air bags I'm not sure if there is a similar problem.
i'm also in doubt whether to use BlackVue DR750S-2CH or Thinkware F800 Pro. Or maybe both, using the Thinkware for the side coverage as it has time-lapse mode which seems great, but on the other end this brand it's bloated with that driving aid stuff that is nonsense...
remote view and access to footage is a must, and i'm happy to see that both brands have now cloud based solutions. need however an additional 4G connection (and mobile data plan) with a wireless hotspot. another thing to power up...
also, heat resistance is important as i live in a country with hot summers, and i read some people complaining that BlackVue hang-ons or gets blurred video, while Thinkware is more resilient, but could not find how can that be looking at the specs: blackvue has an operating temp of -20ºC to 70ºC (with a cut-off temp at 80ºC) while thinkware has an operating temp of -10ºC to 60ºC .
the best dash cam i could find on the market regarding this is the iRoad X9 running at -30ºC to 80ºC, but lacks cloud access and i cannot find any seller in Europe.
also some users have reported better image quality with Thinkware than with BlackVue but again i can't see how since they use the same Sony sensors :|
finally, anyone had issues with radio reception or any electronic interference whit the dash cam wires (affecting the antenna reception, for instance)?
any takes on these matters?
PS: it seems BlackVue has now time lapse also via firmware update!