Is there such thing as a side view dashcam? (For your car doors)

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?

My dash cams are all installed with USB-A to mini-B cables. When connected to my vehicle's 12V system I have the cameras plugged into 2 dual USB-A port 12V chargers in my truck's 12V ports. To change over to the power banks I just manually switch the plugs from the vehicle to the banks which are stored in a cubby hole in the console directly below where the 12V ports are.

I use two 20,000 mAh or higher capacity power banks that can run all four of my cameras for an entire day or more. Once I make the switch from my vehicle's power to the power banks I usually just let the banks run the cameras for the rest of the day unless I'm traveling very far from home, in which case I will plug the cameras back into my truck's 12V power.
 
I hooked up a side cam on my back door. I caught another car going in the opposite direction. Keep in mind this is probably at a combined speed of 80-100mph taken with a very cheap 1080p cam..
I doubt this car could be identified. The 2 bright white streaks must be the other cars headlights. I doubt they would be side marker lights.


side cam car going other direction.png
 
I hooked up a side cam on my back door. I caught another car going in the opposite direction. Keep in mind this is probably at a combined speed of 80-100mph taken with a very cheap 1080p cam..
I doubt this car could be identified. The 2 bright white streaks must be the other cars headlights. I doubt they would be side marker lights.

well, i would say that this is not the purpose of side cams. it is not reasonable to expect detail with movements perpendicular to the cam POV special at that speed. they are useful for parking situations and to monitor action at stops or movements of persons or vehicles towards your car
 
A side cam could come in handy when someone comes at you from a road or driveway on that side of the car. You are correct in saying expecting to see cars in the other lane is expecting to much. Considering how much view we get of a lane 14" away from the car capturing a car going the other way at 90 to 120 mph in a 45 or 55 zone comes down to almost pure chance. I know the car was light colored. Despite appearances I do not believe it was a stretch limo. The car was to close and to fast. The garage and trees can be seen clearly enough.
 
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Another good use - when someone traveling in the same direction as you changes lanes into you. It might show that they were messing with their phone or something equally stupid.
 
A side cam could come in handy when someone comes at you from a road or driveway on that side of the car.

That and parking protection is why I have mine; they're not normally much good at anything else. I decided I wanted side cams when in studying my vids, I often could not see a car on the crossing road at a 4-Way stop with my front cam. If we crashed it would be their word against mine so it simply seemed to be what to do, as we get a lot of people here who don't know how to deal with a 4-way stop, which we have plenty of. If a front cam could cover nearly 180 degrees well you could probably do fine without side cams, but that doesn't happen so....

For my purposes, a side cam that can identify a face at 3-4meters is good enough as that will clearly show any vehicle well enough to have my front or rear cam identify it as the same car when it passes. Mine are 1080P30, but TBH I'd probably be just as happy if they were 720P30. You can get cams like that very cheaply so why not? Just know that you will end up wanting that in every car you own once you start- dashcams can be addicting!

Phil
 
I was hoping that one of my side-facing B1W cameras would record this driver on his phone as I passed him at <10mph speed difference, but the motion blur is too high to show any useful detail.
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I did also record him with a rear-facing Mobius 1 with a varifocal lens and CPL filter. He followed behind me at the next exit and came to a stop, still talking on his phone.
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For my purposes, a side cam that can identify a face at 3-4meters is good enough as that will clearly show any vehicle well enough to have my front or rear cam identify it as the same car when it passes. Mine are 1080P30, but TBH I'd probably be just as happy if they were 720P30. You can get cams like that very cheaply so why not? Just know that you will end up wanting that in every car you own once you start- dashcams can be addicting!

Phil
My plans (subject to change) are to have a 1080p 30 cam in the rear drivers door (installed). After I add another power socket the G1W-S looking over the third brake light as it has good night vision. A cheap1080p (probably recording at 720p) mirror cam (with a mobius maxi next to it) up front and the 480p included cam on the passengers side rear door. I wish I had a 2 door (they never made) instead of a 4 door or an older car that had side glass in the quarter panel behind the rear doors. I had to stick a mount on the door panel in my car. It does not help that the designer wanted to have a curved surface on the entire top portion of the door panel making applying a 1" wide mount much tougher than it should be. Using an opening car door adds extra challenges. Using a coiled usb wire only resulted in the cable trying to pull the mount off the door panel.

Yes, this is a wedge cam mounted upside down on the door panel using a non-wedge cam mount. I had to modify (file down to size) the tmount to fit this cam. When I was done I had a gap that I corrected by using the cut off end of a plastic knife as a wedge. The cable clamp glued on top of the cam hides the wire better and keeps the wire in place as does the other one you can see. The wire moves when the door is opened or shut without ending up in the door opening. For more stealth a white cable and camera would be preferred based on my cars interior color.
upside down wedge cam.jpg

Here is the original upside down footage. At around 15 seconds it seems that my cam had a serious problem. It is an illusion created when trees are filmed at speed upside down.



This just shows how perspective from a side view cam does not match the perspective recorded from the drivers seat.

Installing 4 cams in my dodge ram club cab (no back doors) will be much easier. The (factory tinted) club cab windows have a deep ledge going out to the side panels. The windows have solid black on the outside edge that should allow a mount to be glued on without being seen. Either area should easily hold a camera while the tinted side windows will make any cam installation almost impossible to see.

My actual dodge ram that needed a bath..
trucksidesmall.jpg

Those big hips over the rear tires need bigger than stock mirrors to see past.
I installed these mirrors for visibility especially needed when towing.
These mirrors are electrically operated allowing in, out, up, down, and sideways adjustments from the drivers seat.
closed.jpg

completelyexpanded.jpg

A bigger picture of a ram 3500 I found online that I slightly personalized.
Profilepic2_zpse75136bd.jpg



I will probably hang a cam off the sliding rear window frame to see what happens behind me. The back cam will be pretty much useless when my fifth wheel gets hauled. Yup...I captured and saved 1,834 miles of footage. The white color of the front of my trailer can not be denied. What did you ask, what else did I see? That cam saw nothing else except for 3 or 4 feet of the side of cars passing me.
 
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That and parking protection is why I have mine; they're not normally much good at anything else. I decided I wanted side cams when in studying my vids, I often could not see a car on the crossing road at a 4-Way stop with my front cam. If we crashed it would be their word against mine so it simply seemed to be what to do, as we get a lot of people here who don't know how to deal with a 4-way stop, which we have plenty of. If a front cam could cover nearly 180 degrees well you could probably do fine without side cams, but that doesn't happen so....

For my purposes, a side cam that can identify a face at 3-4meters is good enough as that will clearly show any vehicle well enough to have my front or rear cam identify it as the same car when it passes. Mine are 1080P30, but TBH I'd probably be just as happy if they were 720P30. You can get cams like that very cheaply so why not? Just know that you will end up wanting that in every car you own once you start- dashcams can be addicting!

Phil

that is what i also think.
I am planning however on two sets of BlackVue DR750 2CH because on top of those needs i will go an extra mile and want to have remote monitoring of my car. control freak...

for anyone that doesn't need remote monitor then it is cheap and easy to build a 360º setup with great image quality today. i believe this will be an increasing trend we will see in the coming months/years.
 
This is a picture taken on the interstate when a car passed me. While this cams location on the door panel could miss a go cart it should capture anything more than knee high from the ground. Only on extremely hilly terrain would this be inadequate. Yes, I do realize I should aim the cam a bit more to the rear.

car passing on interstate.png


Picture from a side cam in the rain at a shopping mall parking lot. This is a completely useless capture. I did use an editor on the date stamp by cutting and rotating it to make it readable.
side cam in the rain at a shopping mall.png
 
Going to try the wider C2 lens that came with one of my M1's. Overall, looking good! :)

@Harsh, as you probably heard me say many times, of all the expereiments I've done with side cams and lenses the C2 lens on the Mobius has provided the most optimal coverage.
I tried a Mobius 1 C2 lens on my A129 rear camera last night.
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First, the good news. The lens does not cause any vignetting on the sensor. Not even a hint of dark corners.

The bad news? The lens is a lot shorter than the original A129 lens, such that the lens housing causes considerable vignetting down both short sides.

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I think this could be made to work with some DIY to widen the aperture of the lens housing. Another project for another day....
 
you cant win every time in the lens lottery.
 
I was wondering if your truck had a sliding rear window. I was debating about whether or not a cam should sit on the metal window frame in the middle or if that would be a bad idea when wind blows through the cab at 70mph possibly blowing the camera and mount right out the back window.

I feel totally naked without my rear and side cameras now. It all started out as an experiment but now there's no going back. :p

Here's a rear view on a rainy day.

View attachment 18478
 
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I was wondering if your truck had a sliding rear window. I was debating about whether or not a cam should sit on the metal window frame in the middle or if that would be a bad idea when wind blows through the cab at 70mph possibly blowing the camera and mount right out the back window.

Yes, there is a sliding rear panel in the center of the rear window with two fixed glass panes on either side. The camera is securely mounted on the headliner facing out the top of the sliding window panel. I've never had any camera issues running with the sliding window panel open.
 
My mobius 1 stuck to a bent pice of metal sandwiching the headliner with neo magnets at the very back of the camera, stay in place even with a open window and highway speeds.
And it is right there against the glass, and in the wind.
I cant see any issues with a camera in a rear cabin truck window, where it should get much less wind than mt side camera do with the window open.
 
My only concern would be that in the windstream you also find dust and small debris which might not be good for cam or lens. But if it works satisfactorily that's what counts most.

I do like central mounting front and rear for main cams as I feel that better shows your lane position in the vids, but sometimes that approach isn't easy or may cause more problems than it solves. Up to this point, every time I've had a mounting failure the cam has dangled from the PS wire until I could rectify things, but that had never had much wind involved. In this case I might be tempted to add a tiny dab of a softer glue or caulk to where the wire covering meets the cam, just enough to make sure it doesn't separate but not so much to prevent me from pulling the cam but not the cable out when desired. Might also use the "string" method some motorcyclists use for their attached accessories. I'd darn sure make the mounting extra solid in hope of not needing that back-up plan.

Phil
 
Looking for a way to increase side camera coverage, I bought a 185deg super wide angle lens for my Mobius 1:

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Compared to my current A129 side-facing camera which has a standard 130deg FOV lens, the wide angle Mobius captures much more both in front of and behind my car, with a decent overlap to my A129 rear camera.

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Thanks for posting the pics. That's what I'm looking to do... that's a pretty good overlap. Where do you have the side cameras mounted? Can you give some specifics on your setup? ie is it a 2 2 channel and how did you deal with the power in park mode? thanks
 
Thanks for posting the pics. That's what I'm looking to do... that's a pretty good overlap. Where do you have the side cameras mounted? Can you give some specifics on your setup? ie is it a 2 2 channel and how did you deal with the power in park mode? thanks
My main setup is an A129 Pro Duo for front and back, and an A129 Duo for left and right.

The Pro is hardwired. The side cameras are powered by a 12v socket in the boot, so I use a powerbank when parked.

The side cameras are mounted on fixed windows behind the rear doors.

To use the super wide angle lenses, I will either replace the side A129 cameras with a pair of Mobius cameras, or install the new lenses into the A129 cameras.
 
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