SG9663DC BMW 420D Install & Issues

AYYC

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Hi All,

Been a guest of this forum for a while trying to choose which dash cam to purchase. For quite a while I had my eyes on the Thinkware F770 because of the dual camera capabilities and it seems like it has quite good picture quality. However eventually settled on the Street Guardian because of a couple of things; firstly the presence of Street Guardian representatives on the forum giving advice and support, secondly the image quality seems to pip the F770 as it has the option of 60 FPS and overall higher bitrate, thirdly the lens is symmetrical to the body and not offset (OCD) and finally the extras provided within the box is amazingly comprehensive.

As per the title I have a BMW 420D (Grand Coup with the 4 doors), one frustration I did have when researching the net in general is the lack of install experience with BMWs. So I am sharing my experience and issues I had when installing the SG9663DC. It is not complete yet, but hopefully as issues are resolved or not I will update this thread.

I have currently only the front camera installed. I will get onto why the rear is still boxed later. The front camera install was pretty straight forward. I did not have to remove any trim luckily which I was apprehensive about. The A pillar did not have an airbag installed along its length, only starting from near the top along the top of the window. I was able to just remove the door rubber and use a cable rod to pull the power cable through. Biggest difficulty was getting the ferrite choke through the gap.
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The camera is situated adjacent to the rear view mirror housing. I might look to move this below the mirror housing at a later date because of the curvature of the front windscreen and the dash cam is direct mount, it means that if I install the camera level, the camera would point towards the passenger side of the road. Currently it is mounted at a slight angle to have the road central within the field of view, however this means that the horizon is tilted at 2-3°? It is pronounced and may annoy me enough to facilitate the move later. (Did I mention OCD earlier?). Cabling is unobtrusive in this position though. Perhaps I could fabricate a small shim to offset the curvature of the screen, or double up on the adhesive on one side.
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The dash cam mount once clipped in is secure and doesn't wobble. Haven't noticed any rattles from the mount or the cables during the test drive. I have a fairly stiff suspension and the UK roads are not the smoothest. The position it is in at the moment also means I do not see the flashing red recording light, which may be distracting if I move it towards a more central location. I did not see a need to alter the exposure yet. But the weather has been pretty overcast. Did not notice any hot pixels yet during the night run.

The camera is unobtrusive looking from the outside, it is not noticeable with a casual glance as it blends in with the rear view mirror. The black adhesive helps.

Now to the biggest issue I currently have and it is to do with the rear camera and interference with the DAB (digital radio in UK) radio, not thought of trying it with FM or AM, I don't listen to those anymore. With the 420D the antenna array is the embedded wires on the upper 1/4 of the rear screen, the lower 3/4 is the heating elements.

With the 3m cable, I cannot place the rear camera closer than 20cm to the antenna without loss of signal to DAB. :( Big disappointment as I mainly purchased this dash cam for the dual capability. I tried a couple of other tests to see what was causing the interference.
  • With the 3m cable, minimum distance the rear camera module can be to the antenna is 20cm without interference.
  • With the 6m cable, the minimum distance with the rear camera module drops down to 2-3cm. I am assuming this is due to the attenuation of the longer cable.
  • With the 6m cable, this time keeping the camera at a safe distance, moved just the cable to within 2-3cm of the antenna, no radio signal also, suggesting the cable may not be well shielded.
  • What if I try some DIY shielding?? Covering the entire camera and 10cm of cable with aluminium foil I was able to place the camera module against the glass without interference.
  • Covering just the last 10cm of the 6m USB cable, didn't work, again 2-3cm minimum distance to the glass before the radio cut out.
  • Covering the upper half of the camera housing and the last 10cm of the cable, leaving the lens showing, I was again able to place the camera against the glass without interference.
  • With either length cable and no camera plugged in, no interference.
Currently the only way I can think of for me to use the rear camera is if I somehow install it on the interior light housing in the middle of the car. But the FOV out of the rear window would be pretty poor and it would look ugly. Or somehow I wrap the camera housing except the lens in aluminium foil. Maybe a 9m length of cable would attenuate the signal enough to allow me to place the camera against the glass without loss of radio?

Back onto the practical side, the 3m cable looks to be marginal on the length (can't tell unless properly installed), 4m would have been definitely OK. 6m I will have to take a long detour to use up the extra length as I am not sure where I can tuck the spare length.

I will be interested in getting the hardwire kit to use the parking features when it is available. The firmware that comes with the camera already has the features in the menu.

Anyways this has been my experience so far, welcome members to ask any other questions.

Kind Regards
AYYC
 
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Thank you for doing tests.
I am afraid this result would be with most dashcams due to DAB/vehicle specifics.
Video cable is shielded. There are other things which may affect DAB. We have few ideas. I will PM you so you can try out.

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Where is the DAB antenna in the vehicle?

Hi Jokiin,

The matrix you can see exposed is the radio antenna. Difficult to see but there are three distinct sections separated by the two vertical lines. (There is a 1mm gap)
Unfortunately due to the shallow angle of the rear screen, while it looks like a big piece of glass if I install it lower, it becomes right in the middle of my vision.

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Kind Regards
AYYC
 
I found this video. Maybe it can help.
 
This is good video tutorial for 1-series BMW where rear cam is mounted on teh bottom part of the glass. In 420 DAB antenna uses 3 upper lines/stripes above heating elements exactly where rear cam is mounted.
We have few ideas and working on this case now.

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From what I was reading, it deals with the amp, not the antenna. If the camera and cable are kept away from where the amp is, the interference 'most likely' is resolved. In the video, the DAB antenna is on the entire window, or am I mistaken?
 
From what I was reading, it deals with the amp, not the antenna. If the camera and cable are kept away from where the amp is, the interference 'most likely' is resolved. In the video, the DAB antenna is on the entire window, or am I mistaken?

Usually, it is only 3 lines that are used for FM/AM/DAB radio, rest are for heating. At least in most German cars I owned it was like that (incl. BMW).
You are right, if camera is kept away from amp and antenna, that's what the guy in that video did in his bmw-1, he mounted rear camera away from amp/antenna because his BMW is a standard hatchback.
In 420D if cameara is mounted on the bottom part of the glass then the rear bonnet going to obstruct most of the view.
 
I looked up photos of the 420D. I see the problem. You would think by now they would shield the amp better by now.
Are you trying to find a way to shield the camera? Curious to what your 'few ideas' are. :)
 
It's either DAB amp, either antenna "stripes", either combination of both.
We don't want to speculate about our ideas before we try them out.

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I am not sure where the amp is located on the 420D, I would have assumed it is in the floor of the boot along with the speaker amplifiers.

The front camera operates brilliantly, really happy with it. Since I do a lot of travelling as part of my job, on so many occasions I have seen something I wanted to record, usually other drivers doing something silly, but I didn't have a dash cam.

The latest interesting clip I captured was of some Sky Cycling Team riders out on a Christmas eve ride. It looked like Geraint Thomas and some mates but unfortunately a review of the clip only showed the back end of the riders as I over took them.
 
I am not sure where the amp is located on the 420D, I would have assumed it is in the floor of the boot along with the speaker amplifiers.

it's not just the amp unfortunately, an amplified antenna is great at increasing radio signal, unfortunately it's also great at increasing any noise it picks up so having something right on top of the antenna is a challenge
 
I meant DAB antenna amp. It is small box locates nearby DAB antenna usually in the rear A-pillar or under ceiling headliner. See where DAB antenna windows stripes are running from and in that direction you will find an amp.
 
Just got a camera in mail today and picked up a brand new Kia optima sedan.

It also has top wires for fm/am ...

What's the best practice to mount the rear camera not to interfer with the signal and how best to test it before putting the mount?

Same goes for front one with all the sensors ... Car gps ...

Any good practices to follow ?

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Do test-install of rear camera before fixing rear cam mount with adhesive tape and hiding video cable.
First mount front camera, connect power cable, then just run rear camera video cable across car interior just laying on car seats etc., connect it to the rear camera (don't mount yet to rear cam bracket with adhesives tape to rear windows). Power on front unit, check if LCD display shows both (front + rear cam) turn on your car radio. Now hold rear cam in hand against rear windows in the place you plan to permanently mount it. Listen to radio. If all fine then you found good place to permanently mount rear camera bracket with adhesive tape. If not then move camera away to other place on your rear windows.
Basically it's always test n try before using permanent mount.

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Just discovered my 2x MF3 Vicovation cameras generate horrendous interfereance on FM
So bad you cant tune in a Station. You can see the frequency, move frequency.
But hardly any Station names, and only hear one.

Cut the power to the Dashcams and everything is perfect! :(:(:(
20+ stations tune in automatically ... all crystal clear!

Using Juicebitz hi quality? cable.

How do you cure this ?
Do ferrite rings stop it?
 
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