SG9663DC with external waterproof rear cam.

Just saw that Street Guardian refunded me not only hardwire kit, but the entire order. Now, let's be mature about this. I don't look for freebies or gifts. So please charge the order back, as I managed to hook it up. I selected this premium product because I wanted the experience to be trouble-free. There are couple of things that went wrong here and they are easy to see once we remove the emotions. I soldered the blades twice and unsoldered them in-between upon reading somebody's report that connector blade is loose and thinking that this was because the metal part is too thin. If you gave the information about the tabs when I first complained about blades not fitting, I wouldn't have to go through this wasteful work. Since my car was made in 2017, about the same time when you began to sell this model, it is also obvious that it's not a Ford, who "changed something recently". They always adhered to the standard defined for Micro2 fuse. After all the fuses fit. What must have happened, is that you recently changed the blade provider and ended up selling bad parts that were, reported on other forums with your hardwire kit. Because this product is dated, you probably don't sell many units these days, which is why you got only a couple of bad reports about the blade recently. And that's what I meant, when I said that you shouldn't be selling the hardwire kit. If you are on the Rolls Royce of cams, you test accessories before you ship. That's all. So please charge me for what I bought and keep supporting it. I do have an issue though. The circular polarizer filter seems to be damaged. I am attaching the picture. I tried to download a video to my phone after I hooked up the unit an hour ago, but WiFi disconnected in the middle of download. So I removed the unit to take it home rather than risk losing the card. I immediately saw something on the filter. First I thought that it was a finger smudge, but I couldn't comprehend how it came about because I hooked up the whole thing without removing protective plastic from both cameras and two filters from polarizer filter. I am very careful with such matters. So I tried to clean the filter with optical cleaning paper that I use on my photo lenses, but it would't come off. I didn't move the videos to my computer and I haven't dealt with polirizer filters of this size. So perhaps this is a feature and it has no negative effect on the video. But if it a defect, I would appreciate if you replaced the filter.
 

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I asked our e-commerce tech to refund just the SGDCHW a bit ago. (not the whole order) I'll confirm what happened and email you if a re-bill correction is needed. A new CPL will be shipped out to you on Monday. (haven't seen that before)
 
My bad, I see that you refunded the hardwire kit. I misunderstood the email. I will send the polarizer back with the first camera kit. I just review the videos - I don't see any spots on the frontal feed. I got a lot of short videos with a lot of lapses in between them. That's understood, when the camera was in the zombie mode. The strange thing is that when I finally made a reliable connection and went out for a ride about an hour ago, the camera filmed as I was entering my garage and parked the car, but for some reason skipped the previous 3 minutes that I was driving. It's almost as if it got triggered by me slowing down into the underground garage. I tried downloading older videos, before I left for a drive and like I said it lost wifi connection. But I switched it back to recording before I left. Maybe it get hung somehow, but it never recorded me exiting the garage and driving around and started recording just as I was entering the underground building garage. Is there any special software viewer for the videos?
 
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My bad, I see that you refunded the hardwire kit. I misunderstood the email. I will send the polarizer back with the first camera kit. I just review the videos - I don't see any spots on the frontal feed. I got a lot of short videos with a lot of lapses in between them. That's understood, when the camera was in the zombie mode. The strange thing is that when I finally made a relatable connection and went out for a ride about an hour ago, the camera filmed as I was entering my garage and parked the car, but for some reason skipped 3 minutes that I was driving. It's almost as if it got triggered by me slowing down into the underground garage. I tried downloading older videos, before I left for a drive and like I said it lost wifi connection. But I switched it back to recording before I left. Maybe it get hung somehow, but it never recorded me exiting the garage and driving around and started recording just as I was entering the underground building garage. Is there any special software viewer for the videos?

Ok thanks for confirming the refund was accurate.

I'd format the card and start fresh if you're confident things are hooked up correctly now.

Here is the Street Guardian Dashcam Viewer download page: https://support.streetguardian.info/dcv
 
I think Ford simply applied tighter adherence to format, and that caused the problem.
I doubt it’s a question of stricter conformance. As a manufacturer, Ford doesn’t consider aftermarket or modification needs. Even in my Super Duty truck (2011), specifically a platform for upfitters and commercial applications, they still used a passenger footwell fuse panel that doesn’t accept add-a-circuit style taps. They give you upfitter switches and grommets to reach into the engine/battery compartment under the hood and expect you to make due with that.

I found a way on my truck to tap into the delayed-off accessory circuit for my old two-wire install so that the cam stayed powered for up to 10 minutes after turning off the truck until you open the door, but again I had to find and tap the right wire out of a tight bundle. It’s not something Ford made readily accessible. They can put extra plastic tabs and all kinds of stuff in the way because they think it’s better that way, and it’s up to us to make it work with our own application.
 
I doubt it’s a question of stricter conformance. As a manufacturer, Ford doesn’t consider aftermarket or modification needs. Even in my Super Duty truck (2011), specifically a platform for upfitters and commercial applications, they still used a passenger footwell fuse panel that doesn’t accept add-a-circuit style taps. They give you upfitter switches and grommets to reach into the engine/battery compartment under the hood and expect you to make due with that.

I found a way on my truck to tap into the delayed-off accessory circuit for my old two-wire install so that the cam stayed powered for up to 10 minutes after turning off the truck until you open the door, but again I had to find and tap the right wire out of a tight bundle. It’s not something Ford made readily accessible. They can put extra plastic tabs and all kinds of stuff in the way because they think it’s better that way, and it’s up to us to make it work with our own application.

Deacon, my Mustang was produced in 2017. Now this just happens the be best-selling sports car all over the world. All Mustangs produced from 2015 had Micro2 fuses in the cabin fuse compartment. Not even taking into consideration that probably Ford also used Micro2 fuses in other models, surely, there would other reports during this time-frame if the blade adapter that Street Guardian has been shipping with the kit always had these tabs. And then the ultimate test of a female fuse socket conformity to the standard is the shape of the male fuse. And not for the sexiest reason but because: 1) Only recently, there have been reports of some Micro2 blade adapters with tabs causing incompatibility. 2) There are no Micro2 fuses with tabs. Look at a magnified pictures of any Micro2 fuse on Amazon. As for the blade, unfortunately, because they are black, when they are present on non-compliant blade models, the tabs are not easily visible either on Amazon pictures or, in my case, when working in a darkly lit underground garage, wearing a chemical respirator because of Covid-19, with eye-glasses, which have magnifying inserts on the bottom because I am both near-sighted and far-sighted, sitting well above their proper position because of the respirator.
Boy, am I glad, I am done lying with my head down and my legs up out of the window! :)
 
All newer American cars seen on Danish streets,,,,,,,, which are not a lot, BUT ! if we rule out trucks,,,,,,,, then they are pretty much all pony cars :)
And i cant say i blame people gotten a little lotto money and wanting some power on 4 wheels, or maybe not wanting the more expensive Euro options of BMW / MERC and Audi

Personally i think i would go for a hellcat, though i will probably be driving my Maruader most of the time,,,,,, which are probably a good thing cuz my lead foot are still lead, and it is a outright miracle i have never gotten a speeding ticket, cuz at one time it was all i did. Driving 1 - 2 miles and arriving with severe brake fading was not unknown for me in the 90ties,,,,, and that in a measly Opel 1.6 L
But those lotto gods forsake me :(

I saw a very nice ??? late 60ties Camaro SS today, the 67 are one of my favorite US cars.
 
All newer American cars seen on Danish streets,,,,,,,, which are not a lot, BUT ! if we rule out trucks,,,,,,,, then they are pretty much all pony cars :)
And i cant say i blame people gotten a little lotto money and wanting some power on 4 wheels, or maybe not wanting the more expensive Euro options of BMW / MERC and Audi

Personally i think i would go for a hellcat, though i will probably be driving my Maruader most of the time,,,,,, which are probably a good thing cuz my lead foot are still lead, and it is a outright miracle i have never gotten a speeding ticket, cuz at one time it was all i did. Driving 1 - 2 miles and arriving with severe brake fading was not unknown for me in the 90ties,,,,, and that in a measly Opel 1.6 L
But those lotto gods forsake me :(

I saw a very nice ??? late 60ties Camaro SS today, the 67 are one of my favorite US cars.
The situation with Mustangs in US is such that unlike with German cars, a Mustang loses about $12K of its original price in the first year, which makes buying a lightly used corporate car very attractive. So in 2018 I was able to get a 2017 EcoBoost convertible with 17K miles, which sells new for $35K, for $23,500 in an immaculate condition. It was the same price that my previous 2001 Celica GTS cost me back 2001. Unfortunately, exactly a year after I bought the Ecoboost, I smashed it, when somebody changed into my lane and, for some reason, immediately stepped on the breaks. The insurance was very fair and I was able to pick up my current GT convertible, also a 2017 model, also with 17K miles for $34K. A new one would set me back about $47K, which I would consider a waste of money. Both used Mustangs has a smell of a brand new car. Before them I bought all my cars new, having no clue that a car could drop down in price so much in its first year. Since I was not aware of corporate toys, I also thought that one should not buy used sports cars, and all my cars were sports cars with a manual transmission. There is no chance that I would be able get a slightly used BMW 4 series convertible for that kind of money. And it is only offered in automatic while I believe that a piano should be played with both hands. :) No other German car except insanely expensive Audi RS9 appeals to me visually, though from the looks vs performance perspective, an M series BMW handles much better than any Mustang. I don't have that kind of money and I am very happy with what I got.
 
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So here is how I routed the cables. Rear cam cable is really thick and pushing both the power and rear cam cables under the windshield glass seemed like a bad idea. So I chose to route cables under the rubber fold that serves as a cushion when the convertible top touches the windshield frame. Off course it wasn't designed for so much to be stuffed under it, and as a result, I had to glue the rubber cushion to painted steel after I routed the cables. It was a bad idea to use crazy glue - cyanoacrylate, because, as you can see on the pictures, it reacted with both rubber and car's clear coat and turned white. I later washed the white away with acetone.IMG_20200529_161513327.jpgIMG_20200529_160842019.jpgIMG_20200529_160842019.jpgIMG_20200529_160949260.jpg
 
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Don't put super glue anywhere near a camera lens, the slightest hint of glue vapors will permanently cloud it up ruin it.
 
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Don't put super glue anywhere near a camera lens, the slightest hint of glue vapors will permanently ruin it.

Good to know! Fortunately, I routed the cables and attached the front camera stick-on pad well before I placed the camera on the pad.

I have no idea why one of the images that I attached is displayed twice. When I try to edit the post in order to remove it, I only see three attachments.
 
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I didn’t notice your photos until now. Why did you need to run the wires like that? What about the normal route along the headliner and down the a-pillar? The way you have now will pinch the cables over time.
 
I didn’t notice your photos until now. Why did you need to run the wires like that? What about the normal route along the headliner and down the a-pillar? The way you have now will pinch the cables over time.

I managed to disassemble the trim from the back of the car up to an a-pillar, but couldn't snake the thick rear cam cable across the a-pillar towards the window shield. So far there are no signs of pressure on the cables, but I will check next time I use the car.
 
While pavement looks amazingly sharp on the rear cam videos taken on a sunny day, it is impossible to read the licence plates of cars behind mine, even if when they got really close to mine. The licence plates are completely washed-out. Any recommendations? Thanks.
 
Uploading one right now. :)

This video that I am uploading shows the problem when sun is shining on the car behind me. Meaning the sun is in front of me. In other videos, on a street lined with trees casting shadows across it, when the sun was behind my car, I could read the licence plate of a vehicle following me.

I wonder a polarizer filter could help this? I am not asking for one as I realize that unless you build it into the external cam and use some kind of a hardened glass, it would get damaged rather quickly. But then you would lose F stops on the camera which is already somewhat lacking at night...

OK. The upload has finished. Tell me what you think. I love the quality otherwise.
It might be the angle. Jokiin, since the rear cam sits higher on your truck, you might not have this issue.
 
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it's not the camera angle so much as it is the lighting conditions, late afternoon sun is low in the sky and hitting a reflective license plate, you'd see the same result from the front camera at times under the same lighting situation even though it's mounted higher and has a filter, the filter is for dealing with reflections from the window, it wouldn't help with this particular situation, the mounting height of the camera would come into play at different angles, and different times of the day, there will always be a time when the situation is just right (or wrong as the case may be) for reflection to be an issue

here's a couple of screen grabs so others can see what we're looking at

reflected sun.jpg

shade.jpg
 
Sony IMX323 Sensor has been around a few years, but the waterproof rear camera option you're using now was just launched about a year ago (definitely not 3 years old) But yes very happy with the evolution of lenses and firmware fine-tuning over the last few years. Things keep getting incrementally better each year even with existing components & products.
 
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