SGZC12RC External Microphone DIY mod

IronMan

Member
Joined
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Country
United States
Dash Cam
2 x SGZC12RC, Panorama S, Mini 0803, Mini 0801
Hello guys,

So my main units are mounted inside the glove box and internal microphone has a hard time picking up sound.
I have been living with little to no sound at all on the videos until I finally got some time to sit and put together the pieces that I have ordered long time ago.

So here are the parts I used:
1) 3.5 socket (https://www.ebay.com/itm/390933008237)
2) external microphone (https://www.ebay.com/itm/131537199237)
3) soldering stuff and some drilling stuff

The result is below in pics.

I have the sound now despite the units are closed in the glove box!
Cheers

IMG_6357.jpg IMG_6358.jpg IMG_6359.jpg IMG_6360.jpg IMG_6361.jpg
 
Wow fantastic (Voids warranty of course) but awesome stuff.
Thank you Jon. Voids warranty? Oh no, what am I gonna do? :D I took a risk and I am happy with the results and everything is operating fine. This is clearly not a mainstream mod, but just to show that doable if you feel handy.
 
Thank you Jon. Voids warranty? Oh no, what am I gonna do? :D I took a risk and I am happy with the results and everything is operating fine. This is clearly not a mainstream mod, but just to show that doable if you feel handy.

if you had a problem with the remote camera we'd still support you, you're not totally on your own, your mods are unlikely to give you any problems though
 
Makes sense, similar car analogy - Drive Train vs Engine warranty parts. (someone modifies the engine, drive train issue is still covered)
Normal consumer electronics warranty isn't as forgiving but we can cut you some slack here. :)
 
Hello guys,

So my main units are mounted inside the glove box and internal microphone has a hard time picking up sound.
I have been living with little to no sound at all on the videos until I finally got some time to sit and put together the pieces that I have ordered long time ago.

So here are the parts I used:
1) 3.5 socket (https://www.ebay.com/itm/390933008237)
2) external microphone (https://www.ebay.com/itm/131537199237)
3) soldering stuff and some drilling stuff

The result is below in pics.

I have the sound now despite the units are closed in the glove box!
Cheers

View attachment 19151 View attachment 19152 View attachment 19153 View attachment 19154 View attachment 19155


Great job !
This was one of my ideas year ago when I got first prototype.
Next idea was to "extend" a blinking blue LED, got all parts for job, but no time for DIY. This is a hint for you, maybe you have more time ? ;)
 
if you had a problem with the remote camera we'd still support you, you're not totally on your own, your mods are unlikely to give you any problems though
Makes sense, similar car analogy - Drive Train vs Engine warranty parts. (someone modifies the engine, drive train issue is still covered)
Normal consumer electronics warranty isn't as forgiving but we can cut you some slack here. :)


I cant see any reason why sellers should support people going inside a device like this and think more should be done to alert them that someone has ...

You get enough returns and problems without standing the cost of a DIY hamfisted public thrashing around inside ...


Suppose they hurt themselves (photographed to death :D), ridiculous litigation might ensue like Porsche is facing in the USA :confused::confused:
 
I think we're pretty understanding with our warranties, obviously on something like this if the mic stopped working it would be different to something like a camera problem where it has no relation to this mod, I know we've covered stuff that most wouldn't cover but that's generally from people that have made honest mistakes, sometimes we look at that as perhaps we didn't explain something clear enough or need to do something differently to stop people breaking things, it's not something that happens too often fortunately

we certainly don't want people cracking things open and modding them and don't encourage that at all, the better we can make our products the less chance we have people will be wanting or needing to do that I think
 
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Great job !
This was one of my ideas year ago when I got first prototype.
Next idea was to "extend" a blinking blue LED, got all parts for job, but no time for DIY. This is a hint for you, maybe you have more time ? ;)
Thanks Niko! Your detailed reviews and mods are inspiring!
Good idea about remote LED ;)

I cant see any reason why sellers should support people going inside a device like this and think more should be done to alert them that someone has ...

You get enough returns and problems without standing the cost of a DIY hamfisted public thrashing around inside ...


Suppose they hurt themselves (photographed to death :D), ridiculous litigation might ensue like Porsche is facing in the USA :confused::confused:
To whom it may concern,

I thought I made it clear that I am no longer eligible for the warranty. I will make sure I will put that in my posts going forward.
The fact that Seller and Manufacturer stepped out to back me up on remaining untouched parts - only shows how committed they are to the community.
By all means I am not going to spend their budget on the warranty work for my modded units.
I gave these cameras enough time to conclude their reliability before doing mods to be on a safe side that I would not need any warranty and take all the risks.
BTW, the v2 lenses are great.
 
I was generalising, not having a pop at you..

Although I have to say there are that many fakes in the market there is little wonder people pop the backs off to see what they got !!!!
 
Great job on the DIY details, IronMan. I too need a way to remotely relocate the microphone. My units will be inside a compartment too. I really like this SGZC12RC V2 model. Thanks to Mfg, Pier 28 & Niko for the great support.
I assume there is not enough 3v to drive a condenser mic, correct? Just a simple PC mic.
As always, it's hard to not get carried away with the possibilities....:)
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Hey Ironman, where did you solder the microphone leads to? see attached photos of the board
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This looks like the microphone
 

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Thanks. That is what I was thinking too but wasn't totally sure. In ironman's photos that is also where the wires approximately end up.
 
It's not visible on those images, but I'm assuming it has some kind of opening or fiber covering on the side to allow sound to enter?
Finally ordered myself one of those microphones too. Having the main unit sit inside the glove compartment makes for a terrible sound.

Should really plan for having an external jack on your next remote lens model, jokiin.
 
Yep. It has some sort of tape over it. see attached.

I assume I will need to desolder or clip off the leads to that microphone...
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...and actually, instead of buying an external microphone I think I am just going to desolder this one and throw an extended wire on it to run it up next to the remote camera.

I also just ordered a microsSD extension cable so I could tuck the main board away somewhere and still have easy/quick access to the microSD card in the cabin:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/262361512811
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If I were to reuse the same microphone element already in the unit, what kind of cabling would your engineer recommend for extending it?
 
Hello TaylorN,

I have desoldered the mic that Mikk36 has showed already, and soldered the wires to the board where mic was soldered to.

And regarding the micro SD card extension cable. I have exactly the same ones. I have been using them for few months for both of my units and I have had so many reliability issues that I have put them aside and put micro sd cards directly in the units again.
When I have to choose reliability versus access to cards - reliability takes priority.
 
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