Suction Mount Transcend Drive Pro 220

[Tiny_UK]

Hi, a newbie here.


I have a Transcend DrivePro 220 Dash cam. Have no problem with the unit. can't fault it....
But... It has spent many a happy hour on the windscreen of my Peugeot Partner Tepee. I
have decided to place it to the rear as I will be getting a new Transcend Dash Cam in the
near future. My problem is with the suction cup. Perfect on the front screen, but on
placing it on the rear window, it falls of in the space of 2 minutes. Have you come across
this little problem before? I do not want to dispose of the camera just because it won't
stay on the rear window. My vehicle is a Motability vehicle and cannot use a more permanent
method of adhesion. I always thought the suction cup was rather small. ....Help, please.

 

[SawMaster]

First welcome to DCT

Are there raised defroster wires where you are attempting to mount it? Suction cups like only clean flat glass to stay put well. And is the glass squeaky-clean? This is important in both mounting and video clarity. What I usually do with these is to clean both the cup and the glass, then lick my finger and wet the edges of the cup. Then I press in hard on the center of the mount before flipping the lock lever down. This usually gets me 1-2 months before the cheap mounts I use fall off or need resetting; better quality mounts will go longer. But it must be remembered that suction mounts are meant only to be temporary; they are not a permanent mount design.

Stick-on mounts are much better, and they can be removed without harming the car in any way but that takes a little effort. Alternately you might be able to slip a piece of metal or plastic between trim and headliner, or under the headliner itself, then use a sticky mount on it instead. Many folks glue magnets to their cams or mounts and stick them to metal. IfMy side cams are suction- mounted to metal trim panels but a smooth plastic surface would work equally well. I'd sticky mount them but I plan on different cams there eventually so I just re-stick them every couple weeks or as needed.

Someone who knows your vehicle better can give more specific advice, but here is where being creative and thinking outside of the box can sometimes work wonderfully, so take a closer look and see if a better solution might just be hiding in plain sight back there.

Phil

 

[Tiny_UK]

Hi, Phil.

Thanks for the welcome. Appreciated. The glass is clean, I did clean the area again, but the car is brand new.

Have done most of what you suggest, except the stick on mount. Because of the way the mount attaches to the body of the camera, one cannot just use any adhesive. Is there an adhesive mount, specific to the Drive Pro 220, that you are aware of? I have only ever had the suction one, that came with the dash cam. The inside of my car is all plastic and fabric, I have been around with strong magnets, but does not get to the metal. Maybe I have an all plastic car lol

I like your idea of placing a wedge under the trip, and sticking it to that. Will have a good check around the car and see if that's viable.

There are raised defroster wires, thicker mostly at the bottom of the screen. So I tried attaching it to the top of the screen, where the wires are a lot thinner. It lasted for 2.5 minutes (yes, I did time it).

You have given me a lot to think about. Now I gotta go source a sticky mount for the cam.

Many thanks for all your advice, it sounds like you have had a lot of experience with dashcams. When I got my first one, I just stuck it on the front screen and forgot about it....Now I am learning.

Will get back to you, if I find a suitable solution.

Kind regards

Paul

 

[SawMaster]

Though the thread is huge, there are hundreds of installation pics here:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/where-did-you-mount-the-camera-post-your-pictures.502/

And threads on some individual cam installations are here on DCT too. These may not apply directly to yours but these may all give you an idea which works. And someone is sure to come along here with other ideas.

Phil

 

[Tiny_UK]

Hi, Phil. Thanks for thinking of me and mailing the info. Have had a good look at the links, lots to view, too.

As I am a disabled driver, it's very difficult to do a lot of the stuff I have seen in the links.

I think I will just have to see how the stick on mount serves me, and if that does not 'cut it' Then it's back to the drawing board.

Really appreciate the trouble you have taken.

Paul

 

[Tony lovelock]

Hi there,

Here’s a few to consider if you are an eBay buyer hope this helps...

 

[SawMaster]

I have been thinking more on this, and there might be a simple solution, but it has it's own problems which may or may not get into the mix. AFAIK nobody has tried anything like what I am about to speak of so you are totally on your own if you try it.

It is known that silicone off-gasses heavily during the curing process, and those fumes can make a real mess on glass and lenses. But if we were to contain the fumes, that might not be a problem. Silicone adheres well, but can generally be removed from surfaces later on. The difficulty of that varies wildly, but with care I think it could be cleaned off a car glass (even with defroster grid wire) well enough to not be an issue, and without harming the grid wire.

So what if we were to make a very thin and tiny bead of silicone on the suction cup, a few mm inside from the outer edges so that it didn't squish outside the cup? Push the mount into place carefully, but do not activate the suction just yet. Arrange a method to hold it there securely pressed into for 24 hours while the silicone cures, then activate the suction and mount the camera. My guess would be that this would hold from both the silicone and the suction together, and probably from the silicone alone. It would seem that at worst, you'd get adhesion from suction even if the silicone didn't adhere because now the imperfections on the glass ( defroster grid wires) would be smoothed over.

IMHO it's a lot of trouble which could be better handled with a sticky mount, as these are removable (though it takes some work to clean off the residue) and with a supply of tape can be re-used on other vehicles. 3M makes tape which can be used here in many grades from extreme strength to more moderate levels.

There is also the Velcro option if you can get it to stick to the headliner, or if you can leave the part on the window alone as you switch cars. Again there are various grades of the stuff so something workable might be found there.

I am not familiar with this cam, so if someone could post pics of the mount, and of both sides of how it attaches to the cam, we might be able to find a mount which could be used with some of these ideas to better effect. Most cams use a "t-slot" mounting, and though these vary, there is one size generally found more often, and there are bunches of mounts available using it.

I hate giving up on something when I know there must be a solution, but at this point I'm out of ideas. So I'm going to tag a few people here who have more experience than me- I hope they don't mind @Dashmellow @Nigel @kamkar1 @Harsh can you please help me out my friends?

Phil

 

[kamkar]

I have some really heavy silicone grease i have been thinking on using on my phone holder suction cup as it ( using spit ) do let go every now and then.
The heavy grease ( got it for my RC stuff but it is far too heavy for a little RC car diff or gearbox ) should do a much better job, but so far i have not got going on this idea.


It is a non melting dielectric grease, the P4 i assume refer to its thickness / viscosity
Not sure if you have the same over there, but then you should be able to source something similar.
I am assuming it will provide a better seal than spit that do harden up and so provide cracks where air can get in and ruin the vacuum under the suction cup, this wacker stuff should not harden in any way, and it is not that slick compared to the Super Lube grease i use on the little cars.
Only planning on using a really thin smear of this and if possible only on part of the suction cups footprint.


Now that i finally got the tube out i will get it transferred to my car tomorrow.

 

[Tiny_UK]

Hi there,

Here’s a few to consider if you are an eBay buyer hope this helps...

Hi, Tony and thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

I have purchased the Transcend 'Adhesive mount' the middle link. I am now waiting it's delivery. Actually got it from Amazon, on Prime, will be here sometime today.

Will post pics (once I learn how to do so) of the actual mount and camera, if it works. If it doesn't, then a picture of a camera, dangling at the end of a wire, will show the fail; then back to the drawing board.

Phil has posted an experimental idea; I don't have any silicone and to purchase some for one experiment......Basically.....TOOOOOOO mean.

Speak soon.

Regards

Paul

 

[Tiny_UK]

I have been thinking more on this, and there might be a simple solution, but it has it's own problems which may or may not get into the mix. AFAIK nobody has tried anything like what I am about to speak of so you are totally on your own if you try it.

It is known that silicone off-gasses heavily during the curing process, and those fumes can make a real mess on glass and lenses. But if we were to contain the fumes, that might not be a problem. Silicone adheres well, but can generally be removed from surfaces later on. The difficulty of that varies wildly, but with care I think it could be cleaned off a car glass (even with defroster grid wire) well enough to not be an issue, and without harming the grid wire.

So what if we were to make a very thin and tiny bead of silicone on the suction cup, a few mm inside from the outer edges so that it didn't squish outside the cup? Push the mount into place carefully, but do not activate the suction just yet. Arrange a method to hold it there securely pressed into for 24 hours while the silicone cures, then activate the suction and mount the camera. My guess would be that this would hold from both the silicone and the suction together, and probably from the silicone alone. It would seem that at worst, you'd get adhesion from suction even if the silicone didn't adhere because now the imperfections on the glass ( defroster grid wires) would be smoothed over.

IMHO it's a lot of trouble which could be better handled with a sticky mount, as these are removable (though it takes some work to clean off the residue) and with a supply of tape can be re-used on other vehicles. 3M makes tape which can be used here in many grades from extreme strength to more moderate levels.

There is also the Velcro option if you can get it to stick to the headliner, or if you can leave the part on the window alone as you switch cars. Again there are various grades of the stuff so something workable might be found there.

I am not familiar with this cam, so if someone could post pics of the mount, and of both sides of how it attaches to the cam, we might be able to find a mount which could be used with some of these ideas to better effect. Most cams use a "t-slot" mounting, and though these vary, there is one size generally found more often, and there are bunches of mounts available using it.

I hate giving up on something when I know there must be a solution, but at this point I'm out of ideas. So I'm going to tag a few people here who have more experience than me- I hope they don't mind @Dashmellow @Nigel @kamkar1 @Harsh can you please help me out my friends?

Phil

Hi, Phil. Thanks for the above, great idea. A little to much for me to tackle, as my hands are not what they used to be. But will be very interested in the outcome.

I have bought a T/scend adhesive mount, and will see how that goes when it gets here, later on today, all being well.

Speak soon.

Paul

 

[Tony lovelock]

Hi, Tony and thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

I have purchased the Transcend 'Adhesive mount' the middle link. I am now waiting it's delivery. Actually got it from Amazon, on Prime, will be here sometime today.

Will post pics (once I learn how to do so) of the actual mount and camera, if it works. If it doesn't, then a picture of a camera, dangling at the end of a wire, will show the fail; then back to the drawing board.

Phil has posted an experimental idea; I don't have any silicone and to purchase some for one experiment......Basically.....TOOOOOOO mean.

Speak soon.

Regards

Paul

Glad you have purchased an adhesive mount, the stealth mount may of been better as the transcend one seems to have a longer arm on it? My transcend suction mount is utter and constantly falls off the windscreen, adhesive mounts the way forward until you have to put the dash cam into another vehicle that is lol! Looking forward to seeing pictures and how you get on