ThinkWare F750 DIY Hardwire Possible?

not sure how efficient they are, dual channel cameras are generally a bit power hungry compared to single channel models so it could be right
 
Thinkware says 3.5 watts for dual cams. I checked it a 4:30 (12.7) and at 7:30 it was (12.65) with the cam powered off. I did open the door to pop the
hood and waited for a couple of hours so that might explain the .5 diff. I think that rules out any other possibilities other than the cam likes juice. I'm
pretty certain it doesn't go into any sleepmode, so it's always on the ready, even in incident only mode.
thanks
 
F750 manual p34: "Current consumption 2CH 3.5W, 1CH 2.5W". So for an average of say 12.5V, the camera could be taking around 280mA.
Since I was disappointed in how quickly my battery voltage drops I tried to research the subject in regard to cars with start/stop and braking regeneration. I couldn't find any hard data except for the descriptions from battery manufacturers about their batteries for such cars. Apparently they are designed to better survive deep discharge and also accept rapid surges of charging (from the braking regeneration), but importantly are expected to live most of their life in a state of partial discharge. To me this explains why the voltage drops relatively quickly in parking mode. I set my F750 to 12V and the car started fine after it had turned itself off at that voltage. I could have tried a lower setting, but at 12.1V I easily get over 24 hours so that's fine for me. I can only suggest to Jerry that he experiment with turn-off voltages until he gets an acceptable parking mode duration and the car still starts.
 
F750 manual p34: "Current consumption 2CH 3.5W, 1CH 2.5W". So for an average of say 12.5V, the camera could be taking around 280mA.
Since I was disappointed in how quickly my battery voltage drops I tried to research the subject in regard to cars with start/stop and braking regeneration. I couldn't find any hard data except for the descriptions from battery manufacturers about their batteries for such cars. Apparently they are designed to better survive deep discharge and also accept rapid surges of charging (from the braking regeneration), but importantly are expected to live most of their life in a state of partial discharge. To me this explains why the voltage drops relatively quickly in parking mode. I set my F750 to 12V and the car started fine after it had turned itself off at that voltage. I could have tried a lower setting, but at 12.1V I easily get over 24 hours so that's fine for me. I can only suggest to Jerry that he experiment with turn-off voltages until he gets an acceptable parking mode duration and the car still starts.
From my research I've done I should be able to start
all the way done to 11 volts but that would be cutting it close. My problem is my commute is to short to
to recharge back to 12.6 even if I extended the recording time and set the cut off lower. A dual battery set up would be nice which is something
I'll be looking into in the future.
 
F750 manual p34: "Current consumption 2CH 3.5W, 1CH 2.5W". So for an average of say 12.5V, the camera could be taking around 280mA.
Since I was disappointed in how quickly my battery voltage drops I tried to research the subject in regard to cars with start/stop and braking regeneration. I couldn't find any hard data except for the descriptions from battery manufacturers about their batteries for such cars. Apparently they are designed to better survive deep discharge and also accept rapid surges of charging (from the braking regeneration), but importantly are expected to live most of their life in a state of partial discharge. To me this explains why the voltage drops relatively quickly in parking mode. I set my F750 to 12V and the car started fine after it had turned itself off at that voltage. I could have tried a lower setting, but at 12.1V I easily get over 24 hours so that's fine for me. I can only suggest to Jerry that he experiment with turn-off voltages until he gets an acceptable parking mode duration and the car still starts.
Do you have the dual cam set up or just one?
 
I just purchased the full F750H kit including rear camera. Oh and btw, the 750H also came with the hardwiring cables too but it was documented, so I actuallly have two sets now... and will have to return one.

I also want to figure out how to hardwire it to the fusebox. Was quoted $200 for a full front&rear install, but I figure I can do the majority of it myself and if I can't figure out how to wire it to the fusebox, then I'll get a mechanic to do the final build.

Here's a screenshot of the wiring kit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ZkVwVLFM1XZnVxZmUxb21XcGdta2JpN1BhRHg0LUhKTm5n/view?usp=sharing

I couldn't find any documentation online, so I called customer support and while they answered, they just told me to get it professionally installed. I have enough basic knowledge to do this and even own a multimeter. But she gave me some super basic info, that seemed completely wrong to me. First of all she said the continuous power was the yellow wire, but mine is definitely red.

So I have 3 wires:
  • black is obviously the grounded wire and connect it to a chassis bolt.
  • red is the continuous battery 12V, so I imagine I just use my multimeter to find a hot 12V fuse and connect it to that via fuse wiring adapter.
  • yellow is the accessory cable. I'm not so sure about this one, but my guess is that it connects to a 12V non continuous powered fuse.
Any thoughts? In the meantime, i can get all the gear installed without hardwiring it.
 
I just purchased a F750 and the only part that stops me from hardwiring it is the confusion with the cables (wires). If Red is supposed to be a live (+) power, does that mean it has to be connected to a constant voltage on the fuse box? If the yellow wire says ACC, does that mean it must be connected to a fuse where the Ignition is turned off, the fuse also turns off?

As far as I know, the ignition switch has two clicks and one springy click to start the engine. Once the engine has started, the ignition switch automatically returns on the second click. But the first click is usually the Accessories (ACC). If the yellow wire says ACC, then it must be connected to a fuse where it only turns itself off after the switch is turned to OFF.

Or is it the opposite? Is it that the yellow wire is to be connected to constant (+) power fuse and the red is to be connected to the accessories fuse? The confusion is partly due to the poor instructions found in the hardwiring kit box. In the instruction sheet, there isn't any coloured demonstration on which wire has to go where. All I see is B+, what is a B+? Does it mean Battery positive (+)? And where is the wire image showing the colour of the wire that has to go to the Battery positive (+) The same with ACC on the instruction sheet, where is the yellow wire image that shows being connected to the fuse-box accessories? Although I have a fair idea where these two wires go. I believe the red wire is connected to a constant voltage fuse and yellow is wired to a fuse that is ON when the ignition switch is turned to fully on, including bypassing the Accessories of the switch. Correct me if I am wrong. I've said this because I am now more confused than I was before, due to the fact that my hardwiring wire is different to the same wire that has a black rectangular box and the cylindrical fuse cover being on the yellow instead or the red wire as shown on the screenshot of <kmarnes>, so, that is what has stopped me from hardwiring my new F750 camera.
 
You are correct, for some bizarre reason there are at least two types of hardwire kit for the F750. Mine has a RED wire marked BATTERY with an in-line fuse in a black plastic case. The YELLOW wire is marked ACC. There is no other box, the 3 wires simply pass into the cable sheath and end in the plug for the F750. However I was recently helping a forum member whose yellow wire was BATTERY and red wire was ACC. I have seen photos of such a cable on the web, and also ones with an additional rectangular box. I can only assume that such a box contains a DC/DC convertor. Since the F750 can handle 12V or 24V I assume that if that box is a convertor then it is effectively redundant.

Black wire is for the negative supply of the F750. Most cars have the battery negative terminal connected to the chassis and so it is best to connected to a chassis point (which is why the hardwire kit has a lug on the end of the black wire). There should be a nut near to the fuse panel which can be loosened to connect the black wire.
BATTERY (or B+) wire is for permanent 12V (or 24V in some vehicles). As noted above this can be red or yellow so look at the label and not the colour.
ACC is for switched 12V. It is used to determine if the F750 should be in continuous or parking mode starts so it needs to be connected to a point which is 12V whilst the vehicle is running but is then disconnected or switched to 0V when the vehicle is switched off (i.e. in the state when you want the dashcam to be in parking mode).

In reading your post I'm imagining your car being an old one (ignition switches and clicks? my key stays in my pocket and I push a start button). Indeed the first click will be the accessory position, and you need to identify a point which has 12V in this position but 0V when the key turns back to off and is removed.
 
Well, I have finally installed Thinkware F750 camera with the rear one. I found the rear camera installation two days of hard work, stripping the half side of the car to pass the cable along the entire length of the car, a 2000 Nissan Pathfinder. Removing a sun visor, door seals and all the plastic trim to reach the back of the car. Once there, I had to pass the cable through the outer black rubber tube that passes all other wires to the tail door and then, omg, all the task to put everything back as it was. Took me two days and still haven't finished. But I tested the camera after I downloaded the Thinkware App on my mobile. Both front and rear cameras work perfect, but I admit, it's taken me a while to work out the status of the lights because the instructions that came with the camera are useless and confusing. It's not a step by step detailed instructions, especially on the two blue lights that are hard to understand when trying to work out on voice recording, two blue lights, but there is no light that shows the video is recording. I took the car out for a 10 minute drive and then when I returned home there is another drawback. I could not view that short trip on my mobile. It just shows 'Live View'. So, I am going to ask people how do I view recorded video without removing the SD card? The only disappointment with this camera is that the SD card slot is on top of the camera instead of the side. That means that the camera has to be placed low and away from the roof to access the card to pull it out. Unfortunately, in my case I placed the camera closer to the roof so that it is not obstructing the outside view. Most cameras these days have long brackets that drops the cameras too low and right in the path of the outside world in front of the car. Navman is one such camera but their brackets are so flimsy and weak that if you touch on the screen, the whole camera flaps. So, because I placed my camera close to the roof, leaving half an inch gap between the camera and the roof, I don't think I could pull the SD card out without removing the camera. But I had hoped that I could use my mobile to view the videoed contents from the card. I am yet to ask anyone if that is possible to do so. Also, as the camera has Wi-Fi, does it send a warning signal to the mobile phone that shows someone had just whacked into the car and has set off the parking mode? Probably not. Lastly, can you watch a video clip with the mobile, using Wi-Fi? If so, does it incur usage charges by the provider, or does the camera have it's own short Wi-Fi range that sends the signals directly to the mobile without the need to incur further mobile charges? It would be interesting to know if, say you had a prank and the driver who hit your car took off and you want to check the event from the camera on your mobile, can that be done without the phone company charging you for using a Wi-Fi?
 
As I understand it you can download clips from the F750 to a smartphone or tablet over its wifi connection, but it takes time and unless you know which clip you want you'll need to repeat the process until you find it. I have not bothered to even try this myself, I just remove the SD card and watch the videos on the PC Dashcam viewer. It has the advantage of being able to view both camera videos at the same time or one with the GPS map. So finding the clips that I want is fairly easy. The thought of trying to achieve the same over wifi makes me shudder!

I spent a long time considering all the different mounting positions until I finally attached my F750 to the windscreen and access to the SD card slot was one of the concerns. Even though mine is behind the rear view mirror so that the top is unobstructed, it is still not easy to extract and reinsert the card. Another option would be to remove the whole unit from the bracket. This is an option for me but I haven't needed to do that yet.

As I understand it dashcams with supposedly better wifi connections such as the Blackview 650 with some sort of 'cloud' connection, don't live up to the manufacturer's claims. I'd agree that the wifi facility on the F750 is basic but are others that much better?
 
Once you are setup properly, you press wifi on the dash, then connect your phone to it, entering the code etc. Once you succeed, it'll remember in the future. But it takes a few seconds. In the file list, there is "continuous" -- assuming everything was recording. Then you can browse the list of recordings and view them. While watching any particular video, you can select from a menu or icon to download it. When you download it, it shows up in your Video's Downloaded section. Then inside that list, you have to do another step to download it to your photo album so you can access it from your phone without the app.

It sounds like a pain, but it's actually not.
 
In reading your post I'm imagining your car being an old one (ignition switches and clicks? my key stays in my pocket and I push a start button).
Not necessarily.
I drive a 2016 vehicle which has a physical key for starting the car.
In some parts of the world, notably the US and probably Australia, the "keyless start" feature is often something which comes with the more upscale option packages (like a moonroof and fancier wheels and real leather seats and more exotic sound systems and OEM navigation functionality and so on).
The bare-bones "base models", often several thousands of dollars less expensive, routinely come with an actual key.
Many people, old farts like me for example, prefer it. :cool:
 
I bought a new car recently and it was hard to find something that had a key, everything I looked at was push button start, even the cheaper cars have it now in our market

our other car is push button start and while it's very convenient when it works, it doesn't always work, very frustrating when you sit somewhere for an hour waiting for the car to respond
 
Hey all. I am a newbie to the forum. I picked up the 750 model last week..all works well. I did grab the hardwire kit from Amazon, came yesterday. Installed it today - with the help reading this thread (thank you!) - I did have mislabeled wiring.. Anyway I do have power to the camera after turning the car on, also I had the "robot woman voice" say "Parking Mode enabled, Motion Enabled..." So everything seemed to be working. After I turned off the car, the camera shut down..I waited for the Parking / Motion to pick up anything, I get nothing now. It looked like it only recorded a motion clip once, just because I was adjusting my camera.

Checked the iPhone app to see if eveything was set correctly, it is.

When I power the car on now, I get the boot up chime, the voice only says "Continuous Recording enabled / starting, GPS, enabled" Is she supposed to say "Motion/ Parking enabled" every time? Or does the voice just say this once.

Thanks!
 
I saw your other post. I don't think the wires are mislabelled, they are just different colours. Have you got the wire labelled ACC/accessory connected to battery permanent 12V and the wire labelled BATT/battery connected to switched power?
 
I saw your other post. I don't think the wires are mislabelled, they are just different colours. Have you got the wire labelled ACC/accessory connected to battery permanent 12V and the wire labelled BATT/battery connected to switched power?

I'm going to have to recheck it again. I was laying in bed thinking about it last night..I had the connection reversed the first time and had power..I thought I got it right the second time - again still have power to the camera.
But I was also feeling a tad rushed because some heavy rain was moving in. (I don't have a garage). Much better today and not humid like yesterday - so I'm so dripping sweat trying to deal with this :eek:
 
I got it working after a few tries - had an odd issue when I turned the car on it would immediately kick into "Parking mode" this was because the ACC cable was connected to the rear defogger fuse (If I turned on the defogger, then the camera worked)
Seems to work perfectly now with the battery cable hooked into where the interior dome light fuse is, the ACC cable is in the heated seat fuse.

BUT, I had to turn off the Parking mode, motion off - even with the sensitivity setting set to low, it will trigger the camera seeing the leaves on the tree in my front yard blowing in a slight wind. In just 40 minutes, I had 28 "events."
I'll simply have to activate the Parking feature when I go out.
 
Junior76, having had my F750 for a while now I am less critical of the motion detection. Whilst I would prefer one or two extra settings so that I could fine-tune the sensitivity, I think it works well. If your tree in question is fairly near then I'd suggest that the detection is correct. Remember that this camera is not an AI capable of working out the difference between leaves moving and a small rock thrown at your car by a miscreant. OK, you don't want any video of the leaves moving but if that rock hit and damaged your car then you'll want video of it in case you can see said miscreant?

I once had motion detection on the lowest setting and found that videos of events which I knew had happened near my car were missing. So I increased the sensitivity. Yes I then have videos every few minutes (or even more often), but importantly one or more of those will be the video I need. The solution is to have a big enough SD card. The F750 will accept a 128GB card.
 
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