What to buy for side impact protection...and cold weather

[jms1]

Have been hit on each side of my van now; neither event my fault. I now feel the need to have not just oncoming documentation but primarily side recording for future evidence (though I do pray this is the end of it). Is there a dash cam product which will adequately cover a van with a 119.3 inch wheelbase? I've given thought to installing three cams, but where to power the two on the side? As I speak, the van is in the shop for the second hit; I'm trying to remember if there is a 'cigarette' plug for power in the third row arm rest area, but can't remember if it's just one or both sides. If there is a dash cam with ability to cover both sides, please share. I'd like to look into it.

 

[Dashmellow]

There are no dedicated dash cams available that are designed specifically for use as side cameras but some of us have been experimenting with and using side facing cams for many years now. It's basically a DIY thing using repurposed "normal" dash cams. Some of us have even customized certain cameras with aftermarket lenses for better coverage or come up with clever mounting schemes for this purpose. These days many use dual channel dash cams to cover the sides of a vehicle but single channel dash cams can be very effective.

Installing a side camera will depend in part on what kind of windows you have. Fixed glass panels are the best option as it can be difficult to mount a camera on a window that opens. Another consideration is side curtain airbags. You'll need to be careful to avoid running cables or mounting the cameras in any location where they will interfere with side curtain air bags. If the air bags deploy during a car accident, the cameras as well as the cables can become dangerous projectiles inside the cabin of your car or van if they are mounted improperly.

There is an older thread here on the forum that you may find useful as it has some good discussion, information and examples. Keep in mind that the thread goes back 7 years so some of the info or camera references may be obsolete but all in all it is a good introduction to the topic

Is there such thing as a side view dashcam?​

 

[kamkar]

I have side cameras, but by chance not by design.
IMO the front camera should be fine if you get hit on the side or back, CUZ the front camera log what you do with your car, and if that is according to the traffic code, then what happen off camera can not be your fault or duty to log and present evidence of.

As the situation are if you do want to go there, the only solutions are to mount two single cameras either side, or use a dual channel camera to do the same.
And if you go dual channel, then most are a larger front unit and a small rear camera, but there now are a few systems with 2 small remote cameras, this could be SG9663DR - K2S pro there also are a few motorcycle cameras that are made with 2 remote cameras, and i suppose these will work in a car too.

The main problem are.
1: Ability to install the cameras, for good reasons you can not stick it to a window that can be rolled up and down, but some cars do have a small fixed glass on the rear doors.
If that is not a option you are left with mounting off the back of the B pillar filming out the rear door window.
2: Stealth most of us dont want really visible cameras anywhere on the car.
3: Curtain airbags, you do not want to be in front of those, but if you are close to the glass then it should be out of the way if a inflating airbag.

When my side cameras die, i will not undertake any serious effort in replacing them, only maybe if i get another system for testing that can be used there after i have tested front and rear will that happen.


My small car do not have any 12 V plugs outside of the one in the dash, so years ago to be able to test single cameras in the rear i got a 3 port splitter and wired that into my fuse box, this way i dident have to rely on a long USB cable from a power source in the front, and i could test the provided power source.

 

[SawMaster]

Welcome to DCT @jms1

My ancient and huge old full-window van has only one cigarette lighter socket in front so I added a triple plug socket to power some of my cams, and tapped directly into a fuse to power others. I also run several cams with 2 to the sides just behind the front seats. For those I found a PS which routed up the driver's "A" pillar and back with the wiring tucked away. The passenger side uses a USB extension cable similarly.. There are parts of the rear quarters which these do not cover with how mine are adjusted; the front edge of their FOV picks up as the edges of the FOV of my front cams giving me full coverage there. I'll need more cams to cover the rear sides. I have the longest full size Ford van ever produced; if mine were standard length half of what I'm missing would be covered. Do note that in parking mode all these cams eat power fast.

Mine came about as a bunch of single channel cams to start with, but if I were building a system I'd use a 2-channel cam for the forward sides with the same for the rear sides. If you don't have windows your options will be more limited but sonmething "ala Tesla" could be done with 2 side cams facing rearward.

Phil

 

[estore009]

If there is a dash cam with ability to cover both sides, please share. I'd like to look into it.

You can have a look at our BlueSkySea B2W. It has a unique design with 2 rotatable cylindrical lenses. Typically you will point the right lens forward to capture the road and the left lens pointed in the cabin to capture what is happening inside the vehicle. The nice feature is that either lens can be pointed to the side windows. This allows you to record any interactions at the window, for example, if you are pulled over by the police. Some users have set up the B2W to record the side windows while using a separate dual camera (B4K Front and rear) to record the front and back. This gives full 360° coverage of your vehicle IMO.

 

[jms1]

I should also have noted that the windows are tinted. How might this affect imaging performance?

 

[Dashmellow]

I should also have noted that the windows are tinted. How might this affect imaging performance?

Tinted windows will require that you adjust the exposure. The downside of tinted windows will be a slight increase in motion blur on moving objects. I've been using side cams on dark tinted side windows for many years however with few if any problems. See THIS link that I posted previously above for some example image in my various posts. My first post in the thread mentions the tinted windows.

 

[kamkar]

Tint could also make artifact ( rainbow ) in your footage, at least if you have a CPL filter ( on the front / primary camera )
Otherwise the only problem is the light the tint "steal" so to say, but you can compensate for that with the EV setting for the camera in question,,,,, problem is if you then have your window rolled down, the more light you have to deal with then might be a little problematic as you have compensated for less light. so you would have some degree of overexposure in that case.

 

[Dashmellow]

Tint could also make artifact ( rainbow ) in your footage, at least if you have a CPL filter

That's a good point. Depending on the type of tinting in your car you may not want to use a CPL on a side camera or you'll experience birefringence rainbows.. Then again, you don't usually need a CPL since you won't have a dash board reflecting into the glass and the glass is vertical, thus minimizing the sort of reflections you might see from a sloping front windshield.

The dark tint on my vehicle is old school and so it doesn't have any polarizing effects so rainbows are not an issue but it may be an issue for some newer vehicles.

 

[SawMaster]

I'd like to see someone address this need better with something like the K2S dual-remote having small cam modules with up-to-date sensors and resolution capability. Most if not all dual-remotes are mainly intended for F/R coverage and while they can be arranged for side coverage that can have drawbacks due to the design. The side-cam thread here discusses this in depth.

Nothing is really universal with side cams, and compromise of some kind always happens. For me I want my side cams to 'see' traffic more than 'close-ups' so I've aimed them higher to allow this, but in so doing it's possible a 'keying of the paint' with someone very close to my van might not show the key, but only the person's upper body. I can aim lower but that reduces the distance covered. Still good protection either way.

My old van has exposed painted metal above the windows which makes it easy to mount 'brick on a stick' style dashcams with either a suction or sticky mount, leaving only the cam body visible from outside.




As you can see, the cam at my side door had to be low to obtain a view through the glass which leaves it vulnerable to being bumped around, but it gets the view I want. Also in the second pic you can see the B2W cam I had mounted center front at the time the pic was taken. The cylinders underneath swivel and contain the cam lenses; the right side will cover fully rearward and the left side will rotate enough to cover the left rear corner of my van and forward from there. If you can only accommodate window mounting the Garmin Mini2 or 57 (higher resolution) would work well on the drivers side; arranging something for the door window might require some creatuive DIY mounting. If you can mount as I have done and are OK with single-channel cams the B2K could make a good choice; it's small, has very good 2K imaging, is reliable, affordable, and one of the better values in dashcams today. With the setup shown in my pics I have seamless forward coverage from about halfway down the sides of my van. Rear cams take care of the back, but my rear side quarters have a gap in coverage which will take 2 more cams to fix. As I have a reliable K2S (and not many of them were reliable) it will take care of that one of these days when I get around to installing it.

Shorter vehicles can usually be fully covered with 4 cams; length is the main enemy here and full coverage simply takes more but can be done.

Phil