Dash Cam

[FaKaWi]

Originally Posted by ayh20

Out of interest, what's the current position with MOT's and these devices ? I'm assuming that they have to be removed to pass. Is that correct ?

Why would they have to be removed, or are you assuming they are mounted on the windscreen obstructing a drivers view? If correctly fitted in a sensible location there should be no need to remove them, my Blackvue unit is mounted behind my rearview mirror, it can't even be seen from the drivers seat.

[FaKaWi]

Originally Posted by deefadog

Hi

Just (today) ordered the roadhawk HD. As far as MOT goes provided its not fitted in the wiper sweep area I think thats OK. I,m going to run my cable down the car and plug it into the 12volt supply in the boot to leave the front one spare. I,m taking the car into the dealer next week for its first 3 month check so might ask the cost to hard wire into the switch side of the ignition.

Chris

You only need to find a switched 12v supply, usually the simplest option is to splice a secondary socket off the front 12v socket and hide it behind the dash, saying that, my Blackvue is wired through one of their voltage sense units which continues to provide power to the unit as long as the battery voltage doesn't drop below a cutoff point, so that if the G-sensor is tripped whilst parked the camera starts recording.

If you don't want to fit it yourself, you'll find that a decent car audio installer will do the job for you at a considerably lower price than Volvo, including running all the cables etc behind trim panels.

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by deefadog

Hi

Just (today) ordered the roadhawk HD. As far as MOT goes provided its not fitted in the wiper sweep area I think thats OK. I,m going to run my cable down the car and plug it into the 12volt supply in the boot to leave the front one spare. I,m taking the car into the dealer next week for its first 3 month check so might ask the cost to hard wire into the switch side of the ignition.

Chris

If your boot 12v socket is like my XC90, then it will be constant live so will be on constantly. i ran my cable down the passenger front windscreen, under the dash, and into the cigarette lighter for a quick fix, but the cables not noticable. When i get time i'll hard wire to the drivers side fuse box.
The 2nd row 12v socket is switched with the ignition. i avoided that as my kids have a habit of kicking anything in it - so i use that for their DVD system, then if they kick it they learn the DVD restarts

[Laney760]

Originally Posted by StuT4

I have a Smartcam http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Smartcam-2...ht_3321wt_1399

THis is some of the footage, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV4sHiaTDZs which is in "mid quality" range (not the best, but not the worst) - there are about 4 settings on it. Allows for about 4 hours of footage from memory on a 16gb card.


i wasn't looking for the best clarity, but a device which i could use as evidence if needed - ie someone swerved in front of me and braked hard in one of these crash for cash scams, as i'd heard these gangs were targeting mums with kids in 4x4's.

Thanks for the link to such a reasonably priced piece of kit. Just out of interest, a woman I know was following a clearly drunk driver in Berkshire and when she rang the Police to report them and give them the reg they were furious with her, they told her to stop following the driver and what did she think she was doing phoning whilst driving. I am going to buy one of these as I see dangerous driving far too often in this area, it will be great having the evidence and being able to upload it to youtube!

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by Laney760

Thanks for the link to such a reasonably priced piece of kit. Just out of interest, a woman I know was following a clearly drunk driver in Berkshire and when she rang the Police to report them and give them the reg they were furious with her, they told her to stop following the driver and what did she think she was doing phoning whilst driving. I am going to buy one of these as I see dangerous driving far too often in this area, it will be great having the evidence and being able to upload it to youtube!

My wife was driving at the time. We had 3 kids in the car. After watching the initial crossing into the other lane, we decided to leave following the car at the roundabout as i) if we continued following him/her and they got aggressive, i didn't want to put the kids at risk; ii), if they had a head on into an oncoming car, we didn't want to get hit too. if i was driving on my own i would have continued following. i was able to give them further directions as to what road/estate it then turned into, and then gave them my contact details.

Wiltshire Police told me that they would send a traffic car, but when i followed it up 3 hours laters they admitted they had not caught anyone and to send them the video footage, which i emailed the link too - but i never heard back. They told me they would put a marker on the cars registration - i assume an ANPR?

I showed the footage to my Copper mate at Hampshire, and he was certain they could get a conviction for Careless driving, although the Drunk wouldn't be possible without a breathalyser test.

As i mentioned it was about £80-90. The first 2 they sent me wouldn't work - and it turned out to be because they told me to use a class 6 or 10 memory card. I used a class 6 and it kept stopping the recording, and they later realised it will ONLY work with class 10. Since they supplied me a class 10 card, its worked fine. I'm planning to get one for the rear view too.

Hopefully i'll never have to use it, but theres so many a**eholes out there now, i just want a bit of evidence if needed.

[smeems]

I've been using Roadhawk for a few years, hopefully the newer cameras are better detailed but certainly on mine (bought in 2009) you cannot read the number plate of the car in front (unless parked) let alone if they drive off... but they are bloody good at recording the evidence for/against you.

Managed to capture a lovely accident as someone turned across a red light and was hit by a learner driver who was on a green light. Without the camera it would have been a 50/50 or easy to argue the light wasn't working etc.

You can get apps for your smartphone but with the poorly written law, I would never even so much as look at a phone letalone touch one in the car.

[deefadog]

Is it fairly easy to tap into the fuse box, do Volvo supply spare fuse holders in the fuse box to use for things like a cam. I saw a video on you tube where a guy pulled a fuse wraped the cable round the the fuse blade and put it back in . This looked very dodgy to me.

Chris

[Crockers]

Mi Witness have a special deal on at the moment. Great piece of kit. Have just ordered it.

[iwanders]

Originally Posted by nomorework

I've got one of these on my XC60:

http://www.blackvue.co.uk/index.php/...h-wi-fi-detail

Nice and neat, cable is long enough to reach the rear 12v socket leaving the front one free for my phone charger.

When you say the "rear 12v socket" do you mean the one for the back passengers, or the one in the boot.

I'm looing at the 550 version (the one with 2 camers), but am wondering how / where I'm going to wire it up / hide the wires.

Originally Posted by Crockers

Mi Witness have a special deal on at the moment. Great piece of kit. Have just ordered it.

Is that the kit with 2 cameras / wifi / powerbox etc for £299? As above I have been looking at the Blackvue 550, but this one has also caught my attention. Looks a bit smaller, but video res is lower.

[Simon Jones]

Originally Posted by ayh20

Out of interest, what's the current position with MOT's and these devices ? I'm assuming that they have to be removed to pass. Is that correct ?

My XC70 passed today with dash cam hardwired in by rear view mirror. I had intended to remove it beforehand but forgot. I'm sure a sat nav plonked in the line of vision with a cable trailing around the steering column would have resulted in an advisory.