Dashcam + parking camera?

[someone22]

I'm looking for a solution that would integrate both the dashcam and a 360 parking camera or similar. I have a local shopping mall nearby and have yet to come home without fresh light scratches, even though I go there not more than 5 times per year. Something that would stay powered on for 1-2h, or until I get back to the car.
For dashcams, I know there are custom solutions, but does anyone have any idea what wiring is available next to the mirror? On an older car I did take out the central mirror cover, made a small 12V->5V converter, came out with a tiny USB tail which went directly to the camera. It would turn on as soon as the vehicle was powered on (and once per hour, for unknown reasons) and turn the power off as soon as the vehicle was locked. I think I was tapping into the auto-dimming or garage remote wires, can't remember.

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[RickMachE]

Many posts on this. HOWEVER, you cannot run it when the vehicle is off unless you install a spare battery and figure out how to keep it charged.

 

[someone22]

Thanks, I assumed, but maybe I don't know how to search? Did anyone attempt such a parking camera? If there is a place to fit a small li-po I could do it, though not a good place to leave it in the summer. The Nokia 3110-style batteries are a bit more resistant to heat, in my experience, though they also have a limited life.

 

[Maui]

just use a search engine with something like "mache parking camera". You'll get reference here and other places.

 

[RickMachE]

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...ys-be-recording-especially-when-parked.39405/

 

[DaMeatMan]

I use a 3 channel dash cam that records through the front windshield facing out towards traffic, as well as inside the cabin facing driver and passengers (and you can see through all windows from inside), as well as outside the rear window facing traffic behind you with my Vantrue N4. This is the closest thing you can probably get to 360 coverage without accessing the cars built-in cameras which to my knowledge is not really possible.

It's paired up with a Cellink Neo lithium Iron Phosphate battery that provides enough power for about 8 hours of camera runtime on average when the vehicle is parked and turned off. It's also set to "wake" and record events like movement, or impacts to the vehicle when in parked mode, and I find it does a very good job of capturing all the activity around my vehicle.

 

[someone22]

Good info in that thread, thanks. Couldn't find it with the forum search and cannot find anything else useful. Good thing that google at least can match a bit better:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/security-cameras-for-mach-e-“canopy”.13494/

There's also FitcamX which I think was mentioned before in a thread, they have a rear camera module and might offer power wiring.
I've never had any luck with those G-sensors, either someone would need to bump really hard into the car or a strong gust of wind could activate them. In case of a scratch, I don't think there's a sensor that can pick that up, only perhaps some complicate inductive sensor.
Viofo A119 was also mentioned and is half the price of the others, but looks bulky.
There are discussions of a future "Sentry mode" since 2021 but it never materialized.

Looks like I will have to design and wire something myself, not happy with any of the current solutions. For the dual-camera systems with the wire going to the back, the problem is that you don't see the side windows, where people usually have to slam their door into yours.

 

[someone22]

I use a 3 channel dash cam that records through the front windshield facing out towards traffic, as well as inside the cabin facing driver and passengers (and you can see through all windows from inside), as well as outside the rear window facing traffic behind you with my Vantrue N4. This is the closest thing you can probably get without accessing the cars built-in cameras which to my knowledge is not really possible.

It's paired up with a Cellink Neo lithium Iron Phosphate battery that provides enough power for about 8 hours of camera runtime on average when the vehicle is parked and turned off. It's also set to "wake" and record events like movement, or impacts to the vehicle when in parked mode, and I find it does a very good job of capturing all the activity around my vehicle.

Looks like I spoke too soon... there is a solution.
Strange, that camera costs here >500, but I'm sure I can find a deal somewhere.
How did you route the wires? Where does the battery stay? Does it get charged automatically or do you do it from time to time? Is there a switch for turning it off for example?

 

[DaMeatMan]

Looks like I spoke too soon... there is a solution.
Strange, that camera costs here >500, but I'm sure I can find a deal somewhere.
How did you route the wires? Where does the battery stay? Does it get charged automatically or do you do it from time to time? Is there a switch for turning it off for example?

Follow the instructions for the cameras itself for suggestions on wire routing and there are plenty of vids on youtube that will walk you through this sort of thing. The battery itself is kept under the passenger seat, and secured to the carpet with velcro, and is powered via the fuse panel on the passenger side under glove box, and the battery only charges when the car is powered on so that it does not cause any unnecessary battery drain which the Mach-E already has issues with. The battery itself has the ability to select a 5a, or 10A charge rate, which is very useful depending on where you pull your power from. With regards to switching it on or off, there is no need to do this since its lithium Iron chemistry is designed to cycle from 0% to 100% without issue. On the cameras itself if I'm not mistaken you can set it to stop drawing power below a certain voltage to avoid battery damage when connected to the vehicles 12v system, but again this battery is designed for this purpose specifically to power a camera when vehicle is off, and you can run it until it shuts down on its own daily without ever having to think about it.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I would say that it can be done but you would need to put output multiplexers on the car’s built-in cameras and have a video recording device capable of receiving those 4 channels. Additionally you would need to power the 4 cameras and their multiplexers while the car was shut down or asleep and the recording device. As we used to say building hot rods: “Yeah we can do it. How fast will your wallet go?” ??

 

[kamorela]

I have a Viofo A229 Pro+ front/rear dash cam. I chose to hardwire it which auto-activates parking mode when the vehicle is off. Hardwiring was easy with the fuse panel so handy at the front of the passenger footwell. The hardwire kit includes a module to select battery cut-off voltage (I have it set at 12.4V cut-off). But to preclude parking mode battery drain in instances where I don't need/want it where it could potentially cause 12V issues, such as when parked in my garage, I added an in-line switch to the parking mode circuit to manually turn it off. Reason I did that is because I do want parking surveillance during short-term parking whenever I'm out and about, i.e. shopping, restaurants, shows, etc. I went even further, though, I also installed a BT 12V battery monitor so I can check battery voltage any time I'm within BT range. I did all this to get max dash cam benefit while minimizing 12V anxiety. If I had need for longer-term parking monitoring, I'd want to install an under-seat battery as discussed in other posts. But for me, my setup suits my needs.

 

[someone22]

I do want parking surveillance during short-term parking

But I see that it only has front and rear, not sure if it would catch somebody opening their door on the side.

 

[kamorela]

But I see that it only has front and rear, not sure if it would catch somebody opening their door on the side.

True, a third internal driver-facing camera might resolve that. My system does support that. I'm considering.

 

[flapjake314]

two things i'll share with you:

1. cameras' parking feature is not very good. usually to save power it is either shock-triggered (i.e. someone needs to run into you) or motion triggered. not all cameras have both. i purposely bought motion triggered, but it triggers obviously slightly AFTER the motion occurs, so you often miss the license plate anyway. if you are only going to use it for shopping trips (rather than overnight or multi day) just consider leaving the camera running and ignore parking mode.

2. use a battery pack. i had tons of spare cell phone charger packs, the ones i have are labeled 100,000 mah but there's no way it's true. nevertheless i can easily leave the camera running for a day or two on them. when i use it for parking i switch the USB plug from the car to the battery pack. i leave the battery pack in the glove box. very easy.

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