Digital Rearview Mirror Installed

[HuntingPudel]

Someone has tried a longer blade and didn’t like it because it hung off of the curved area of the glass. I was thinking of tying it in any case. ??

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[jonkMACHE]

The resolution at night wasn't that great though, headlights were pretty much the only thing you could see. Hopefully your system is better at night.

This is 100% the reason why I will always go with a traditional mirror. It becomes a hazard at night or during severe weather (which is really the time you need to depend on it the most).

 

[satchel prefect]

This is 100% the reason why I will always go with a traditional mirror. It becomes a hazard at night or during severe weather (which is really the time you need to depend on it the most).

This particular model does better at night than my factory mirror. The glare from the headlights is far less intrusive in this image than in the glass mirror, even an auto dimming one.

It's also a simple matter to toggle between using the display as a monitor and as a conventional mirror. On this product, it's a single button push, right where one would flip the small night time lever on a legacy mirror, back before the days of auto dimming. Having said that, the top-mounted connections on this setup do interfere with the Mach E mirror housing, limiting how far up you can tilt the mirror.

Being behind non-wiper swept glass is still a hurdle right now for me. I have the 15-G on the way to see if that resolves it. When I had the factory digital mirror on the 2018 Blazer (which had an externally mounted camera), I found it to be way less affected by rain in "monitor" mode versus mirror mode, as water couldn't accumulate on the small, vertical, domed lens--unlike the back glass, which needed continuous use of the rear wiper.

 

[RobbertPatrison]

I really wanted this type of dash cam to work. I was so confident that it would work that when I installed it I pulled out all of the wiring for my existing front/back dash cam.

But, alas, I'm going to return it. The recordings were good, and I'd go so far as to say stunning so that wasn't the problem. There were two major problems that caused me to return it. 1) Sun blowout. If the sun is anywhere in view it just blows out the camera and makes the rear view mirror portion of it useless during that time. 2) Glare. I have the white interior in my car and the glass on the mirror is flooded with white glare no matter how I pointed the screen making it hard to see the screen during the daytime.

This is a great idea and I could probably mitigate the glare with a cobbled screen protector but the sun blowout isn't fixable. I need to have a rear view 100% of the time.

I replaced the rear camera with this one, and the difference is literally night a day. Sun blowout and glare from rear headlights are much better:

WOLFBOX Upgraded WDR Rear Camera for G840S / T10 Plus / D07, 1080P Waterproof AHD Car Rear View Camera https://a.co/d/bAocjxZ

I mounted it on the licence plate frame. That low unobstructed position gives the best view.

Overall, the digital rear camera and dual dashcam are excellent: great resolution and much better view rearward. The only issue is when it rains. But that does not happen much where I live...

 

[DavesMach]

Can you show photos?

 

[satchel prefect]

Can you show photos?

Just making sure: are you asking for pictures of the Wolfbox camera that RobbertPatrison mentioned, or my (original post) setup?

 

[DavesMach]

Yeah just wondered how you mounted the rear cam

 

[satchel prefect]

Yeah just wondered how you mounted the rear cam

I located the camera on the plastic trim at the top of the hatch window as shown in the picture toward the end of post #10 of this thread.

As for how I ran the wiring, half way down the post #1, I mentioned how I followed a great thread started by MachDoc, and what I did differently from that thread: https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...hardwiring-a-dashcam-and-radar-detector.5542/

Hope this helps. If you have specific questions I would be happy to answer as well as I can.

 

[DavesMach]

How is the glare inside the tailgate as opposed to mounting it outside?

 

[satchel prefect]

How is the glare inside the tailgate as opposed to mounting it outside?

In my use, under my conditions, glare is very rarely a problem. Significantly less often than with a conventional mirror.

At night, headlight glare with the front and rear cameras with this kit is non-existent, thanks to a very effective implementation of WDR.

During the day, the only time I have a glare problem is when there's a lot of condensation on the rear window and the sun is at just the right angle. This only applies during humid (but not rainy) mornings, if I happen to be driving due west with no trucks, trees, or buildings behind me and before the condensation has evaporated from the glass. In my case, I see these conditions for about 20 seconds before I reach my first turn to the north.

I do tend to keep the glass pretty clean and do not have any tint film on the hatch glass. Both of those could be contributing factors.

Edit: I just realized that another potential source of glare/reflection is if the cargo cover is removed and the cargo area has any bright objects in it. Those can show up in the video image. Theoretically they can be removed by adding a circular polarizing lens, but that would be tricky with a camera of this size and shape.

Just to be clear, the reflection is not an issue if the cargo cover is left in place. The black material prevents the camera from picking up any reflections in the rear glass under pretty much any lighting conditions

 

[DavesMach]

I located the camera on the plastic trim at the top of the hatch window as shown in the picture toward the end of post #10 of this thread.

As for how I ran the wiring, half way down the post #1, I mentioned how I followed a great thread started by MachDoc, and what I did differently from that thread: https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...hardwiring-a-dashcam-and-radar-detector.5542/

Hope this helps. If you have specific questions I would be happy to answer as well as I can.

This mount is inside not outside.. Can you show how you mounted yours outside?

 

[satchel prefect]

This mount is inside not outside.. Can you show how you mounted yours outside?

I actually never mounted it outside. All of my pictures, explanations, and impressions are based on the inside mount that you see.

Maybe your question was for Robbert Patrison in post # 19?

 

[DavesMach]

I actually never mounted it outside. All of my pictures, explanations, and impressions are based on the inside mount that you see.

Maybe your question was for Robbert Patrison in post # 19?

ok my problem is my night shots arent even as close as yours I have the Wolfbox g900 which is a very good sensor. Any toughts?

 

[satchel prefect]

I should clarify first that the still night shot in posts #12 and #18 were from the video I cited in post #12--not from my setup.

Here are some actual night time stills from my internally mounted rear camera:

The first image is an empty street with porch and Christmas lights but no street lights. The second one is a three-lane 40mph surface street. As you can see, there's plenty of info to identify the car behind me, and enough resolution to capture a front license plate.

If the lady in the picture below rear-ended me while looking down at her phone or infotainment, I'd have a reasonable chance at providing evidence:

My rear glass is fairly dirty in these pictures and no tint film added to the factory dark glass. It's obviously not as clear as the shots I posted earlier from that YT review.

If your footage isn't as good as these, there are a few possible reasons.

• Is your glass tinted and/or dirty?
• Are you sure the product has a good and properly functioning sensor? I tried multiple products before settling on this one because it had by far the best WDR.
• Does post-processing/enhancing the image (auto balance, etc.) help?

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