Mach-E Dashcam and Sentry Mode Updates

GoGoGadgetMachE

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Ah. The cams don’t use the ports to communicate with the vehicle. The obd2 ports have a power pin, a ground pin, and a pin that gets power when the car is turned on. The cam uses those pins to get power and determine if the car is on so it can determine when to go into power saving mode. Wikipedia has some good info on how obd works if you want more info.
yeah sorry I meant in more general terms not in the camera case - like I said the power pins on both make sense and is what I sort of assumed was going on in real life.

just strange to me that the cable doesn't just fully wire one side and partially wire the other and mark one as "data" and one as "power" so that you don't try to run two data devices on the cable at the same time. probably just not worth their time to bother.
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yeah sorry I meant in more general terms not in the camera case - like I said the power pins on both make sense and is what I sort of assumed was going on in real life.

just strange to me that the cable doesn't just fully wire one side and partially wire the other and mark one as "data" and one as "power" so that you don't try to run two data devices on the cable at the same time. probably just not worth their time to bother.
Well you can have multiple devices on the "data wire" so to speak. All modern cars use the CAN Bus standard. It's actually a network in your car where all the modules can communicate with one another using one or more of the several busses "mini networks". Wikipedia has a good write up on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus
 

GoGoGadgetMachE

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Well you can have multiple devices on the "data wire" so to speak. All modern cars use the CAN Bus standard. It's actually a network in your car where all the modules can communicate with one another using one or more of the several busses "mini networks". Wikipedia has a good write up on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus
Yeah, I'm aware about CAN Bus. But I've never done anything with OBD-II connectors from an embedded design viewpoint, just an end user viewpoint.

Wikipedia says that OBD-II actually supports five protocols, not just CAN, but I don't know how common different protocols are in real life (Wikipedia suggests Ford doesn't use CAN on their OBD-II ports)... but I don't know anything about the other protocols so I don't know if they have device addressing support, which would explain the coexistence.
 

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Ford hasn't really confirmed anything about a Sentry mode type feature, correct? Hoping we hear something concrete in the next month or so.
No they haven’t. I think their comment was something to the effect of, “That's something we could look into..” I’d not trust my memory on this though.
 

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Wikipedia says that OBD-II actually supports five protocols, not just CAN, but I don't know how common different protocols are in real life (Wikipedia suggests Ford doesn't use CAN on their OBD-II ports)... but I don't know anything about the other protocols so I don't know if they have device addressing support, which would explain the coexistence.
CAN is just the physical layer not the protocol...
 


GoGoGadgetMachE

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CAN is just the physical layer not the protocol...
ok if you want to be picky with wording in that way (which is not really completely accurate but I'll go with it), there are five different physical signaling mechanisms on OBD-II, according to the Wikipedia writeup, with different voltage levels, different pin assignments, etc. Above that I don't know what's being sent across those wires with those voltage levels for four of the five (CAN is all I've ever touched in any way directly) so I don't know if they are busses or direct-connect-to-a-controller kinds of setups.

it doesn't really matter. this is a lot of words about something that ultimately comes down to "using the dashcam doesn't prevent you from using other OBD-II devices."

I was just surprised that there was such a thing as a fully-wired Y-cable.
 

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If you're wondering whether the Mach-E will feature dashcam and sentry mode capabilities, here's what Ford told us at the LA Auto Show:

Q: Can the front cameras act as a dashcam?
A: More details to come on that. The hardware is capable. With OTA Updates capability, these are the types of things we’re working on, giving customer’s cars more capabilities as they own it.​

Q: Will there be a sentry mode?
A: Stay tuned on this. The OTA capabilities of the vehicle we’ve still got some things that the team’s working on, so between now and the time we launch, we’ll share more as we get closer to the launch date.​
Has there been any updates on these?
 

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Most likely not until we know more about what's going to be in the first OTA update.
The Ford offered dash cams are all Thinkware cams. I installed the U1000 with the rear cam addition In my Flex in about an hour. The cable lengths were perfect and I was able to hide the cables easily. They work great and the OBD 2 adapter made the install seamless without splicing into the wiring harness.
I’ve installed Dash Cams in my last 2 vehicles. Both times I got power from the fuse box. What additional advantages does the OBD 2 provide?
 

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I’ve installed Dash Cams in my last 2 vehicles. Both times I got power from the fuse box. What additional advantages does the OBD 2 provide?
OBD allows for auto power on\off as one of the pins in OBD is live when the car is running. It's a battery saving technique used by the dash cam.
 

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OBD allows for auto power on\off as one of the pins in OBD is live when the car is running. It's a battery saving technique used by the dash cam.
Thanks for the reply.

Wouldn’t using an accessory fuse connection in the fuse box be the same? That is the way I do it now and the Dash Cam comes on and off when I turn my key to accessory or when I start the car. I have a Radar Detector installed that way also.

Is the OBD connection protected with a fuse? Does Ford frown on car owners using the OBD connection for self installed accessories?

Are the connections in the fuse box all 12 volt?
 

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Thanks for the reply.

Wouldn’t using an accessory fuse connection in the fuse box be the same? That is the way I do it now and the Dash Cam comes on and off when I turn my key to accessory or when I start the car. I have a Radar Detector installed that way also.

Is the OBD connection protected with a fuse? Does Ford frown on car owners using the OBD connection for self installed accessories?

Are the connections in the fuse box all 12 volt?
The main reason to use the OBD port is to avoid splicing into the cars wiring system. You can easily remove the connector to return the car to factory condition. I'm not sure how you have yours wired up. The OBD connector has a "hot at all times" pin, a ground pin, and a "live when on" pin. The "hot at all times" pin has a fuse in the fuse panel and is used to power the OBD diagnostic tool. Ground is also used for the diagnostic tool. The "live when on" pin is one of the CAN bus connections used for data transfer between the diagnostic tool and cars computer.

Using the "hot at all times" and ground powers the dash cam and enables sentry mode when the car is off. When someone bumps my car or there is a large vibration, I get a notification on my phone that something is going on with my car. When the car is on the dash cam sees that the CAN bus is active and starts live recording while I drive.
 

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The main reason to use the OBD port is to avoid splicing into the cars wiring system. You can easily remove the connector to return the car to factory condition. I'm not sure how you have yours wired up. The OBD connector has a "hot at all times" pin, a ground pin, and a "live when on" pin. The "hot at all times" pin has a fuse in the fuse panel and is used to power the OBD diagnostic tool. Ground is also used for the diagnostic tool. The "live when on" pin is one of the CAN bus connections used for data transfer between the diagnostic tool and cars computer.

Using the "hot at all times" and ground powers the dash cam and enables sentry mode when the car is off. When someone bumps my car or there is a large vibration, I get a notification on my phone that something is going on with my car. When the car is on the dash cam sees that the CAN bus is active and starts live recording while I drive.

Thanks for the explanation
 

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I’ve installed Dash Cams in my last 2 vehicles. Both times I got power from the fuse box. What additional advantages does the OBD 2 provide?
I've done the same. If you can find an ignition switched 12V line, of course you can tap into that, either by splicing or at the fuse box. The OBD version is just a simple plug-and-play solution so people don't have to do that.

I'll probably want to do splicing - I'd want the cameras to record even if the OBD plug were to get unplugged.
 

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How do we get the word to Ford that Dash Cam and Sentry Modes need to happen?
Talk to your salesperson. Ford is far more likely to work on something like this if they are being bombarded with requests from across the market.
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