Car Cam

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Just re-rigged my Car Camera up after watching Car Crash Britain.
Fits nicely alongside the rear view mirror.

Quite a few of the crashes / bashes were by vehicles being knocked into other innocent vehicles.
Plenty of Nutter Lorry Drivers and Motorbikes featured of course.

A lot of the people with Car Cams were saying that it's not so much to do with posting to YouTube and other such Media Outlets, although for use in Insurance Claims.

I wonder when Car Cams may be standard fitted to vehicles so that you don't have to stick one to your windscreen. I'd definitely tick the Audi Box for a factory fitted one.
 
I think there the next step along from black boxes insurance companies use. I'm really pro-camera and would love to see them factory fitted, recording to the sd card slot in the glove box.

I don't see audi/bmw being far away at all with many fleet insurers getting stung by cash for crash or 50/50 claims. Some I know of offer huge discounts to vehicles that have them fitted, some normal insurance companies are the same.
 
I have one fitted to mine, it's an E-Prance Mini 0803 and I absolutely love it! I took it to a garage to fit, who fed all the wires through the headlining and hooked it up to the cars power supply behind the dash. It sits directly behind my rear view mirror and blends in so nicely I forget it's there until a passenger points it out (wondering what it is). The footage is top quality and I've already picked up a few near misses between cars ahead etc. The way I look at it, with purchase & fitting it cost me <£120. Which is a small price to pay if someone bumps me (god forbid). People can try and deny it all they like but you can't argue with hard evidence.

A feature that I wish my camera had, but a lot do these days is motion detector, for example if your car is parked up and someone reversed into you, the camera would recognise the motion and auto start recording, so you would see the culprit drive off. A pretty cool feature!

Here's some poor pictures of my cam fitted, it's quite hard to get a decent picture as it's brighter outside the car:





 
Here's a little bit of footage as well:

Morning (winter sun) which it copes with pretty well I thought. Hard enough driving in it, let alone filming it:



Night:

 
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Heard alot about these, pictures above look top quality aswell.

Can these be fitted through internal socket rather than wiring behind the dash etc? Obviously it would be a lot neater to have it concelled, but interested to try one out before fitted in this above way.
 
Yeah they come with a cigarette lighter plug, I originally planned to just do that, but the A3 the cigarette lighter is in an awkward place and you lose access to one of the cup holders. From what the garage told me, they still used the cigarette lighter but from behind the dash and I still have access to the cigarette lighter for sat navs etc
 
Yes, they can be plugged into a 12v socket. Some of the more up market dash cams have Bluetooth so you can watch it back straight away from your phone. Also the ones with motion sensor can turn on and record when the car is parked but also when detect a bump they creat a file that can't be overwritten without you viewing it first
 
Have a look at the new Blackvue DR600GW-HD it even creates its own wi-fi hotspot and has built in g p s.:arco:
 
jimladallen said:
Have a look at the new Blackvue DR600GW-HD it even creates its own wi-fi hotspot and has built in g p s.:arco:
Click to expand...

Mine has GPS but I honestly don't see what purpose it serves? So I turned it off aha
 
Seriously thinking about getting one of these, but I know nothing about them, are they permanently recording, or do you have to hit a button to record the last 5 mins of your journey etc.
 
jimladallen said:
Have a look at the new Blackvue DR600GW-HD it even creates its own wi-fi hotspot and has built in g p s.:arco:
Click to expand...

Do the Blackvue cameras still cause DAB interference when the rear camera is installed? I am tempted by one of these but I seem to remember DAB drop-out being an issue in the A3.
 
They start recording when the ignition starts and stop when the engine turns off so no interaction needed. They usually record in 5 minute loops until the card is full and overwrite old footage then.
 
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Cameras are worth their weight in gold! A friend of my wifes could have done with one a few weeks back: A car pulled out of a junction right in front of her, even though she was quick on the brakes it was too close to stop the accident, she hit her right up the rear!!! The woman of the other car got out and and was all apologetic, saying that she was distracted and just pulled out without looking. When the insurance contacted her the other woman had changed her mind as to what happened! She said "I slowed down to turn left into the junction and the woman behind ran straight up the back of me".

No witnesses at all, so it's word against word. A camera would have showed what really went on!

Perfect example:

 
MA3RC said:
A feature that I wish my camera had, but a lot do these days is motion detector, for example if your car is parked up and someone reversed into you, the camera would recognise the motion and auto start recording, so you would see the culprit drive off. A pretty cool feature!
Click to expand...

Mine has this, although it's "hidden" among the Menu settings.
Might be worth a look on yours ??
I set mine to off as I didn't realise that was what it was for !!

Yours fits lovely and snuggly to the windscreen - and with the wiring tucked away nicely, looks like an integral part of the car.
Mine has about 40m of cable (well maybe 1m) for some reason which I have to tuck under the passenger seat.
It comes with a swivel mechanism so that you can turn the camera unit sideways / rear facing.
There's also a little "tv screen" that you can fold down which give you a live feed or to watch back any recorded footage.

As yours, mine starts upon ignition, although there is an Record Button to stop / start a recording as you wish. Set mine to 15 mins recording cycles, although there's various timings in the Menu.

Hopefully it will just sit there merrily recording to itself and I'll never really need it.
 
Personally think they should be in every car, would stop a lot of road rage, racing and general idiocy on the road, never mind all the crash for cash scams.
 
LucasS3 said:
Personally think they should be in every car, would stop a lot of road rage, racing and general idiocy on the road, never mind all the crash for cash scams.
Click to expand...
If i'm right, it's the law in Russia.
 
MA3RC said:
If i'm right, it's the law in Russia.
Click to expand...
I believe it is, but looking at a lot of videos on youtube they certainly don't stop road rage, those guys will beat you with a bat for just looking at them funny in their car!!!!
 
LucasS3 said:
I believe it is, but looking at a lot of videos on youtube they certainly don't stop road rage, those guys will beat you with a bat for just looking at them funny in their car!!!!
Click to expand...

Cameras won't stop road rage, probably as the offending person doesn't know there is a camera running.

They are an added witness (as long as it is in the field of view) and especially useful where someone changes their story. Any sort of camera is good for that. I was a passenger recently and some people in Mitsibushi Animal were gesticulating & shouting out of the window for genuinely no reason. I just help up my phone as if to take a photo and they suddenly stopped and backed off.
 
I don't think it's the law in Russia, I think they just have a lot of dodgy insurance companies there so it tends to be that everyone has one fitted.

I have the Blackvue 550 (dual channel). It's great!
 
How to members normally get the power supply to a dash cam mounted near the rear-view mirror?
 
See my installation thread for details, but I route the wire into the plastic cover that the mirror uses, along the top of the windscreen, down the A pillar (passenger side) & into the fuse box.
 
I confess to not knowing a lot about these cameras, so apologies if this is a stupid question.

With one of these permanently stuck to the windscreen, won't it encourage someone to break into the car to nick it?
 
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Thanks 'veeeight'. Always nice to be given the links with an answer where possible.

Has anyone tried using any power from the front interior lighting panel as it's so close?
 
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h5djr said:
Has anyone tried using any power from the front interior lighting panel as it's so close?
Click to expand...


I tried that with the 8P. It was near impossible to find a "clean" ignition switched 12V source, everything I probed was PWM'd to give the dimming function when you open and close the doors.

It's really quite easy to get to the glovebox fuses in the 8V.
 
Yes I've changed the fuse position to give permanently live 12v sockets. I just thought it would mean less wiring. Mind you if I did decide to get a dash cam I would probably use the existing connection the dealer wired for me for my TomTom. It would be quite straight forward to double the wire and run it up between the drivers side A-pillar and along the top of the screen. Perhaps one day Audi will provide a mini-USB socket in the mirror housing.
 
JohnnyM100 said:
What - you've got a camera in the shape of The Stig??????
Click to expand...
Yes ;) he's my back seat driver:

36ca4567e91de3e1615b0e02f61a3dad.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hi,
Just to let you know that a number of our insurance schemes do offer discounts for a range of in-car cameras.
Regards,
Dan.
 
After watching Part 2 of Car Crash Britain, I'm going to purchase a new Car Cam.

1st Choice: Nextbase 402-G @ circa £150
2nd Choice: Cobra 840 E HD @ circa £130.

Both are reviewed as doing a really good job both day / night and aren't stupid money.
Hopefully, it'll just spend its life looking out the windscreen and I won't actually ever really need it.

Could be useful for AN Other if it records something happening in front of it.
There were quite a few stories / recordings of this on last night Programme.

The Van Driver that smashed that Motorbiker off at the Roundabout was a prime example.
 
I have been looking at getting one for when I pick up my new A3 next month and after watching Car Crash Britian last night I'm considering it harder. I'm never gonna say I'm the best driver in the world (although I thought I was Ayerton Senna when I did an Audi Experience day at Silverstone!! ) but some of the driving was just shocking.

If they were factory fitted I'd of specced one in without a thought. I'm terrible for not seeing cables and devices (some say I've got OCD!!) is it'd have to be small, inconspicuous and wired in perfectly.
 
DAN@ADRIAN FLUX said:
Hi,
Just to let you know that a number of our insurance schemes do offer discounts for a range of in-car cameras.
Regards,
Dan.
Click to expand...

...which would attract me to your services if the quote I got wasn't so ridiculous in the first place!
 
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I'm helping a friend fit his new Blackvue 650 dual channel to his Qashqai on Sunday. Could be interesting with no workshop manual to refer to though!
 
Some good info here thank you. I'm toying with this now after seeing that program last night ! Just wondered if anyone has a dash cam fitted in conjunction with high beam assist camera in the rear view mirror ? Interested in the position of the camera so that it doesn't block the HBA and how much it then intruded into your field of vision.

Any external cameras on the market maybe 'grille cam' for mounting between the grille vanes ? Guess it would need a fish eye lens if such a thing existed.
 
Rob2k68 said:
Any external cameras on the market maybe 'grille cam' for mounting between the grille vanes ? Guess it would need a fish eye lens if such a thing existed.
Click to expand...

I can't see this being a thing, they would get filthy in winter with grit on the roads etc
 
Dtwm1 said:
I can't see this being a thing, they would get filthy in winter with grit on the roads etc
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree with that, I stuck a go pro on the front of my car for about half an hour, it was caked in crap after about half hour!
 
Some fool was undercutting loads of us on a dual carriageway in a bus lane this morning as well! Grrr... Thought maybe give him the benefit of the doubt, but he did it again further up the road!

Have the decency to queue like the rest of us!

 
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