by huns » Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:01 am
There are two kind of cams. One that connects with USB. These cannot really serve as a parking cam, unless they have batteries, or you hook up a portable charger in between (actually that is not a bad idea?). The other kind is the one you connect to the radio cables. These can be dual channel (which you need here, with the radio model, because you have only one radio cable harness in front). Since they connect to the battery line so to say, they can serve as parking cams and just shut down uf battery voltage goes below a set value. However. Front and end connects with USB.
Usb has a max length of 5M. That can only be extended with an "active USB extender" (which also needs power.)
Well, you could always just buy two Xiaoyi Yi dashcam. Relative needed one, had little cash. We bought one from eBay (30gbp a piece). It was Chinese when it arrived, but it can be swapped to English pretty easily. (I will post a tutorial on this forums.)
So. Get two, and then you have two 5V USB thingies you have to power. (Either the cigarette lighter 5V socket hole or maybe splice some wire and add a new socket, you get the idea. Like you could run new wires from engine bay, along to back, then add new socket, boom, power.)
With this info, it is easy to see which to pick, depending on your case:
- The radio connect one, if you can fit into 5M (my Tourneo barely had enough cable), or, you can siphon some power mid-route, using an active USB extender.
- The USB one (xiaoyi, viofo?) if you can just get two 5V sockets or just power at both ends.
Generic info:
- you could also have a front radio one and a back USB one.
- a dual channel is more expensive but in my experience its pretty much the same thing. my "Lukas" just makes two recordings.
- wifi support is god-send.
- you will need "high endurance" SD cards, 32 or 64gigs are both fine.
Thought:
- the portable battery might be super cool, I do want to try it out now. One thing about batteries, they dont mix well with heat. So most cams have small batteries. But if we added this portable thing... Hmm.
- resolution, fps does NOT matter. Check youtube for actual recordings.
- you really don't have to spend a fortune.
Reddit has a dsshcam recommendation. Viofo A119 is better for night, but lacks wifi. XiaoYi ahs wifi, good pic, is cheap, but USB, has no battery. Lukas is dual, quality is okay-ish.
(I know my post is a mess.) Ask away if you have any questions!
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- Transit MK8 LWB 2.2D 155 bhp - Trend - Cam: Viofo A119 cfw
- Tourneo Connect LWB 1.5D 120bhp - Titanium - Cam: Lukas WK-7950 Dual
- Mondeo MK4 2.2D 235bhp stage1 - Titanium - Cam: Viofo A119 cfw | 70mai Dash Cam Pro