Dashcam Install

[SubVet]

For those who are cheap like me , I bought anthis AUKEY Camera. 1080P I bought it to see if I wanted a better one.. I decided to keep it as it has worked well. Don't need the rear. If someone rear-ends me I am sure the front camera picture will show the bump. Plus I can turn it around anyway. I ran a wire up the A pillar from it front left 12V source. I am going to have a shop find a 12V source in the overhead console so I don't have to0 screw with fuses and taps

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[jkaluski]

Hey,
Could you tell me how you got the cowl off the rear view mirror without breaking the nubs, pls?
My Ranger is 5 days old and I really don't want to break it this soon. I'm waiting for something worthwhile before damaging it.

Cheers!

I installed my dashcam last night and wanted to provide a quick how-to since I tapped directly into the mirror instead of running cable down to the fuse box. Tapping the mirror power will allow the camera to start during remote start and doesn't turn off with the auto-off feature of our vehicle.

Products Used:

• Mini Invisicord w/Fuse
• Rexing V1 3rd Gen on Lighting Deal for $99
• Mini USB 2.0 90 Degree Left Angle (Optional but makes cable management cleaner)

Method Used:

• First I cut the end of the invisicord off and the end of the left angle Mini USB from Amazon and connected the left angle to the invisicord product, soldered and used some shrink wrap to keep it secure. Again this is optional

• Other end of the invisicord product. This is what we'll use to tap into the mirror's power

• Start by removing the top part of the cowl directly behind the mirror. Do not attempt to remove the lower part containing the safety camera etc. Once removed you'll see a small grey connector containing 3 cables: Blue, Black and Green. We are interested in the Blue and Black cables.

Side View of the exposed gray clip with the cowl off

• Insert the Red end of the invisicord into the same hole with the blue cable. Then, insert the black end of the invisicord into the same hole with the black cable. We are not touching the green cable.

Side view with the invisicord inserted

• At this point I stopped and plugged in my camera to ensure it turned on. When everything worked I started putting the cowl back on and did a little cable management.

Cowl back on

Cowl on and Camera mounted before tucking camera cable back in to safety camera housing and cowl. I got the invisicord with the in-line fuse. The fuse fit nicely behind the cowel.

Cables tucked away and camera in position that I can't see it from driver seat. Note the optional left hand Mini USB. Much cleaner bend around the camera and into cowl for easy cable management.

Hope this helps.

 

[VESH]

FYI I used a fuse tap on #35, which is powered with ignition.

While others used #36 and #37, my tap wouldn’t fit in those no matter which direction I tried to install it.

 

[Sparky]

I installed a dual dash cam a few days ago -- I powered from 1 of the 2 Power Points on the dash. Using Forscan I re-programmed the timer from the factory 1.25 Hr to 18 hours. This gives me enough time when motelling overnight. I did a battery test and started at 12.99v and after the 18 hours I registered 12.49v. For a longer period of time such as long term parking at an airport I have a Jackery 500 that I can place on the passenger floor and plugin. This should give me at least 2 weeks of power for the camera's in parking mode. Super simple install and all plug-n-play.

 

[South Florida Ranger]

Was planning on installing a Blackvue dr900s 2ch with power magic pro hard wired.

I see that Ford has an OEM that is 1080P just put on the accessories page. Three questions:

1) Does anyone see specs (wifi, gps, parking mode, etc) for the OEM unit or who makes it, what model it is?

2) I like that it seems to come with a factory harness as I think its a much cleaner install than fuse splitters. Anyone know if we can just buy the harness for use with the Blackvue?

3) If no harness avail standalone, has anyone figured out what fuses to tap?

Trucks on order so need to fill my time buying accessories.

Dash cams are great. Wish we could upload videos though.

 

[RedlandRanger]

Dash cams are great. Wish we could upload videos though.

Upload them to youtube or a similar place and put the link here.

 

[JimH]

Well, this has been asked 2 times without a reply, so I'll make it 3 --- Could you tell me how you got the cowl off the rear view mirror without breaking the nubs?

 

[Jake596]

That Aukey line of Cams seems like pretty good bang for the buck....now you have me thinking, not for my ranger cuz its my off road rig but my F-150 for sure...

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Well, this has been asked 2 times without a reply, so I'll make it 3 --- Could you tell me how you got the cowl off the rear view mirror without breaking the nubs?

This is something I have wondered about as well.

 

[mURmECH]

Give it a good tug, I took the top piece off first and than the bottom piece, Start at one corner and pull along the edges, you should be able to tell where the clips are, I didn’t take a picture. It’s not that hard, I’ve had them off at least four times and even made some mods on it to pass wires through.

 

[South Florida Ranger]

This is something I have wondered about as well.

My dash cam plugs in USB.

 

[South Florida Ranger]

Here’s the YouTube

 

[Porpoise Hork]

My dash cam plugs in USB.

I have a Rexing V1 4K camera and is rated at needing 5V @ 2A. So unfortunately it wont run off of the low power output of the USB ports. It even has issues with high output USB chargers because the voltage output on those is not stable or is introducing some sort of interference causing distortions on the screen when on. This causes the camera to shut off, presumably from some sort of circuitry protection. So it needs either the cigarette lighter adapter or a hard wired connection to provide clean stable power. I opted for the latter and tapped into the fuse block and ran the cable up the driver's side A Pillar. Total pain in the butt too since the block all but refused to allow the connector to remain inserted and kept popping out. It took about 15 min battling the truck to get the connector to finally slide in completely and remain seated...

 

[r1ch999999]

I need to move mine off the dash and attach it to the windshield. I also need to hardwire it. I'd like to put one on my cap, but I need a waterproof one for that.

Speaking of these, I'm thinking about getting a helmet cam, or go pro, for when I'm riding my bicycle. After getting hit, and a lot of near misses, I'd like to be able to have footage in case I need it.

 

[GrandpaD]

I installed a dual dash cam a few days ago -- I powered from 1 of the 2 Power Points on the dash. Using Forscan I re-programmed the timer from the factory 1.25 Hr to 18 hours. This gives me enough time when motelling overnight. I did a battery test and started at 12.99v and after the 18 hours I registered 12.49v. For a longer period of time such as long term parking at an airport I have a Jackery 500 that I can place on the passenger floor and plugin. This should give me at least 2 weeks of power for the camera's in parking mode. Super simple install and all plug-n-play.

Can you provide the address for that setting?

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