Dash cam install info!!

1. With any luck my new 22 should be here early Sept

Thinking of installing a Garmin mini 2, front and rear. Will use the Dongar adapter for the front.

Have you folks seen any detailed info on the best way to run power to the Rear Dash Cam

 

I would recommend the FitcamX, looks like it was part of the TSS and it's plug and play.

 

————

Thx friend, but I prefer the Garmin mini 2 with the Dongar adapter for up front!

Just looking for a clean way to get power to the Rear Mini

Hoping someone on here has done it before

 

FitcamX is the most cleanes compared to the Garmin. However, the Fitcam is kinda newer in the market. I haven't seen a lot of longterm reviews.

 

Just did my vantrue front and back with donger. I tucked the wire from the rear to the head liner to the c pillar and down inside the door weather seal down under the sill protector to the a pillar. Up the weather strip and tucked into the edge of the headliner. The rear head liner has a nice gap to stuff the excess wire in towards the front above the back seat if that makes sense? Pretty easy and took about 6 minutes.

 

I installed a Garmin 57 with the Dongar adapter up front about a month ago, and I've been thinking of adding a Garmin Mini 2 to the rear in the not too distant future...so I've kinda been looking into the same thing.

At this point, I think I would get the Garmin Constant Power Cable...it has 2 USB-A ports, so you could power 2 cameras...and a couple long USB cables.

For the front, if I wanted to get the bonus of constant power (which the Dongar doesn't provide)...run the cable up the A-pillar, across the top of the windshield (tucked under the headliner), and drop it down near the rearview mirror to power the front dash cam.

For the rear, I still need to do more investigation, so this is a rough idea. However, it should be pretty easy to run a cable under the driver side front/rear door kick-plates. The kick-plates pop off easy, and there's plenty of room in there. From there I'm not 100% sure...it probably gets more challenging and depends on where you want to locate the rear-facing camera. There has to be a route under all that plastic to get the cable to a good place for the dash cam...perhaps somewhere along the C-pillar of the driver side rear window? Alternatively, perhaps also run the rear cable up the A-pillar, then towards the rear window via the headliner?

That said...IMO, as long as the cabling is clean/out-of-sight, doesn't rattle/vibrate, and is easily replaced when the USB power cable inevitably fails...I don't care what path it takes.

 

———-

After further investigation FitcamX seems to be the way to go! They sell the front & rear camera as a set, including “all” necessary wiring for both

even found a video on YouTube about the clean installation

 

The front camera looks great. I did not see any specs for the rear one on the Amazon listing though. And it seems that if you buy just the front one, you can't add the rear one at a later date.

 

I ran mine along the front edge of the headliner to the passenger side, then along that edge to the back, then along that edge to the camera.

Some people run it down the front pillars to the floor and underneath the door trim along the floor behind the back seat and up to the camera.

And some people (I don’t understand why) remove their seats and carpet and run their wires underneath everything.

 

Nice! I've been looking for something that was a clean install. I have an SR so no power mirror to use the dongar adaptor. I just ordered the Fitcamx. I went direct and it was cheaper than Amazon. Paid with paypal so I have some security if I get ripped off. I immediately got a fraud alert from my bank after paying lol. The payer was all chinese writing so hopefully I get it!

 

For those interested in the FitCamX

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fit-cam-x-dash-camera.774259/

I got one on the way myself. As for the “can’t purchase rear camera alone” just search Amazon I saw a few listings on there for solo rear camera for the fitcam.

 

Not buying thru Amazon, going directly from FitcamX

 

I thought the issue was that if you bought the front only, that the board inside of it wouldn't support a rear camera. They said the boards were different on the front only camera and the one that come with both.

 

This 1000x. It’s a 3 minute install and looks OEM

 

Please school me on the need or use for a dashcam. I like the looks of the FitCamX -- and it's certainly reasonably priced -- but I'm not clear on why I want it. Documenting a potential accident?

 

Yes, proof. Your word vs their word on what happened sucks. Video proof is hard to dispute.

Also at the time of the accident emotions run high, and people tend to have tunnel vision.

 

Cheap insurance against fraudsters. If you have a camera it turns from a my word against yours , to a I have proof of what really happened. After my old folks got into a wreck (their car got totaled and were injured), I purchased dash cams for all my cars, and even go them a dash cam. Well worth the money, cameras are dirt cheap compared to what out trucks are worth.

 

You guys have convinced me. I assume that the dashcam turns on automatically when the truck is started, and records continuously while the key is in the ignition? If the memory card gets filled up, it just overwrites the earliest recording?

 

Yes that’s correct. Make sure you buy a card sized correctly for your camera or it will gag and not work.

 

That's also what I understood. If you just buy the front one, the PCB does not have the provision to add the rear one later. I'm assuming that if you buy the combo of front+rear, the board for the front camera includes a connector for the rear one.