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Anyone fitted a dashcam in a 8th Gen Accord?

O

offs

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Location
Maidstone
Car
59 iDTEC ES GT
My brother had his cars front bumper damaged and headlight broken by an idiot reversing into him (and then claiming that he hit her, but he had 2 other witnesses sitting in their cars who saw her too). I know its rare but I do like the idea of having one if only to post on youtube some of the near misses I see in London traffic on a regular basis.

The problem is, where would you plug it in? I know a friend actually connected one into the wiring inside his dash. But he had to dump the cigar lighter power supply that came with his and use a ebay bought box to provide 5v down a usb cable.

So, anyone installed one? How did you power it?
 
USB socket in the centre console provides power, could it run from that? It charges my phone ok.
 
Hide the cable where possible and plug it in to the cigarette lighter. That's what I do. I've used one ever since I was very nearly the victim of an obvious "cash for crash" driver on the M23. He drove on to the motorway from a slip road and jammed on his brakes for no apparent reason.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was thinking that that socket in the storage under my left elbow or the one beside the ashtray would be my sources of power unless I started taking apart my dash.

I wonder if there is power behind the lights/sunglasses holder that turns off when the keys are removed. Anyone know?

/edit forgot the cigar lighter beside the ashtray .... still dont want to use it as it would look messy
 
Is there power within your rear view mirror on the 8th Gen ? That where my dashcam is powered from <edit> on my 7th gen Tourer </edit> , no wires in sight at all.

Cheers
Robin
 
wobbin said:
Is there power within your rear view mirror on the 8th Gen ? That where my dashcam is powered from <edit> on my 7th gen Tourer </edit> , no wires in sight at all.

Cheers
Robin
Click to expand...
Do you have a guide or more info on this brilliant idea?
 
Hi Steven,

Sorry no it was a good while ago and I didn't take any pictures. The power take off is from within the interior light housing, it's from here that the electronic dipping mirror gets its feed too. The supply cable runs within the oem square section trunking which is split into two pieces, you'll find that one will slide over the other.

From memory, you need to remove the two clear interior light lenses adjacent to the mirror as if you were swapping a blown lamp - be very careful not to crack them. Once out there were some screws within that needed to be removed to allow access to the wiring, and from there I set about finding a switched +12v feed and a ground return using a multimeter.

Once found I just needed to tap in to the cables - I found it best to solder them as space is tight, plus I hate scotchlocks....

The camera I have is the Smarty BX1000+ which fits nicely onto the windsceen in front of the rear view mirror using the usual self adhesive strip. Be careful not to get the version without the + on the end as it doesn't have GPS. This takes a +12v direct feed so there's no messy cigar lighter plugs that house a hidden 12v to 5v drop down regulator. Chopping off said plug and then wiring to a 12v source can really spoil your day !

Hope this helps

Cheers
Robin
 
wobbin said:
Hi Steven,

Sorry no it was a good while ago and I didn't take any pictures. The power take off is from within the interior light housing, it's from here that the electronic dipping mirror gets its feed too. The supply cable runs within the oem square section trunking which is split into two pieces, you'll find that one will slide over the other.

From memory, you need to remove the two clear interior light lenses adjacent to the mirror as if you were swapping a blown lamp - be very careful not to crack them. Once out there were some screws within that needed to be removed to allow access to the wiring, and from there I set about finding a switched +12v feed and a ground return using a multimeter.

Once found I just needed to tap in to the cables - I found it best to solder them as space is tight, plus I hate scotchlocks....

The camera I have is the Smarty BX1000+ which fits nicely onto the windsceen in front of the rear view mirror using the usual self adhesive strip. Be careful not to get the version without the + on the end as it doesn't have GPS. This takes a +12v direct feed so there's no messy cigar lighter plugs that house a hidden 12v to 5v drop down regulator. Chopping off said plug and then wiring to a 12v source can really spoil your day !

Hope this helps

Cheers
Robin
Click to expand...
Thanks Robin, great howto!!
 
I was looking at using a USB powered dash cam (5V), the eprance 0801 in particular. Very good day time and pretty good night time as well, small size and a handy little mount as well.

I was thinking that there is likely to be power up behind the map reading lights that is disconnected when the key is taken out, I must have a look to see if they put in the wiring for the sunroof or for the auto dimming rear view mirror (even though my car does not have a sunroof and I'm not sure the auto dimming rear view mirror is an option on a ES GT)

I spotted this nice small DC-DC converter:
http://www.miniinthebox.com/ultra-small-lm2596-power-supply-module-dc-dc-buck-3a-adjustable-buck-module-regulator-ultra-lm2596s-24v-switch-12v-5v-3v_p1023925.html?currency=GBP&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&gclid=CIS02Izl6rwCFc_MtAodfgIAPw

Its 4.3cm x 2.1cm x 1.4cm. The eprance takes approx 2.5watts at max so this should do the job. I just have to make sure there is enough space for that DC/DC behind the reading lights, or I could leave it in the sunglasses holder if stuck I suppose.
 
That board looks a good bet - you can get the same thing for less on Ebay though from Hong Kong. I have an almost identical board powering my Brodit cradle for my phone handset - it was cheaper to buy the version with the cigar lighter plug, chop that off and wire it to one of these pcb's than it was to buy the Brodit version that's designed for permanent wire in. Don't forget to fuse the input and outputs though :)

Cheers
Robin
 
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