Rear dashcam cables route help
Hi guys, I am not very skillful with cars and would appreciate any help regarding the routing camera cables path to the rear window., I have good knowledge about electronics so the wiring itself is not the issue, it's just that I have never taken any panel in a car before.
HERE IS THE IMAGE--https://imgur.com/a/6PtKw1x
This is my first car, I literally bought it 10 days ago. The exact model is Mazda 2, the year 2012, Groove sport. SEA version, Thailand.
Dashcam model is Viafo A139, 3-way camera, and a hardwire kit.
So the idea is to mount the main unit at the front of the car, then route hardwiring/power cable to the fuse box. another cable is supposed to go from the main camera unit to the rear window.
I was wondering can anyone help me, which route to take, and some advice on how to remove certain panels inside the car. For example, on some other car installation videos I saw they remove rubber seal at the door, and I've never done it before, so I am worried that I might damage something.
Any help appreciated.
Comments Section
I'm glad you asked. There are hundreds of YouTube videos incorrectly showing how to install dash cameras, it's a shame people don't know any better or take some time to research. There's maybe 1-4 videos on YouTube that show a decent installation.
For the front camera, make sure to clean the area of the windshield where you'll be installing the camera with ammonia free glass cleaner or rubbing alcohol so the mounting pad can properly stick. I can't tell based on the product images for the Viofo A139, but if it has a separate mounting pad, installing that first, and waiting 1-2 days will give you maximum adhesion before actually mounting the camera to the mounting pad. I've seen so many instances where people install the camera, place it against the windshield for less than 2 minutes, and let go of it. After a few days, they find their camera on the floor or dangling. Preferably, the location of the front camera should be right on the windshield frit and the lens should be right under the frit. This gives the installation a discrete look and further helps the adhesive on the mounting pad to stick to the windshield as that frit blocks a ton of UV rays.
Ideally, for reliability sake, I would avoid multi-channel dash cameras as they rely on one unit. If that master unit becomes defective, breaks down, or anything happens to it right before a crash, all of the other cameras reporting to the master went down. It's much safer to buy independant cameras for multi angles. Also, it's much easier to upgrade cameras as you have dedicated cabling ran to the fuse box rather than cables piggybacking off of one another which usually contain proprietary connectors.
This video is like a needle in the haystack, it's buried with all the other videos that show horrible installation on YouTube, it actually shows good installation practices and I would recommend watching it.
In Image 2, it looks like you're going down the a-pillar, which is good. Just make sure to remove the a-pillar cover, secure the wiring to the factory wiring harness inside the a-pillar, and run it down through the pillar. There should be an opening which leads you to the fuse box without having to exit the a-pillar path. When people install dash cameras, they'll commonly remove the door rubber seal, tuck the cable inside of it, and run it down to the fuse box, please don't follow this horrible advice.
In all of your other images, you're wanting to run the cables through the car ceiling. If you do this, you're usually crossing air bags, and having to tuck the cable in rubber seals, it's just not proper. If you watch the video I linked, the video creator also suggests to run the cabling by removing the floor panels, and running the cables with the factory wiring harness.
I would advise wrapping all your cabling with tessa tape, it's a harness tape that helps protect your cabling, prevents rattles, and vibrations. It also gives off a professional installation look.
I could really go on and on with dash cam installation tips, but I don't have all the time in the world. If there's any other question you had, please feel free to reply.
Thank you for your answer, airbag advice was really important and I will change the route through the bottom part of the door.
I've done some tests on my car, and it seems like there is not a single fuse in the driver/s compartment that works while the car is switched off. I don't feel like messing around with the fusebox in the engine compartment. Any workaround for this as I intend to use parking mode?
There has to be at least one fuse that is constantly hot. By using the car’s battery for parking mode, you’re putting unnecessary stress on the battery and potentially shortening its lifespan by constantly draining it to keep your dash cam running while the ignition is off.
I would consider using an external battery such as the Thinkware iVolt or Cellink Neo so you’re not putting strain on the car battery.
Edit: I’m going to assume my post above received some downvotes as I called out the horrible installation practices by typical dash cam owners such as crossing air bags with the cable, tucking the cable in door rubber seals, not utilizing fuse taps, not securing cabling to factory harnesses, etc.
There must at least be a dome light fuse since they need to work when a door is opened.
Thank you for your previous replies, it helped a lot. Today i started the installation of the camera but had to stop because it was getting late.
When I was looking for a bolt to use for the ground wire, I saw this.
Image:https://imgur.com/a/xCxICyN
Is that normal? That looks like it's melt, or like someone used an angle grinder..whatever happened there? Is that supposed to be like that or if not, any idea what might be the reason for it? I am new to cars, and my knowledge is low. It might be something normal, just wanted to check.
It is located on the passenger side of the car, just under the fuse box, next to the storage compartment.
I agree with the route in all your pictures except 4 and 5. The issue with routing along the top of your door is that that's where the side curtain airbags usually are, and it's hard to keep the cable from sliding down in front of those.
Instead, have the rear camera cable run parallel to your power cable in picture 2, and then where the power cable stops at your fuse box you'd continue with the rear camera cable into the driver door's bottom weatherstripping/panel. At the back of the driver door, pop out of the channel and route through the seatbelt cover panel and then into the rear door's bottom weatherstripping/panel. Follow the weatherstripping channel up the back of the door and you'll meet up with your route in picture 5. After that, your route is good.
Make sure to mount the rear camera slightly down the back window, as opposed to immediately against the panel the cable comes out of. This will keep the panel from pressing on the end of your cable and putting pressure on it as it goes into the camera.
Edit:. The rubber weatherstripping can just be pulled down for your work and then pushes back into place after. The trim tool that comes with the camera can be used to pop the panels out. I'm not as familiar with Mazda, but other Asian cars ice installed dashcams on had plastic pegs that pop out when you pull the panel back. I superglued those pegs in place before pushing the panels back into place because the pegs fell out of their slots easily due to a notch in the slots.
I was about to edit the post to ask about the airbags, then I saw your commend. I will definitely change the door's route, there is plenty of cable lenghth so it shouldn't be an issue..
Thank you for the other tips too.
The camera will arrive in 2 days, so I will give it a go. Thanks again
Good luck!
This looks similar to my Sante Fe. I routed the rear camera cable in behind the door seals along the top of the passenger-side doors. The door seals just pull off and expose a cavity that you can route the cable through. I then had to route the cable up to the upper door seal along the hatch, remove the seal, and feed the cable through the rubber sleeve (just pops out at both ends) and over to the center of the hatch window.
It took me a good hour or two to complete.
I tend to mount rear cameras off center, biased to the driver side to keep it out of the line of site of the rear view mirror. If operated in a region where the rear defrost is used I try to mount them in an area cleared by the defroster.