Dash cam saves your ass (no Roundabout stuff please :)

franksm

Hope my videos will only ever be "near misses" or "gobshytery". Three more from the weekend:

Lucky kid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UARuIX7FFRY

Bus lane asswipe from "a local gas services company". This guy does the old indicate-left then indicate-right trick to great effect.
Apologies for the awful music, I had They Might Be Giants on shuffle :-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB_AkJ-O48Q

Roundabout near Belfast - every time I use it, someone runs the red lights. Maybe it's a bad design, but there's no forgiving these gob****e drivers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvqqsJatI2o

Justin10

Love how you cut the last video just before you gave him an earful

Shane732

How are you guys wiring your cams? I've a E93 3 Series.

Suggestions would be most welcome.

Sample pics of the interior attached.

franksm

Jeasras, that's nice...

I have mine wired into existing connections above the mirror.

On a TT, I had to use a multimeter to find what wires were 'live' when the ignition was on. The overhead console provides 12V for the map lights, which were useable. No wiring diagram for this car is easily available.

For the Jag, I did have a wiring diagram, so it was easier to find. I used wires which were to provide 12V for an X10 or garage-door-opener button.

In an MX5, which I have now removed the Roadhawk from (security reasons :eek:), there were no suitable connections available (only permanent 12V was provided to the console lamp) so I had to run wires along the inside of the windscreen trim and down to behind the dash. Not a big deal, but not the easiest thing to be doing. Brittle plastic in a 16 year old Mazda

TT


XK8

Jimbob 83

Nice setup frank, very neat i bet it's almost invisible from outside

carbon nanotube

what would the duty on one of these be?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BlackVue-DR400G-HD-Car-Black-Box-Drive-GPS-16GB-Drive-GPS-Recorder-FREE-SHIPPING-/251065044939?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a74a48fcb

cormie

Could be pircey enough, at least 50eur I reckon after all the "related" charges. You interested in getting one? Me too, or three or 4 if I've broken my DRS1100's

eringobragh

cormie wrote: »

Could be pircey enough, at least 50eur I reckon after all the "related" charges. You interested in getting one? Me too, or three or 4 if I've broken my DRS1100's

Should be no related charges if your cute about it

vibe666

carbon nanotube wrote: »

what would the duty on one of these be?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BlackVue-DR400G-HD-Car-Black-Box-Drive-GPS-16GB-Drive-GPS-Recorder-FREE-SHIPPING-/251065044939?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a74a48fcb

i'm surprised there isn't already a load of cheaper chinese knock offs of them by now, they look pretty awesome.

cormie

What kind of build quality reputation does Korea have on electronics? I know Japan is high while China is low, where does Korea fall?

eringobragh

cormie wrote: »

What kind of build quality reputation does Korea have on electronics? I know Japan is high while China is low, where does Korea fall?

Samsung, Daewoo, etc are made in Korea...even the chinese are producing quality electronics these days (some cases)

cormie

I'd probably buy the blackvue if it wasn't for my anticipation that maybe somebody will release a 3 in one tracker/sat nav/blackbox! I'm thinking Garmin, maps are decent and they are missing out on the blackbox/tracker market as it is so why not :P

More dashcam footage of a dangerous driver. Woman hits pedestrian while driving dangerously, drives off and denies everything when caught.

Dashcam footage secures conviction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ex6dHzcgOE&feature=youtu.be

vibe666

Deleted User wrote: »

More dashcam footage of a dangerous driver. Woman hits pedestrian while driving dangerously, drives off and denies everything when caught.

Dashcam footage secures conviction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ex6dHzcgOE&feature=youtu.be

saw that one the other day, could have sworn it was from this thread, but can't find it now so i guess it wasn't.

Shane732

franksm wrote: »

Jeasras, that's nice...

I have mine wired into existing connections above the mirror.

On a TT, I had to use a multimeter to find what wires were 'live' when the ignition was on. The overhead console provides 12V for the map lights, which were useable. No wiring diagram for this car is easily available.

For the Jag, I did have a wiring diagram, so it was easier to find. I used wires which were to provide 12V for an X10 or garage-door-opener button.

In an MX5, which I have now removed the Roadhawk from (security reasons :eek:), there were no suitable connections available (only permanent 12V was provided to the console lamp) so I had to run wires along the inside of the windscreen trim and down to behind the dash. Not a big deal, but not the easiest thing to be doing. Brittle plastic in a 16 year old Mazda

TT


XK8

Just coming back to you on this....

I'm not in anyway an electrician so the thoughts of having to do this is a little off putting!

Anyway I assume similar to the TT that the over-head reader lights and electric gates opener will give me the 12V connection.

So what do I do then?!!

Forgive the ignorance!!

wonski

Deleted User wrote: »

More dashcam footage of a dangerous driver. Woman hits pedestrian while driving dangerously, drives off and denies everything when caught.

Dashcam footage secures conviction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ex6dHzcgOE&feature=youtu.be

That women driver deserves proper punishment, but on the other side 2 guys playing police at 10 in the morning. They watched too many roadwars episodes, and clearly have too much time on their hands. The footage itself could work in defense of the hit and run driver. They got their dashcam clearly to find something interesting rather to have it just in case.
And the comment of one of the guys who follow single woman driver : "dangerous driving, 6 points straight" only confirms. In this case they helped a pedestrian, but i don't want these kind of warriors on the road, for safety reasons...

franksm

BTW one more from me - this time in Maynooth. This guy was going to drift through a red light, but managed to stop in time after I flashed at him. After that - don't know if he decided to brake-test me (and the car behind me) at the next lights, or if he's just colour-blind...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWeA025A_Tc

cormie

Is that a blackvue frank?

In other news.. Anyone want to buy 3 DRS1100 units which I think may be bricked, but I also have at the back of my mind that they should be fixable

franksm

Shane732 wrote: »

Anyway I assume similar to the TT that the over-head reader lights and electric gates opener will give me the 12V connection.

Is there a wiring diagram available ? See if there are optional extras for the overhead console, like 'homelink', 'X10', 'remote control', 'gate opener', or 'garage opener'

If not, here's the broad procedure about finding the correct wire:

- pop open the overhead console. It'll either have screws holding it in place (look under the bulbs if they're not visible) or more likely, it's a press fit so you just have to carefully lever the unit off.
- find the wire from your wiring diagram and test it with a multitester to see if it gives 12V with the ignition on, or the car unlocked. Some cars like Audis provide 12V as soon as the car is unlocked, others like Jaguar only when the ignition is turned on.
- if you don't know the wire, carefully test all of the wires available to see if any have 12V.
- if you have found wires, now remove the keys from the ignition and lock the car up with you in the front seat. Again test the wire(s) you found 12V on. You're looking to see if any go to zero Volts when the car is locked.
- Hopefully by now you've found one ore more wires that are 'switched 12V'. Double-check the internet to see if you can find out what they're for, as you don't want to for example connect into wires that go to the ultrasonic sensors for the alarm.
- You'll also need to find an earth wire, but that's pretty easy as there's usually a bolt in and around the overhead console that you can run a wire and ring-terminal from.
- the only real problem that can crop up now is that the circuit you will connect to may not have enough power to feed your camera. Some cars have their own way of telling you this (the Audi flashes its interior lights if the power draw is too large; other cars might actually suffer a blown fuse if you draw too much power)
- crimp or solder a red wire from your switched 12V connection to an inline fuse; run a black wire from the earth point you identified
- if your camera takes 12V, then chop the end off the camera's power lead and hook up the red wire to the +ve wire and the black wire to the -ve. Usually they're coloured in the lead as red and black respectively.
- if your camera takes 5V, then you'll need to connect your red 12V wire and black earth wire to the 'cigarette adaptor' that came with your camera. You'll need to hide the adaptor up in the overhead console.

This all presumes some proficiency in tracing wires, using a multimeter (make sure not to short anything out with the probes!), and crimping or soldering.

The other alternative is to just run the wire from your cigarette adaptor through the overhead console and around the top and side of the windscreen, and down under the dash. And then plug the adaptor into the cigarette lighter. Not ideal really.

Of course the other alternative is to pay an auto electrician (alarm installer) to do this work - they'll probably charge you an hour's labour, maybe 50 quid !

^that's all a braindump, but it's more or less the procedure. If you're lucky it'll take 20 mins.

Shane732

franksm wrote: »

Is there a wiring diagram available ? See if there are optional extras for the overhead console, like 'homelink', 'X10', 'remote control', 'gate opener', or 'garage opener'

If not, here's the broad procedure about finding the correct wire:

- pop open the overhead console. It'll either have screws holding it in place (look under the bulbs if they're not visible) or more likely, it's a press fit so you just have to carefully lever the unit off.
- find the wire from your wiring diagram and test it with a multitester to see if it gives 12V with the ignition on, or the car unlocked. Some cars like Audis provide 12V as soon as the car is unlocked, others like Jaguar only when the ignition is turned on.
- if you don't know the wire, carefully test all of the wires available to see if any have 12V.
- if you have found wires, now remove the keys from the ignition and lock the car up with you in the front seat. Again test the wire(s) you found 12V on. You're looking to see if any go to zero Volts when the car is locked.
- Hopefully by now you've found one ore more wires that are 'switched 12V'. Double-check the internet to see if you can find out what they're for, as you don't want to for example connect into wires that go to the ultrasonic sensors for the alarm.
- You'll also need to find an earth wire, but that's pretty easy as there's usually a bolt in and around the overhead console that you can run a wire and ring-terminal from.
- the only real problem that can crop up now is that the circuit you will connect to may not have enough power to feed your camera. Some cars have their own way of telling you this (the Audi flashes its interior lights if the power draw is too large; other cars might actually suffer a blown fuse if you draw too much power)
- crimp or solder a red wire from your switched 12V connection to an inline fuse; run a black wire from the earth point you identified
- if your camera takes 12V, then chop the end off the camera's power lead and hook up the red wire to the +ve wire and the black wire to the -ve. Usually they're coloured in the lead as red and black respectively.
- if your camera takes 5V, then you'll need to connect your red 12V wire and black earth wire to the 'cigarette adaptor' that came with your camera. You'll need to hide the adaptor up in the overhead console.

This all presumes some proficiency in tracing wires, using a multimeter (make sure not to short anything out with the probes!), and crimping or soldering.

The other alternative is to just run the wire from your cigarette adaptor through the overhead console and around the top and side of the windscreen, and down under the dash. And then plug the adaptor into the cigarette lighter. Not ideal really.

Of course the other alternative is to pay an auto electrician (alarm installer) to do this work - they'll probably charge you an hour's labour, maybe 50 quid !

^that's all a braindump, but it's more or less the procedure. If you're lucky it'll take 20 mins.

Thanks for the information.

I do have homelink in the mirror and I also have over head map lights.

In theory it sounds easy enough but for the sake of €50 I might just get someone to do it.

Just have to decide on the cam to go for now.

I was going to go for a Roadhawk but I like the look of those BlackVue ones too....

Joe10000

franksm wrote: »

BTW one more from me - this time in Maynooth. This guy was going to drift through a red light, but managed to stop in time after I flashed at him. After that - don't know if he decided to brake-test me (and the car behind me) at the next lights, or if he's just colour-blind...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWeA025A_Tc

Why did you flash him ?

franksm

Because he was obviously not going to stop at the red (you can see me already slowing down)

Fresh Pots

Any recommendations on one for under the €30 mark? Not looking for anything fancy, my only requirement is that its very small as I'd like to position it behind the rear view mirror.

Sterling Archer

TheTechGuy wrote: »

Any recommendations on one for under the €30 mark? Not looking for anything fancy, my only requirement is that its very small as I'd like to position it behind the rear view mirror.

+1 on the price i'm looking to install one in the back window, as i've a roadhawk on the front window.

Shane732

Just to let you know that I'm looking to see if there is any interest in a group buy of the Black Vue DR400 over on BMW-driver:

http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36888

Personally, I think the prices are very good.

If anyone is interest you might PM here or let me know on BMW driver, unfortunately I'm not allowed start a GB thread here.

cormie

I'm half interested in getting a blackvue, I've a friend in Korea and with a bit of planning I may be able to get my own cheaper than any group buy.

I may have to resign to the fact I've bricked 3 DRS1100's/Roadhawks and I believe dash cams are such an essential driving accompaniment, that I should replace the 3 straight away. I'd much prefer if there was a 3 in 1 Sat Nav/GPS Tracker/Black Box, but that may be a long wait away.

Unless anyone believes a smart phone has enough processing power to be all 3?

Shane732

cormie wrote: »

I'm half interested in getting a blackvue, I've a friend in Korea and with a bit of planning I may be able to get my own cheaper than any group buy.

I may have to resign to the fact I've bricked 3 DRS1100's/Roadhawks and I believe dash cams are such an essential driving accompaniment, that I should replace the 3 straight away. I'd much prefer if there was a 3 in 1 Sat Nav/GPS Tracker/Black Box, but that may be a long wait away.

Unless anyone believes a smart phone has enough processing power to be all 3?

The Korean route probably works out cheaper if you can manage to get it in without customs. The only problem is that you're absolutely screwed if something goes wrong with it.

cormie

What kind of pricing are they talking on the group buy? You need to be a member to see the page you linked to

Nissan doctor

Another from today, on the exact same roundabout as my other roundabout/wrong lane video:rolleyes:

You can see the Renault Flatulence in the left lane before it goes off camera, as I begin to continue straight, I just notice the headlights of the influenza coming towards my passanger door out of the corner of my eye.

It was VERY close! It was rush hour traffic and I'm not one who would be arsed jumping out to an idiot but as I went to drive on he beeped at me, which I admit almost made me stop again, until all the cars he was now blocking in the lane behind me started lifting him out of it:P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy6ti7Q0aqA

Gumbo

cormie wrote: »

What kind of pricing are they talking on the group buy? You need to be a member to see the page you linked to

taken from bmw driver :

The camera retails at £250 in the UK - you can get it cheaper on Ebay but by the time you pay for shipping and customs its up at something like €260 to bring one it, plus you really have fe*k all come back if there are any problems with the camera.

Anyway I was speaking to the authorised reseller of BlackVue in the UK and they offered a group buy.

The group buy is as follows:

20 units £199
50 units £169

Shipping to Dublin (Insured TNT 2-3 days)

20 units £44.65 (£2.23 per unit)
50 units £78.21 (£1.56 per unit)

cormie

Thanks for that, I dismissed the idea earlier and was in favour of going the Korean Ebay-Korean friend route, but on second thoughts, if the supplier can supply 3 to me EX VAT (UK@20%, that will bring each down to about £137 so it may just be worth it..

Damien360

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Another from today, on the exact same roundabout as my other roundabout/wrong lane video:rolleyes:

You can see the Renault Flatulence in the left lane before it goes off camera, as I begin to continue straight, I just notice the headlights of the influenza coming towards my passanger door out of the corner of my eye.

It was VERY close! It was rush hour traffic and I'm not one who would be arsed jumping out to an idiot but as I went to drive on he beeped at me, which I admit almost made me stop again, until all the cars he was now blocking in the lane behind me started lifting him out of it:P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy6ti7Q0aqA

I know that junction well. I am always wary of the 2 lanes going on into ballymun for that very reason. I always change to the left lane as I go around to avoid that.

It gets even funnier when the lights are red for the cue to go southbound on the M50. You could end up in the cue with those on your left going southbound. They could argue they are doing the same as you from their entrance and 2 lanes entering the M50 south.

Nissan doctor

Damien360 wrote: »

I know that junction well. I am always wary of the 2 lanes going on into ballymun for that very reason. I always change to the left lane as I go around to avoid that.

That option would only add to issues when both lanes are full at rush hour.

Damien360 wrote: »

It gets even funnier when the lights are red for the cue to go southbound on the M50. You could end up in the cue with those on your left going southbound. They could argue they are doing the same as you from their entrance and 2 lanes entering the M50 south.

The entry from ballymun to the southbound M50 is completely seperate to the southbound exit off the roundabout. If you are coming from ballymun and stopped at the traffic lights at the roundabout then you aren't/can't go southbound.

Damien360

Nissan doctor wrote: »

That option would only add to issues when both lanes are full at rush hour.

They cue for southbound is usually right beside the ballymun turn off in rush hour. Very rare that it reaches back to your entrance. The light sequence is short on your entrance also, so I find there is room to get to the left due to very few cars pushed through.

The tallaght bypass exit southbound with 3 lanes works better (most of the time) and removes the problem seen on the ballymun exit.

Damien360

Nissan doctor wrote: »

That option would only add to issues when both lanes are full at rush hour.




The entry from ballymun to the southbound M50 is completely seperate to the southbound exit off the roundabout. If you are coming from ballymun and stopped at the traffic lights at the roundabout then you aren't/can't go southbound.

I was on about coming off M2/N2 and heading for southbound M50.

Nissan doctor

Damien360 wrote: »

I was on about coming off M2/N2 and heading for southbound M50.

Which is a completely different place/exit to the above video

Damien360

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Which is a completely different place/exit to the above video

I looked at the vid again and your description as the ballymun exit. I should have said ballymun road and not M2 (which is finglas exit). Apologies. I come off that exit for DCU often but I still maintain getting to left lane is safer and the cue is not heavy enough to stop you getting across.

franksm

Funny that you are talking about the Ballymun roundabout, here's a vid I took yesterday. Just watch the chaos, I thought we'd be witness to two or three sideswipes but it all just seems 'normal' for this roundabout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZx3pPh-K10

deadwood

franksm wrote: »

Funny that you are talking about the Ballymun roundabout, here's a vid I took yesterday. Just watch the chaos, I thought we'd be witness to two or three sideswipes but it all just seems 'normal' for this roundabout.

Oh the humanity!:eek:

fred funk }{

I bought one of the Smartcams off eBay last week. I had a problem with it, think I caused it myself, Scott was extremely helpful and sorted me out straight away.

I'm very pleased with the cam and I would highly recommend anyone thinking of getting one to get one of these. For the money would cant go wrong.


http://www.ebay.ie/itm/SmartCam-HD-Car-DVR-720P-Dashcam-Driving-Recorder-HDMI-2-0-LCD-UK-SELLER-/200745123135?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2ebd577d3f#ht_2701wt_700

vibe666

fred funk }{ wrote: »

I bought one of the Smartcams off eBay last week. I had a problem with it, think I caused it myself, Scott was extremely helpful and sorted me out straight away.

I'm very pleased with the cam and I would highly recommend anyone thinking of getting one to get one of these. For the money would cant go wrong.


http://www.ebay.ie/itm/SmartCam-HD-Car-DVR-720P-Dashcam-Driving-Recorder-HDMI-2-0-LCD-UK-SELLER-/200745123135?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2ebd577d3f#ht_2701wt_700

any chance of you posting up some sample video of it so we can have a look?

mine arrived whilst i was away on holiday, but i'll be picking it up tomorrow from the post office so i'll give it a test run as well.

it's this one anyway that was posted on the thread a few days ago: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/270964106767?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_3058wt_1396

might be worth getting some test day & night footage to see how they compare.

cormie

Just curious, is the time, date, speed etc permanently stamped on the video of the BlackVue or is there an option to JUST show the footage without any info?

Also, this thread here: http://www.mycarforum.com/index.php?act=findpost&pid=4437699 seems to have a lot of very knowledgeable folk and new products being discussed. The link there brings to a newly recommended product. H.264 recording, 140 degree lens amongst other things.

Anyone keeping an eye on it?

fred funk }{

vibe666 wrote: »

any chance of you posting up some sample video of it so we can have a look?

mine arrived whilst i was away on holiday, but i'll be picking it up tomorrow from the post office so i'll give it a test run as well.

it's this one anyway that was posted on the thread a few days ago: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/270964106767?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_3058wt_1396

might be worth getting some test day & night footage to see how they compare.

I'll post something up later or tomorrow. Quality isn't too bad at all.

vibe666

should hopefully be collecting mine at lunchtime, so we'll see how it goes.

Basq

Looking forward to it lads.. my decision is resting firmly between those two anyways!

vibe666

Basq wrote: »

Looking forward to it lads.. my decision is resting firmly between those two anyways!

not sure ow well i'll perform under this much pressure!

vibe666

not actually had a chance to test it properly yet, but i know people are waiting, so here's the preliminary impressions.

i'd thought it took a microSD card, but it's a regular full sized SD slot and i didn't have an adapter yesterday, so i couldn't record anything.

playing around with it today at my desk, it's obvious it's a cheap chinese product, very cheap plastic. there'a actually no HDMI despite what the ebay auction says. i contacted the seller and they said that the wrong batch was sent by their supplier and they only just realised and that i could get a full refund if i sent it back, or a £4 refund if i kept it, so i decided to take the £4 back.

i also said i'd planned on buying more and had 'friends' who might also want some, so to make sure they corrected their ebay description to say there was no HDMI and if they are going to get new stock in with HDMI, to let me know. not a big thing though, i imagine most people won't use it anyway, so it's just a minor gripe.

i did some test video recordings at my desk with usb power from my laptop and there was a lot of noise on the audio, almost like a small engine running in the background. it's only when i have my laptop powering it though, the car charger doesn't seem to have the same problem, so again only a very minor gripe.

so, you can mess around with all the usual settings as you'd see on most of these things, inc. turning on/off the date/time stamp (or changing it to the correct date/time ) you can disable audio recording, choose the video and image quality you'd like, from 720p down to 480p (i guess to save space, more on that later) and you can also disable the (most likely) useless IR LED's and also flip the image upside down if you mount it on your dash instead of on your windscreen.

so, i guess it's time for the good bit (sort of).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7MHzlfAgkk

to try and give a side by side impression of video quality, i spliced back and forth between the dashcam and my desire hd which was mounted next to it and fitted with a fisheye lens (another ebay buy) to give as much of a similar field of view as i could get to the dashcam as it's pretty wide compared to my desire hd standard field of view.

the only downside really is a pretty inefficient encoding rate as i only got 5m45s of video for a 977mb file, so you won't be filming long journeys.

just to be complete, this is the one I got: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/270964106767?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_3058wt_1396



the seller was elec-touch for anyone reading this after the auction has expired.

also, this was the total delivered price in the end according to paypal:

Conversion from: -€34.71 EUR
Conversion to: £26.99 GBP
Exchange rate: 1 Euro = 0.777617 British Pounds

CreepingDeath

Here's a near miss I had in Lucan last weekend. ( Don't mind the timestamp on the video footage)
A muppet in a silver people carrier on the wrong side of the road caused the car in front of me to swerve into parking bays and only moved to the right side of the road after seeing me.

I've a cheap dashcam which didn't get their reg number clearly (only 640x480) resolution, but I'm upgrading to a 1080P one after this.
I think it's 99 LH <something> but too tough to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr-1UHRrGpo

cormie

From that thread I linked to earlier, it seems the iTronics ITB-100HD is considered a better device than the Blackvue 400 so I might go for that instead. Anyone here have one themselves? I think it's new enough..

CreepingDeath

I've just ordered one of these, but Deal Extreme takes 4-6 weeks to deliver.
I'll post a review/sample day/night vids when I get it.

One thing worth considering, my old black dashcam got very hot in direct sunlight.
So I went with a silver one this time, hoping it would reflect more of the sun/heat away.

DealExtreme Link