Fitting Dashcam ... funny stuff around rain sensor ?

Submariner1

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Does any one know what this stuff around the rain sensor is, i.e. do I have to leave it clear?
Viewed from the outside, this area either side of the rain sensor looks like completely solid (non transparent) gloss black glass (except when shot with a flash, then it looks grey and like a mesh )
B46C70C4-30D6-496C-9F77-81A2B214B6A9.jpeg
From inside the cabin, normally it looks like a diagonal hatched, semi transparent mesh.
One would think it was going to feel as if the glass was painted, but in fact its totally smooth.
A89A8448-B1E3-45FE-8684-0823A3D35A0D.jpeg
The picture is not good but you can just about make it out when shot with a flash.
What does it do? I think its the area that does not block radio waves, in my Infra Red Blocking windscreen ... but not sure?

Just checking if this would be an OK area to attach the 3M sticky pad of the dashcam bracket?
Note my pad does not have the GPS module within it as some do (mines separate).

On that note, if it is a non radio wave blocking area?, would this be a good place to put the GPS sensor mouse? Or an area to avoid placing it?
Not sure if a GPS signal is like a radio signal, And or, if its effected by these infrared blocking windscreens? Or the counteracting technology.

The other possible place to mount it is on the plastic cover over the rain sensor. But this doesnt touch the windscreen, and although seems really well attached its not rock solid, should it be?
Interested if anyone with a C216 could feel their cover .. mine feels a little flexible as if its mounted on firm closed cell foam - thinking about a bouncing camera :(.

Other issue, any recomendations for the SD Card. Especially From those with a 2160 x 1440p x 30-60 f.p.s. (note this cam has HDR ... blends 60 fps with 30 fps. So it has a higher Bit rate than its predecessor the Vico Opiia2.

Choice is between:-

D760CF2A-9D62-4DF7-921D-62978A3969B5.png Read 95 MB/s Write 90 MB/s, also Class 10 and has the Video 30 std. and A1 std, (latter not relevant as thats for applications).
£35

Or a

ADCC5D2A-2C57-475B-AEF8-C2BC51C7C87E.jpeg

Also Class 10
Read 100 MB/s Write 60 MB/ s, £22

Cant find out if either are MLC.
Ideally, I prefer to spend £22, but dont want to later find, that the slower write speed on the Samsung causes issues. Note in collinsion mode, this dashcam will buffer up the previous video-segment and add it to the current segment, to protect from overwriting ... but again would 60 MB/s be fast enough anyway??

Finally if its any good, I will hardwire it. Using one of these piggy back fuse adapters.
40A75DE3-ABFA-4E34-9724-CBE8776FC702.jpeg

Can one just pick one of the empty fuse slots? , (also empty on the fuse diagram). And use a 2 amp fuse on this?
Normally I would have liked to use the cigar lighter fuse Socket, as I know the wiring behind that fuse holder is up to 15 Amps. But are they all up to 15 amps?, including the empty ones?

I cant use the cigar one as thats located u der the bonnet ( mare to get through this firewall ) , so prefer to use the one fusebox on the left of the dashboard.
 

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Ken_R

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Can't answer for the Rain Sensor but with mine, different system, the GPS module sits in the Glove Box and acquires a signal within about 30 seconds of 'switch on' - once I get the car out of the garage.:)

I use a Sandisk 32GB, Class 10 SD Card. Got it from Tesco. It works fine. It is actually a Micro/Mini [whatever] card which comes inside a Standard SD Card housing. I think it is the 'Class' that is the determining factor. The 'bumpf' said Class 4 or above, but it seems that anything less than Class 10 can cause problems. This was some two years ago and the items you have highlighted probably weren't even invented then.

I didn't bother with a fuse. I 'tapped off' the Glove Box light fitting to a 'floating' Cigar Lighter socket (from ECP) which sits neatly in the void above the Glove Box. The Glove Box light fitting will already be fused so, why make things more complicated?
 

flowrider

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You dont have to leave the black area on the windscreen clear, it works well disguising the dashcam sticky pad. Don't get too hung up on SD cards, as long as theh are class 10 they will be ok but i have found Sandisk to cause issues with my dashcams so i use Samsung.

Personally i wouldn't use the dashcams GPS as i don't see what use it is and potentially could be detrimental should you need to use any camera footage in a court case, same reason i don't use sound on my dashcams.

Some tips on setup.......try different FOV settings, the narrower the FOV the better the footage IMO, but you will need to ensure you don't go too narrow. Also experiment with resolution, i find 1080p works best for me and uses way less space on the SD card compared to the higher resolutions. One last tip, file locking when a potential collision is detected generally works badly, every pothole, kerb, severe speed hump will cause a file to lock which will fill the SD card with useless footage.
 
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Submariner1

Submariner1

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You dont have to leave the black area on the windscreen clear, it works well disguising the dashcam sticky pad. Don't get too hung up on SD cards, as long as theh are class 10 they will be ok but i have found Sandisk to cause issues with my dashcams so i use Samsung.

Personally i wouldn't use the dashcams GPS as i don't see what use it is and potentially could be detrimental should you need to use any camera footage in a court case, same reason i don't use sound on my dashcams.

Some tips on setup.......try different FOV settings, the narrower the FOV the better the footage IMO, but you will need to ensure you don't go too narrow. Also experiment with resolution, i find 1080p works best for me and uses way less space on the SD card compared to the higher resolutions. One last tip, file locking when a potential collision is detected generally works badly, every pothole, kerb, severe speed hump will cause a file to lock which will fill the SD card with useless footage.

Thanks for the useful tips.
Think I will try the Samsung then.
I havent bought the GPS module yet for the same reason.
 

LostKiwi

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The GPS module can be useful in the "He was speeding" counterclaim when someone pulls out and you hit them.
 

LostKiwi

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Incidentally... if you're worried about the dashcam displaying your speed once they have the footage they can easily calculate it from time and distance recorded on known markers (telephone poles, road markings, roadside hardware and scenery).
In the event of an accident where speed may have been a factor I'd be pretty sure they would look at that anyway.
 

Andy.M

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Must admit I disabled audio on my dash cam, couldn't believe the language! :)
 
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Submariner1

Submariner1

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Incidentally... if you're worried about the dashcam displaying your speed once they have the footage they can easily calculate it from time and distance recorded on known markers (telephone poles, road markings, roadside hardware and scenery).
In the event of an accident where speed may have been a factor I'd be pretty sure they would look at that anyway.
Very good point ... pretty easy for them to work out.
Having met one of those police accident incident officers at a party. I remember him telling me, that they have fantastic data bases of tyre types, tread depth, road surfaces, surface water depth etc.
And That they can work out to +/- 3mph how fast someone was going.
And if its a serious crash ... they REALLY GO INTO IT!

Maybe he was kidding me, but I think he was serious ... because he said, thats why they would immediately close off the target section of the road, straight after an accident, to get all the measurements and conditions documented and photographed.
 
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Submariner1

Submariner1

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Oh well bought a 64gb Samsung Pro PLUS UHS1, U3, Class 10, read/write: 100/95 MB/s micro SD.
For £38.
1F2F03ED-1659-465F-B8ED-A9A5FBF4E9A1.jpeg
Hopefully it should easily be fast enough to record 1440p at 60 fps.
And might speed up downloading to the PC, as my USBs on the photo editing m/c are UHS-2. :)

The dashcam reseller said the Samsung Pros were their least problematic cards. Oddly he found the std. EVOs were more reliable than the EVO PLUSs. :-/

Just hope its a genuine card, should be as the reseller was linked directly from “the where to buy it” button on Samsungs official website.
Everywhere else like Amazon etc. its £65 to £85. :-/

For those who are interested the ‘Pro PLUS’ version is newer than the ‘Pro +’
I asked Samsung what was the difference.

Hopefully their Pro SD cards are upgraded in reliability like their Pro SSDs are.

With luck they might even be MLC nano :)
 
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Submariner1

Submariner1

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I always use Sandisk cards, they are reliable, good money from Amazon as well

This will be more than adequate for your needs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073JYVKNX?ref=emc_b_5_t

Funny you said that, as I have used Sandisk Extreme Pro CF cards for years, and they have all been very fast and flawless. As my pro camera will chuck out 130 MB images, per image thats pretty testing.

But this distibutor and the blackvue distributor both strongly warned me off Sandisk in generally and specifically that Ultra version.
How true it is I have no idea.

As you can see from the original post my initial proposed favourite was a Sandisk, albeit a U3version. But they were so emphatic NOT to use them I bucked.
 
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Submariner1

Submariner1

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Thats a big image.... I'm guessing MF?

Yep huge, my biggest hurdle was I had to build a new editing workstation, hadnt budgeted on that!
Try down loading 400 of those.
Needed those new NVME SSD discs.
Big learning curve for my first pc build.
But goes like stonk and loads Windows 10 in 9.8 secs.
:)
 

LostKiwi

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Yep huge, my biggest hurdle was I had to build a new editing workstation, hadnt budgeted on that!
Try down loading 400 of those.
Needed those new NVME SSD discs.
Big learning curve for my first pc build.
But goes like stonk and loads Windows 10 in 9.8 secs.
:)
Very nice... Always wanted an MF digital back. Used to have a Mamiya 645 AFD-II that would have been ideal (and was lovely to use).
Bit more problematic to fit to the 645TL-Pro I have now.
 

Linuus

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I think a pro or extreme version of any SD card for cash cam is unnecessary, they allow to record with fast read and write but only if you recording video in 1080p or over... 720p In my opinion it’s enough so a class 10 micro sd card will do the job normally 20-30£ card


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Submariner1

Submariner1

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I think a pro or extreme version of any SD card for cash cam is unnecessary, they allow to record with fast read and write but only if you recording video in 1080p or over... 720p In my opinion it’s enough so a class 10 micro sd card will do the job normally 20-30£ card


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Thanks, wouldnt disagree except imo the image quality in most of these DCs are appalling.
its going to run in 1440p HDR (a blended 60 fps and 30 fps). Apparently it has 1.65x the bit rate of its sister 1440p camera. Very sparse tech info available to make a true calculated judgement.
As it was discounted to £38. I just went for it to avoid any problems. Plus could use it later in a 4K gopro or as my backup in a 54MPS camera.

Plus it seemed every VFM 64gb U3 class 10 card I suggested the reseller said “they are problematic”.
This one was the first I mentioned, that he said was fantastic .. no problems.
 

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