Blackvue dash cam and Mifi now fitted.
https://www.blackvue.com/dr650s-2ch/
Not be me I hasten to add but an auto electrician after some discussion about how I would like it done.
Front and rear cameras which are powered via a Power Magic Pro
https://www.blackvue.com/product/bl...attery-discharge-prevention-for-parking-mode/
In normal driving the cameras come on automatically and when you switch off from the ignition power continues to be provided through the Power Magic Pro (PMP). After 5 minutes the cameras go into "park mode" and recording to the SD card stops unless an event is detected, when a recording is made starting 5 seconds before the event.
Events can be triggered by either movement in the field of vision of either of the cameras or by vehicle movement, front to back, side to side or up and down. Sensitivity of these can be set or switched off as required. As mine is not on my driveway and beneath my flat I have turned off the camera movement sensors to avoid continual false events but not the vehicle movement ones.
Settings on the (PMP) switch off the camera and any devices attached to it after preset times or power levels to protect the battery.
Next up was utilising the dashcams ability to connect to the cloud. The way it works is that you can preset three wireless locations. Usually these would be home, work, mobile, if the cameras are in range of the network. For me this was not possible.
Although I have a VW Carstick which supplies wifi to the Cali it only does this when the ignition is on and I wanted to utilise the cloud function when the ignition was off. I have therefore set it to connect to the below Mifi by default.
I had been looking at MIFI devices to act as a hotspot and settled on the HUAWEI E5786s. Not the cheapest but very fast with the right connection and got a great deal with an offer on EBay. There has been a recent update to this model (E5787) but interestingly although it now has a touchscreen it does not have the ability to act as a wi-fi extender. This is the only mifi device I've found that does. It's primary function is to connect to 3G/4G but first it will connect with any available Wi-Fi network and it also has connection for an external aerial although reviews suggest these are not required. (Time will tell). This means it will also operate as a wifi booster.
Next up was powering the Mifi. Although it has a pretty good battery it still powered down far to quickly when connected to by the dashcam. Both the dashcam and Mifi have numerous led lights and in settings you can turn these off which extends the power and makes the dashcam less noticeable.
The (PMP) supplies power to the dashcam via a 12volt female to male connector. As it is not the prettiest and for the sake of keeping things tidy the electricians have always hidden these units behind the fuse box as there is no requirement to switch it off and this is how it was initially installed. After a bit of thought though I realised that when it went into parking mode false events would be recorded with movement in the Cali and I needed the ability to turn it off. They had not fitted one in a camper before so I asked for it to be moved somewhere accessible. They did better than that leaving it behind the fuse box but putting a switch to it in the unused point in the glove box. A 12 volt splitter was then used to take power from the (PMP) to the Mifi which was located in the phone cubby in the dashboard. Very tidy. I now have the choice of switching off the dashcam and have a permanent 3G/4G hotspot, connected to the battery but with the added protection of the cut out in the (PMP). I can now view any footage from the front and rear cameras and live from an app on my iPhone and iPad and am alerted by notification on my phone if an "event" is detected. Trick in the settings is to avoid false positives and now it all works seamlessly. Spookily you can share this footage live and locate the vehicle, you can also for security turn this off, which I have.
This all might sound a bit techie and fiddly and the initial setting up of it and learning curve was. I figured it all out but got an expert to do the wiring. I now though don't have to touch a thing other than to switch it off when camped up.
Most fiddly part they had was installing the rear camera. I put in a string beforehand so that they could pull the feed from front to back but the fitter got the wire through from there to the back screen using a fibre optic camera.
Front Camera
Rear Camera
Switch in glove box
Mifi in phone cubby
Mike