Hard wiring a roadcam

[vox]

I seem to need a bit of help here, I would like to hard wire my Roadhawk HD in, but where to run the power cable.

The airbags in the side pillars pull out I guess, but these things frighten the hell out of me! So I'm not playing with those without any instruction.

The other place seems to be in the headlining. I looked in the hole for the courtesy light and all I can see is two very small wires that feed the lamp.

I'm not sure the live feed to this would be able to cope with the extra current needed. Ideally it would be better to have a switched feed from the ignition.

That may not be hard to find if I knew how to get at it. I'm getting old and working upside down looking under the dash may be a little more than I could cope with.

I'm happy to pay a company to do the work, but I can't find one that is willing to do it on my IQ at a sensible price. I guess if I had bought the camera from them, they would have wired it in for me. If anyone know a reasonably easy way to do this, or know of a company that will do it for me that would be brill. I live in NW London near Watford. I will travel a reasonable distance to get it sorted. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Vox.

[tarquin]

Hi Vox

i live in Essex and have installed some in Hertfordshire. One was for a Police officer. 

If your interested can you pm me for details

Regards

David

[craggle]

I ran my cable from the back of the auxiliary socket (cigarette lighter) and across the top of the dash on the passengers side. If you get hold of the black curved panel in that area it pulls off quite easily as does the panel with the socket in it. 

The door pillar trims come off quite easy too, remove the door seal and simply pull them off once again. The top has a yellow clip behind it that needs rotating 90 degrees to get it to unclip from the trim but it then comes away easily. There is no airbags behind there, they are in the roof and once the trim is pulled off the cable can be easily fed up the pillar and under the roof lining to appear near the mirror. 

No more than an hours work for an auto electrician

Craig.

 

[tarquin]

Much the same as Craig has said. 

The offer was in case you were unsure or not wanting to do it yourself

 

David

[vox]

Thanks Guys, it's not that I don't want to do it myself, it's just being disabled and old (LOL) that sometimes puts me off.

I thought the airbags were in the "A" pillar trims, if they're in the roof I can keep out of their way.

"across the top of the dash on the passengers side. If you get hold of the black curved panel in that area it pulls off quite easily"

Err, that bit I don't get, "across the top of the dash? can you see the cable? Mmm a black curved panel, I will need to look for that. I have a feeling it might not be black in my IQ.

The aux panel I can deal with, I know where that is.

Thanks for the offer David, I might get in touch if I get stuck, I'm sure you are more than capable to do this. I was a few years back, but time has caught up with me. :)

Vox.

 

[craggle]

Cable is all hidden from view.

There is a curved panel that is in front of the passenger and would be the first thing they impact if you ran into something solid! Pretty sure it's black in all cars, may have a chrome strip on it if you are lucky. Runs from the centre console across to the door trim.

Can't remember now if it comes off completely or if I just unclipped the top, pulled it down, stuffed the cable inside and clipped it back into place. David may have a better memory than me? 

Once the cable is near the door the seal can be pulled off and the cable fed up the gap between the body and the dash and into the space behind the door pillar trim. 

Craig.

[vox]

Thanks Craig,

Yup, I know the bit you mean now and it's actually dark grey.?! (Near black) It has a chrome striip at the bottom and it says SRS Airbag on it.  What I thought would be easy is the bit where the aux socket is. I've been pulling at the whole curved area, but nothing wants to give. Perhaps I'm such a weakling now I can't pull hard enough, or I'm pulling the wrong bit. I managed to pull off the heater grill, but that's all in that area. Sorry to be so thick, If it was a Smart car (I'm really glad it isn't) the whole dash would be out in a few minutes. I worked on them for about five years. IQ's are so much better made, I'm not surprised things fit tighter.

Thanks for your patience,

Vox.

[tarquin]

To remove the curved panel with the chrome strip (£48) insidently for that strip, you have to remove the 2 x 10mm bolts. 1 either side of the lower panel which carries the optional leather pouch. To get to the left hand bolt, you have to pull free the thresh hold strip and the 1/4 triangle kick panel. With the bolts removed, grab the lower panel and un-clip it. There is about 6 clips to pull yje panel off. Once removed the top curved panel in clps. You can cable tie your cable to the existing wiring. 

David

[vox]

Thanks David,

that seems simple enough. I will try not to bend the chrome strip!  How do I get to the back of the aux socket, I cant get the panel off around that area to wire the cable to it.

Thanks again,

Vox.

[tarquin]

The method i use is to feel round the edges of the "V" shaped A/C unit and you will feel for the 2 indentations, one either side  under the lip. Grip them with your finger tips and pull towards you. You will need to pulll quite hard. Its best to do it in ***** movements. It will come off, you wont break it even if you think you might. If you have the LCD version, there is only one small plug to unclip. If its the manual A/C then there are stiff cables to manage. When you have removed it, then you can pull away the front curved panel under it to get access to the rear of the Aux socket. You will see there is plenty of room to pass your cable through from the area behind the curved chrome panel down to the  Aux socket.

Word of warning, if you or anyone else doing a similar connection is thinking of cutting the cigar plug off and putting an in line fuse and connecting to the rear if the Aux socket, make sure your device is 12v and not 5v as the cigar plug may contain a 5v regulator. If you decide you want to bring your cigar plug out to the front and plug it into the socket then you should be able to see easily how to achieve this.

David 

[vox]

What a Gentleman you are David,

Thank you, I would have never found that out without your help.

I'm not going to cut anything off, as I bought the genuine hard wire kit from Roadhawk. This has an in line fuse as well as a voltage regulator, but thanks for the warning.

as this is an IQ3 it has the LED display as standard, so that should be easy.  I will have to wait for better weather to do it as it's cold and usually raining. I don't have a garage to work in unfortunately.  If I cant cope, I will PM you and we hopefully can come to an arrangement.

Vox.

[tarquin]

No problem Vox

 

David