2016 Prius - how to fit dash cam?

[DaveHomeBrew]

I have just taken ownership of a 2016 Prius. I want to fit a dash cam to hang from the windscreen, but the dimpled area around the interior mirror seems to make it impossible; either I stick below the dimples, in which case the camera will obscure the driver's view, or I stick it so far to the left of the mirror that it spoils the passenger's view. Does anyone know of a system that doesn't stick on the windscreen and that doesn't screw into the dashboard? I really don't want to spoil the interior of a brand new car. Or is there some other solution I have not thought of? Any suggestions appreciated.

[kithmo]

I've put mine on the passenger side of the windscreen, it doesn't really obscure the passengers view as they sit quite low down in the 2016 Prius.

[PeteB]

I had my dealer fit my Road Angel Halo front/rear dashcams and hard wire it into the car.

The camera unit is very small and as with Kitmo they put it just to the left of the mirror.  I suppose it depends on the size of the camera - mine is pretty small, and I've been a passenger and barely noticed it.   It certainly wasn't blocking my view forward.

[Sagitar]

Mine is just to the left of the mirror and I've never had any complaints from passengers. If you have a removable memory card, getting at it affects consideration of the positioning of the camera.

[DaveHomeBrew]

Thanks guys for your replies. I guess the key thing is getting a cam that is small enough to be unobtrusive.

PeteB, yours looks interesting, but I have seen review that says the night vision is rubbish, puts me off of the Road Angel Halo. 

[thecaretaker]

My Auris had the same problem. I bought a camera with a sticky pad on bracket that the camera sat on. It could then stick onto the 'bobbly' bit and camera lens just stick out over it.

However, one word of warning, I've avoided fitting a camera to my Prius Gen4 as the thought occurred to me, by hiding the cabling behind the pillars and trim as I have previously, I might be affecting the way the air bags could operate in an emergency. This is something there seems little info on and never seen any written warnings.

[PeteB]

That's another reason I got my dealer to fit the cameras on my Gen 4 and previous Gen 3.

Dave: I'll try to post a sample video tomorrow. 

[PeteB]

20 hours ago, PeteB said:

Dave: I'll try to post a sample video tomorrow. 

... and here it is:

1. screen shot:   http://www.biwel.com/pmb01/Halo screenshot.pdf

2. video clip:     http://www.biwel.com/pmb01/160804_220432_I1.avi

Beware, the clip is 55MB.  It covers driving along a poorly lit road then turning into a fairly well lit one.

If you want to see what it looks like in the Halo software, you can download it free at http://support.blackspot.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=7&nav=0

Regards, Pete

[DaveHomeBrew]

Thanks Pete, that's useful, but I do think the night vision is poor. I need to review other models, and find a local dealer who will fit a dash cam; they seem to be hard to find.

[PeteB]

My previous RoadHawk DC-1 and a cheapo camera before that were no better - I wonder what they compare it with?

I do believe it would usually be sufficient evidence in an incident though, unless the number plate doesn't show up, but that would only be a problem if the other vehicle didn't stop.

[cuius]

If you don't have an inbuilt sat-nav, consider the Garmin DriveAssist which combines a 5" sat-nav (with lifetime maps and traffic) with a dash-cam, and can be mounted on their dash-mounted Portable Friction Mount (an update of the old beanbag mount)

Garmin DriveAssist

Flexible Friction Mount

[priusnoob]

On 04/08/2016 at 6:42 PM, PeteB said:

That's another reason I got my dealer to fit the cameras on my Gen 4 and previous Gen 3.

Dave: I'll try to post a sample video tomorrow. 

Your dealer fitted cameras on? Front and back? I'm considering getting a mobius, with one of them piggy back adapter thingies, so when the car starts up, the camera automatically starts up, as it would be hard wired to the car as such

[PeteB]

10 hours ago, priusnoob said:

Your dealer fitted cameras on? Front and back?

Yes.  They did a very neat job, although it wasn't cheap at £178 + £9 (both including vat) for a switch, but I'm very happy with what they've done.

The main power is wired through a small round switch that they've put near the driver's heated seat switch, so I can power if off if I need to (for safely removing the SD card, for example).

There are two power leads that needed soldering in, one for 'always on' power (subject to the switch), and one for accessory mode - this enables the system to go fully active as soon as I power the car on, and switch automatically to parking mode when I switch off.  The hard wiring kit includes a device which shuts it down if the 12v Battery voltage drops.

[priusnoob]

42 minutes ago, PeteB said:

Yes.  They did a very neat job, although it wasn't cheap at £178 + £9 (both including vat) for a switch, but I'm very happy with what they've done.

The main power is wired through a small round switch that they've put near the driver's heated seat switch, so I can power if off if I need to (for safely removing the SD card, for example).

There are two power leads that needed soldering in, one for 'always on' power (subject to the switch), and one for accessory mode - this enables the system to go fully active as soon as I power the car on, and switch automatically to parking mode when I switch off.  The hard wiring kit includes a device which shuts it down if the 12v battery voltage drops.

Tbh that does seem fairly cheap for me, considering I had a budget of around £250-£300 inclusive of installation with two mobius cameras (Front and rear). Just to clarify, this was front and back? Are the cameras discrete? Were they ones the dealer supplied or ones that you bought yourself?

That seems to be a decent hard wired kit then if that is the case!

These guys do installation for £99

http://www.carcamerashop.co.uk/nationwide-dashcam-installation.html

[PeteB]

I bought and supplied the Road Angel Halo system, normally £200 but I bought mine for £160 in their Easter 20% offer.  The hard wire kit cost £15.  The fitting was on top of this.

The rear camera is tiny, and not visible from the driver's seat, right at the top of the rear screen (in an area swept by the wiper).

The front one is quite discreet too, to the left of the mirror, only visible to the passenger, and not in the way. There is a cable that runs from the rear camera all the way to the front one, so I can understand with the switch on top it was quite time consuming.

The hard wire kit (or standard lighter socket lead) plugs into the front camera and powers both.

I like the fact that both cameras have decent 3M bonded mounts.  Some of the cameras I looked at only came with suction cups.

The only thing I don't like is a forward facing bright blue LED that flashes when in parking mode.  I'm thinking of putting black insulating tape over it.

[priusnoob]

10 minutes ago, PeteB said:

I bought and supplied the Road Angel Halo system, normally £200 but I bought mine for £160 in their Easter 20% offer.  The hard wire kit cost £15.  The fitting was on top of this.

The rear camera is tiny, and not visible from the driver's seat, right at the top of the rear screen (in an area swept by the wiper).

The front one is quite discreet too, to the left of the mirror, only visible to the passenger, and not in the way. There is a cable that runs from the rear camera all the way to the front one, so I an understand with the switch on top it was quite time consuming.

The hard wire kit (or standard lighter socket lead) plugs into the front camera and powers both.

I liked the fact that both camera have decent 3M bonded mounts.  Some of the cameras I looked at only came with suction cups.

The only thing I don't like is a forward facing bright blue LED that flashes when in parking mode.  I'm thinking of putting black insulating tape over it.

Tis fair enough. I decided long, long ago that I wanted a Mobius because it's so damn tiny and the quality is fairly decent too. There is the K1S system which is cheaper and tinier but I heard at dashcamtalk that it's not all that reliable in comparison

I think the mobius allows you to choose what you want. I want a more suction cup kinda device, because well I could move it to my next car, and only lose out on the installation costs really

[PeteB]

5 minutes ago, priusnoob said:

... I want a more suction cup kinda device,...

horse for courses.

I prefer the bonded because sooner or later, especially in hot weather, the suckers fall off.  You can always prise a camera off and buy a new bonding strip.

I had a RoadHawk camera for four years in my last Prius, and could have transferred it, but the cameras have improved so much in that time I wanted a new one (also wanted front & rear, the RoadHawk was just front).  Plus the RoadHawk didn't automatically go into parking mode, I had to select it each time (and often forgot).

[priusnoob]

2 minutes ago, PeteB said:

horse for courses.

I prefer the bonded because sooner or later, especially in hot weather, the suckers fall off.  You can always prise a camera off and buy a new bonding strip.

I had a RoadHawk camera for four years in my last Prius, and could have transferred it, but the cameras have improved so much in that time I wanted a new one (also wanted front & rear, the RoadHawk was just front).  Plus the RoadHawk didn't automatically go into parking mode, I had to select it each time (and often forgot).

Tis fair enough I guess, but like my TomTom, the suction cuppy thing eventually stopped working and I had to buy another one. I guess that's true, but it must be hard to get it off, no?

Tis fair enough really. I think the roadhawk is actually better in terms of quality, but you do get better value for money with the Mobius and.. it is discrete

[PeteB]

They come off in a couple of minutes with a razor blade or similar.  Like I say, horses for courses. 

Despite my built-in SatNav, I too use a TomTom for it's excellent lifetime up to date maps and live traffic, which is truly amazing.  For my Gen 4 Prius I bought the TomTom beanbag, to which the suction mount attached.  It's only come loose once so far, on a very hot day.

On a long journey I alway program the destination into both, so that if it falls off at an inopportune moment, I can switch to the Toyota one until I can stop and reattach it.  It also demonstrates how rubbish the TMC traffic data is, although someone has said on the Gen 4 you can set it up for TomTom traffic by tethering to a phone, but it's easier to use the TomTom and it's maps are so much better.

[priusnoob]

22 hours ago, PeteB said:

They come off in a couple of minutes with a razor blade or similar.  Like I say, horses for courses. 

Despite my built-in SatNav, I too use a TomTom for it's excellent lifetime up to date maps and live traffic, which is truly amazing.  For my Gen 4 Prius I bought the TomTom beanbag, to which the suction mount attached.  It's only come loose once so far, on a very hot day.

On a long journey I alway program the destination into both, so that if it falls off at an inopportune moment, I can switch to the Toyota one until I can stop and reattach it.  It also demonstrates how rubbish the TMC traffic data is, although someone has said on the Gen 4 you can set it up for TomTom traffic by tethering to a phone, but it's easier to use the TomTom and it's maps are so much better.

Ah didn't know that. I didn't really want to scratch the glass!! 

Yeah. I'm not fond of the in built sat nav. I much much prefer my TomTom over the in built one. I've just kept with the default one. That's fair as well. I regularly (Well used to) do 230 mile journeys once a month, and I only used the TomTom. My rationale was (even before I bought the Prius), is "Well the TomTom is pretty reliable but if it fails as technology does, I do have Google maps, and I do have Here maps too for offline navigation

I don't tether to the phone as such. I guess it's because I'm used to doing long journeys fairly often that I went and bought the "always connected" one. The only lifetime thing I don't have that they get in the new TomToms is the lifetime speed cameras (That seems to be half price every so often)

[cviclark]

I have just started to fit my Lukas to my Gen 4 but weather has forced a break I have posted info on hard wire and fuses and my Auris installation is documented on Auris forum.

I have just posted the Fuse layout for the Gen 4.

If fitting to a Hybrid it is important to have a power supply control circuit either built in or as an add on.  Do not buy one with a simple Battery make sure it has a capacitor.  They get very hot in the windscreen and the chips also get hot recording. Make sure what you buy does not interfere with the radio DAB or FM.  Do your homework before you buy, Good ones are expensive but cheap one can cause a lot of damage.  Personally I would never use quick connectors that cut into a cable, which is why I do it myself. Use add a circuit fuse taps.  Good luck   

Airbags should not be a problem under headlining at top of screen down the weather seal to under glove box.  The rear one may be a SOB to get through the gator to the rear hatch but I dont see any airbag issues as all the cables are loose enough to blow out with the lining.