Cable routing methods?

[Nick72]

Bought a vent clipped high speed wireless charger phone holder with automatic motorised grab. Pretty cool. 20 quid effort with good reviews from eBay. Plugs into the cigarette lighter. 

Running wireless AA and wanted to see my phone screen to run an inclinometer App on it and have more convenient access to the phone keyboard for entering destinations etc. 

Not sure how best to run the cables to hide them and not looking to pull the trim out or faff too much. I've got car trim tools but it's always a faff and TBH the cable is reasonably thick. 

Figured I'd route it along the trim gaps and use these clips that push into the tight gaps between trim intersections. Ordered at 3 quid from eBay. 

Has anyone used these before and are there better methods or clips?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134846187342?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ALVFwzqfQOa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=QOlM2kQpRI2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Also unsure of running it over the steering wheel or under.

First world problems. Trying to minimise effort and not have unsightly dangling cables. 

[ernieb]

I wouldn’t want the lead to have possibility of being caught or snagged. So from your images I’d run it over the top.

[Nick72]

19 minutes ago, ernieb said:

I wouldn’t want the lead to have possibility of being caught or snagged. So from your images I’d run it over the top.

That's Ernie, kind of where my head was going on this. 

[P_J]

I tried mounting a vent phone holder in that position and found I couldn't get a stable grip to the vents - eventually resulting in the holder working its way loose a little, then knocking over bumps. 
I also then considered the cable routing and found no easy way to run them, so gave up and resorted to wired connection and chucking phone in the central hole. 
I have the Dashcam routed ok, from 12V socket in central dash, behind the glove box and up the A pillar, that's pretty much all hide-able. 

[ernieb]

The vents in the RAV do not lend themselves to using phones mounts. I’ve been looking at MagSafe ones for my iPhone but not sure anything I’ve seen is suitable.

[Heidfirst]

https://www.brodit.co.uk/brodit/vehicles/toyota/rav-4?tag=ft_3_92,ft_4_36&mode=proclips&modevalue=RAV 4&modevalue2=Toyota&page=2 ? You would also need the appropriate holder for your iPhone.

Not the cheapest solution but usually dependable.

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, Heidfirst said:

https://www.brodit.co.uk/brodit/vehicles/toyota/rav-4?tag=ft_3_92,ft_4_36&mode=proclips&modevalue=RAV 4&modevalue2=Toyota&page=2 ? You would also need the appropriate holder for your iPhone.

Not the cheapest solution but usually dependable.

+1 for Brodit / ProClip mounts - always reliable. They are what we always used to use to get hands-free phones into company cars ...

[Nick72]

9 hours ago, P_J said:

I tried mounting a vent phone holder in that position and found I couldn't get a stable grip to the vents - eventually resulting in the holder working its way loose a little, then knocking over bumps. 
I also then considered the cable routing and found no easy way to run them, so gave up and resorted to wired connection and chucking phone in the central hole. 
I have the dashcam routed ok, from 12V socket in central dash, behind the glove box and up the A pillar, that's pretty much all hide-able. 

The one I've got is pretty good. Claws are wide and long, grippy, and has a tightening wheel. Been out and about a few times and it's still rock solid. It also stops the vent moving.

Thanks on the routing note. This weekends job.

[Nick72]

5 hours ago, ernieb said:

The vents in the RAV do not lend themselves to using phones mounts. I’ve been looking at MagSafe ones for my iPhone but not sure anything I’ve seen is suitable.

Am using this one... It's absolutely rock solid on the right hand vent. I'm not using the desk mount. Just the vent mount that came with it. Been driving around a lot. Still rock solid.

Auckly Car Phone Holder Wireless Charger,【60W PD+QC+Sucker+Clip】 Qi 15W Fast Wireless Car Charger Automatic Sensor Phone Vent Mount Compatible for iPhone 12/13/14/15/16 Pro Max Plus Mini etc https://amzn.eu/d/iwaL2il

 

 

 

[ernieb]

8 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Am using this one... It's absolutely rock solid on the right hand vent. I'm not using the desk mount. Just the vent mount that came with it. Been driving around a lot. Still rock solid.

Auckly Car Phone Holder Wireless Charger,【60W PD+QC+Sucker+Clip】 Qi 15W Fast Wireless Car Charger Automatic Sensor Phone Vent Mount Compatible for iPhone 12/13/14/15/16 Pro Max Plus Mini etc https://amzn.eu/d/iwaL2il

 

 

 

Got a photo with and without the phone mounted?

[GBgraham]

Get a set of these from eBay £3.75 and then you should be able to spring the trim enough to hide the cable.

Definitely a +2 for the Brodit mounts

 

 

  

[Nick72]

12 hours ago, ernieb said:

Got a photo with and without the phone mounted?

Not with phone on it as I don't have a spare camera and wife refuses to let me use her phone in case I find out about Daryl, Leroy, and Frank and their huge... Any way, here are the photos without camera attached. There's a wheel to tighten the holder ball onto the rest of the holder and a further tightening wheel for the gripper on the vent. It's absolutely solid. It ain't going anywhere any time.

Bought this thinking the vent clip is probably not going to work but it came with a decent dash mount too as a plan B. No need for plan B.

[Nick72]

Just now, Nick72 said:

Not with phone on it as I don't have a spare camera and wife refuses to let me use her phone in case I find out about Daryl, Leroy, and Frank and their huge... Any way, here are the photos without camera attached. There's a wheel to tighten the holder ball onto the rest of the holder and a further tightening wheel for the gripper on the vent. It's absolutely solid. It ain't going anywhere any time.

Bought this thinking the vent clip is probably not going to work but it came with a decent dash mount too as a plan B. No need for plan B.

Automatic motorised grip on the phone is a rack and pinion arrangement. Pretty solid too.

When I get in the car I put the phone in the holder, switch on the ignition, and the motor kicks in and grips the phone and stays gripped even when the power is off. There's a release button on each side and I assume a compressed spring is engaged to push open the grip on the phone via the pinion.

[Nick72]

5 hours ago, GBgraham said:

Get a set of these from eBay £3.75 and then you should be able to spring the trim enough to hide the cable.

Definitely a +2 for the Brodit mounts

 

 

  

Thanks Graham. Got some already I've used in the past. This weekend's job installing the camera. And trying out my mad powerbank idea to keep the camera on for days when the ignition is off independent of the car Battery.

[ernieb]

Thanks Nick appreciated.  It does look very solid which has been my worry. I’d probably try to go for a MagSafe version. My iPhone/case when attached to my home charging mounts are very well attached. I’ve tried one in the car, impossible to mount, to see if the phone does stay attached and it never moves. Just need to find a similar mount to yours that has the MagSafe base. 
Hope you ‘mad idea’ works out, if the Battery pack does allow pass through I can see no reason why it should not work. It will be interesting to see how you get on. 🤞

[nlee]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

Thanks Nick appreciated.  It does look very solid which has been my worry. I’d probably try to go for a MagSafe version. My iPhone/case when attached to my home charging mounts are very well attached. I’ve tried one in the car, impossible to mount, to see if the phone does stay attached and it never moves. Just need to find a similar mount to yours that has the MagSafe base. 
Hope you ‘mad idea’ works out, if the battery pack does allow pass through I can see no reason why it should not work. It will be interesting to see how you get on. 🤞

I can recommend the peak design MagSafe charger. I have loads of peak design photography stuff, it’s not the cheapest, but excellent. They do two versions, a vent mount and an adhesive mount (there is also charging and non charging versions). I went for the adhesive mount, the car isn’t on a contract so don’t have to worry about the permanency and it’s very minimalist.

It was the only one I tried that was reliable with my old pixel (with MagSafe case) but it’s rock solid with the iPhone. 
 

https://amzn.eu/d/f2V2pZc

 

[ernieb]

1 hour ago, nlee said:

I can recommend the peak design MagSafe charger. I have loads of peak design photography stuff, it’s not the cheapest, but excellent. They do two versions, a vent mount and an adhesive mount (there is also charging and non charging versions). I went for the adhesive mount, the car isn’t on a contract so don’t have to worry about the permanency and it’s very minimalist.

It was the only one I tried that was reliable with my old pixel (with MagSafe case) but it’s rock solid with the iPhone. 
 

https://amzn.eu/d/f2V2pZc

 

Thanks Nigel. I hadn’t thought of Peak for the iPhone mount, I do use  Peak for my camera accessories, camera strap with quick release mounts etc. as you say quality items even if they are expensive.

[ernieb]

3 hours ago, nlee said:

I can recommend the peak design MagSafe charger. I have loads of peak design photography stuff, it’s not the cheapest, but excellent. They do two versions, a vent mount and an adhesive mount (there is also charging and non charging versions). I went for the adhesive mount, the car isn’t on a contract so don’t have to worry about the permanency and it’s very minimalist.

It was the only one I tried that was reliable with my old pixel (with MagSafe case) but it’s rock solid with the iPhone. 
 

https://amzn.eu/d/f2V2pZc

 

Nigel can you post a photo of where you installed yours? I have an iPhone 16 Pro any comparison to your iPhone in terms of weight etc. I’ve seen a few YouTube videos on the mount and the magnet strength seems to be one of the best if not the best.

I’ve  looked at the vent mounts version but from my measurements and generally looking at where I might fix the mount the car does not suitable. The sticky mount version might be my best choice, I’m not really interested in viewing the phone so much as getting a better view of the sky and reduce the clutter in the head unit under tray. Thanks.

UPDATE: remeasured and have now placed an order for the vent mounts on the basis of if I struggle to get. Good fitting I can send it back. 

[Nick72]

10 hours ago, ernieb said:

Thanks Nick appreciated.  It does look very solid which has been my worry. I’d probably try to go for a MagSafe version. My iPhone/case when attached to my home charging mounts are very well attached. I’ve tried one in the car, impossible to mount, to see if the phone does stay attached and it never moves. Just need to find a similar mount to yours that has the MagSafe base. 
Hope you ‘mad idea’ works out, if the battery pack does allow pass through I can see no reason why it should not work. It will be interesting to see how you get on. 🤞

Thanks @ernieb. I see your predicament. I have however seen what looks like the same vent mount part on other phone holders. Suspect it's all from a handful of the same Chinese manufacturers. Remember when everything was made in Hong Kong and before that Britain (ok we are probably not old enough to remember the latter!). 

Could be worth screen shotting the vent clip mechanism on mine (earlier link) and seeing if it's the same in the mag safe options? On Amazon. 

I'm going set the camera up in my office and then connect to the power bank which is also charging. Check that out for a few hours to make sure it is doing what I think it should.

It seems that the Garmin Mini 3 can be set to automatically go into park mode if no movement is detected for a user selectable period of time (minutes, tens of minutes, etc), and I think, you can set it to not ever.

Park mode will trigger a recording in the event of movement on the car. Not sure if it will use part of the left of the bang recording buffer or not. Need to check this out. If you subscribe to the vault service etc. then the device will text an alert to you and you can dial into the camera to see a recorded video or the live feed. Looks useful but depends how reliable it is and how much it costs. 

Fall back is I'll just keep it continuously recording when the car is parked up. Drawing off the large powerbank. Should get 3.4 days of continuous recording or 4.5 days of park mode if my maths is correct. Round it down to reality of 3 or 4 days respectively. 

I think this will work well for regular car use where the powerbank has time to charge during a reasonably long drive drive (it's fast charge cable and the cigarette lighter to USB adapter is a high power device) and doesn't spend any long periods sitting idle and not charging but delivering power to the webcam. 

I'm not using the car regularly though at the moment though so I'm thinking I need a USB switch to switch off powerbank power delivery to the camera because it will flatten the Battery when the car is just sitting on the drive with a Nest cam pointing at it and a hidden Battery powered WiFi wildlife camera pointing across the front, plus the door camera. So it's not adding anything by being on when the car is on the drive. 

 

 

 

[nlee]

7 hours ago, ernieb said:

Nigel can you post a photo of where you installed yours? I have an iPhone 16 Pro any comparison to your iPhone in terms of weight etc. I’ve seen a few YouTube videos on the mount and the magnet strength seems to be one of the best if not the best.

I’ve  looked at the vent mounts version but from my measurements and generally looking at where I might fix the mount the car does not suitable. The sticky mount version might be my best choice, I’m not really interested in viewing the phone so much as getting a better view of the sky and reduce the clutter in the head unit under tray. Thanks.

UPDATE: remeasured and have now placed an order for the vent mounts on the basis of if I struggle to get. Good fitting I can send it back. 

Sorry, only just seen your post and it’s pitch black out there now so the photos aren’t the best. I have a iPhone 15 pro so I would imagine more or less the same. 

obviously couldn’t take a photo with the phone on it as I was using it to take the photo!

[Nick72]

1 hour ago, nlee said:

Sorry, only just seen your post and it’s pitch black out there now so the photos aren’t the best. I have a iPhone 15 pro so I would imagine more or less the same. 

obviously couldn’t take a photo with the phone on it as I was using it to take the photo!

Looks good. Sticky pad onto the dash?

[nlee]

3 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Looks good. Sticky pad onto the dash?

Yes, rock solid. 

[ernieb]

1 hour ago, nlee said:

Sorry, only just seen your post and it’s pitch black out there now so the photos aren’t the best. I have a iPhone 15 pro so I would imagine more or less the same. 

obviously couldn’t take a photo with the phone on it as I was using it to take the photo!

Nigel, thanks for the photo it looks really good. I’ll try the vent mount and if that fails I’ll swap for the one you have. The iPhone 15 and 16 are pretty similar physically and weight so should be fine. As I have a wireless adapter in the cars USB I’m going to replace my 12v accessory voltmeter with this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09LQ65DRF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

[nlee]

2 minutes ago, ernieb said:

Nigel, thanks for the photo it looks really good. I’ll try the vent mount and if that fails I’ll swap for the one you have. The iPhone 15 and 16 are pretty similar physically and weight so should be fine. As I have a wireless adapter in the cars USB I’m going to replace my 12v accessory voltmeter with this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09LQ65DRF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

The peak design charger comes with it’s own. 

[ernieb]

3 minutes ago, nlee said:

The peak design charger comes with it’s own. 

Thanks, but I also want to still see the 12 voltage.