Anti crash scam car cameras
Discussion
Toying with the idea of buying some type of car camera recording system for the Vantage, but having looked around In the main they seem to be similar to aftermarket sat nav, in that they fix to the windscreen and have a power supply lead trailing down to the cigarette socket.
I was hoping to find something that can be fitted in a way that it is fairly innocuous ( if visible at all) with hidden power supply lead, or even hidden in the front grill maybe if a no suitable cabin mounted system is available.
Should be discrete,good quality video, switch on and off with ignition but no trailing leads, record position and other driving information as basic features.
Anybody using any such devices at all or can make a recommendation?
I was hoping to find something that can be fitted in a way that it is fairly innocuous ( if visible at all) with hidden power supply lead, or even hidden in the front grill maybe if a no suitable cabin mounted system is available.
Should be discrete,good quality video, switch on and off with ignition but no trailing leads, record position and other driving information as basic features.
Anybody using any such devices at all or can make a recommendation?
Roadhawk have a small bullet camera for bike riders etc. They can be mounted internally or externally on a car as connecting to a 12v supply starts the recording automatically.
http://www.roadhawk.co.uk/roadhawk-ride-bullet-cam...
The only issue mounting it in the grill is if you are unfortunate to have a front end smash it may well damage the camera and the sd card.
Here is a video of some mechanics taking a PHers car for a "Test Drive" in a garage not far from my home at some speed it is very impressive footage from a tracking point of view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZbQ_KOGBcQ
No I don't work for them but have considered this myself but find the size of the units to be prohibitive but the bullet camera changes that, mounted discretely in front of the rear view mirror. Would like one for each car and as an added bonus you can record some of those great drives as well.
As for wiring it is only a 12v ignition feed which is available in the foot well and the trim is easily manipulated to hide the wire.
http://www.roadhawk.co.uk/roadhawk-ride-bullet-cam...
The only issue mounting it in the grill is if you are unfortunate to have a front end smash it may well damage the camera and the sd card.
Here is a video of some mechanics taking a PHers car for a "Test Drive" in a garage not far from my home at some speed it is very impressive footage from a tracking point of view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZbQ_KOGBcQ
No I don't work for them but have considered this myself but find the size of the units to be prohibitive but the bullet camera changes that, mounted discretely in front of the rear view mirror. Would like one for each car and as an added bonus you can record some of those great drives as well.
As for wiring it is only a 12v ignition feed which is available in the foot well and the trim is easily manipulated to hide the wire.
Edited by SLacKer on Thursday 6th December 09:06
mikey k said:
I like that idea
A bullet cam with a rolling recording facility would be good
It could record constantly and only store say the last hour of video
I have a very small. DogCam HD might have a play with that
I've looked at the dog cam site Mike, if it works I'd be interested in the results if you don't mind?A bullet cam with a rolling recording facility would be good
It could record constantly and only store say the last hour of video
I have a very small. DogCam HD might have a play with that
I too am considering a camera for some of my trips,
Have been advised to look at the Go Pro 3 Motorsport, which i cannot find easily available on the internet. I think it is because it is a new model, so was hoping someone might be able to give some advise or had any past experience with previous GoPro units ?
Many thanks
Have been advised to look at the Go Pro 3 Motorsport, which i cannot find easily available on the internet. I think it is because it is a new model, so was hoping someone might be able to give some advise or had any past experience with previous GoPro units ?
Many thanks
I have Blackvue cameras fitted to our cars, after somebody decided to do one of these whiplash scams where they stop suddenly in front of you.
I've yet to fit one in the Aston, so would be interested in where to pick up a switched 12v supply.
The Blackvue units are the most discrete I've seen, especially when mounted behind the rear view mirror. They are virtually fit and forget and will record a continuous loop of about 8hrs, they have an interface similar to the roadhawk viewer and will record position/speed and so on. They record to a micro SD card which you simply plug into your PC.
It is recommended that the SD card is formatted and firmware updated periodically, which is easy to do.
They have on board shock sensors which will detect an bump and generate a separate file so that it doesn’t get overwritten. You can even program it to monitor the car when it’s parked, and if it detects a nudge or somebody even walking past in the field of view, it will start to record. All options are fully programmable through the interface.
I have both the DR300G and DR400G which is the HD version, although I find the exposure control on DR400G a little random at times, it's still perfectly acceptable. They also have a newer DR400G V2 version out now which is probably the one to go for. The last one I bought from the far east with no issues.
I've yet to fit one in the Aston, so would be interested in where to pick up a switched 12v supply.
The Blackvue units are the most discrete I've seen, especially when mounted behind the rear view mirror. They are virtually fit and forget and will record a continuous loop of about 8hrs, they have an interface similar to the roadhawk viewer and will record position/speed and so on. They record to a micro SD card which you simply plug into your PC.
It is recommended that the SD card is formatted and firmware updated periodically, which is easy to do.
They have on board shock sensors which will detect an bump and generate a separate file so that it doesn’t get overwritten. You can even program it to monitor the car when it’s parked, and if it detects a nudge or somebody even walking past in the field of view, it will start to record. All options are fully programmable through the interface.
I have both the DR300G and DR400G which is the HD version, although I find the exposure control on DR400G a little random at times, it's still perfectly acceptable. They also have a newer DR400G V2 version out now which is probably the one to go for. The last one I bought from the far east with no issues.
R1CKF said:
I too am considering a camera for some of my trips,
Have been advised to look at the Go Pro 3 Motorsport, which i cannot find easily available on the internet. I think it is because it is a new model, so was hoping someone might be able to give some advise or had any past experience with previous GoPro units ?
Many thanks
GoPro are suberb cameras primarly designed for Sports, they would be ideal for recording a trip but not so good at day to day event recording. I have the older V2 and it's brilliant.Have been advised to look at the Go Pro 3 Motorsport, which i cannot find easily available on the internet. I think it is because it is a new model, so was hoping someone might be able to give some advise or had any past experience with previous GoPro units ?
Many thanks
For my own use I use my Android Phone. It clips under the mirror and records in HD with an overlay map.
The map can be switched on or off and is recorded as a separate file to the actual video.
This is part of another program that monitors my car over bluetooth and also warns of all sorts of pending faults from the OBDII socket and can be user programmed for certain parameters such as coolant temps, so if you wish to be warned of a specific temperature then this can be done.
It's called "Torque Pro" and only costs a few quid of Google Play store.
If you have a good sized memory card fitted then no problems. Of course this will not do looped recording, once full it's full so you would need to delete unwanted recordings every day or so, which is easy on your phone.
I have mine set so it tells me when the engine temp is up to normal operating temperature. Handy to know before you hit the Go pedal! Easier being told than looking at the half hidden dials all the time.
I do like the bullet cam above.. the looped recording is great for outside the car. I currently use small HD's under my number plate and they only record about an hour at HD.
I have Speed, G-Force and Engine RPM on mine and can be set using a selection of dials or indicators.
Again these can be overlaid or not both before or after the video recording.
The map can be switched on or off and is recorded as a separate file to the actual video.
This is part of another program that monitors my car over bluetooth and also warns of all sorts of pending faults from the OBDII socket and can be user programmed for certain parameters such as coolant temps, so if you wish to be warned of a specific temperature then this can be done.
It's called "Torque Pro" and only costs a few quid of Google Play store.
If you have a good sized memory card fitted then no problems. Of course this will not do looped recording, once full it's full so you would need to delete unwanted recordings every day or so, which is easy on your phone.
I have mine set so it tells me when the engine temp is up to normal operating temperature. Handy to know before you hit the Go pedal! Easier being told than looking at the half hidden dials all the time.
I do like the bullet cam above.. the looped recording is great for outside the car. I currently use small HD's under my number plate and they only record about an hour at HD.
- UPDATE **
I have Speed, G-Force and Engine RPM on mine and can be set using a selection of dials or indicators.
Again these can be overlaid or not both before or after the video recording.
Edited by GTDB7 on Thursday 6th December 21:03
GTDB7 said:
For my own use I use my Android Phone. It clips under the mirror and records in HD with an overlay map.
The map can be switched on or off and is recorded as a separate file to the actual video.
This is part of another program that monitors my car over bluetooth and also warns of all sorts of pending faults from the OBDII socket and can be user programmed for certain parameters such as coolant temps, so if you wish to be warned of a specific temperature then this can be done.
It's called "Torque Pro" and only costs a few quid of Google Play store.
If you have a good sized memory card fitted then no problems. Of course this will not do looped recording, once full it's full so you would need to delete unwanted recordings every day or so, which is easy on your phone.
I have mine set so it tells me when the engine temp is up to normal operating temperature. Handy to know before you hit the Go pedal! Easier being told than looking at the half hidden dials all the time.
I do like the bullet cam above.. the looped recording is great for outside the car. I currently use small HD's under my number plate and they only record about an hour at HD.
I have Speed, G-Force and Engine RPM on mine and can be set using a selection of dials or indicators.
Again these can be overlaid or not both before or after the video recording.
I use Torque also on my android, great app, also to measure acceleration times, etc, but how to create a video overlay in it?The map can be switched on or off and is recorded as a separate file to the actual video.
This is part of another program that monitors my car over bluetooth and also warns of all sorts of pending faults from the OBDII socket and can be user programmed for certain parameters such as coolant temps, so if you wish to be warned of a specific temperature then this can be done.
It's called "Torque Pro" and only costs a few quid of Google Play store.
If you have a good sized memory card fitted then no problems. Of course this will not do looped recording, once full it's full so you would need to delete unwanted recordings every day or so, which is easy on your phone.
I have mine set so it tells me when the engine temp is up to normal operating temperature. Handy to know before you hit the Go pedal! Easier being told than looking at the half hidden dials all the time.
I do like the bullet cam above.. the looped recording is great for outside the car. I currently use small HD's under my number plate and they only record about an hour at HD.
- UPDATE **
I have Speed, G-Force and Engine RPM on mine and can be set using a selection of dials or indicators.
Again these can be overlaid or not both before or after the video recording.
Edited by GTDB7 on Thursday 6th December 21:03
triple5 said:
I have Blackvue cameras fitted to our cars, after somebody decided to do one of these whiplash scams where they stop suddenly in front of you.
I've yet to fit one in the Aston, so would be interested in where to pick up a switched 12v supply.
The Blackvue units are the most discrete I've seen, especially when mounted behind the rear view mirror. They are virtually fit and forget and will record a continuous loop of about 8hrs, they have an interface similar to the roadhawk viewer and will record position/speed and so on. They record to a micro SD card which you simply plug into your PC.
It is recommended that the SD card is formatted and firmware updated periodically, which is easy to do.
They have on board shock sensors which will detect an bump and generate a separate file so that it doesn’t get overwritten. You can even program it to monitor the car when it’s parked, and if it detects a nudge or somebody even walking past in the field of view, it will start to record. All options are fully programmable through the interface.
I have both the DR300G and DR400G which is the HD version, although I find the exposure control on DR400G a little random at times, it's still perfectly acceptable. They also have a newer DR400G V2 version out now which is probably the one to go for. The last one I bought from the far east with no issues.
I had a look at the Blackvue website and they look like nice bits of kit. Sadly they dont show the camera in situ propely, or against a ruler or something that would give it scale. Whats the chances of you taking some pics showing how it looks in the car, from a couple angles if possible? I've yet to fit one in the Aston, so would be interested in where to pick up a switched 12v supply.
The Blackvue units are the most discrete I've seen, especially when mounted behind the rear view mirror. They are virtually fit and forget and will record a continuous loop of about 8hrs, they have an interface similar to the roadhawk viewer and will record position/speed and so on. They record to a micro SD card which you simply plug into your PC.
It is recommended that the SD card is formatted and firmware updated periodically, which is easy to do.
They have on board shock sensors which will detect an bump and generate a separate file so that it doesn’t get overwritten. You can even program it to monitor the car when it’s parked, and if it detects a nudge or somebody even walking past in the field of view, it will start to record. All options are fully programmable through the interface.
I have both the DR300G and DR400G which is the HD version, although I find the exposure control on DR400G a little random at times, it's still perfectly acceptable. They also have a newer DR400G V2 version out now which is probably the one to go for. The last one I bought from the far east with no issues.
steveatesh said:
I had a look at the Blackvue website and they look like nice bits of kit. Sadly they dont show the camera in situ propely, or against a ruler or something that would give it scale. Whats the chances of you taking some pics showing how it looks in the car, from a couple angles if possible?
No problem I'll sort some pics out. I don't bother removing ours, but it does have a quick release mount if you did. It starts up and shuts down automatically, with voice and visual confirmation if you wanted.I like the fact that there’s no user intervention required, so if the worst does happen you know that you have it recorded and not curse that you forgot to switch it on, or find out it’s run out of memory.
triple5 said:
No problem I'll sort some pics out. I don't bother removing ours, but it does have a quick release mount if you did. It starts up and shuts down automatically, with voice and visual confirmation if you wanted.
I like the fact that there’s no user intervention required, so if the worst does happen you know that you have it recorded and not curse that you forgot to switch it on, or find out it’s run out of memory.
Thanks Allan, appreciated. SteveI like the fact that there’s no user intervention required, so if the worst does happen you know that you have it recorded and not curse that you forgot to switch it on, or find out it’s run out of memory.
Been reading this thread with some interest, after a white van man caused an accident that involved my father and his car, I know the pain that these cameras would save. Even though the positions of the vehicle and for that fact the police confirmed it was the third parties fault, video footage would have saved hours of work dealing with the insurance companies.
Just ordered a couple of blackvue cameras with the magic pro wiring kit. I see queries above regarding hard wiring and the following post gives a possible solution. Hope it helps someone.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16...
Just ordered a couple of blackvue cameras with the magic pro wiring kit. I see queries above regarding hard wiring and the following post gives a possible solution. Hope it helps someone.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16...
AWV12, I'll check my phone for you to see if anything is required for the overlay.
You may need to install the plug in for it, which I think is free.
I just installed every plug in that was listed when I first used it.
Do you have Track Recorder installed? If so check the options or settings for an overlay mode, you'll need GPS activated for it to track the map etc.
If you still have any problems I'll check back later and have my phone handy.
I'm sure the track recorder is an extra plug-in you need, so just download all the plug-ins for Torque.
You can grab the recorded video off the phone by any normal means as it's a simple video file, but for the overlay to be viewed outside of Torque on the phone you need to download their converter program.
This is found from their wiki page, it can be a bit tedious at times but then I simply keep the video files for my own personal use when needed and the overlay can be exported if it's really needed so the tedious task of the full export isn't done. For an insurance claim the export would not seem tedious given it's content to back up your statements.
I'm pretty sure any on-screen dials at the time will also be exported.
I'm on Windows 8 at the moment and it's giving me some problems with running the export program, worked fine under Win7 64-bit though.
You may need to install the plug in for it, which I think is free.
I just installed every plug in that was listed when I first used it.
Do you have Track Recorder installed? If so check the options or settings for an overlay mode, you'll need GPS activated for it to track the map etc.
If you still have any problems I'll check back later and have my phone handy.
- UPDATE *
I'm sure the track recorder is an extra plug-in you need, so just download all the plug-ins for Torque.
You can grab the recorded video off the phone by any normal means as it's a simple video file, but for the overlay to be viewed outside of Torque on the phone you need to download their converter program.
This is found from their wiki page, it can be a bit tedious at times but then I simply keep the video files for my own personal use when needed and the overlay can be exported if it's really needed so the tedious task of the full export isn't done. For an insurance claim the export would not seem tedious given it's content to back up your statements.
I'm pretty sure any on-screen dials at the time will also be exported.
I'm on Windows 8 at the moment and it's giving me some problems with running the export program, worked fine under Win7 64-bit though.
Edited by GTDB7 on Saturday 8th December 03:08
V8softtop said:
Been reading this thread with some interest, after a white van man caused an accident that involved my father and his car, I know the pain that these cameras would save. Even though the positions of the vehicle and for that fact the police confirmed it was the third parties fault, video footage would have saved hours of work dealing with the insurance companies.
Just ordered a couple of blackvue cameras with the magic pro wiring kit. I see queries above regarding hard wiring and the following post gives a possible solution. Hope it helps someone.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16...
Great link, not seen the add-a-circuit before, looks an easy way of tapping power.Just ordered a couple of blackvue cameras with the magic pro wiring kit. I see queries above regarding hard wiring and the following post gives a possible solution. Hope it helps someone.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16...
triple5 said:
Great link, not seen the add-a-circuit before, looks an easy way of tapping power.
Me neither. Found them on EBay and ordered a couple of packs. Well, after reading this thread, I ordered 2 x DR380G. Fitted one into the wife's car and have the other sitting in the box. Can't decide if I'll fit it into my daily drive or put it in the Vantage. Haven't hard wired the one in the Mrs's yet as I'm awaiting the A-circuits, but have tested it plugged in the 12v supply. Have to say I'm very very impressed.
I feel this could be the way forward. I'm now a big fan.
V8softtop said:
Me neither. Found them on EBay and ordered a couple of packs.
Well, after reading this thread, I ordered 2 x DR380G. Fitted one into the wife's car and have the other sitting in the box. Can't decide if I'll fit it into my daily drive or put it in the Vantage. Haven't hard wired the one in the Mrs's yet as I'm awaiting the A-circuits, but have tested it plugged in the 12v supply. Have to say I'm very very impressed.
I feel this could be the way forward. I'm now a big fan.
I've just ordered some off eBay as well.Well, after reading this thread, I ordered 2 x DR380G. Fitted one into the wife's car and have the other sitting in the box. Can't decide if I'll fit it into my daily drive or put it in the Vantage. Haven't hard wired the one in the Mrs's yet as I'm awaiting the A-circuits, but have tested it plugged in the 12v supply. Have to say I'm very very impressed.
I feel this could be the way forward. I'm now a big fan.
Just wish I'd had my camera fitted before my incident. My wife had a near miss a few months back at a roundabout, was interesting watching the footage.
You can buy additional mounting brackets, and if the wiring was in place you could easily move it to the Vantage when you wanted. You would though run the risk of not remembering to swap it over.
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