Dashcam hardwire

[VL3X]

Welcome to the forum @somer82 - Thanks for the excellent first post!! Very helpful.

 

[KAR120C]

Does anyone know what power connectors are hidden under the rearview mirror mount trim? @kitkat had a nice trim removal page from the manual showing how to pull off the mirror mount trim. Once that's off, I'm curious if there are some easily accessible connectors for 12v.

I'd been planning to use a USB A 5v to 12V RJ11 converter to run my radar detector/camera from the rearview mirror port. I'm concerned now that the USB amps may not be enough when stepped up to run the combo. So, I'm considering just going back to the tried-and-true 12v mirror tap that I've used in several cars.

 

[Time2Fly]

Thanks for the writeup @Joel and @somer82.

For a two channel camera can it be mounted to the rear hatch glass at the top? How long of a four-conductor wire do you think is needed to go from the boot battery location to the windscreen?

I'm looking at installing a thinkware u3000 and battery so it's rear fuse box to the rear mounted battery pack, then four wire to the windscreen, and from there back to the rear camera. Just trying to plan things and this is definitely a stretch for me.

 

[somer82]

Thanks for the writeup @Joel and @somer82.

For a two channel camera can it be mounted to the rear hatch glass at the top? How long of a four-conductor wire do you think is needed to go from the boot battery location to the windscreen?

I'm looking at installing a thinkware u3000 and battery so it's rear fuse box to the rear mounted battery pack, then four wire to the windscreen, and from there back to the rear camera. Just trying to plan things and this is definitely a stretch for me.

I thought about intalling my rear camera on the glass of the rear hatch, but this is technically outside of the vehicle - this area gets wet when power washing, and is exposed to the heat of the engine bay.

So instead, I put my rear camera on the glass at the rear of the cabin (interior). Wiring wasn't too hard, just following the trim.

Regarding cabling from the LFP battery in the boot, I only needed about 2-2.5 metres - this cable routed power and ACC connection from the LFP battery to the rear fuse box. Then, I routed the cables from the windscreen dashcam to meet the cables at the rear fusebox. There I connected the wires from the LFP battery to the wires coming from the dascham, and one wire to an ACC fuse in the fuse box to let the LFP battery know whether the car was running or parked.

My LFP battery has a direct-to-battery connection option, so installing the battery in the boot was convenient. This may differ though depending on the battery you have got.

 

[somer82]

Sorry about the crappy diagram, but hope this helps.

 

[Time2Fly]

That helps quite a bit. Thank you!

 

[silent cilantro]

First up, trying to get the toeboard off to get to the fusebox. For some reason this proved very difficult in my car. Likewise, getting it back on also proved very difficult. Probably the hardest bit of trim I had to remove throughout the entire process, which is surprising since it's "user serviceable" right? Did others get theirs on/off easily?

Seems there's a lip it clips underneath on the bottom side which I think was causing me issues, as well as some ill fitted carpetry.

Once I'd got into the fusebox area, I realised my battery was never going to fit!

This was my experience as well. Very difficult to remove and even harder to reinstall. You have to push the panel down so it slides under that lip but the carpet gets in the way.

Also the top right (your top left corner) was hitting that aluminum rail. You could tell they notched the panel with a file but it wasn’t enough.

Maybe it has to do with the fact they are using sample parts for production 😂

 

[Drambeenie]

The manual makes it seem easier than it actually is (VOE).

The upper clip is captive (I think to keep the trim in place if the curtain airbag goes off).

The trim will pop out about an inch and then get held in place but the clip is in a slot in the trim from which you can pull it upwards and out with a trim tool or similar. You can then extract it from the A-pillar for re-fitting. The lower clip comes out fine.

I’ve had mine off several times in the never-ending saga of my windscreen replacement.
(I’ll bore you all with that story if and when it reaches a conclusion. I’m currently waiting for Autoglass to schedule a fourth attempt).

While they were off I filled the unused tweeter hole with some handily same-coloured foam.

View attachment 27937

Unrelated, but do none of the cars come with tweeters? Is this a mistake?

 

[silent cilantro]

Unrelated, but do none of the cars come with tweeters? Is this a mistake?

They do, they are just not in the A pillars. Those empty slots are for when the base audio system comes along.

`` From Lotus - "The standard base audio (128w) will become available at the start of 2023 production once we begin production of the base cars, this version of the audio system has tweeters located in the A-pillar, the KEF audio system does not use this location for the tweeters, they are located in the door as part of the Uni-Q speaker installation".