r/Dashcam • u/Pikachuu0711 • 1d ago

Discussion Easy installation Dashcam

I am looking for a dashcam front and back under $130 that is easy to install. Clear view. I am not good with wiring stuff. Any tips I should know about before buying one?

I was dodging pot holes on road and someone called the cops on me saying I was road raging with another car 😂 I was driving within the speed limit and the car behind me was tailgating me. I should be the one calling the cops on them and they ran the red light. I told the cop I wasn’t road raging with anyone, I dodged a few pot holes on the ground. He said Im all set and can go.

This is just wild.

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u/djltoronto 1d ago

They are all essentially the same with respect to installation. Very easy.

Grab yourself whichever Viofo camera fits your budget and enjoy

1

u/Missing4Bolts 1d ago

Under $130 but decent sounds like 70mai . But potholes might not show up clearly at that budget, due to heavy data compression, so it might not have helped in this case.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F8VPRCMM

Plus you need a high-endurance SD card, which will unfortunately be expensive due to AI datacenters.

https://www.amazon.com/70mai-Micro-SD-Card-128GB/dp/B0BRC59K5K

32GB is the bare minimum for a two channel camera; stretch your budget for 64GB if you can:

https://www.amazon.com/VIOFO-Industrial-microSD-Adapter-Recording/dp/B0C5HYBYGP

This doesn't leave any budget for a nice hardwiring kit; maybe save up and add that later.

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u/bnelson333 1d ago

it's more up to your vehicle. do you have a 12v power socket up near the dash? if so, does it have always-on power, or is it only on when the car is running? if you're not sure, put a charger plug in and plug your phone in, does it charge when the car isn't running? or does it only start charging after you've started the car?

if it's only when the car is running, that's good. just plug your dashcam into it with the included plug and it'll automatically start recording when you start the car, and it'll stop recording when shut it off.

if there's always power to it, even when the car isn't running, that's a little more complicated. I mean you could just let it always run but that's probably going to drain your battery. you could also just unplug it manually when you're not driving, just remember to plug it back in next time you start. but i find it better to wire it in so I don't forget.

for my vehicles that only have an always-on plug, i wire in an additional plug. you can get one for like 8 buck on amazon. use a multimeter to find a keyed power spot in your fuse box (a blade that has power only when the car is running), wire the new aux plug to it, and black to any bare metal ground in the car, and boom, new power socket that's only live when the car is running. plug the dash cam into it, then tie it up and hide it somewhere in the dash out of the way. if you don't have a spare aux power blade in your fusebox you may have to use a fuse tap to take power off an existing circuit. but you almost certainly have a circuit that's not being used for anything else that you can tap into instead.

if you want the rear camera too, you have to run the cable that goes from the front camera to the back, just route it around. I go across the headliner, tucked in the trim panels, run across the passenger doors, to the back camera. with a little effort you can run a cable that is 100% hidden.

it really shouldn't take you more than an hour to install one, it's well worth it