Thanks securityguy!

 

@cjban...PM me my friend with your mailing address details and I'll send you mine at no charge if you like.

 

Thanks for the offer, @securityguy! By the time I saw your reply, I had already placed an order in ebay - just cost me about $8 with shipping..

 

It’s actually very doable to remove the clip without breaking it, took me some time and practice, it’s hard to explain but you need a straight pick and it’s doable, they are honestly very hard to break, I had pulled and pulled and it wouldn’t budge, to properly break it you really need a heavy object that when you hit the spot will cause it to break, simply using your fist doesn’t work

 

It was $8... not a big deal and better to be prepared than not prepared.

 

Yea I had ordered them myself when I took the covers off but I ended up not needing them, luckily I had ordered with some other items so shipping was free and the clips themselves are cheap

 

How did you guys remove the hinge panel in the rear hatch?

 

Very carefully

 

there is a clip on the side you pop out, and then it comes off

 

Oh that little circle piece needed to be popped out. Thanks.

Btw when you guys say you ran the wire in the headliner, do you mean you guys ran it along the rubber weather stripping above the doors? Or actually above the head liner?

 

you will be surprised to find that the headliner is held up by a very strong velcro like material and some magnetic disks, you can actually pull down the headliner fairly easily with and little pulling, I fan mine by the hose that goes back to the rear window sprayer

 

So I got everything installed and working properly. Thanks for all the pictures in this thread, made the install super straight forward. I also have the blackvue b-124x setup as well. It tucks very nicely under the driver seat.

 

Hi all, apologies if I resurrected the wrong thread but figured it would be more tidy than creating a new one. I did my dash cam with a bit of a different setup from a wiring and product perspective. I installed a Vantrue N4, which is a 3 camera system: 1440p front, 1080p interior, and 1080p rear. I am submitting the parts of my install that are different from others in this thread.

The N4 came with a suction cup mount, and I replaced that with an adhesive based GPS mount. I mounted this directly below the rear view mirror and ran the wires up through the mirror housing after a bit of dremel work.



For the rear, I actually routed down below the carpet instead of in the headliner. I used some harbor freight fiberglass (I think?) wiring sticks. Starting from the access panel for the secondary fuel door release on the left side of the cargo area, I threaded one stick forward to the rear door and another upward to the hinge area:


For the wiring to the front unit, I removed the lower door jamb and weather stripping and ran it under the carpet--old school amp style--and up along the front weather stripping where it met up with the power cable, up the A pillar and across to the main unit in front.

I used some velcro ties for cable management through the hinge:



...and decided to route the wire through the cavity and used a grommet to locate the wire near the camera. The Vantrue rear camera is actually low profile enough to mount on the beveled edge of the hatch plastic instead of on the glass:



I had only about 10-12" of slack on the 20' rear camera cable with this routing, which I guess has its pros and cons, but I did find it to be doable.

Anyhow, just wanted to throw in another method. Stay safe all.

 

Hi all, I just got a ‘19 RDX yesterday and have been reading and researching 2-ch dash cam setup. I installed a front dash cam in my tsx so I would say I’m pretty comfortable with the front setup. If I could get some guidance on how to properly and safely wire the rear cam, it would be much appreciated! I’m hesitant to start this project since there isn’t a definitive answer to this. Thank you!!

 

Hi all.. getting ready to install my dashcam and had a question and a psa.

The question: one of diagrams above showed ‘accessory’ as the constant power and ‘option’ as the ignition on power, with a later post saying those are actually swapped and accessory is the ignition driven power. Logically I think accessory should be ignition driven only, but can anyone confirm which is which? My camera supposedly has a built in parking mode with power monitorer.. though I’m not certain I’ll use it yet.

For my PSA: those of you with a Blackvue who want to use a BlendMount instead of adhesive or suction, the model BBV-2031 (for Acura mirror 008) WILL work well on the RDX mirror stem. BlendMount’s site, and their customer service, will tell you that they don’t have a model for our cars but I just tested this model and it installs fine with no interference in my mirror position. Granted, they claim it “may not allow full adjustment”.. and it may not if you like your mirror angled hard to the very edge and prefer not to see what’s actually behind you.. but it doesn’t interfere at all for me. Couple pics to show.

 

Hi! just saw your post and looking forward on buying vantrue N4 too. just want to know where did you tap on the fuse?
and on the back mirror how did you dissamble the covers?

 

Hi! just saw your post and looking forward on buying vantrue N4 too. just want to know where did you tap on the fuse?
and on the back mirror how did you dissamble the covers?
and what do you call that rubber where the wire goes?

 

Sorry about the delay in replying. Rather than tap a fuse, I decided to just run a usb wire to the charging port in the center console. I used a right-angle cable that just runs off to the side and is very out of the way. This works for me because when I want to use parking mode, I just switch the plug to a USB power bank. At the time I wired this up, I was driving so infrequently that a voltage-sensing hardwire would not have been practical.

 

Okay, I need some education here. I have only had one dash cam and need a new one. I noted the comment about using a USB wire to the charging port in center console. I didn't know that there were dash cams that could get power from anything other than the cig lighter plug, the fuse tap method, or using an OBD connector. Any idea what cams have USB port connectivity, or do they all, and what power level is required for USB power, which I guess must be 'enough' since you have done it. Lastly, when you say you switch over to a "USB power bank"...what is that?
And, lastly, lastly...are there more than one cig lighter plug in the RDX? My last SUV had 3, one being all the way in the back by the rear hatch. So far I can only find the one under the 'floating dash'.

 

Regarding the power source, generally dash cams are looking for 5v. The kits that wire into the fuse or plug into the 12v cig outlet are, I believe, step-down transformers to bring the vehicle ~12v down to 5v. As long as the source is providing enough current at the right voltage, polarity, and stability, I reckon the dash cam doesn't know the difference on the physical format of the connection.

The USB power bank I referred to is the same device you'd buy to charge up your phone or tablet from Amazon, etc. Popular brands there are Anker and RAV Power. The one I use is rated at 30,000 mAh, if memory serves correctly. Anyhow, these provide 5v output, just like the USB charging ports in the car or the output of the dash cam hardwire kits. Good ones can provide enough current for dash cams.

As far as I know, there is only one cig lighter plug in the RDX, but when it comes down to it, it's just a receptacle for plugging something in. You should be able to add more sockets to the car--they sell them at auto parts stores and Amazon--provided you find a circuit that can handle whatever additional load you put on when you plug something into it.

Another option is to go with a dedicated dash cam parking mode power bank. The BI-750 would be my choice here. This is essentially a UPS that charges from the car to protect the car battery and provide power for parking mode. It's similar to the USB power bank, but more expensive because it uses cells that are designed to endure the extreme temperatures that can happen in a car parked outdoors. I am getting by with a generic USB one for now because I use parking mode only sparingly, and I only bring along the charger when I know I will be using it. The dedicated dash cam power banks are much more expensive; the BI-750 is over $300 and my power bank was around $30.

 

Got it. Thanks. Power bank...we call them power bricks...so all the same! Yes, I have seen the in-car power bank...we are/were looking at Blackvues and saw them as an accessory. Very pricey. It never occurred to me that a cam could run off a USB port. For whatever reason I though a cam would require more power. I suppose radar detectors might be the same. We are in the market for a cam (ton of choices) and a radar detector but are waiting on the Rodenso Theia, if it ever comes to market.

 

Lots of good info here. I have to re-read a bit slower and start looking at some of these cameras.

Thanks b

 

Hi, I just bought a BlackVue DR900X-2CH-PLUS Dual Lens 4K on Black Friday. My unit has a direct connection to the fuse box. Which fuse tap did you use in the picture? From the picture it looks like a the third fuse from the right. Is this the OPTION fuse listed in the manual or ACCESSORY? My dashcam has a parking mode which I want to leverage.

Thanks
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Whats wrong with tapping a fuse? This is the most straight forward way

 

I figured it out. Got the fuse tap and parking mode setup on my new dashcam. It took two hours but I took my time to make sure everything is nice and tight.
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Looks good. That is the same cam (front and rear and the battery pack) I got and it is a great one. I had a 'pro' put it in because ripping all those plastic bits out makes me nervous.

 

Thanks all for this great thread - great information for me to hard wire radar detector. The videos on how to remove the a pillar trim were so helpful and let me route the wire safely down the a pillar along existing wiring harness safely out of the way of the air bag.



Some slight variations I did - removed the small trim above the rear view mirror stem and was able to slide wire under headliner edge and under the lane watch assist housing into that space. Also was able to leave spare wire tucked into this space should I relocate the detector to the side of the mirror later (currently below RVM on a blendmount).

Using a volt meter I found an open fuse position that want not used (populated with a fuse) but switched power to use fuse tap to. Left the bottom spot of fuse tap unpopulated as to retain not passing power in the fuse box. Just be sure the fuse tap is oriented the right way as to pass power to the added (top) fuse of the fuse tap. This approach has been suggested on a radar detector forum and have used on past cars. Can see which position I used in pic.

 

I have to reinstall my Blackview 900 in my new 22 RDX. I did not take pictures of the power connections when I pulled it out of my 19 because I was pressed for time. The above pictures will help a lot when I get around to reinstalling the thing. Running the wires through the car is not an issue for me. When I got my 19, I ordered 10 of those orange clips, they were so cheap, and if they're the same in the 22 then I'm set. I just have to figure out the power connections.

When I do I will post here or in a new thread. Great work everyone

 

Brought my car in to a shop to get my Thinkware Q800 Pro 2CH dash cam hardwired and it seems to cause my power steering to stiffen up. I unplugged my dash cam and the steering goes back to normal. So, I brought it back to the shop to see if they tapped the incorrect fuse...but they can't figure out what is wrong. Anyone have an idea whats wrong here?

 

Thanks to all that took the time to post pictures, videos and tips to install a dash cam! it helped me immensely - Great thread.