Bought an HD Dash Cam for my LEAF - Check it out here...

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I used this converter and a 0803 dash cam and it worked great. Install took me about 20 min and I was working really slowly. Those wires on that converter are very small gauge so I ended up having to use a soldering iron and solder to attach to the rear view mirror leads. I was hoping to use some scotchlok taps but that wasn't working with these little wires.

Does anyone know if there is any 12v that I can tap into on the rear hatch if I wanted to put one of these on the rear? I've got a 2011 SL.



asimba2 said:
ybitz said:
asimba2 said:
The rearview mirror has power for the auto-dimming feature, so the easiest route was to tap the mirror with a small 12V to 5V micro usb transformer I bought on amazon shown here:
20141002_174441.jpg

Can you provide the Amazon link to the 12v-5v converter model? And it was straight forward pulling the existing power cable out of the rear view mirror and splicing this onto it?

Here is the link for the one I bought. ------>LINK

Wiring was very easy. My non-homelink mirror only had two wires; a black wire with a red stripe closest to the passenger side of the car and a black wire closer to the driver's side. The black-red is positive and the black is ground. I simply removed about 1/8" of insulation from both wires, wrapped the + and - from the transformer around each respective wire, soldered and taped. Done. The transformer gets power in "on" and "ready to drive" mode, and not when off or in accessory mode, which is perfect.

Keep in mind the one I posted is for micro-usb devices, which is exactly what my dashcam is. There might be mini-usb models available as well.
 
Seems I've turned into a magnet for stupidity. This week alone... and I don't drive that much..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VtkQCvXuWA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not sure why the youtube embedd thing isn't working.
 
turbo2ltr said:
Seems I've turned into a magnet for stupidity. This week alone... and I don't drive that much..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VtkQCvXuWA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That guy that kept changing lanes into you...that happens to me in the Leaf all the time. In my 4Runner, not so much.
 
I bought another Dash-Cam for the rear window:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=121387416455" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
I have been debating getting a dash came for my cars as well based on the idiocy I see around here all the time, and figure it would do good to have evidence showing that I was in my lane doing the speed limit and such (on the ones that have the GPS functions + speed readout).. Is a difficult choice on what to buy though it seems. Seems pretty soon like in some of the Euro countries these are going to be almost a necessity.
 
I bought a NEW #DASHCAM

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00TM59NCK?me=&ref=olp_product_details" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Spy Tec K1S Dual Car Dash Camera + GPS Logger | Front and Rear 1080p Remote Lens Cameras | 140 Degree lenses | 64GB microSD capacity | Ambarella A7LA70

dashcam_k1s-1.jpg


dashcam_k1s-2.jpg


dashcam_k1s-3.jpg


dashcam_k1s-4.jpg
 
Reviews aren't bad for that cam, I've been watching it ever since Techmoan posted his review.

Still debating whether to replace my mini 0803 setup, since I keep catching weird/bad stuff on video, so I'd like more angles (the latest being a rollover happening right in front of me, almost taking me out).
 
If you're on the fence about a dash cam - there is another way. Use an old smartphone with a dash cam app. I do and, frankly, the results are great! Plus, when I'm at home I can "upload" the videos I want to keep to my network without leaving the car.

Smartphone Dash Cam

If you are already running LeafSpy, you can kill two birds with one stone with some creative wire routing (Maybe - I use a LeafDD).
 
Today I finally installed my New Spy Tech K1S Dual Camera Dash-Cam, one camera up front and one in the back. The DVR that comes with it is 3/4 the size of the cigarette pack.

I ran all the wires by hand, I did not need any tools, the smushed and smeared the cables under all the moldings at the edges the the windshield and door trim. On the back hatch there is flexible rubber tube that some wires for the rear brake light and rear windshield wiper fluid runs through and I ran the rear camera wire through that. Very nice and clean job that took around two hours.

The DVR has a little adhesive backed push button (looks like a door bell button) that you can hide away out of sight but not out of reach. When something happens that you want to capture. Like a Lamborghini driving by or a Hot chick you can click this button and the camera takes a one minute video snapshot and it saves that file in a folder that will not get overridden.

With a 64GB memory card I can store 24 hours of video. After the 24 hours the oldest file will be replaced. The DVR records in 1 minute files for two reasons, When it overwrites files it will do so in 1 minute increments and when you need to email somebody a file the file size is not too large because it's only a minute long.

Here is a Video review:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt7lhKSwWcI[/youtube]

http://www.spytecinc.com/k1s-1080p-dual-car-dash-camera.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
It's an interesting camera for sure, but I'm still on the fence for 2 reasons:

lack of pre-buffering in parking mode, and the fact that it's so new.

I'm thinking of getting this for my wife's SUV as she really wants some sort of backup camera for backing into the garage, and would like to replace my aging BlackVue.

Do you think the LCD is good enough for that?
 
Here is the little unit I installed about a year ago.

True HD, 32 Gb Card installed.

Can't even see it tucked behind the mirror.
Yes, pre-buffering would be nice, but it's installed and working. :shock:

Camera%202.jpg


Camera%201.jpg
 
Lasareath said:
Here's a 10 minute Video taken from the rear camera of me going to work, from Dunkin Donuts to Route 22 in Newark. At around 7 minutes you can see a #BMW that tries to pass me but cannot! LOL

Be careful recording and sharing that stuff. I live in Utah were we have no crime to speak of really so city cops here (except the Salt Lake Valley) are the world's most bored police force. If i did those moves and shared I've expected to be arrested at work and locked up. I get tickets for, get this, parking more than 12 inches from the curb. Two cars I had to move around made that hard to get closer to the crub and when they left I was a target for a donut filled bored city cop.

I got pulled over for a bumper that "didn't look right" on a 1979 truck. In the end I found a previous owner removed some plates from it. Costs me the ticket and $250 to replace it but in the end it was just the same dimensions. Got pulled over for "running a stop sign" in a parking lot, but there was no stop sign and he said that I took off very fast from the junction. I was in a 1971 VW camper bus with a 1600 engine, the vehicle can barely get out of it's OWN way never mind go fast. I so wanted him to give me a ticket so the Judge and I could laugh at it together once he saw the vehicle pictures. I think the cop just wanted to see if I had any weed in the bus, sorry mate, I'm too square for that stuff, get your weed some other place.

I got pulled over again when i flashed a car that had it's brights on. he never dropped his lights and the car flipped a U-turn and it was a cop car. Told me off for flashing a car because it was unsafe, admitted he had his brights on but he was cop and I should know my place. (I could barely see anything in front of me for his lights) You can imagine that I'm losing respect for law enforcement here in Utah. I come from England where our police force is highly respected and for good reason.
 
KillaWhat said:
Here is the little unit I installed about a year ago.

True HD, 32 Gb Card installed.

Can't even see it tucked behind the mirror.
Yes, pre-buffering would be nice, but it's installed and working. :shock:

You need to plug the USB cable into the other USB port, or the GPS receiver won't be powered (I have a 0803). It sucks for cable management purposes, but there's no point in paying for that GPS feature if you aren't going to use it ;)
 
lion said:
KillaWhat said:
Here is the little unit I installed about a year ago.

True HD, 32 Gb Card installed.

Can't even see it tucked behind the mirror.
Yes, pre-buffering would be nice, but it's installed and working. :shock:

You need to plug the USB cable into the other USB port, or the GPS receiver won't be powered (I have a 0803). It sucks for cable management purposes, but there's no point in paying for that GPS feature if you aren't going to use it ;)

Ill give that a try, Thanks
 
That's the one I installed when I started this Post at the end of 2013, I wanted one that recorded the rear window too.

A second unit just arrived in the mail, I'm going to install it on the sides of the LEAF, on those little skinny un-movable windows on the rear doors looking out to the sides of the LEAF.

This way I will have 4 recordings, all four sides of the LEAF. Should be pretty cool!, I just need to figure out where I will hide the DVR..

The last time I took apart the center console arm-rest I noticed there is around 4" of unused space below the armrest, I think I am going to cut out the bottom of the storage space in the armrest and utilize that unused space!

LEAF_ARMREST.jpg




KillaWhat said:
Here is the little unit I installed about a year ago.
True HD, 32 Gb Card installed.
Can't even see it tucked behind the mirror.
Yes, pre-buffering would be nice, but it's installed and working. :shock:
Camera%202.jpg

Camera%201.jpg
 
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