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

[UBUYGAS]

Where did you get the power for the rear one?

Is it on 24 hours a day or only when the Leaf is on?

[RePo]

I already have a subwoofer amp back there, and had previously run an accessory power lead from the fuse block to turn on the amp. So, I used that same power lead and installed a "cigarette lighter" power port in the rear to plug in the power cord that came with the camera. Then just routed that behind the panels and into the tailgate.

I left my drill at work, so temporarily ran the wire out of the shock tower access hole, until I can come back and hide that wire through a 1/4" hole. All the connections are under the floor mat.

And, yes, the camera powers on with the accessory, and off when parked. Same as the amplifier,

[UBUYGAS]

Thanks. I have a distribution block in the trunk that comes from the 12V battery also. So I can do it that way too.

The only difference for me is I want the ability to keep the cameras on while parking on the street in NYC. So I'm going to run a separate line from the battery with a kill switch in the CD holder under the center arm rest.

Then I can get video if people bashing into me while they attempt to parallel park. On the 3rd day I owned the LEAF some a-hole put a dime sized gouge in my back bumper. I filled it in with paint but it's still noticeable.

[braebyrn]

The only difference for me is I want the ability to keep the cameras on while parking on the street in NYC. So I'm going to run a separate line from the battery with a kill switch in the CD holder under the center arm rest.

Then I can get video if people bashing into me while they attempt to parallel park. On the 3rd day I owned the LEAF some a-hole put a dime sized gouge in my back bumper. I filled it in with paint but it's still noticeable.

So what your saying is that if you have a video with a license plate of someone bashing into your car and leaving damage, you can get them to pay for it? Hit and run if they damage and leave?

[UBUYGAS]

Yes. I call my insurance company and a cop and make a claim.

[shortcircuit]

Thanks to the OP, I bought one of these dashcam and installed it behind the mirror. It works great! I ran an extra long cable along the headliner, down the A-pillar, across the dash, under the steering console, and into the cigarette lighter (using USB adapter). The only place you can see the wire is along the dash, but only if you are looking.

Shameless plug: The Mini 0801 did not come with Mac OS X compatible player software, so I wrote my own (I develop software in my "day job"). It's called Dashcam Viewer (http://earthshinesw.com/mac-dashcam-viewer/).

Here are a couple of movies showing Dashcam Viewer in action with this camera:

Basic capabilities:


Latest features:

[lion]

I've been extremely happy with my BlackVue DR400G HD in my SUV (several years old now). There's also a BlackVue accessory which can keep the cam powered up until your main 12V battery's voltage drops too low, I'm sure this would work with other cams as well (I have it, but don't have it installed yet).

This is what I have in the LEAF now, couldn't go wrong for that kind of money:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120-720P-Car-Da ... 0862447713" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The rear view cam fails randomly, probably a bad internal connection, but the front cam is 'ok' quality/feature wise.

I'm thinking about getting 2 new HD cams (so 2 separate systems) for the LEAF, since even BlackVue's latest 2 cam system seems to be a crapshoot (bitrate is too low).

[UBUYGAS]

Thanks John for posting these Videos and Links to your software, I have a mac as well and I will check it out!

Couple Questions:

Does the software allow easy cropping of the 1 minute segments?

Or does it have the ability to scale down the file to a lower rez?

I needed to clip out a 25 second segment a couple weeks ago and it was a royal pain.

Thanks to the OP, I bought one of these dashcam and installed it behind the mirror. It works great! I ran an extra long cable along the headliner, down the A-pillar, across the dash, under the steering console, and into the cigarette lighter (using USB adapter). The only place you can see the wire is along the dash, but only if you are looking.

Shameless plug: The Mini 0801 did not come with Mac OS X compatible player software, so I wrote my own (I develop software in my "day job"). It's called Dashcam Viewer (http://earthshinesw.com/mac-dashcam-viewer/).

Here are a couple of movies showing Dashcam Viewer in action with this camera:

Basic capabilities:


Latest features:

[shortcircuit]

Thanks John for posting these Videos and Links to your software, I have a mac as well and I will check it out!

Couple Questions:

Does the software allow easy cropping of the 1 minute segments?

Or does it have the ability to scale down the file to a lower rez?

I needed to clip out a 25 second segment a couple weeks ago and it was a royal pain.

Lasareath, the software will help you isolate which 1-min clip the event occurred on but it does not do video editing. For editing like you described the best results will be with a dedicated editor, such as Quicktime Player (Pro).

John

[GlennD]

For those of you powering the camera full time I measured the current drain through the 5V cigarette plug. My unit draws around .06A (60MA) with the display timed off and about .18A (180MA) with the display active. This means that it is unlikely to drain the 12V battery even if left on parked for several days.