Blobsta
Active Member
I thought I'd post this up as I wanted to know how well a rear facing dash cam would work in a cabriolet and was struggling to find much info on it. I wasn't sure if it would work or not so I tried it. I'm still not sure if it is really any use but I've not had the opportunity to road test it yet, I'll upload a video link in the near future if anyone is interested.
In my other cars I have front and rear cameras, this is my first cabriolet and I really wanted to keep the functionality so I bought another Blackvue 2ch system and as it wasn't raining for 5 minutes today, I installed it. Being relatively au-fait with dismantling a CLK it took about an hour to work out and do. The only caveat to this is that the Power Magic Pro (google this at your own risk as it shares it's name with some ahem pleasure devices) has yet to arrive so I have the cable running to the 12v socket which is a pet hate of mine. It will be placed on a spare permanent live in the fuse box by the headlight switch and there are a couple there already. It's so easy to do.
The front camera is no different to any other dash cam really, mount it up high as you can out of the way and hide as much of the install as possible. I think I could have mounted the rear camera at the top of the rear window and routed the cable cleverly so as it retracted with the hood but of course it then redundant if we have a nice day. The only thing I could really do was mount it between the rear headrests on top of the Parktronic display. In the absence of some sort of periscope device, this is as good as I can get it. I did experiment by raising it up 2-3 inches but it made so little difference the aesthetic mess wasn't worth it.
Front camera (yes, I need to redo the tape on that!
Rear camera:
Front View:
Rear view:
Is it worth having a rear camera in a cabriolet? Like I say, not sure but I've bought it so I'll keep it now. If you're struggling with the same question, I hope this helps.
Video upload to follow.
Camera is a Blackvue DR750S-2CH if you want one and I would advocate buying it from the refurbished outlet on eBay to save quite a bit of money.
In my other cars I have front and rear cameras, this is my first cabriolet and I really wanted to keep the functionality so I bought another Blackvue 2ch system and as it wasn't raining for 5 minutes today, I installed it. Being relatively au-fait with dismantling a CLK it took about an hour to work out and do. The only caveat to this is that the Power Magic Pro (google this at your own risk as it shares it's name with some ahem pleasure devices) has yet to arrive so I have the cable running to the 12v socket which is a pet hate of mine. It will be placed on a spare permanent live in the fuse box by the headlight switch and there are a couple there already. It's so easy to do.
The front camera is no different to any other dash cam really, mount it up high as you can out of the way and hide as much of the install as possible. I think I could have mounted the rear camera at the top of the rear window and routed the cable cleverly so as it retracted with the hood but of course it then redundant if we have a nice day. The only thing I could really do was mount it between the rear headrests on top of the Parktronic display. In the absence of some sort of periscope device, this is as good as I can get it. I did experiment by raising it up 2-3 inches but it made so little difference the aesthetic mess wasn't worth it.
Front camera (yes, I need to redo the tape on that!
Rear camera:
Front View:
Rear view:
Is it worth having a rear camera in a cabriolet? Like I say, not sure but I've bought it so I'll keep it now. If you're struggling with the same question, I hope this helps.
Video upload to follow.
Camera is a Blackvue DR750S-2CH if you want one and I would advocate buying it from the refurbished outlet on eBay to save quite a bit of money.
. )
