Front and rear dash cam in CLK cabriolet with pics

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Blobsta

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Location
Maidstone, Kent
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S202 C43 Wagon
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!
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Rear camera:
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Front View:
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Rear view:
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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.
 
I can confirm that it is NOT worth having a rear camera (in this location). It only shows the top of the windscreen of the car following you or its out of shot. I may investigate other options but for the moment, I will put this down as "nothing ventured... nothing gained".
 
I can confirm that it is NOT worth having a rear camera (in this location). It only shows the top of the windscreen of the car following you or its out of shot. I may investigate other options but for the moment, I will put this down as "nothing ventured... nothing gained".
I’m glad you said that. I just ordered the same BlackVue DR750S but as 1-channel. I just assumed the view out of the back (soft top) would be poor if mounted to the rear bulk head and it could cause problems with the hood if mounted to the rear screen.

However having read your first post I was starting to think I may have dropped a clanger, but your second post makes me think I did the right thing. The rear view out my car is very limited, and so could be even more restricted than your example shot.

I opted for the OBD adapter with built in voltage protection for parking mode. Let’s see if it’s any good or not, hopefully it is.
 
I think I have seen a (Nextbase) front mounted camera that also has a rear facing lens.
 
I have just fitted a Nextbase 522GW. The rear cam options are 1. a plug in second rear facing lens 2. a wired rear window lens. I chose the latter and used a hard wire kit. The results are very impressive I have to say, the 522GW is very advanced as dash cams go but will no doubt be a dinosaur next week. I can't be doing with wires and stuff trailing about so i hard wired.
 
I think I have seen a (Nextbase) front mounted camera that also has a rear facing lens.
Yes I’ve seen those. Unfortunately it wouldn’t see much of outside from inside my car (very limited rearward vision). I think it would mostly show the headrests and inside of the hood!
 
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looks like a good option to install on the convertible soft top cover. Wiring will need to be routed carefully.
 
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looks like a good option to install on the convertible soft top cover. Wiring will need to be routed carefully.
Interesting, the suction mount could work in my car as I had a glass wind deflector which the rear camera could be mounted to. That said, vision would still be very limited.
 
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That is NASTY! I hate the look of that, it's a really amateurish job from a supposed specialist.

I have revisited this issue now and have a reasonable outcome for the CLK I think. I've mounted the camera to the headrest on the nearside. I did it with the headrest at full height so that it could deploy or be pulled up by a passenger without an issue on the cable as there is plenty of space behind the lower plastic trim to tuck a bit of extra cable there. I am aware of the fact that if the car deploys the rollover protection a broken camera will be very low on the list of priorities (not that we'd want to miss the footage :). )

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Personally I think this is an agreeable solution and after all, I have bought the camera so I may as well make use of it. I've made a video to show what you will actually get if you go down this route which may help you to decide if you want to or not. Please forgive the fact that I literally threw it together in about 4 minutes so it's not a polished production. YouTube seems to crush the quality a bit but the point of this is to show field of view rather than the quality of the camera - you get the idea.

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Would a number plate mounted rear cam be a better (viewing) option?
I doubt I could live with the aesthetics of that. Also I'm currently struggling to get my reverse camera mounted. It was easy on the coupé I had years ago but this one is not coming apart in the same way. Really annoying as I have the head unit that is capable, CanBus reverse signal pickup and the wiring into the bottled in prep. If it ever stops raining I'll have a proper go at dismantling the boot lid and see if I can get it in there. If I can't make it look factory, I won't do it.
 
That is interesting, they weren't available when I did it on my last one (but that was 5 years ago) so I bought another numberplate lamp type and cut it down like this. I'll order one as per your suggestion though, thanks.
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That appears to be just a reverse camera to aid in parking, oppose to a rear facing dash cam or am I missing something :dk:
 
That appears to be just a reverse camera to aid in parking, oppose to a rear facing dash cam or am I missing something :dk:
You are correct. The bit you are missing is post #11:dk:
 

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