DVR cams now make sense?

So my car has been hit 3 times while parked (don't ever buy silver car they are invisible). My insurance deductible is $500 a pop. The insurance company said if I had a video of it they would have waved the deductible.

I have a 4-camera dvr I got off woot for $150 that I was going to put on the house but never did. It runs off 12v DC! The cameras are infrared/waterproof. They are kinda large and unsightly. I was staring at the ass of my car wondering where I was going to place these things, then it hit me. The rear fogs! I could completely conceal these things inside the housing, all I would need to do is replace the red with clear plastic or find some aftermarket fogs that would work. The front of the car is easy as I could mount these cameras in the grills, or the front fogs.

Next to consider is the power drain. A standard sata hd will take considerable power constantly running, so a small and slow/cheap solid state would do nicely. Plus it's best not to have moving parts while hitting bumps, etc. I have a 20 watt solar panel that I was considering canabolizing and mounting to the convertible top decklid. I'd want to do a nice plush job with that too as to not have unsightly wires and such. I was considering mounting the solar panel anyway with the amount of electronics I run in the car. This panel charges a full car battery on a cloudy day easily, and will have no problems keeping a dvr happy.

The dvr housing is small and slim, and fits nicely in between the spare tire and the cover next to my amp. I have all the wiring I need right there. My 16x9 MKV NAV unit has aftermarket composite video input for the dvr video out. That is tested and works nicely. It can also serve as a driving/blindspot/parking aid.

This project almost seems too good to be true. Not sure if I have the time to tinker around with it, but it wouldn't be much, if anything out of pocket to try it. I used to think it ridiculous, but insurance deductibles and lower monthly rates justify it pretty easily.

Power drain just to run the cameras is excessive for your battery, and the sun doesn't shine enough (someone tell Obama).
Best to just bite the bullet and get a dash cam deal from eBay or whatever. Very cheap all the way to mid priced reliable units.
I just bought a forward facing unit that is completely automatic. Sleeps when car is parked, contains GPS, records in HD, activates when bumped, moving, or detects motion.
Got it for $179 delivered from South Korea. Like the size of a pack of cigarettes and windshield mounts.
They make front and rear facing units too. And all other varieties.

https://www.y--t---.com/watch?v=LihOpDmQZgc
You know what letters to fill in.

Would it be possible to use it's own dedicated power source that is recharged when the car is operating and/or the solar cells?

Sure, but you're getting into relatively sophisticated circuit design, and why the drastic motivation? You're never going to duplicate what the asians design for really cheap.
I'll answer your electronic questions, but know that I know how to do this and I wouldn't do it.

Originally Posted by hacksawmark

Would it be possible to use it's own dedicated power source that is recharged when the car is operating and/or the solar cells?

That's actually not a bad idea. A motorcycle battery connected to the solar charger would probably work fairly well.

Get the Blackvue dr400g-hd. I have that in my car that runs whenever I'm driving. You can get like 10-11 hours at 720p on a 32gb card.

I'm going to paint mines black btw.

Originally Posted by WDE46

That's actually not a bad idea. A motorcycle battery connected to the solar charger would probably work fairly well.

How are you going to prevent overcharging?

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Get the Blackvue dr400g-hd. I have that in my car that runs whenever I'm driving. You can get like 10-11 hours at 720p on a 32gb card.

Read the reviews on Amazon. Lots of fails due to overheating burnout.
That's why it's not the one I bought.

Does the Blackvue monitor things when your car is parked and turn on automatically?

Where do you take your power from? Overhead or cigarette lighter?

Originally Posted by Stinger9

Power drain just to run the cameras is excessive for your battery, and the sun doesn't shine enough (someone tell Obama).
Best to just bite the bullet and get a dash cam deal from eBay or whatever. Very cheap all the way to mid priced reliable units.
I just bought a forward facing unit that is completely automatic. Sleeps when car is parked, contains GPS, records in HD, activates when bumped, moving, or detects motion.
Got it for $179 delivered from South Korea. Like the size of a pack of cigarettes and windshield mounts.
They make front and rear facing units too. And all other varieties.

https://www.y--t---.com/watch?v=LihOpDmQZgc
You know what letters to fill in.

What's the name of the camera you bought

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Bimmer App

Originally Posted by Stinger9

Read the reviews on Amazon. Lots of fails due to overheating burnout.
That's why it's not the one I bought.

Does the Blackvue monitor things when your car is parked and turn on automatically?

Where do you take your power from? Overhead or cigarette lighter?

I have zero heat issues even on super hot days in the summer time. I have it hardwired to the sunroof motor wiring up above just like a radar detector. I don't use parking mode.

Originally Posted by Solidjake

I have zero heat issues even on super hot days in the summer time. I have it hardwired to the sunroof motor wiring up above just like a radar detector. I don't use parking mode.

Interestng. Thanks for the info.
So when you give up parking protection because you are wired to a switched power source, that's one of the reasons I've sprung for the camera. This very post would have caught the offender with a parking cam.

Originally Posted by warriorpluto

What's the name of the camera you bought

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ITRONICS-iPa...10f3d2&vxp=mtr

One month ago was selling for $179 free shipping
Don't know what happened to price.

itronics IBT-100HD

I tried to attach the pdf manual, but 15.8mb too large for here.
Could email it if you were serious.

Have you researched many of the available cameras? I would like something as inconspicuous as possible, so this one fits the bill:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HD-720P-Smal...-/251057417913

But I'm obviously pretty concerned over the cheap price, and lack of any sample output footage. I guess my biggest concern is the quality of video that these produce.

Originally Posted by Stinger9

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ITRONICS-iPa...10f3d2&vxp=mtr

One month ago was selling for $179 free shipping
Don't know what happened to price.

itronics IBT-100HD

I tried to attach the pdf manual, but 15.8mb too large for here.
Could email it if you were serious.

i have one...$40 i hardwired it.


more info and pics:http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showt...=382384&page=9

Originally Posted by Lobstrosity

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HD-720P-Smal...-/251057417913

But I'm obviously pretty concerned over the cheap price, and lack of any sample output footage. I guess my biggest concern is the quality of video that these produce.

Usually even the cheapies do a decent job on the HD. The cheap price results from a lower quality unit with perhaps less reliability.
I've tried out the iTRONICS unit I bought and the picture is totally sharp and OK.
It comes with PC software (no mac) to display the movie with GPS locator maps that follow the pictures. Or you can just put the memory card in a computer and play the movie files without the software.

I've watched youtube reviews for cheapie thumbnail movie cameras that shoot 720p HD and the pictures are amazing. Apparently the cheapest cameras are capable of startlingly clear movies. The low cost shows in other places like construction quality.

Originally Posted by Solidjake

Get the Blackvue dr400g-hd. I have that in my car that runs whenever I'm driving. You can get like 10-11 hours at 720p on a 32gb card.

I'm going to paint mines black btw.

Looks pretty sweet! I am thinking of running something similar, but a cheaper dash cam. Figure it would be kind of cool to document some of the longer drives this coming spring and summer.

You got both the valentine 1 and the dash cam hooked into the same area for power, right?

Thanks. My V1 wiring is not up there, it's in my center console because I have to run wires for the concealed display, remote audio adapter and the v1 connection.