the other day my dad mentioned he likes the idea of a camera inside his car.
his work means he does a lot of driving, he has been hit by other cars a couple of times in the past (two of his cars have been written off)

i know you can get dash cams that just sit on the dashboard and record to an SD card. one of these would probably be fine. i'd like one at the rear too because he has been hit from the rear in the past.
ideally i'd like the two cameras to be linked to each other but if they both have to be stand alone then so be it.

if i had it my way...
i like to over engineer things.
i'd get a mini 4CH DVR and hide it in the car along with a camera looking out the front window, back window and one looking at head level of the driver or something
along with a microphone and a mobile internet connection with GPS incase it gets stolen or whatever. but it is just a car... it doesn't need to be complicated.

budget is not really a problem, i'd like it to be cheap but still good quality gear so quality=/=price
i'll hard wire a 12v power feed into a spare cct from the car battery. i can wire it to 24/7 power, or the power so its only live when the ignition is in. i'd like it to record 24/7 so that if someone breaks in or damages the car whilst its parked they'll be on camera.
this means i need either cameras with really low power consumption so they don't drain the battery when the engine isn't running, or a camera with built in backup battery that can last a good few days.

thanks in advance...

Or power the cameras and recorder off a separate car battery (deep-cycle type preferred), and keep it charged using a battery isolator (usually available from RV/camper shops) - that way the video system never drains your primary car battery.

hrm. that is a lot of extra cost and hassle though. i could just build a circuit to cut the power if the main battery gets below a certain percentage of charge.

Not really viable - actual CCA (cold cranking amps) required may vary with weather, temps, etc. Battery voltage alone won't give a good indication.

You could simplify the concept with a small gel-cell battery and a charging circuit for it, then just run the system off that... really, a small RV or motorcycle battery shouldn't be THAT expensive.

there is the problem of where to put it though, the only place i can think of is in the boot, but then i have to run wires all the way to the front.

You have to run wires to the front anyway, if you want to put a camera in the back... and where will the DVR go? Guessing the boot would be the best place for that too...

You don't need a huge wire for the secondary battery anyway - just a positive lead sufficient for charging current and running the DVR/cameras (16 gauge at most, I would think). Everything gets grounded to the car chassis.

I'd look toward the systems that motor bike riders and track day drivers use. Something like a VIO POV or even a couple of GoPro cameras. If the point is to have video "just in case", then you don't need a long recording history. Ideally you'd get a system that comes on when the car is on and records in a continuous loop of a few hours.

Not sure how a hard drive would survive hitting bumps all day.

That's why you'd either use a laptop hard drive, or ideally an SSD.


Except...


If it was me... I'd use a small mobile DVR (okay, IDEALLY I'd use a Vigil MVR model, but that's getting a bit spendy) mounted in the trunk (boot) along with a small-ish battery, probably something like a motorcycle battery. A battery isolator goes at the front, and a 16-14 AWG wire goes from there to the rear battery - this is standard practice for high-drain mobile equipment, so that the alternator powers the gear and keeps the battery charged while running, and the battery powers the gear when it's not, all while keeping the gear completely separate from the starter battery (remember that the battery's original purpose was simply to crank the starter!).

All my cameras would tie into that, and then the output would feed into an in-dash DVD/Nav system.

I've always wanted to embed a small board camera in the outer end of my passenger mirror to be able to better see around the jerk in front of me so I'd have one there, plus one in the back for a backup camera (that could, of course, double as an "event" camera). Then you get the dash camera, and for security, a pinhole cam with a fisheye lens in or around the dome light to capture the entire interior.

As for the type of battery, keep in mind that you want something that will keep the system powered even if you don't go anywhere for a few days, so over-spec'ing the capacity doesn't hurt. Normally the most my work van will sit is over the weekend, but there are times that I work from home and it may not move all week (for a total of *nine* idle days). A deep-cycle battery is preferred for this, as they're designed to support extended, steady drain, rather than supplying large "bursts" of cranking current.

if i had it my way thats what we'd do.
BUT
i have no experience with cars so i'd probably mess it up which means i'd have to get a specialist to run the wires £££
and then all the equipment £££
there will be no monitor in the car as there isn't really a need for one versus the cost and hassle of one.

my dad is not like me. he wants something simple that works and doesn't cost too much

this means we just need two cameras, one will be mounted to the dash looking out the windscreen, one will be mounted on the roof at the back looking out of the rear window.

thanks

Same concept applies, though - if your cameras and recorder together draw even 2A, that's 48Ah that they're going to use up running for 24 hours straight. Leave it over the weekend, you're pushing well over 100+Ah (Friday afternoon to Monday morning). That's a substantial drain on any car's battery, and thus why you'd want to consider a separate battery for it.

yeah, you're right.
there must be some that use only a couple of MA though, surely?

i'll probably have them record when driving only with a 1 hour timer after engine off or something.

so back to the original post..
any suggestions for all in one cameras or a cheap 12V, 4CH dvr that records to a SD/SDHC card?

Not exactly cheap, but this looks pretty cool.

I ran across this: Everfocus EMV200 2 Channel Ultra Compact Mobile DVR with Built-In GPS, SD Card

Can't post a link due to rules, but I'm sure you can search it out if the sponsors here don't carry it. I found it for $442. The site I found it at had a PDF with specs, it said it runs off 8v to 36v, but didn't mention it's power consumption. The PDF spec sheet showed 2 mini cameras, one looked like it had a visor mount and the other a mount typical for a rear deck. It wasn't clear whether or not they are included in the price.

Why not post a link to the manufacturer?

http://www.everfocus.com/product.cfm?productid=1639

When I worked on an ambulance, we had cameras that were always recording but would be on a loop and would only save it if it was set off.

What I mean is, On the way to a call, a sharp turn, brake etc.. would cause the system to activate. Meaning, it keeps the recording 15 seconds before the event, and 15 seconds after. Aside from that it wouldn't save anything. It deleted it all. And, it was connected to the
car and shut off at night. Perhaps its a cost issue, i dont know.
But heres a link to a video of that kind of thing.
I think its called drive cam... and its about $500....

Of course I have no connection to them.

Check this one out, this guy backs into her! ad then claims its her fault. lol the drivecam shows its not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmVc_zAC ... re=related
lol, here again and once again not her fault.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTwmldux ... re=related

and, the kind we had when I worked on ambulance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5KBci0G ... re=related