Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

DIY Dashcam (BlackVue 550 fron&rear) - constant power source from dash

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
DIY for BlackVue 550 installation (front and rear camera).

Constant 12V power source from the dash:

First task is to make a connection to constant power supply (if you want the camera to be in constant operation also when parked). As has been mentioned on this forum the power can be tapped from the glove box fuse. (likely this is one of the rare functions that is always on; must be the reason to have a separate fuse for one single led).

It has been shown before on this forum that power can be tapped directly from this fuse. But this involves bringing a lead back into the salon thru the firewall. I figured that there should be an easier way to obtain the same result. Why not tap from the glove box itself.

To do this, open de glove box. Prise out the larger lining piece that holds the LED (not the light itself, but the whole frame). You now see this:

20131231_120256.jpg


The glove box light itself is not constantly powered of course (red/black wire). Its power supply is via a switch on the left hand side (red wire switched to the red/black wire for the light). From the switch I traced back the wires. On the left hand side just above the switch is a small bundle of wires that includes the red and red/black wires.

Remove some of the tape to get sufficient access to the red wire, like this:
(I actually removed some more tape on the right hand side to get access to sufficient length of red wire to be able to clip the non-solder connector on)

20131231_120245.jpg


I prepared a wire with a fuse as power line for the BlackVue. Few inches on one side, enough length on the other to make it to the right side of the car. This extra fuse is somewhat superfluous as the camera is only sharing the original fuse with the glove box led. I have not found a 2A fuse of this type yet (do they exist?). 2A would be nice (behind the 5A in the fuse box). The original power cable for the BlackVue also has a 2A fuse but I cut that one off to be able to lead the wire thru small holes.

Clip/join the wire with the red wire. I hate these clips but safer bet than soldering (too high risk of collateral damage in this location). I demolished the outer clip somewhat so I put some additional tape around it:

20131231_154001.jpg


I tied the fuse holder against the thick wire beam so that direct access to the fuse is obtained when the glove box light is removed. To me this was the best option for easy access, rather than removing the side panel of the dashboard (tight clips; possible damage) or having the fuse behind the mic frame in the roof lining (also easy access but easy to stain the roof lining).

20131231_153844.jpg


Now it is time to open up the right side of the dashboard. Unfortunately I did not make to many pictures at this stage of the process.
You need to:
Remove the cap on the side of the dashboard. It holds with 3 clips. These clips are used a lot in the car and are rather easy to release (without the feeling you are breaking something), however in this case, since there are 3 so close together, it did not feel very comfy prizing this piece out.

Remove the doorstep cover. Just start pulling upwards. Came out rather easy. By removing this piece you get access to a lot of wiring on the right side of the foot well.
Remove the little black plastic piece between the dash and the door (no clips)

Working from the access in the glove box you can now push/pull the power lead over the glove box to make it exit the dash on the right side. If your hands are small enough you can tie the wire to other wires/fixtures to prevent it from jittering.
Connect the negative ground wire to the frame of the car. This point is found on the right side of the foot well (the yellow ring is mine, the wire should have been black, but I only had red/black available):

20131231_153829.jpg


Lead the wire up to the side panel of the dash.
I decided to make the terminal for the power connection here (red and blue connector). Decent accessibility and still useful for possible future connection of other applications in the dashboard area.

20131231_153822.jpg


After connecting the power cable from the camera I tied it all up behind the dash frame:

20131231_171355.jpg


Wiring for the camera:

Remove the microphone frame in the roof lining
Remove the black cover around the rear mirror mount. This piece comes off in two halves. Gently pull them apart. Not a nice piece, feels like some clips might break off. So be careful.
Push the roof lining down a bit and feed the cables/connectors thru parallel to the other wiring. (the white piece in the pic is my gloved finger).

20131231_161426.jpg


20131231_161408.jpg


At this point I have to remark that I have a pano roof which makes live a lot easier to install the cables.
Again at this point not too many pictures.

From the hole in the roof lining, bring the cables backwards to come out on the pano roof side. You will notice that there is a lot of space between the roof lining and the pano roof. You can easily slide your fingers in between.
For this and many next steps I used a couple of tools. One is a nylon wire with a sping at the front end. This thing is regularly used to install wiring in the house (pull wires thru a tube). The second is an old car radio antenna (but any piece of somewhat flexible wire/metal would do the trick). I used both to get the wires from one side of a hurdle to another by pushing the tool thru from the opposite side, tape the wire to the tool and pull it back to feed the wire thru.
You can also use this to get the wires from the mic opening to the pano roof side.

Using your fingers put the cables under the roof lining toward the front right corner of the pano roof.
Now remove the rubber door sealing along the roof lining (if you had not done so yet in one of the earlier steps).
Loosen the A-style cover by prising out the plastic cover with ‘airbag’ on it and removing the bolt/screw. Pull the cover loose. But you do not need to remove it.
Open the pano roof for easier access

Slightly pull down the roof lining on the door side and push one of the tools thru in such a way that it comes out on the pano roof side. Tape the power cable to the tool and pull it thru. (note: ONLY the power cable as the cable for the back camera will be routed to the back of the car).

While doing this be carefull with the curtain airbags you will find along the side of the roof. Go between the roof and the airbag so that in any case the cable wil be at the non-expanding side of the airbag. (the end result should be that the power cable is not crossing the airbag at all)

With the power cable out on the side of the car, it should be easy to route it towards the A-style. Do this in such a way that when routed the cable completely stays inside of the curtain airbags. (sorry no pictures)
At the A-style you can join the exising cabling to bring the cable down towards the dash, ultimately bringing it to the side of the dash where the terminal was created.

20131231_164657.jpg


Cut the power cable to length, connect/solder some connectors to the wires and connect them to the power supply connectors. Tie the wires up behind the frame of the dash (see earlier picture).

Along the way, I did many sanity checks using a multimeter to verify the connections/power supply. (recommended).
At this point you can do a first functional test by plugging the power cable into the front cam. If the power supply is OK some lights will come on and the BlackVue will start to talk.
You can now refit all the panels. The rubber door sealing is a bitch. I still have not figured out how to get it 100% back in place.

I also had some trouble fitting the doorstep cover back in. Make sure it’s far front end slides beside the panel at the end of the foot well (not against it).

Now you are ready for the second stage: routing the back camera cable. (I took a break before doing this. I even waited for the following year…)


Routing rear camera cable

Following the right side of the pano roof, fit the cable between the roof lining and the roof.
At the cross bar use a tool to pull the cable thru to the other side

20140101_103408.jpg


Again follow the side of the pano roof
In the trunk, remove the parcel shelf mount panel. Undo the screw from the underside. Then pull it towards you. It is fitted with 4 clips.
(note that the wire is from the LED strip I installed to improve trunk lightning; so don't panic if you find out that you don't have that wire on this piece)


20140101_111245.jpg
20140101_111251.jpg


Subsequently remove the C-style cover. Just carefully pull it out. 3 clips on this piece.

20140101_111314.jpg


Using the tool again feed the cable thru from the corner of the pano roof to the c-style

20140101_111922.jpg


Open the trunk. Pull the rubber wire protector/seal (from car to trunk door) out on both sides
Feed the tool thru from the outside to the inside (c-style). This involves 2 holes that are not fully opposite to each other. You might have to guide the tool with your fingers from the inside.


20140101_112515.jpg
20140101_112547.jpg


Pull the cable thru.

You now get to the most challenging part of routing this cable: feeding it thru the rubber seal. As the connector for the camera is hooked, rather than straight (as it was in earlier sold versions), it is a rather large object to get thru. But... it can be done!
First feed the tool thru from the tail gate end. Tape the wire to the tool (some distance from the connector end of the cable). Really tape it well. Taping the connector to the tool would make the object too large to pull it thru and the tape is likely not to hold.
Now pull the tool back thru the seal. Do not just pull. Rather combine the pulling with some ‘massage’ on the seal. Pull and push the seal to help the tool/wire get thru. (this is 'massage practice' for the next step).

20140101_114520.jpg


Tape the connector to protect it and to make it somewhat smoother object (not to get stuck or cut into the seal or other wires). Then ‘pull’ the cable and connector thru the seal. Even more than the previous step be careful with the pulling. In the first stage you will have to push it more (from connector side) to help it get passed the tighter/stiffer car end of the seal. In the second stage you will have to massage it thru the flexible part of the seal. You can actually pull/stretch the seal over the connector in small steps. In the third and final stage you have to pull/push it thru the tighter tail gate end. In any case never pull too hard on the wire because the last thing you want is to break the wiring inside the cable.

20140101_121746.jpg


Done!
The time indication on the pictures files shows that I spend about half an hour on this step…

Now remove the top window edge cover (comes off very easily):

20140101_122138.jpg


And the right side window edge cover (3 clips, if they stay in, they are a pain to remove, you are likely to have to replace them; you can see one blue clip, that stayed in, in the picture).

20140101_123223.jpg


At this point I discovered that the original wire beam goes all the way to the bottom end of the tail gate. The wiring for the brake light comes back up again from there.
Although the cable is long enough to do the same with the cam cable, I did not fancy taking all these panels off. (not sure how they are fixed and did not want to break any more clips, etc.).
I tried a shortcut thru one of the holes used for the panel clips (see above picture). But this hole is too small to get the connector thru.

Subsequently I figured I could create my own shortcut here. So I drilled a hole to get the cable and connector thru. (I understand some might feel uncomfy drilling a hole in their 100k toy... :redface:)

20140101_125738.jpg


I taped the inside of the hole and the cable at that spot to prevent any cutting from the edge of the hole.

From here the rest is straight forward. Route the cable along the brake light wire to the center of the window. Then fit back all panels, seals, rubbers, etc.

With all cables in place the last step is to mount the camera’s. As this seemed trivial (BlackVue manual for reference if needed) I did not even make pictures of it.


Tips:
With the panel still off you can easily mark the center of the tail gate window (center feature in the metal frame; see above picture). Mark the center on the window before putting the cover panel back.

If you mount the rear cam close to the top of the window, it is not visible in the rear mirror.

HAVE FUN DOING IT YOURSELF!

will shoot some pictures of the end result and add to this DIY later
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: houstonian
Outstanding--great guide and good photos. Very timely as I ordered the same dual camera dash cam yesterday. I fortunately have continuous 12V power in the microphone compartment (older build) so no need for me to find 12V in the glove box.

Wish you had the courage to remove the bottom trim panel inside the trunk lid to see if you could have routed the cable all the way down without having to drill a hole. Note that to protect the sharp edges of the hole you could have gotten a rubber grommet.

Many thanks!
 
  • Like
Reactions: SunBreak
Outstanding--great guide and good photos. Very timely as I ordered the same dual camera dash cam yesterday. I fortunately have continuous 12V power in the microphone compartment (older build) so no need for me to find 12V in the glove box.

Wish you had the courage to remove the bottom trim panel inside the trunk lid to see if you could have routed the cable all the way down without having to drill a hole. Note that to protect the sharp edges of the hole you could have gotten a rubber grommet.

Many thanks!


100% sure you can remove the bottom trim panel and route the cabe up and down. Down via the hollow space inside the metal frame (like the main cable beam), up on the 'outside' covered by the trim panel.

But there is nothing 'wrong' or difficult in drilling a hole...

Rubber gromet would have been ideal, but you know how it works: almost there, last hurdle tackled, eager to finish the job. (so no time/motivation to go shopping again)

By the way, I forgot to mention that there still is a lot of excess cable (more than enough to go up and own the trunk lid). I kept this inside the car and tied it up under the roof lining near the C-style.
 
  • Like
Reactions: benaj
Looks great. I'm still thinking about buying a dashcam. I've never been into an accident, but what always scares me is people merging onto the highway with 50km/h while I'm doing 120km/h.

Anyway, so there is no continues 12v power supply in the rear of the car? For now I've only been thinking about a front mounted dashcam, that seems to be the easiest one.
 
What do you need the 12V power suppy in the rear for?
The BlackVue cable for the rear is signal cable with phantom power supply.
Or would you like to install a stand alone cam in the back?
Aha, I didn't know that about the cable.

But a rear power supply would save you routing the whole cable, simply install a stand alone cam.

I probably have to learn more about dashcams :)
 
Hi Widoh,

that cable is also nessecary for controlling the rear cam and storing data on the memory card in the front cam, so you DO need that cable from front to end. This makes both cams to be controllable and have them store images all in one place, easy-peasy!
 
100% sure you can remove the bottom trim panel and route the cabe up and down. Down via the hollow space inside the metal frame (like the main cable beam), up on the 'outside' covered by the trim panel.

But there is nothing 'wrong' or difficult in drilling a hole...

Rubber gromet would have been ideal, but you know how it works: almost there, last hurdle tackled, eager to finish the job. (so no time/motivation to go shopping again)

By the way, I forgot to mention that there still is a lot of excess cable (more than enough to go up and own the trunk lid). I kept this inside the car and tied it up under the roof lining near the C-style.

Guess it depends how hard it will be to remove the side trim panel (the one you had trouble with and breaking the blue clips), as well as the bottom one with the speaker grilles. FWIW, I went to my local hardware store today and bought a few grommets and also some plastic spackle/putty knives to use as pry/push tools to route the cable, plus some heat shrink tubing. Expect to tackle this next week when I have some free time. I will try to post any new/better photos and info (but doubt I can do better than you--thanks again).
 
Guess it depends how hard it will be to remove the side trim panel (the one you had trouble with and breaking the blue clips),

The surprising thing is that it came off without a lot of force. Also the blue clips did not really break. They managed to slip out on the panel side and thus stay in the hole in the metal frame. Once you try to remove them from there it seems impossible not to demage them.
This type of clips is widely used in car manufacturing. Encountered similar behaviour with my VW's (clip staying in the hole). However they were always easy to remove afterwards.
The blue clips are made of a rather hard, brittle type of plastic. So it might be wise to score a few next time around at a service center.
It is also likely that clips from other brandmarks will do the job as alternative (have not tested that yet).

The lower panel did feel like it needed a lot of force to remove (after a few clips at the higher end did release), that's why I decided to leave it alone.
 
The surprising thing is that it came off without a lot of force. Also the blue clips did not really break. They managed to slip out on the panel side and thus stay in the hole in the metal frame. Once you try to remove them from there it seems impossible not to demage them.
This type of clips is widely used in car manufacturing. Encountered similar behaviour with my VW's (clip staying in the hole). However they were always easy to remove afterwards.
The blue clips are made of a rather hard, brittle type of plastic. So it might be wise to score a few next time around at a service center.
It is also likely that clips from other brandmarks will do the job as alternative (have not tested that yet).

The lower panel did feel like it needed a lot of force to remove (after a few clips at the higher end did release), that's why I decided to leave it alone.

Makes sense--yes, maybe I get a few blue clips in advance if I dare to pull the other panels. Odd, as the panel at the top edge of the window seems to pull out easily and has these clips.

News later....
 
When I was installing my 9500ci, I spent a long time trying to pry off the glovebox panel around the light, since that was a potential location for the GPS antenna, and a potential live tap. Anyway, I never did manage to get it off, so some more suggestions around that would be helpful. I also agree the plastic around the rear view mirror mount is horrible, I may have broken one of my tabs before thinking better of it and leaving it in place. All the big panels pop off really easy though, but make sure you use a proper pry tool, makes things a lot less scary.
 
Just finished my own install of the same Blackvue dual camera dash cam that LastNLSig has so clearly portrayed above. I thought I would share some of my own observations after the install (warning--long).

First, many, many thanks to LastNLSig for his detailed and excellent instructions and photos. I would not have tackled this on my own without this wealth of information.
Second, be sure to allow lots of time to do the install. You need to take it slow and steady, anticipate problems and delays, be sure to check and recheck your cables, connections, power wiring, etc. It took me 3 hours of work by myself.

I had the benefit of an older Model S build which has the small connector above the speaker grille in the headliner with continuous 12V power, so I did not need to do the glove box access for power.

Knowing some of the issues noted by the OP, in addition to the array of tools and supplies I have around (soldering iron, drills, tape, coat hangers, tape, shrink tubing, and the like), I went out and bought some rubber grommets to be able to protect the hole I assumed I would have to drill to run the rear camera cable. Also, I bought a set of plastic putty/spackle knives to be used as spudgers/pry tools to get under the headliner and other gaskets and trim when pulling cables.

Before I began, I connected up everything and plugged it into the 12V outlet. The camera does an initial SD card format, then boots up. I made sure that everything worked, including the WiFi and my iPhone app. Next, I powered down the camera, popped out the micro SD card, and did a firmware update (latest firmware released in the last few days). I also updated my iPhone Blackvue app (also just released). I popped the SD card back into the camera, booted it back up, waited for the firmware update to finish, and rechecked everything yet again.

I started in the rear with the tough job of running the rear camera cable. I pulled the right rear parcel shelf trim-note that the single screw on the underside is a Torx and not a Philips. With the screw out, this panel pulled out easily, followed by the passenger side C pillar trim. Note that when reinstalling these trim pieces, they tuck under the rubber gaskets, so be sure to tuck the proper edge of these trim pieces under the gaskets before trying to tap/snap these back into place.

I then pulled/removed the trim along the top edge of the rear hatch/trunk window, where the cable was to be run and the camera installed.

I then addressed the right hand trim on the window frame, the one with the 3 blue clips that seem to break (as noted by the OP). What I discovered is that these clips slide into slots on the trim piece, and, as you pull outwards to remove the trim from the clips, you need to simultaneously pull/slide the piece down towards the bottom of the window (towards the trim piece with the speaker grilles). With luck, the blue clips will actually stay in the metal frame/body work, and the trim piece will come out without breaking the clips. I then used a small screwdriver to pry out the 3 clips which I could then slide back into the slots on the trim piece, so that I could snap the piece back into place when I was done running the cable.

I then pulled the 2 ends of the rubber sleeve/boot that contained the cables out of their holes in the body work (as in the OP's info/photos).

To fish the cable, I chose to use (where possible) a long strong plastic zip tie/tie wrap. This is flexible and non-conductive, and being plastic and not metal, I could worry less about scratching or breaking something or doing other hidden or not so hidden damage. I initially fished the rear camera cable from the C pillar back to the opening for the cable boot. I then tried to use a zip tie to push through the boot, but it had too much drag. I took a length of wire coat hanger, put a small closed tight loop at one end, then pushed it through the boot/sleeve from the rear hatch side to the body/jamb side. I initially toyed with the idea of trying to crimp/tape my fish wire directly to the connector and pull directly, but dismissed it due to my concern about damaging the rear camera connector (the right angle connectors are great for attaching to the camera, but miserable to fish). I used the OP's technique of hooking onto the cable itself, and thus pulling 2 thicknesses of the cable through the sleeve/boot. I then used the technique the OP detailed above, pushing, pulling (very gently), massaging, coaxing, praying, resting, rubbing my hands, etc, and after about 30 minutes was able to get the right angle connector through the sleeve/boot. This is a slow painful slog, and I was continually worried about damaging the cable.

Even though I had the right hand trim piece on the hatch fully off, I still could not get to the bottom edge where the cables apparently exited for the stop/turn lights. Thus, I chose to drill the hole in the frame exactly as the OP did (thanks again for the photos). I used a zip tie to fish the connector and cable through, slid an appropriate rubber grommet over the cable, then set the grommet into the hole to protect the cable from the raw metal edge of the drilled hole. I made sure I had enough cable to reach the camera, then took a break.

At this point I decided to again test everything, especially to be sure I did not damage the cable. When I powered up the system, the rear camera was not found/recognized. I rechecked every connection, rebooted the system, all to no avail. The rear power light was on, but it was not working. Panic--did I damage the cable? As a last resort, I held down the button on the front camera for 10 seconds to start an SD card reformat. This fixed the problem, and all was working OK.

Next, I went up to the front, and ran the rear camera cable from the rear view mirror exactly as noted by the OP, using the plastic putty knives to make room under the headliner and trim, and tucked in the cable.

I went back to the rear, and rechecked cable length. I then pulled back excess cable into the C pillar (exactly as the OP did). I then replaced the 2 ends of the rubber cable sleeve/boot and the right hand trim (the one with the blue clips). I loosely placed the top window trim, and installed the rear camera, being careful to have it pointing the right way (up/down). Note that the cable connector will point to the driver's side of the car, not the passenger side. I adjusted the cable, and snapped the window trim into place.

I rechecked the whole system again. I noted that I could see the fine lines of the rear window defroster on the read camera images, even after trying to adjust the position of the camera. I could find no optimal position, and think that it has to do with the steep slope of the rear hatchback window and the arrangement of the resistive wires. It is not that noticeable, but for me, unavoidable.

I then reinstalled the C pillar trim and the rear parcel shelf trim.

Now to address the 12V power. My Blackvue camera came with a power cable that had both a fuse in the barrel of the cigarette lighter plug (typical), plus a 2nd in-line fuse holder about a foot from the lighter plug. Maybe they knew that many folks would hard wire and cut off the cigarette lighter plug. It was nice to not have to buy a new fuse holder. I initially wanted to keep the whole assembly intact, with no splices, which would have required me to fish the right angle small power plug from the microphone grille opening to the front edge of the headliner at the windshield. I tried, but there was not enough room to pull the connector through. So I chose to cut the cable, and then it was easy to fish the cable back from the headliner into the opening for the microphone. I just soldered the red/black wires back together (reconnecting the in-line fuse holder) and protected them with heat shrink tubing and black tape.

Next I installed the front camera--straightforward. I then adjusted cable lengths, and tucked the cable under the black rear view mirror trim plate (which I did NOT remove). Just used the plastic pry tools to make room to tuck the cable.

Back to the power cable in the microphone space. I used the soldering iron to tin the bare ends of the stranded red and black wires. I then popped open the 3 pin connector that was found in my Model S build, and rechecked the voltage/polarity. As others have noted, red is hot and black is ground. I laid the red wire from the power cable on top of the red wire in the open connector, and the black on the black. I snapped the connector closed and pulled on the leads to be sure that they were tight and secure. This technique has been noted elsewhere (thanks to the pioneers...). I then shoved the small in line fuse holder into the space above the headliner, rolled up the excess power cable and tucked it away, and popped the microphone grille back into place. Some owners have actually bought the appropriate multi-pin plug to fit into the empty connector, but I wanted to save the connector and leave it empty in case Tesla did actually come out with some accessory (lighted visor mirrors?) that needed this connector. Probably unnecessary, as later Model S builds apparently do not have always on 12V power up there.

Finally, I connected the rear camera cable to the front camera, then connected the power cable. The system booted up. I turned WiFi on, and using my iPhone and the Blackvue app, used the live images to adjust the cameras to optimize the field of view. I also used the iPhone app to set up the camera (time zone, indicator lights, event timing, etc).

Overall, IMHO this is not a job for an amateur hobbyist. I have a great appreciation for the expertise and skill of auto customizers, aftermarket audio installers, etc. They probably have better tools and tricks and the experience to make it look easy. That said, it is doable with the right tools, dexterity, and patience.

YMMV.
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: shthpnz and Joelc