I Installed the BlackVue DR900X-2CH today. I ended up not using the
bracket from TheDashCam Store. I removed the door sill plates and much of the surrounding trim to cleanly route and conceal the cable running to the rear camera. But as I feared, routing the cable down the pax A-pillar, under the sill plates and up the C-pillar comes up about 8"-10" short of what's needed to place the camera in the center of the window.
I thought about rerouting the cable above the pax doors, but I really didn't like the idea of tucking the wire without really knowing whether or not it would be in conflict with the side curtain airbags. I removed the A-pillar trim, so while routing the cables in that location, I was sure they were positioned behind the airbags.
I also thought about doing as SecurityGuy had suggested earlier in this thread and attempting to fish the cable between the headliner and the roof. But in the end, I wasn't sure what kind of can-of-worms might be opened by trying to fish across the headliner and I suppose I figured the offset came was "good enough."
I used a round file to create a small relief in the plastic mirror trim for the cables to pass through. While I was mocking things up, I noticed it was a little difficult to reinstall the plastic cover. Upon closer look, I noticed the factory had pinched one of the small harnesses in one of the clips. In the picture below, I had already pulled it clear, but you can kind of see the little divot in the harness that was a result of the harness being pinched under the clip.
As I was trying to plug the cable that runs between cameras into the front camera, it didn't seem like it wanted to seat. The little voice in the back of my head said "if it doesn't want to go, don't force it." But the connector is so freakin' small, my vision is years past being able to clearly see what I was dealing with. So, I took a pic and lo and behold, you can see the connector was slightly deformed, right out of the box. A little massaging with a small pair of needle nose pliers and we're back in business.
I formatted the SD card on my PC and also downloaded the latest firmware. I got it all powered up and was surprised to hear voice status prompts. It appears the firmware updated from the SD card on initial boot-up, as I'd hoped it would.
I downloaded the BlackVue app onto my phone and was able to connect the app to the camera through the camera's Wifi. I drove around the block and both cameras seem to function properly. It's a little wonky having the rear camera offset but I think it's adequate.
I also tried to use the BlackVue Downloader app available in the Microsoft store which would connect to the camera while it's in the driveway in parking mode and download the video data. But I'm either not configuring something properly of more likely, the signal from the BlackVue is too week to reach my router.
I also set the shutdown voltage in the app to 12.5V. I travel for weeks at a time and the last thing I want is to come home to a dead or weak battery.
A few people had commented that their add-a-fuse taps wouldn't clear fully the adjacent fuses.
I used these and seemingly had no problem. The smallest Micro2 fuses I could find were 5 amps. I would have preferred 2 amp fuses but I could find any locally.
Thanks for all of the great advice and tips!
If I can help someone make their install look like it came from the factory, and ensure it is wired and fused properly for safety, that gives me great pleasure. You would also be amazed that some folks run wires around side airbags and that, in itself, can be fatal
