Mk7 R - Installing a 2 channel Dash Cam - Blackvue DR650GW-2CH

[TheBoyRiley]

 

 

So there have been a few topics asking about dash cams and whatnot, so I thought I'd put the pictures from installing mine up in a thread on it's own so I don't spam up the other topics.

 

Over all this took about 3 hours, most of which was spent working out where to stuff wire.

 

First off after picking up your Golf on a Friday... Saturday morning... Pull some trim off...

 

 

 

You can see in the first Pic that the trim in the boot lid has two slotting parts at either end that clip to the next pieces, for this reason you should start pulling at the sides and move towards the middle, or else you might hurt these clips. All the other clips are the Christmas tree ones, which are hard to break.

 

Next I detached one of the Rubber links, these have a flat hook in clip on one side and a latching clip on the other side of the holes, you can see it at the top side of this one. Bottom side was easy, I could reach it with my finger, top one however I bent a metal fork handle and used it to poke the latch off from the round hole near the sockets above it in the photo.

 

 

Cutlery as it turned out is your friend for this, the fork I was abusing proved much better than a screw driver for poking stuff as it has rounded edges and didn't mark anything, also awesome for poking wires under trim without stabbing the wire sheath.

 

Once you've taken off the rubber joint, I used Welding rod and insulation tape to get the connector through the tube, a coat hangar would probably do it too, but welding rod was closer.

 

After threading the cable I pulled it to around the right length and left it disconnected and the trim off so I could sort the cable out and loose the slack at this end once Id done the front (also means you can take any twisting out of the cable before you ravel it up and ditch the slack).

 

I stuck the rear cam on at this point, be careful to leave enough room for the trim to go back, I almost didn't and the sticky pads are pretty fierce so it could have been bad.

 

 

The front end is the same as any other webcam and is covered pretty well in the instructions, I just made sure it was positioned where I wouldn't see it and the cable came up the side of the mirror plastic.

 

In hindsight it may have been better to put it with the sticky pad on the black hatching on the left side of the mirror, but then it would bug me that I could see it slightly. But it would be better hidden from view from the outside.

 

 

I stuck the cable down using the provided hooks, but put it on the plastic rather than against the glass, the black cable on black plastic hides the cable rather well and you don't notice it.

 

Cable running is pretty easy, all the trim is nice and soft and flexible and there is plenty of room behind the door rubbers. One cable goes down the pillar and the other is the cable to the rear. there are a couple of points behind the trim where you can slot the cable into a recess in the metalwork to stop the trim pinching the cable at all too.

 

A quick point to note, Plug your rear cable into the front camera then work backwards from there then ditch the slack at the back, its way easier as there isn't much room for slack hiding up front. Plus you end up with the correct amount of cable on show at the front (and none at the back).

 

 

Once I ran the cable back I let all the kinks and twists out then coiled all the slack and cable tied it. this lot is hidden behind the trim in the roof just before the boot (not in the door itself). then plugged in the cable and slotted it out of the way of the trim.

 

 

Front power cable: The hole I threaded this cable through at the base of the drivers side console is fairly tight, or at least tight enough that I didn't want to stuff the Cigarette lighter end through it, I fed the Camera end of the cable from the inside-out then pulled the slack through, plugged it into the camera then worked my way back to the console to keep the slack in the right place.

 

 

Power Magic box:

 

So I wanted the power box in the cubby down by my legs, I couldn't be arsed having it in the glove box as any impediment to using it would mean id get lazy and leave it on all the time or not use the box at all.

 

This meant that the yellow and red power cable which need to go to the fuse box needed to be extended. I soldered an extra 8 feet of cable on each (as the car is 6 foot wide-ish). This length worked out perfectly.

 

 

In the picture below you can see 5 wires, the red and yellow disappearing off into the steering column are the switched live and permanent live which are extended and taped together. These are then threaded through the gubbins behind the steering column (avoid anything which moves...) and go the the back of the foot-well. Then get a friend and a torch, one person shines a light at the opening at the back of the foot-well on the passenger side and the other uses the welding rod (or coat hangar) to poke the wire through to the light. Thread this up into the glove box from behind the trim of the foot-well.

 

The black negative wire, which is earthed to the chassis via the large bolt and crimp-on eye (blue).

 

Then the cigarette lighter socket which has a long cable. this is cable tied and then stuffed into the vast amounts of space in the console, there is some sound damping foam that you can pin it too inside and to the right. The lighter socket itself and plug fit perfectly pinned between the metalwork and the plastic trim seen in the photo, its not too tight and doesn't rattle.

 

The power box itself comes with a sticky pad mounting thingy, I then used two of the cable hooks from the camera to attach the cable to the side of the box then stuck it to the rear of the cubby, this worked fantastically well.

 

 

 

Fuse box:

 

In the fuse box, your wires come up from the back of the foot-well and you can then cut them to length and crimp on your piggy back connectors.

 

I've put the switched live into the Cigarette lighter fuse (in the switched live position as it came from factory)

 

The perma-live cable goes to fuse socket F44, the trailer control unit... so yea, not gonna be used ever as it doesn't have one.

 

 

And finally the view from the drivers seat.

 

 

and the rear

 

 

and from outside (I just love these pictures... it was so clean)

 

 

[429BEN]

Cracking Job! If I wasn't so lazy I would have probably followed your guide step by step as I am also toying with the idea of installing some dash cam(s). But as I mentioned I am lazy!

 

Any idea of somewhere that might fit them for me?

[R400]

Take care with warranty.

[bigearmuffs]

Great job and walk through, my only fear with dashboard cams is when I am backwards over a wall into a hedge I then have to locate and eat an SD card

[knightdiverx]

A great write up thanks. 

 

Could you tell us more about the power magic box - what does it do/purpose etc?

[mrlapou]

Great write up.

It seems the rear camera takes power and feeds video from the front camera.

 

By any chance did you notice a switched live circuit in the rear hatch area?

[TheBoyRiley]

my only fear with dashboard cams is when I am backwards over a wall into a hedge I then have to locate and eat an SD card

 

The car can actually do that for you... I changed the SD card and put the second one down on the sliding cover for the cup holders. I left it there like a numpty and pulled forwards in a (no joke) quite restrained manner. so I swear that cover is made of weasel crap coated Teflon but my lovely 64GB micro SD shot backwards and through the 1.5mm gap between the slider and trim... gone forever.

 

Could you tell us more about the power magic box - what does it do/purpose etc?

 

It's translation is a bit iffy but these are the destructions.

 

 

It seems the rear camera takes power and feeds video from the front camera.

 

By any chance did you notice a switched live circuit in the rear hatch area?

 

The rear camera has just a coax cable to the front camera, it records its video to the SD card in the front camera, as well as getting power via the coax. So no need to mess with the wiring in the boot, its designed so you can use it without the power magic box and plug it straight into your lighter socket if you want to. So rear has to connect to front.

[knightdiverx]

Do you have a climate windscreen in your R? I have one in mine and I'm told it won't get GPS properly because of it - although my Tom Tom is fine???

[Gadget]

 

 

Great job and walk through, my only fear with dashboard cams is when I am backwards over a wall into a hedge I then have to locate and eat an SD card

 

You can reformat the Black Vues with a touch of a button

 

Do you have a climate windscreen in your R? I have one in mine and I'm told it won't get GPS properly because of it - although my Tom Tom is fine???

 

My Mi-Witness doesn't get GPS through the climate screen. I am going to hopefully try a Black Vue at the weekend 

[JonnyG]

Very neat job and great write up

 

I wish I had your expertise !

[Gadget]

Have tried various camera's with the heated screen and none with built in GPS work

 

Have found a few with an external GPS so will be trying one of those next so will keep you all posted

[knightdiverx]

BlackVue 750 with an external GPS antenna works a treat. Fitted today and is great! Shame it's a bit bigger than the 650, but still quite discreet.

[Noons]

Thanks you, know its an old tread but i pick up my R on Tuesday and have the exact same dash Cam and Power magic pro. I was wondering what fuse to use for the Perm live. 

 

Cheers

[xPETEZx]

Cracking job!

One of the best installs I have seen.

Very minimalist and very tidy. Thanks for sharing.

[TheBoyRiley]

Thanks you, know its an old tread but i pick up my R on Tuesday and have the exact same dash Cam and Power magic pro. I was wondering what fuse to use for the Perm live. 

 

Cheers

 

Hi, hope your pick-up went OK and you're enjoying the beauty that is your golf!

 

I just rooted through my order history as its p**sing it down and I used 2amp fuses for both, as I believe that's all the magic power box is rated for.