I thought I could take the wire beneath and behind the glove box but couldn’t really find a place to hold the wire.
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I had ordered the DDPAI Z40 from Amazon on Feb 13th and received it the next day. It took me 2 to 3 days before I could get around to installing it but it was done just a couple of days before my trip to Vellore.
The installation itself was quite simple and straightforward. What was not straight was my body during the process.
Step 1: Found a nice spot right below the Fastag, stuck the static sticker, then exposed the 3M adhesive surface, aligned the camera and voila! It was done.
Step 2: The wiring. The camera package comes with a more than sufficient length of USB cable. Started from the top, used the plastic tool to push the wire underneath the roof lining, all the way to the left side.
Then, got the wire out towards the door, where I pushed it under the weather stripping all the way down until the glove box:
I thought I could take the wire beneath and behind the glove box but couldn’t really find a place to hold the wire. I also lacked the foresight to get a couple of cable ties:
So, I somehow managed to stick the wire on the panel to the left of the center console and did some improvisation to hold the USB end using the power adapter:
I didn’t want to hard-wire it, so this arrangement works fine! It doesn’t look too out of place and I just need to remember plugging in/out at the beginning/ending of each trip.
One thing I discovered is this power outlet doesn’t really cut off when the car is stopped and engine is turned off. It was recording for the entire time the car was parked at my relative’s place in Vellore (few hours) and I didn’t realize it until I took the SD card out and downloaded the videos.
Here’s how it looks from the outside, looking from the side:
Here is the video clip that I uploaded on to YT. This will give you an idea of the clarity of the camera in daylight operation.
It may not be the best installation, but there is a bit of satisfaction in doing it myself! I will see if I record something during low light or night time drives and post the videos in my ownership review thread!
About the dashcam itself, a few thoughts:
What I liked:
- Neat packaging, Quite simple to install.
- At the highest setting, very good clarity in videos.
- Not too conspicuous. Size is pretty compact than what is shown on the product pages in Amazon.
- The camera can be detached from it’s holder which is stuck to the windshield.
- Option to mute the microphone. It was quite good and captured really well some of my rants in the initial runs. Hence muted.
What I didn’t like:
- Removing the camera from the holder is a breeze. Putting it back in – I am yet to get the knack to do it smoothly.
- For some reason, downloading videos from the camera to my phone app via the inbuilt Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to work properly. It downloads the whole 3 min video clip but I can’t see it in the local folder section of the app.
- The clips in the SD are saved as 1min long clips. And at the highest resolution, each clip is 140MB in size. Transferring all the clips from the SD card to my laptop took a long time.
Hope this helps new Taigun owners (and others too) who want to get a decent dashcam for their vehicles.
Keyword: DIY: Installing a dashcam in my Volkswagen Taigun