[MooMooM2]

I am going to install a Viofo dashcam that will have the front and rear camera. Trying to find out the best way to install the rear wire. The front camera will be mirror tapped along with my Uniden R7 (getting a custom cable that will let me do this), then need to run the cable to the rear camera.

I have seen this very helpful video -

It is for a 2 series and seems like it would work great, however I am worried about running the wire on the A pillar because of the airbag.

In the video he mentions -

PLEASE check your car specifically before copying my method. other cars have the side curtain in the A-Pillar, and on these cars you will need to make sure you run the wiring BEHIND the airbag to avoid interference.


also on blackbox my car they say its not really a problem and they have never heard of a problem of a cord being ran this way.

What is the consensus on this? Specially for the M2? I assume its the same as the 2 series, it seems like the side airbag does not come from the A pillar but from the top (

) which meas the wire would be fine being run down the a-piller and by the door sill to the back.

[bitcore]

I pulled my A-Pillar cover and shoved the wires as far back behind the airbag as I could. You just don't want it interfering if it deploys. Look up videos on 2 series a-pillar trim removal. It definitely feels like you are going to break it - I didn't fully remove mine and just undid it enough to get the wires well out of the way.

Check my notes in the other "discrete dashcam" thread. I have the viofo A129 pro duo. Would recommend a LiPo battery if you want parking coverage (otherwise idrive will complain constantly about battery drain) - or just rig it to only be running when ignition/ACC is on. This camera has been a bit flaky for me - after a load of factory resets, card formats, and the button hard reset, it finally seems OK now. Don't use the phone app to configure it on the latest firmware past 1.9, doing so seems to mess it up. Be sure you test the camera and install very thoroughly, and check footage frequently until you are confident it's working as you expect. Mine missed a small event in a parking lot because it decided not to go into parking mode or didn't pick up the auto event. This really peeved me off (after nearly spending a grand on it). Auto event detection is not great. Stick with time-lapse or just set it to run constantly if you use parking modes.

Also, parking mode seems to only work if you power it via the side input on the camera itself, and not via the GPS mount - so try that if you are having issues.

Also, if you are running the wire for the rear camera.... you may as well just run the power cables to fusebox in the trunk so you can select a different fuse bank if you wanted (say, tap the entertainment fuses that stay on a bit longer after you get out of the car). This also enables yourself to add a lipo battery easily in the future, should you decide you want the extra protection in parking lots. Look at the other thread and the install video on youtube made by FaRKle!. You have to run the video cable so close to the rear trunk anyway to get the camera to the rear, that you may as well run both at the same time and keep your options open for the future. You don't want to try and run the cable over head in the roof liner - you'll most likely get in the way of the side airbags that way.

[FaRKle!]

The airbag is along the roof-line (part #2).

[MooMooM2]

Originally Posted by bitcore

I pulled my A-Pillar cover and shoved the wires as far back behind the airbag as I could. You just don't want it interfering if it deploys. Look up videos on 2 series a-pillar trim removal. It definitely feels like you are going to break it - I didn't fully remove mine and just undid it enough to get the wires well out of the way.

Check my notes in the other "discrete dashcam" thread. I have the viofo A129 pro duo. Would recommend a LiPo battery if you want parking coverage (otherwise idrive will complain constantly about battery drain) - or just rig it to only be running when ignition/ACC is on. This camera has been a bit flaky for me - after a load of factory resets, card formats, and the button hard reset, it finally seems OK now. Don't use the phone app to configure it on the latest firmware past 1.9, doing so seems to mess it up. Be sure you test the camera and install very thoroughly, and check footage frequently until you are confident it's working as you expect. Mine missed a small event in a parking lot because it decided not to go into parking mode or didn't pick up the auto event. This really peeved me off (after nearly spending a grand on it). Auto event detection is not great. Stick with time-lapse or just set it to run constantly if you use parking modes.

Also, parking mode seems to only work if you power it via the side input on the camera itself, and not via the GPS mount - so try that if you are having issues.

Also, if you are running the wire for the rear camera.... you may as well just run the power cables to fusebox in the trunk so you can select a different fuse bank if you wanted (say, tap the entertainment fuses that stay on a bit longer after you get out of the car). This also enables yourself to add a lipo battery easily in the future, should you decide you want the extra protection in parking lots. Look at the other thread and the install video on youtube made by FaRKle!. You have to run the video cable so close to the rear trunk anyway to get the camera to the rear, that you may as well run both at the same time and keep your options open for the future. You don't want to try and run the cable over head in the roof liner - you'll most likely get in the way of the side airbags that way.

I was going to run them down and not through liner. I would take the A plillar out but seems like a pain and it does seem like it is not needed as pointed by Farkle, I guess if I can run the cable down on the A pillar and stay away from the top where the airbag curtain is it should be ok. I do agree that maybe I should have just run the cable down to the back and have more options but the mirror tap cable is already being made and it does save a bit of work not having to plug anything further back, it is easier to run one wire to the rear camera than more to go to the battery even though it would be nice at one point to have a battery power the cameras for parking mode.

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

The airbag is along the roof-line (part #2).

Thank you for that, it makes total sense then and the guy from the video was correct (and I saw your video as well, thank you for making it).

That settles it then but now I am thinking, do I even want to bother with the rear camera. I think it would be neat if I got parking mode but if not not sure I want to bother with it. Decisions, decisions.