[dougeefresh]

what would be your estimate of the install time for just the front camera using the room light wiring harness ??

I would think you can do it in 30-min to an hour the first time. If you don't feel confident that you won't bend the metal clips then order them beforehand otherwise you can't put the domelight back on. I didn't want to wait for the clips and felt somewhat confident that I could remove the light without bending the clips by blindly pushing in the clips with a trim tool before pulling the light down. I bent one of the front clips but managed to bend it back after taking it out and using the other side as a guide. There are total 4 clips, 2 front & 2 back, but if you don't swing down the back part of the light all the way (the light has a hinge in the back that let you swing down or pop up), you don't need to mess with the 2 rear clips. Just pull the front of the dome like like 30 degrees down and work, not 90 degrees. Go slowly, don't force too much. It's pretty easy to do just the front cam.

 

[wingless]

what would be your estimate of the install time for just the front camera using the room light wiring harness ??

If the objective is a fast / easy installation, then the front camera w/ the optional direct wire fuse panel harness is the best choice.

It is unknown to me about removal / replacement of the center overhead lamp assembly, but others have reported broken or bent clips.

For front only to side fuse panel, remove the mirror shroud (replaced by Fitcamx camera shroud), remove the windshield shroud (four pop out / push in clips) and remove the fuse panel shroud (perimeter pop out / push in clips).

Tuck the power wire along the path.

The only "difficulty" is the top of the column C fuse retention clip cannot be removed, slightly complicating correct insertion of the smaller Mini fuse taps into the ATO fuse panel.

Sorry, not great on time estimation, but I would rate this install at Novice level.

 

[scoresman]

what would be your estimate of the install time for just the front camera using the room light wiring harness ??

I chose to have it installed professionally; it took an hour. Most of the time was due of the challenge described earlier in this thread of reinstalling the room light and the windshield shroud box below that (not sure why he took that off; it looked to me from one of the videos that the cable to the cam was wiggled through that box - as opposed to removing it).

 

[dougeefresh]

I chose to have it installed professionally; it took an hour. Most of the time was due of the challenge described earlier in this thread of reinstalling the room light and the windshield shroud box below that (not sure why he took that off; it looked to me from one of the videos that the cable to the cam was wiggled through that box - as opposed to removing it).

He actually popped it down and let it hang on top of the mirror instead completely removing it in the video. There's no room for the cable and the plastic molding at the end of the cable to go through without popping that shroud off, which by the way is super easy to do.

 

[nyknicks8]

what would be your estimate of the install time for just the front camera using the room light wiring harness ??

It took me maybe 1.5 to 2 hours but should be shorter with all the information here. Where I lost the most time was figuring out how to manage the wires coming out of the enclosure. Finally gave up and cut a notch in the top trim pieces of the camera housing and then it fitted perfectly without the tilt described above. The two pieces of the camera housing should completely snap together. Without cutting the notch it was impossible.

 

[wingless]

It took me maybe 1.5 to 2 hours but should be shorter with all the information here. Where I lost the most time was figuring out how to manage the wires coming out of the enclosure. Finally gave up and cut a notch in the top trim pieces of the camera housing and then it fitted perfectly without the tilt described above. The two pieces of the camera housing should completely snap together. Without cutting the notch it was impossible.

Were the two cable assemblies on your front / rear camera installation both routed on the driver's side of the camera mirror shroud necessitating the notch addition.

My recollection is that I routed one cable on each side w/o any fit issues.

The front camera on my installation has a tilt issue identified by dougeefresh. Very astute observation that had not been previously noticed and will not be corrected / modified in my installation.

 

[nyknicks8]

Were the two cable assemblies on your front / rear camera installation both routed on the driver's side of the camera mirror shroud necessitating the notch addition.

My recollection is that I routed one cable on each side w/o any fit issues.

The front camera on my installation has a tilt issue identified by dougeefresh. Very astute observation that had not been previously noticed and will not be corrected / modified in my installation.

I routed one cable on each side. It was titled and the camera clamshell shroud wouldnt completely close which tilted the camera. Also the SD card slot was not perfectly aligned. Without a notch there is not enough space for the wire

 

[wingless]

The only reason I didn’t use the fuse box is I’m worried that the camera will drain the car battery. Is that a valid issue?

Welcome to the forum.

The camera has a "small" parasitic load, required for stuff like the parking shock monitor that I have not yet measured. Once measured it will be added to the topic.

The vehicle already has other parasitic loads.

The vehicle battery should be around 100Ah capacity, decreasing about 10Ah per year, end of life around 5-7 years, so the camera parasitic load would have to be high to be problematic.

My existing speculation is that is not an issue.

The parking monitor and the absence of center lamp removal requirement overrides that battery drain concern for my application.

The operational and idle (parked) current has been measured.

Short answer, the camera system draws less than 1mA DC when idle. That is a very low current draw and will not cause or contribute to problems on a vehicle w/ a normal / healthy battery.

Details:
Note there are three different Fitcamx camera systems and it is reasonable to conclude that each system will have similar but different operational current. These are: Front - 4K / Rear -1080P (wingless' system w/ current measurements provided); Front - 4K / No Rear and Front - 1440P / Rear 1080P. The operational current has zero value / effect on this discussion because the engine's alternator will provide whatever current is required for the camera.

My speculation is that all three systems will have identical idle / parked / dark current, measured at less than 1mA on my vehicle. The reason for this speculation is that the camera system when idle has just one function, to look for an event, such as an impact. That idle function and associated current should present the same current load to the vehicle regardless of the camera system selected. That ~1mA idle current load exists on the unswitched battery feed lead. As expected the switched battery feed lead has 0µA idle current.

	Vehicle Off / Idle	Vehicle Running	After Ignition Off / Before Idle	Ignition Off / After Impact
ACC - Column A / Fuse #9 - Red	0µA	504µA	0µA	0µA
BATT - Column C / Fuse #3 - Yellow	>1mA	280mA	330mA	330mA

My speculation for the slight increase in BATT current when the ignition switches off is because the battery voltage droops slightly w/ the engine alternator no longer producing current, elevating the battery voltage, a lower voltage w/ constant load will draw more current.

 

[Jpc763]

This seems like a great update to the Macan and I am strongly considering it. My biggest question is, why are people putting dash cameras in? Is it mainly for a protective measure in the case of an accident?

 

[wingless]

This seems like a great update to the Macan and I am strongly considering it. My biggest question is, why are people putting dash cameras in? Is it mainly for a protective measure in the case of an accident?

Welcome to the forum.

Yes the camera provides evidence should an accident occur.

Additionally, the Fitcamx camera w/ optional fuse panel power cord will create locked front / rear camera recordings if something happens to the parked vehicle. As an example, when I get to the drying stage on my vehicle hand washing, I snap the wipers against the windshield to flick off water. That "impact" creates secure recordings.

The intended usage is to create recordings of parking lot incidents for the unattended vehicle.

Note that parked vehicle function only exists w/ the optional cord, because the included dome light cord has power that times out shortly after turning off the vehicle.

 

[dougeefresh]

@wingless When in parking mode, does it start recording only after a movement is detected? (I.e. no video prior to the movement?) How long do you think it can be parked before the battery goes below the level to start the car? I'm considering adding the parking mode, but the car doesn't get driven for days so I'm afraid of draining the battery (don't want to bother with a trickle charger).

 

[wingless]

@wingless When in parking mode, does it start recording only after a movement is detected? (I.e. no video prior to the movement?) How long do you think it can be parked before the battery goes below the level to start the car? I'm considering adding the parking mode, but the car doesn't get driven for days so I'm afraid of draining the battery (don't want to bother with a trickle charger).

This reply shows the measured dark current is less than 1mA, virtually zero, that will have absolutely no effect on a vehicle w/ a normal healthy battery, even when parked for extended duration. No trickle charger is required for the Fitcamx camera system.

WRT to parking mode, all I can think of is watching communicator usage on Star Trek Next Generation, "Pickard to bridge", after tapping their gold chest insignia. How did the communicator know to pipe that entire audio to the bridge for real time communication when "bridge" was the last word in the sentence? (The entirety of the rest of that series is completely believable and fact-based.)

The same reality applies to the parking mode. I looked at many of my parking mode videos. They appear to start about one second after impact detected. (Looked at car wash videos, using wiper slap as time zero to initiate recording.)

 

[wingless]

@wingless When in parking mode, does it start recording only after a movement is detected? (I.e. no video prior to the movement?) How long do you think it can be parked before the battery goes below the level to start the car? I'm considering adding the parking mode, but the car doesn't get driven for days so I'm afraid of draining the battery (don't want to bother with a trickle charger).

The virtually zero current draw when parked for the Fitcamx is contrasted to the extreme against the Blackview DR900X-2CH camera system.

The Blackview offers several different auxiliary battery pack options that support continuous recording while parked.

The Blackview will fill a 32GB flash card in 54 hours, will drain their largest battery pack in 30 hours, then depend on their much touted low voltage cutout to prevent disabling the vehicle from being able to start up again.

Again, the Fitcamx will have no effect on a parked vehicle battery, waiting to wake after an impact detected.

 

[bakedporkchop]

Ordered the Fitcamx - front and rear cameras - and will be doing the install per @wingless instructions and photos. Will take it slow and see if I can get the rear camera working OR if I’ll need help from a professional installer.

…The only "difficulty" is the top of the column C fuse retention clip cannot be removed, slightly complicating correct insertion of the smaller Mini fuse taps into the ATO fuse panel…

Curious about the above. How did you get the Fitcamx fuse inserted? I’m hoping since it is a mini fuse that I’ll be able to insert at an angle and be able to seat it correctly. I also have a 2022 Macan and will use the same fuse slots as you did, @wingless.

Thanks.

 

[wingless]

Ordered the Fitcamx - front and rear cameras - and will be doing the install per @wingless instructions and photos. Will take it slow and see if I can get the rear camera working OR if I’ll need help from a professional installer.

Curious about the above. How did you get the Fitcamx fuse inserted? I’m hoping since it is a mini fuse that I’ll be able to insert at an angle and be able to seat it correctly. I also have a 2022 Macan and will use the same fuse slots as you did, @wingless.

Welcome to the forum.

Good luck w/ your installation.

Yes, there is a minor complication because the column C fuse retention clip top cannot be removed / replaced.

In that case, yes the angled part is carefully inserted through the window on the flexed / bent retention clip. A needle nose pliers is used to carefully properly seat both fuses.

FWIW, I used this 3M VHB double sided tape to attach the rear camera (w/o bracket) to the rear lift gate interior trim.

 

[bakedporkchop]

Welcome to the forum.

Good luck w/ your installation.

Yes, there is a minor complication because the column C fuse retention clip top cannot be removed / replaced.

In that case, yes the angled part is carefully inserted through the window on the flexed / bent retention clip. A needle nose pliers is used to carefully properly seat both fuses.

FWIW, I used this 3M VHB double sided tape to attach the rear camera (w/o bracket) to the rear lift gate interior trim.

Awesome. Thank you, @wingless!

When snaking the rear camera cable from the front to the hatch/trunk, did you have to pull down or detach the weather stripping from both the front and rear doors?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wingless]

Awesome. Thank you, @wingless!

When snaking the rear camera cable from the front to the hatch/trunk, did you have to pull down or detach the weather stripping from both the front and rear doors?

YW

The topic images show the extent of disassembly required. It is the Not Much category.

As mentioned in the topic, the front camera is "easy", the rear camera takes MUCH more effort. The two difficult parts are removing the rear lift gate interior skin because the clips are sooo strong and snaking the cable connector through the boot. The connector diameter is larger than the boot interior space, requiring inching along while stretching the boot.

 

[wingless]

There have been a few weird issues w/ the vehicle since I installed the Fitcamx front / rear camera system.

The ones I have noticed most are that tapping the driver's seat heat / seat ventilation controls are sometimes ignored, requiring multiple presses to actuate. The other one I've noticed is sometimes touching the exterior handle to lock the vehicle has no effect.

The door lock was investigated and discovered to have 100% correlation to the camera system completing the existing one-minute duration recording. When the blinking camera indicator light stops, then the door lock works normally. It doesn't work properly until that light stops blinking.

Fortunately my Fitcamx Model B 4K front / 1080P rear / 128GB camera has the optional fuse panel power cord. This optional power cord permits a VERY easy and inexpensive fix.

This five piece snap on ferrite bead set was ordered and received. Various tests were conducted. It was discovered that using three of these ferrite beads fixed the door lock problem 100% of the time. A bead was used on the red wire, yellow wire and black wire. The bead was placed on the long wire section between the inline fuse and the round black jacket. There were six five wraps (six five passes through the core center), on each wire, w/ one ferrite bead used for each wire color.

The updated wire harness tucked nicely into the side cavity above the side fuse panel, under the dash, behind the pop off fuse panel cover.

It is unknown if the problem also exists w/ the standard short dome light power cord. If the problem exists w/ that configuration it is unknown how it could be fixed. WRT to the fix, the diameter of these parts is probably too big to fit in that location. A snap on ferrite bead (different one) would likely only be able to have a single pass through the core, decreasing the effectiveness.

The manufacturer should fix this problem within the camera and should include parts / instructions to fix the problem.

It is currently unknown if these ferrite beads will fix the infrequent problem w/ the seat heater / vent switches being ignored. My guess is if that is also related to the camera then these will also either help or fix that problem. Updates will be provided later...


Edit, the initial reply incorrectly listed SIX passes through the core, but there were instead only FIVE passes through the core. Sorry for that error.

Edit, note this reply shows three additional ferrite beads that have been added to address the conducted emission problem. The totality of the solution includes both sets of ferrite beads.

 

[dougeefresh]

To provide a data point, I have the front and rear cam connected via the dome light power, and I have zero issue with the door lock or seat heating. As far as I can tell I don't see anything out of ordinary.

On an unrelated note, when installing the rear cam, you do NOT have to take the whole plastic panel off to snake the cable through for the rear hatch. Just pop the three clips (left, right and center) in the top edge of the plastic panel, unhook and you will have enough room to work with.

 

[bakedporkchop]

There have been a few weird issues w/ the vehicle since I installed the Fitcamx front / rear camera system.

The ones I have noticed most are that tapping the driver's seat heat / seat ventilation controls are sometimes ignored, requiring multiple presses to actuate. The other one I've noticed is sometimes touching the exterior handle to lock the vehicle has no effect.

The door lock was investigated and discovered to have 100% correlation to the camera system completing the existing one-minute duration recording. When the blinking camera indicator light stops, then the door lock works normally. It doesn't work properly until that light stops blinking.

Fortunately my Fitcamx Model B 4K front / 1080P rear / 128GB camera has the optional fuse panel power cord. This optional power cord permits a VERY easy and inexpensive fix.

This five piece snap on ferrite bead set was ordered and received. Various tests were conducted. It was discovered that using three of these ferrite beads fixed the door lock problem 100% of the time. A bead was used on the red wire, yellow wire and black wire. The bead was placed on the long wire section between the inline fuse and the round black jacket. There were six wraps (six passes through the core center), on each wire, w/ one ferrite bead used for each wire color.

The updated wire harness tucked nicely into the side cavity above the side fuse panel, under the dash, behind the pop off fuse panel cover.

It is unknown if the problem also exists w/ the standard short dome light power cord. If the problem exists w/ that configuration it is unknown how it could be fixed. WRT to the fix, the diameter of these parts is probably too big to fit in that location. A snap on ferrite bead (different one) would likely only be able to have a single pass through the core, decreasing the effectiveness.

The manufacturer should fix this problem within the camera and should include parts / instructions to fix the problem.

It is currently unknown if these ferrite beads will fix the infrequent problem w/ the seat heater / vent switches being ignored. My guess is if that is also related to the camera then these will also either help or fix that problem. Updates will be provided later...

@wingless Thanks for the update! I’ve been watching a lot of dash cam install videos and have noticed the power cables used for hard wiring to the vehicle fuse box often have ferrite core rings clipped onto them. I may do the same given what you reported.

I received the FitcamX today. It only took a week to get here from Guangzhou, China. I was not expecting it to arrive so soon and won’t be able to install for another week or so. I did notice the rear dash cam didn’t look like what I’ve seen in previous photos (but it did match what was listed on the FitcamX website).

I probably will NOT attempt to run the rear dash cam cable all the way through to the hatch/trunk. I want to avoid 1) having to remove the hatch/trunk interior and 2) having to snake the cable through the rubber grommet to the hatch/trunk. I’m thinking about rigging a discreet metal clamp (or using this from Dashcam Store) onto the headliner at the rear in order to attach the cam. We’ll see if that works.