Connecting a Dashboard Camera

[Qashqai]

Finally I purchased my dashboard camera. I decided to purchase it after my cousin had an intersection while he was passing at the green light. A car with its 78 years old driver T-boned to his van and cause him rollover. Both cars a totaled and police find my cousin faulty because he "passed" on red light! He couldn't prove that the light was green when he passed. Thank God nothing happened to anyone, but If someone died, than my cousin would be in big trouble.

Anyway, my problem is connecting the camera to a power source in the car. I would like to connect it to a source close to the top of the car. So I will get power either from the dome light or sun roof motor. The dome light is always on (I read the topic about installing GPS in this forum). I don2t want it to be on all the time, when the car is parked. On the other hand, I don't want to share sun roof's power with something else.

Maybe I should run the cable through the ceiling, down from A pillars, than connect to the lighter (imStricken's topic about GPS connection). The problem is I don't want to touch A pillar finish plastics, because according to FSM, I need to replace the plastic clips after I remove them...

And I don2t know what will happen if something goes wrong with the electronics of the car. Did I void the warranty if I run wires around the dashboard???



Can you please help me?

[ImStricken06]

I PROMISE 100% IF YOU REMOVE THE A-PILLAR YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO REPLACE ANYTHING AS LONG AS YOU DONT BREAK ANYTHING. i have removed that pillar about 5 times already - and never an issue!

RUN THAT WIRE TO THE FUSE BOX AND ENJOY!

[Leo2005]

You can run the wires any way you feel comfortable. After connecting radar to dome lights since it was always running I ended up running a wire from ignition to top closer to dome lights so it would shut every time i shut the car. There's airbag inside of the white panel on the side between door and windshield so if you feel running the wire throw that panel I would highly recommend to discount the battery and wait for couple hours. Other than that there's 1000 different ways how to get wire throw. For me it is usually happens while doing the project so I don't plan ahead. BTW plastic in this car as ImStricken stated is pretty tough so its not easily breakable (those words reminds me of Saturn )

[ImStricken06]

There's airbag inside of the white panel on the side between door and windshield so if you feel running the wire throw that panel I would highly recommend to discount the battery and wait for couple hours.

your right, the curtain airbag is in the a-pillar, but because the sensors are in the B-pillar area and the airbag control module is under the center console - no need to disconnect the battery.
-i would simply allow the capacitors to drain for 10-15mins after turning the car off completely.

i compare airbags to cwIED's (Command wire-improvised explosive devices)- your not so concerned with the actual munition, its the sensor/trigger thats my concern LOL