This Tesla nearly created a 3 car accident behind me while merging on the freeway. Great reaction time by the BMW. Karma will get this Tesla sooner or later and hopefully no one else is involved.

The Tesla driver wanted to pass me and a van in front of me. Extremely impatient as we weren’t even going slow picking up speed.

So I live in a busy city where I always street park. My car has been hit twice this month on the front bumper. One was in front of my house and the other was in front of a friends house.

Is there any dash cam that has a 360 camera, 24/7 recording while parked, and I can use a battery pack instead of hardwiring into the car? Or any dash cam you think will help.

What are your suggestions in general for my problem? The car getting hit doesn’t piss me off as much as the fact that i have to pay for the damages. Accidents happen but i don’t want to pay for someone else’s accident!

BMW SUV ran the red after we had the green for 2-3 seconds. Driver kept crossing the center line afterwards too.

My neighbor parked outside Costco and went shopping and some bad guys stole his dashcam and laptop out of his car. I just installed a dashcam myself a few days ago and I often leave stuff like my laptop, bags or a watch tucked away in the car too. After hearing what happened, I’m scared to leave anything in there.

My dashcam vantrue N5S has parking mode, but I’m still worried. It’s mounted next to the rearview mirror. The dashcam itself isn’t worth that much, but if someone damages my car trying to steal it, the repairs would be expensive.

What’s even the point of stealing one of these? Are they trying to resell them with Black Friday coming up?

So my Dodge challenger has been hit once and broken into once while parked and the dash cam we have did not record it. So I’m looking for a dash cam that will record in parking mode, I need the rear cam and cabin camera too. I think the thinkware u3000 rear and cabin won’t work at the same time? Because I was originally looking at that. But any recs? No budget at the moment because it’ll be cheaper the repairing the car all the time because right now it’s replacing the sunroof and windshield and dents in the roof. TIA!

Can you turn the G Sensor / auto emergency recording feature off on this camera? If not, what would the next best alternative be 2Ch and similar price?

Hi all,

I’m interested in buying the VIOFO A229 Plus dash cam and was wondering whether I should go with the HK4 hardwire kit or the OP100 OBD-II power cable.

Would I be giving up any features by using the OP100 instead of the hardwire kit? I’m particularly interested in parking mode. I know the HK4 gives you more control over the low-voltage cutoff settings, but if parking mode and the rest of the functionality are essentially the same, it seems like the OBD-II option would make more sense since I wouldn’t have to mess with the fuse box.

Also, does anyone know what pins the OP100 uses on the OBD port? I assume pins 4 and 16, but it looked like there were three pins so I don't know what the last one would be.

Am I missing anything? Thanks!

Easy Sunday drive on Nashville for once.

I own a 2024 third-generation Citroën C3 and recently bought a VIOFO OBD 100 cable to power my VIOFO dashcam and use parking mode.

Unfortunately, when I plug the cable into the car's OBD port, I can no longer close the fuse box cover. The OBD port sits almost flush with the edge of the cover, so the cable's connector protrudes too far and prevents the cover from closing.

I'd prefer not to hardwire the dashcam directly to the fuse box, as the fuses are difficult to access in my car.

Has anyone with a Citroën C3 III experienced the same issue and found a solution?

I recently replaced a VIOFO A129 dash cam since my original one kicked the bucket after about 5 years of use. I didn’t want to have to go through the trouble of having to redo all the hardwiring on my car again, so I reached out to VIOFO and they sent me a replacement camera of the exact same model. Well now I’m having a weird issue: previously with my old A129 I did not use parking mode so whenever I shut off the car, the camera shut off too. But now for some reason with this replacement (which also has parking mode disabled) the camera stays on even when the car is shut off. I’m concerned that this is going to deteriorate not just the camera itself but also my car’s battery. Does anyone have any insight on this? I just don’t want the camera to be running constantly if it doesn’t need to be. For reference, I used VIOFO’s HK3 hardwire kit.

TL;DR: Thought my Nextbase 622GW’s bluetooth module was dead. ChatGPT reverse engineered the firmware and found that the internal storage couldn’t save its Bluetooth configuration (probably caused by a firmware update). An SD card format, or camera hard reset doesn’t touch that area. Running the camera’s internal formatter permanently restored Bluetooth functionality.

_______

I’ve owned my Nextbase 622GW since 2022. After about a year bluetooth stopped working.

It’s annoyed me ever since. The camera still recorded, but whenever I wanted footage I had to take out the SD card and plug it into my Mac, find the files etc. I’d been thinking about buying a new dashcam because of this.

Today I decided to see whether ChatGPT could investigate it with reverse engineering tools. I didn’t expect much as I’d assumed the bluetooth module failed.

I installed Ghidra and Rizin and asked GPT-6.1 Sol to examine the firmware and work out what was going on. It took roughly an hour.

Even getting the camera to show the USB/firmware-update screen was a headache. A USB-A to USB-C adapter didn’t work for me, but worked with a cheap dongle.

I was amazed to find out that the Bluetooth radio still worked, the camera just couldn’t save the configuration it needed to start it properly.

The logs showed the camera bluetooth app trying to create a file called bt_config.xml on an internal storage area called Drive A. Creating that file failed, and bluetooth initialisation then aborted. The camera was also reporting zeros for the bluetooth address which is why a hardware failure seemed plausible.

The camera’s format/reset option clears the removable card used for recordings. Drive A is separate internal storage that holds configuration and pairing information, and formatting the SD card leaves it untouched, and a camera hard reset wouldn't fix it.

Before applying a permanent fix, GPT tested by giving the bluetooth software a writable directory in RAM.
It generated its own configuration, bluetooth started, I could connect through the new iOS Nextbase app and get at the camera and recordings.

The permanent fix used the camera’s own internal Drive A formatter via a diagnostic startup script.

Afterwards, the stock software recreated its configuration and I paired my phone. The pairing survived numerous restarts, including a final normal boot after the diagnostic scripts were removed, so it wasn’t relying on the temporary RAM setup.

I’ve added the findings and repair tools to the GitHub repo below. I had ChatGPT package it as a Windows EXE and MacOS apps for Intel and Apple Silicon.
Python is included, and the source code and script launchers.

Nextbase 622GW Bluetooth repair

Enjoy!

Hey there r/dashcam, Today I want to buy my dad dashcam, but I can't decide which. If there is any other brand that we could trust more, please share it with me, also I'm from Georgia (mostly mistaken by US state Georgia, but no, Country). max budget can be 100$ (~250GEL)

I was too far back, but in the clip after this the X5 was forced into taking an exit, hitting the guard rail, or, rear ending the McLaren.

Hi all,

A total nob about dashcam tech here. It has been a bit overwhelming doing research and reading the Wiki, FAQ here. I have some very specific requirements that is specific to my vehicle, a 4Runner. Those with a 4Runner knows that the rear glass can be opened.

I am looking for a recommendation for where I can have front, rear and interior rear. Many of the 3-channel options I looked at the interior camera points into the cabin from the front. I need an interior camera that points into the cargo area - the reason is I want to be able to monitor my dog who has the entire cargo area when I'm transporting him. I also would like to monitor him when we're parked at rest stops. Higher resolution recording for incident reports would be desired as well.

Some of the 3-channel options have independent interior camera but the cable is too short to get to the rear.

I think the main challenge is mounting the rear cameras given that the 4Runner rear glass can be opened, which I do open on nice days. On Etsy I have seen parts for mounting cameras to the headliner for 4Runners, so that is probably the likely option for mounting.

Appreciate any recommendations, etc. is appreciated.

If any one has any ideas or could help try and get the plate from this car white audi a4 or a5 that hit me and ran the other night ive tried using my phone filters to make out the numbers but no luck

My father would like to install dashcams in 2 of his cars.
First car is a 2015 Mazda Miata.
Second car is a 1995 Morgan.
Both are soft tops only and typically only driven with the top down.
We’re concerned with a standard dashcam, someone will simply reach in and take the camera.
Any suggestions on a 2 Chanel system? Audio isn’t required, and unless it has noise cancelling probably won’t have great audio anyway.

Got a bundle off of Thinkware that included the Q200 dash cam, a rear cam, a rear cam, and a multiplexer. Got it all hooked up properly. Front cam functions fine, and both the rear and cabin camera function when hooked directly into the front cam. But when I have them all hooked into the multiplexer, I get absolutely nothing from the rear and cabin cams. I have the multiplexer hooked into the exact same constant and ground that the dash cam is hooked into. I’ve followed both the 5 channel tutorial they have on YouTube, and tried the 3 channel synthesis instruction they have on the multiplexer. Followed like 10 guides they have on their website, absolutely nothing. Should I just send it back and get a Viofo? I’m so confused because I did everything right and the front cam functions just fine and so do the other cameras when hooked into the Q200 but whenever it’s all hooked into the multiplexer the dash cam gives me a voice line saying “rear camera disconnected” and I’m lost here. They have no actual guide for 3 channels, just 5, and all of the QR codes in the manual that may have helped lead to dead links. Did I waste $290?

Hi all, I’m reaching out in hopes someone can recommend the right charging adapter to use for a RedTiger F17 Elite. The current charging adapter I use has a 60w USB-C PD port and a 2.4a USB-A port. I use the PD port for my phone. It seems to be that when running all 3 cameras at the same time the power cuts out and the camera will turn off. However if I disable the interior camera or rear camera it stays powered just fine, lastly I did try to use the USBC side and it seems to be when it tries to negotiate a higher output the camera sees it as a brownout and just turns off. I’m not exactly trying to test out 15 different adapters so if anybody has as recommendations I’d appreciate it a lot. The only things the charger needs is one USBc and one USB-A.

Good afternoon

I'm looking to install a dashcam in my used Mazda CX-5 and would ideally like to keep the total cost under $650, including installation.

I've looked at a few guide and also options available in Brisbane QLD. I'm not particularly interested in cloud features or subscriptions. I mainly want something reliable that records good-quality footage in case of an accident, or if someone hits my car while it's parked.

The Vugera SV2 Pro looks quite appealing, especially with the current discount, but I can barely find any independent reviews, so I'm unsure how good or reliable it actually is.

Otherwise, I'm leaning towards the VIOFO A229 Pro, although it's a bit more expensive.

My main concern is battery drain when using parking mode. I don't necessarily need 24/7 recording, but I'd like the camera to capture incidents while the car is parked without risking a flat battery.

Has anyone used the Vugera SV2 Pro or have experience with either of these cameras?

I'd appreciate any recommendations, especially regarding reliability, parking mode and battery consumption.

thanks

Hello, my dashcam is hardwired into my car (2025 Toyota Camry) and recently someone hit me while I was parked. It recorded the whole scene and everything but my car was not drivable due to the impact curving the frame of the car into the front wheel. I left it there for at least a week waiting for insurance and everything to get figured out. When the tow truck came to tow my car, they said my car battery was drained and that they had to change and charged for it. I had the camera hardwired for at least a month and it has been fine. Is it drained because I wasn’t driving the car for a bit ? Is it the dashcam’s fault ? Should I still have my dashcam hardwired now that my car is fixed ?

Hello,

I'm looking into getting one of the two below models:

Viofo A119 Mini: currently not available on Amazon, would need to buy direct

Viofo A229 Plus: drawn to having a rear camera, still undecided as this will be my first dashcam and just looking for something simple to set up and can standalone without an app but fine if there is one

Uses: Daily commute and if possible, live recording when car is parked and engine is not running

Issue (more so preference): - I don't want to get into hardwiring which makes the parking mode unavailable. I was wondering if it would be possible to plug the adapter into a cigarette port on a power station?

Example: plug into power station (288wh), when away from car to continue recording. Not sure what the draw is on the dashcam but would like around 1 hour minimum of recording.

Thank you