[theeclectic]

Bought a front and rear dashcam with battery for a hardwire install on my 2018 540Xi. I called a shop with a good reputation and they quoted me $300 for 3 hours of work, which seems a bit high, but I wanted to see what others' experiences have been.

[claykin]

Originally Posted by theeclectic

Bought a front and rear dashcam with battery for a hardwire install on my 2018 540Xi. I called a shop with a good reputation and they quoted me $300 for 3 hours of work, which seems a bit high, but I wanted to see what others' experiences have been.

Assuming they do it right, 3 hours of work is reasonable. They have to disassemble the A and C pillars as well as the sill trim to run wires. Then to fuse box in glove box and to mount parking mode battery. Not trivial to do it right.

Which camera did you get?

[theeclectic]

Assuming they do it right, 3 hours of work is reasonable. They have to disassemble the A and C pillars as well as the sill trim to run wires. Then to fuse box in glove box and to mount parking mode battery. Not trivial to do it right.

Which camera did you get?

Thanks! Yeah, after talking to some other people, they seemed to agree $300 wasn't unreasonable. Plus they have a good reputation for these type of installs.

Bought the new Viofo A129 Pro Duo. Did it based mostly on reviews against the Blackvue and Thinkware and how it compared, not to mention the price difference!

[kitster]

Originally Posted by theeclectic

Bought a front and rear dashcam with battery for a hardwire install on my 2018 540Xi. I called a shop with a good reputation and they quoted me $300 for 3 hours of work, which seems a bit high, but I wanted to see what others' experiences have been.

Personally I would just fit it myself. Hiding the wires is pretty easy but takes the longest (time wise) and the hardest part is identifying the correct fuses and plugging in the add-on-fuse. I went one step further and added the thinkware iVolt external battery to my F770.

Save the $300 and buy an external battery

[roxxor]

I agree with Kitster. I found a good deal on a BlackVue 750, and went with the Blendmount for the front mirror and attached the rear to the trim for the third brake light. I used the hard wire kit with an add-a-fuse, and it was really simple. Running the rear camera wire was what took the longest to make sure it was run right along the trim, but total time was maybe 2 and a half hours and that was going at a relaxed pace. I however didn’t go with an additional battery.

[High Flier]

My installation cost $0.00. This post was very helpful: https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1457675

I know that my wires will not interfere with the air bags. The wires to the rear camera are under the floor trim.

I'm using an external battery for my Blackvue DR750S-2ch which is located in the glove box. Out of sight, but well-ventilated and easy to access.

[DobermanLV]

Originally Posted by High Flier

My installation cost $0.00. This post was very helpful: https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1457675

+1 on using those instructions, install took about an hour. Easy peasy, difficulty level 2/10

[mittu]

Cabin fuse box (z44) is located under the dashboard in the right side footwell.
see attahced image. BMW have convenietly grouped fuses for us

Slot f59 should be empty. its allocated for acc.

Tap into any fuse circled yellow if you need continous/ permanent power to run dashcam whist car is off/ parked, but you car will display an annoying battery drain notification!.

[mittu]

Ive hardwired my thinkware dashcam straight to the battery. Did it myself. Bits only cost me £5.
It's been 6 months and ran flawlessly so far.

Will be the same for any dash cam that requires continuous power.

Tapping into a fuse for continuous power (enable parking mode features) causes an annoying battery drain notification.

dashcam manufactures/ retailers will tell you to buy an external dashcam battery module, which only last about 8-10hrs per charge and costs £200 ($250) + installation.

It cost me £5 and I did it myself!
It's pretty straightforward. wiring is simple.
Im not a "car guy", so if I can do it, then others can too.

It'll take 2hrs. Well worth it, and can be used for future dash cams/ other devices you'd like to power when the car is off.


for an additional £5 I installed a 12v socket in the boot + descrete usb out for powering GPS tracker and mobile hotspot.

Decent cameras have a built in voltage cut-off so you can safely leave it in parking more for 2-3 weeks without fear of draining your battery.