divinefavor

i just received integrated dashcam from aliexpress today. i was able to replace rain sensor cover with the part and hid wires towards passenger seat to the fusebox in front of the passenger seat. it has 4 wires coming out.
1) red wire says ACC
2) another wire says B+12V
3) ground wire
4) analog yellow audio wire (for voice recording)

it came with no apparent instruction on fuse wiring. does anyone have any idea? the wires seem long enough to run it to the rear left passenger fusebox if i don't want it on all the time. either way can anyone help? i have never done fusebox wiring.

mtm

From what I gather from their instructions:

1) that red wire powers the camera. It says ACC because it is recommended that you connect it to a switched fuse that comes on with ingnition
2) the B+ 12V is for always on fuse - I assume for time/date memory of the camera - should be connected to always on fuse
3) ground is ground
4) you probably don't need the yellow A/V wire - it's for connection to the Nav unit, not sure for what purpose.

you cold make a loop at the end of the wire and wrap it around one of the prongs of the fuse, or you could buy a piggyback fuse holder

divinefavor

LIRS6

You may want to re-think both wires to "always-on" .. depending on where you park, it could cause a battery drain

What I did : https://mbworld.org/forums/gl-class-...ng-hookup.html

Jason

divinefavor

chewychiu

I think I posted this in the other thread. I went to home depot and bought some wires to extend the two cables that came with the cam in order to reach the 2nd row fuse box. The yellow audio cable is not used. So that leaves you the ground, acc, and the b+. I ran the wiring up the headliner, through the top of the airbag pillar and down the (i don't know what the rubber piece is called that run along the door), and down under the floor carpet into the fuse box. I have attached a picture of how I have it plugged in the fuse box

.

divinefavor

thanks! this is exactly what i was looking for. i'm going to try it tonight.
question, did you also get the one from aliexpress and the wire was too short to relay back to backseat fuse? i guess i'll find out soon.

chewychiu

I got it from the vendor that's on here. When I got it last year, I had no idea that I was able to get one from AliExpress. You guys lucked out! LOL

divinefavor

where is your ground wire?
also which wire did you use to extend them? i also have wires little short and need to extend by maybe 20 inches.
lastly is it worth using fuse tap adapter or just hard wire them? if tap adapter, what is the tap adapter spec?

divinefavor

oops. while i was pulling out the top most fuse from right side yellow section the fuse slipped under the fuse box. i can't see where it has fallen onto since the space is too tight.
can anyone take a closer picture so that i know what amperage fuse to replace with? is there anyway to reach the floor of fuse box beneath the fuses?

also which fuse did i just disconnect? i think it is F138 which is active roll stabilization. can someone take a close look at their fuse and tell me the spec of the fuse so i can replace it tomorrow?

divinefavor

ok update.

1) found fuse chart (paper) in back seat fuse box.
2) since the fuse i pulled out and dropped inside the box was critical feature, i pulled out same amp fuse from cigarett lighter and replaced the missing fuse
3) however i still don't get power even with ACC on. i have't hooked up ground wire but shouldn't it still work without it?

mtm

won't work without ground wire connected

divinefavor

ok, i finally did it. my set up is very similar to @chewychiu. except i used fuse tap adapters and used cigarette lighter fuse for ACC wire. i wired ground to one of the bolts next to where 2nd row seat clicks.
recording quality (at least on the phone) seems to be very good. mobile app is below average. it's primarily in chinese but there are enough english to understand what needs to be set. dashcam wifi is just alright. took me about 30 seconds to download 1 min video.

pro:
- price (i had to spend some money on extra wiring, fuse, fuse tap adapter, wire clamps though)
- integrated design and fit. cam is completely hidden and fitment is good.

cons:
- poor instructions (but if you know electrical, it's non-issue)
- wires too short to get to rear seat fuse box. requires extending
- mobile app is sub-par

mtm

Great, congrats. Would you mind posting some footage when you get a chance? Interested to see the angle and also night time video quality.

divinefavor

ando_1

@divenefavor: Would you mind also posting a link to the dashcam your ordered? I am thinking of getting one for my wife's GL450.

Thanks

divinefavor

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/BigB...820233000.html

i've bought another one for my inlaw (ML and not GL but it's compatible) and it works very well.
i'm very satisfied with looks, video quality, and ease of installation.

few things that i don't like:
- plastic part that holds hardwares can come off while you try to put whole piece back in. be careful when you try to push it in. it could mess up angle.
- hardware (chips and etc) is not covered very well. it is exposed from inside. once installed, it should be fine, but during install, you should be careful.
- wiring is short for both GL and ML. i had to extend all 3 wires. if you are hooking into front fusebox, the length of wires is long enough. i hooked it up to rear fusebox
- mobile app is not superb. just barely acceptable. downloaded vidoes via wifi to your phone cannot be accessed from your phone's camera app. only via mobile app.

Honcho

Can you pop the SD card out and drop it into a PC and view the video? I think I see a slot in their pictures where the card goes, but not sure. Even if they don't improve the app and it's not great, I'd still like this cam over any other I've seen due to the way it looks like stock equipment once installed!

divinefavor

yes, the easiest and best way to view videos are by taking out sd card and viewing it on computer. yes it does have micro sd slot on the side so pulling it out is easy.
you can view videos by connecting to cam's wifi and download to your phone. BUT, downloaded vidoes don't appear in your regular photo/video app (at least not for iOS).

overall, i'm really happy with the integrated look, fitment, and video quality. i would not go back to other type of dash cam that gets hung on the window. i have that kind in my other car and i have to constantly adjust angle especially when i drive through rough terrain.

sorry i keep promising to post videos, but have been busy (and lazy) will post soon.

carlosamg50

divinefavor

it's very easy to remove it. i did not use any tool, but you can use the plastic pryer (not sure what it's called) to get a small opening.
there are two plastic pieces total. one that covers rainsensor, which is the one you want to remove. and there is one that covers buttons like phone and sos.
i occasionally ended up opening up both of them even though i was trying to open up the rainsensor cover. i'd use two thumbs to hold down the top cover and use rest of 8 fingers to lightly squeeze and just crank it downward. easier if you work on one side first and work on the other side later. it'd be quite difficult to break it. it's flexible and i've taken it off multiple times w/o problem.

Honcho

Really nice looking unit from AliExpress, but it doesn't fit my 2015 450 with all the Distronic and other sensors up there :-( Anyone want the thing before I scrap it?

Really hoping that some day Mid City Engineering will come out with a box to access all the cameras streams and record/display them!

carlosamg50

chsu74

What size fuse tap? Medium?

divinefavor

i'm pretty sure it was medium