Its not as bad as it seems. Knowing what I know now, I could probably have the front camera wired up and installed in less than 30 minutes with the right tools. This thread was definitely a lot of help. I agree that it sucks mercedes won’t activate the dash cam feature.

 

So the coaxial cable can be run through the tubing and just above the headliner like you said. You just have to pull down the headliner a tad to be able to see what you're doing to slide the cable down the pillar trim and to the area where the fuse box is. I didn't take any pictures since it was dark tonight, but if you need any help I can walk you through it. Funny thing. I didn't read through all your comments the first time and you're right. The coaxial cable supplied with the camera is about 2 feet too short so it looks like I'll be repeating the entire process again this weekend with a longer cable.

 

I think I get the headliner part, but what I am afraid is the trim piece on the tailgate that need to be removed. On my old Nissan, it was held with some clips that, always breaks when I remove it. If you can show me how you do it (and maybe some pictures ), that would be nice, but for now, this is my setup:

Battery pack and battery pack hard wired cable stored here, I might even get a second one and put it on top.


I use the cargo 12v fuse and add a fuse kit. Then use the fuse box mounting bolt as ground. The wire is routed behind the foam on the left side of the fuse box to the top. The *** cable is coming from there also, and through a small gap between the trim piece into and behind the tailgate weatherstrip.

Long cable bridging across. If you can help me with the tailgate trim removal, that would be nice. I think for the headliner, you just need to pull the weatherstrip out, and you can pull the headliner just enough to fish the *** cable through, but it would be nice if you can walk me through your process also.


For the front, I zip tie the two cables onto the factory harness, so that it will not interfere with the airbag.

and location of the front camera.

 

I was able to put the plastic trim remover that BlackVue gave you between the glass and trim and it was enough to get a coat hanger in and I fished the cable through the hole where the harness goes through the hose into the main cabin. I definitely did not want to try prying that one off lol.

 

Aww got it
I will try to do that tomorrow. Definitely don't like the hanging cable especially when its closed

 

So if you feed your cable from the camera between the glass and the trim, it’s a straight shot into the hole with the protective hose. There’s enough room to run your cable through the hose along with the other harness. The top of the hose attaches with a plastic push tab. Press in with your trim remover and it slides down easily.



I used a coat hanger to push the cable behind the trim to this hole and pulled it through.




I removed the trim surrounding the hose for easier access. The trim above the hose on both sides slides upwards. The remaining trim pulls towards you. (Note: the pins that hold the trim each have a felt washer that goes between the pin and the car and can fall off when trying to reinstall). The rubber gasket on the bottom can get in the way. The bottom part of the hose is like a grommet and is press fit into the hole to the roof of the car. It just needs to be pulled out. There’s an arrow on the rubber closest to you where you can slide the trim remover under and pull it out.

Once the hose is free, I compressed the hose like an accordion. I then slid the coat hanger straight through and pulled the cable through.



In the hole in the middle there’s an aligned that is glued to the headliner. This was where I fed the cable down into the ceiling and then it goes straight down the side pillar into the fuse box area. Then just follow the same path as before.

Hopefully this helps. I’m going to have to tidy up my install once the longer cable comes in.

For the front A pillar, how does the trim come off where it’s closest to the dash? Does it just pull towards the middle of the car or pull backwards towards the rear of the car?

 

It might be a bit tricky for me since I already wired everything on the front side, so I will have to fish the cable from headliner to the tailgate.
I will try that tomorrow since its a bit late now and got to get up early to work

If you are talking about the a pillar trim, you have to remove the Airbag logo, there is a metal clip that you have to push toward the windshield (make sure its the bottom one), while pushing it, pull the top part toward the center of the car. When it is lifted from the clip, pull up and back to lift it out of the slot.
If you are talking about the trims next to the doors, you will have to first remove the one next to the glove box.
Open the glove box and use the removal tool to open up the rear part (toward the back of the car, right next to the glove box opening. Once you get it open, you have to take it out and away from the passenger door (you will see the tab at the back). Once you got that open, the small vertical piece is held by one clip at the top. Unclip it, and pull (carefully) the top toward you and lift it up and away. The bottom of that trim is held together with tabs with the bottom trim (the one where the fuse box are). One that one is removed, you can remove the fuse box trim piece.
Let me know if you need more information.

 

I finally manage to get the cable routed so that it is hidden.
Thanks to tinman831 for helping me in removing the trims
The clips that holds the trim piece are those below, and with the black rubber washer:


There are a total of 7 clips holding the entire piece in place, 2 of each side, and 3 in center. Once you know the location of those clip, its very easy to pull out.


And final product

 

Neat!

 

Thanks for sharing your experience @tinman831 and @zengshengliu . I'm sure it will help others here.

 

Hey tinman831 and zengshengliu: Ordered the Blackvue and waiting for it to arrive. Any chance either one of you can link me to where you guys purchased the longer cable for the install? I'm ready from the post that the included cable was not long enough? Trying to be prepaired and getting everything I need.

 

You can order it directly from the BlackVue website. I ordered mine from amazon. You could probably order a generic cable for much less but I don’t know enough of the terms for the type of cabling and connectors to do it. I also ordered mine off amazon. The 6m cable that originally came with mine was just a few feet too short. The 15m cable I ordered was really long but gave me plenty of working room. I think the 10m would be a perfect length but I can’t confirm 100% since I didn’t use it.

 

Ah, thanks man, appreciate it. Didn't realized BlackVue had these (I didn't purchase the dashcam directly from Blackvue so didn't check). Thanks again!

 

I ordered the 10m cable that is perfect for it. It still a little bit too long but easy to hide it.

I ordered the 5.5m power cable from blackvue directly. I need the extra length since I want to have a battery pack at the rear. The original 4.5m is just a bit too short, and i can't seem to find the 5.5m outside blackvue.

 

I am looking to do this install, as well as hardwire a radar detector. Anyone know what size add-a-fuse I need? This is my first MB and don't know which size fuses it uses in the cargo area - Micro2, Micro3 LP, Mini, Mini Reg, etc.?

Thanks.

 

It depends on which fuse slot you are planning to tap into. We use the 12v outlet fuse which uses the ATO (regular) fuse.
There are also Mini fuse slot available, but I am not sure if those are constant or ACC powered.

 

Some additional pics that might help. Pop open the cover for the fuse box in the cargo area. It’s easy to access. Take a look and decide which fuse you want to use.

 

Can anyone point me towards the fuse box in the passenger foot well? I found the VIN plate easy enough but I don't see any panel that could contain a fusebox. I'd like to minimize the number of wires running to the cargo area.

Thanks.

 

The entire foot well trim that the vin plate is connected to needs to be removed.

 

The panel is the same piece where the VIN plate. In order to remove that, you will have to remove the trim piece next to the glove box, then the small vertical piece next to it. Afterward, you will need to remove the trim piece at the bottom of the door, and then finally the trim piece that contains the VIN window can be remove. The fuse box is right behind that panel.

 

So, the dashcam option you see in MBUX does not use the vehicle's cameras but is for a factory accessory unit (translate page): https://blog.mercedes-benz-passion.c...eikanalsystem/.

It was announced at IAA September, 2019, and at least at that time only for the Russian market (€426 F+R).

 

FWIW, the BMW drive recorder feature seems pretty useless as a dash cam as it only records short clips on demand in what appears to be 1080P resolution. We have that in our M8. It is supposed to automatically record during an accident so that part sounds at least helpful. I wish MB and BMW would do it like Tesla.

We ended up installing the Thinkware U1000 4k 60hz front, 2k/30hz rear. Happy so far. Planning to move an existing Thinkware F800 Pro to the GLE350...

 

Finally Mercedes will enable their original dashcams for some 2021 models: A, CLA, GLA and GLB, and it says here that it may even be retrofitted to the previous compatible models. Check it out here: Mercedes Original Dashcam Availability Details.

 

Here's hoping the option becomes available in Canada too.

 

So does it actually not need the extra hardware accessory discussed above?