dudemind
Well-Known Member
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- Feb 15, 2018
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- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 Wrangler JL Rubicon
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- #1
First off, credit to jericbarg and FatBoy01 for their help on this one. If anybody is looking to install a dash camera and have it hard-wired to start and stop automatically with the vehicle, here's a quick walkthrough.
Some notes:
- This method will cause the camera to turn on and off along with ESS, so you may want to tap into a fuse instead if you leave ESS on.
- This method requires that you have the HomeLink buttons on your driver side sun visor.
- If you have a powered mirror, it's probably easier to tap into the wires on that (and there's a good video out there showing what to do). My Rubi does not have a powered mirror.
1) Remove driver side freedom top (or soft top). Might help in final step if you remove passenger side as well, but it's not strictly necessary.
2) Move both visors out of the way and then pop off the large plastic trim piece above/around the mirror (which extends to both sides of the vehicle). Just grab on both sides, near the mirror, and yank diagonally down and towards the back of the vehicle.
3) Open the driver's door and undo the four T-25 Torx screws holding in the plastic trim piece on the roll bar above the driver's door. There are two pointing straight up (accessible from below) and two pointing down at an angle from above (only accessible once top is removed).
4) Pull the plastic piece off the roll bar by first pulling towards the inside of the vehicle to loosen two plastic guide posts and a clip, then pull straight towards the back of the vehicle to dislodge the portion that slips under the A-pillar trim.
5) Still in the roll bar, carefully cut into the white-with-blue-trim fabric wire shielding to expose the three wires inside (red, yellow, black). I just made a long slit, maybe four inches long.
6) Tap your dash cam hard-wiring kit into the yellow and black wires. I snipped both wires, stripped them, twisted them together with the hard-wiring kit wires, then used Posi-Twist connectors. You can achieve this in less-invasive methods if desired if you want to be more careful. Note that if you go with the same route I did, the wires are fairly taut, so you'll likely have to cut off the black tape holding it in a bend in order to give some slack.
7) Wrap the hell out of your work area with electrical tape.
8) Route your wire as needed to get to your dash cam. You can gently pull down on the trim piece from step 2 in order to do so. Nothing else needs to be removed.
8) Re-assemble everything. For the trim piece above/around the mirror, it's helpful to get to eye-level with the opening and and use your fingers to guide the clips into place as you re-align. There are three clips on each side of the mirror and haphazardly trying to shove the piece back on will likely bend/break some of them. Once the clips are surely lined up, a firm press will snap it back into place. Note that there's enough flex in the piece to do one side at a time.
Hope it helps!
Some notes:
- This method will cause the camera to turn on and off along with ESS, so you may want to tap into a fuse instead if you leave ESS on.
- This method requires that you have the HomeLink buttons on your driver side sun visor.
- If you have a powered mirror, it's probably easier to tap into the wires on that (and there's a good video out there showing what to do). My Rubi does not have a powered mirror.
1) Remove driver side freedom top (or soft top). Might help in final step if you remove passenger side as well, but it's not strictly necessary.
2) Move both visors out of the way and then pop off the large plastic trim piece above/around the mirror (which extends to both sides of the vehicle). Just grab on both sides, near the mirror, and yank diagonally down and towards the back of the vehicle.
3) Open the driver's door and undo the four T-25 Torx screws holding in the plastic trim piece on the roll bar above the driver's door. There are two pointing straight up (accessible from below) and two pointing down at an angle from above (only accessible once top is removed).
4) Pull the plastic piece off the roll bar by first pulling towards the inside of the vehicle to loosen two plastic guide posts and a clip, then pull straight towards the back of the vehicle to dislodge the portion that slips under the A-pillar trim.
5) Still in the roll bar, carefully cut into the white-with-blue-trim fabric wire shielding to expose the three wires inside (red, yellow, black). I just made a long slit, maybe four inches long.
6) Tap your dash cam hard-wiring kit into the yellow and black wires. I snipped both wires, stripped them, twisted them together with the hard-wiring kit wires, then used Posi-Twist connectors. You can achieve this in less-invasive methods if desired if you want to be more careful. Note that if you go with the same route I did, the wires are fairly taut, so you'll likely have to cut off the black tape holding it in a bend in order to give some slack.
7) Wrap the hell out of your work area with electrical tape.
8) Route your wire as needed to get to your dash cam. You can gently pull down on the trim piece from step 2 in order to do so. Nothing else needs to be removed.
8) Re-assemble everything. For the trim piece above/around the mirror, it's helpful to get to eye-level with the opening and and use your fingers to guide the clips into place as you re-align. There are three clips on each side of the mirror and haphazardly trying to shove the piece back on will likely bend/break some of them. Once the clips are surely lined up, a firm press will snap it back into place. Note that there's enough flex in the piece to do one side at a time.
Hope it helps!
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