I have been looking for a better place to position my dashcam and hit upon behind the interior mirror on the passengers side (it will be out of sight and reach therefore not a distraction while driving). On closer inspection I see that there is a square mark on the back of the mirror, is this a sensor of some kind? I thought all sensors are in the large plastic section flush with the screen. I don't want to block any sensors with the dashcam and prevent anything else from working properly. Any advice great fully accepted.

Thanks,

Hi

 

This will be the sensor for auto dimming of the mirror so should not be blocked. I've put mine on the drivers side where it is clear. Most cameras can be set so the screen switches off after a minute or so. Once on the move the only thing we see is the little charge indicator.

 

Another advantage with the drivers side is that that's the side with the fusebox on so you can do a neat install that doesn't need to cross the main mirror mount.

I thought it was the sensor for the auto-wipers

Well, mine is mounted behind the mirror on the passenger side,  and everything works fine.  The dimming sensor is on the front of the mirror, not the back...otherwise it wouldn't pick up the light coming in through the rear window.  I had mine installed by Halfords...all wiring invisible.

 

 

Maybe it does both? This from the manual. 

 

Automatic mirror dimming only operates correctly if the light striking the sensor is not affected by other objects. The sensors are located on the front and back of the mirror

Maybe the dimming function works on a comparative method so needs sensors front and back. I fancied fitting on the passenger side as with rhe mirror tilted for use, there is more room on that side. However, the drivers side will be a neater fit and more convenient if needing to press the emergency "Save" function button at any time (although I know that it shouldn't be necessary.

Thanks for the help all.

I have my camera tucked up behind the mirror, on the left hand side.

no issues with the mirror dimming.

the headlining has enough movement in it to be able to tuck the camera power cable behind it out of sight.

there is also enough flex in the A pillar cover to tuck the cable behind its from edge all the way down to the fuse box.

I'd like to add a tip about hiding the cable from the dashcam. I have arthritis in my hands and wrists and so don't have enough strength to lift various covers so that the cable(s) can be hidden behind. My cable is fitted behind the rubber door seal, it is much easier to manipulate and has been in place for 6 months with no sign of the cable coming loose nor are there any noticeable problems with the door seal.

 

Fred 

Just like Zarniwoop and Cumbrian28, my dashcam* is mounted behind the mirror on the passenger side and I have not noticed any deleterious effects on auto-dimming or auto wipers.

 

It's worth being aware that careless dashcam positioning may breach the Construction and Use regs.  The rules are summarised in this DfT document, extract below:

 

Quote

 

In order to better define what may be permissible the windscreen is divided into Zones:

• Zone A is a vertical area 290mm wide, centred on the steering wheel and contained within the swept area of the windscreen (this area is 350mm wide on vehicles over 3.5 tonnes);

and

• Zone B is the remainder of the swept area of the windscreen.

For simplicity, surface damage, cracks or discolouration, are simply referred to as damage.

 

In Zone A, a single damaged area shall be contained within a 10mm diameter circle. A combination of minor damage areas shall not seriously restrict the drivers view. Windscreen stickers, or other obstructions, shall not encroach more than 10mm.

In Zone B, a single damaged area shall be contained within a 40mm diameter circle. Windscreen stickers, or other obstructions, shall not encroach more than 40mm.

 

 

A dashcam fitted to the right of the rear view mirror may end up encroaching too far into Zone A.

 

Note also the statement that: "Original vehicle design features and drivers aids, such as sun visors, are allowed."  So the rear view mirror itself is legal, despite the fact that it encroaches by a lot more than 4cm into Zone B.  (One reason for this is that the forward-facing sensors in the mirror mount need to be able to "see" out of the bit of the screen that the mirror is stuck to, so it needs to be swept.)

 

It has been pointed out that modern cars typically have a much larger swept area on their windscreens than older designs, which makes it difficult to mount stuff on the windscreen - in fact behind the mirror is often the only place you can do it legally, because the mirror - by being a legal obstruction to vision within Zone B - creates space behind it that you can mount stuff in.  (It has also been observed that police vehicles often have sizable bits of equipment mounted in Zone B - NPR cameras, for example - but as far as anyone knows no special exemption has ever been granted to allow this, so in theory police cars so fitted do not comply with the C&U regs!)

 

The other rule about dashcams is that they must not display the live view from the camera (or even a recording) while you're driving.  This is why most if not all of them will switch from live view to some kind of  screensaver (like the Nextbase GPS speed display) or simply a blank screen.  This is governed by section 109 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, which forbids the the use of:

 

"...cinematographic apparatus used to display anything other than information—

(a) about the state of the vehicle or its equipment;

(b) about the location of the vehicle and the road on which it is located;

(c) to assist the driver to see the road adjacent to the vehicle; or

(d) to assist the driver to reach his destination."

 

Exception (a) allows the use of a GPS speedo.  Exceptions (b) and (d) allow the use of satnav.  Exception (c) allows the use of reversing cameras, but not a forward-facing dashcam because the driver should already be able to see that view anyway (fans of Captain Scarlet should note that the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle would not be compliant with C&U regs - not too much of a surprise I suppose, given that it doesn't even have a windscreen!)  It's quite easy to spot when people are enjoying their own in-car CCTV** - I've seen it myself more than once in cars ahead of me - so I expect it would be easy for the police to pull anyone who broke this rule (if there ever were any police out there keeping an eye on what people get up to one the roads these days ).

* Previously I was using various models from the Mini dashcam range but I've now got a refurbished Nextbase 402G which is a bit bigger, but has the benefit of a GPS speed display.

** I recently saw someone with a 10" tablet propped up against their windscreen directly in front of them.  They appeared to be following a route on Google Maps, which is in theory a legal use of "cinematographic equipment" - but positioned where it was it clearly contravened the rules about obstruction of vision.

Edited 17 February, 20179 yr by ejstubbs

I have mine on passenger side of rear view mirror and no obvious issue with dimming function

I have mine on the passenger side, mounting it as I have it doesn't interfere with the mirror sensor

As far as I know the mirror needs two sensors for auto dimming. If you stick your finger over the one pointing forward (during daylight) you can make the mirror dim. Shine a torch on the other sensor and it will dim even more.

 

edit as I don't seem to be able to type in English.

Edited 21 February, 20179 yr by andy-fisher

On 21/02/2017 at 21:50, andy-fisher said:

As far as I know the mirror needs two sensors for auto dimming. If you stick your finger over the one pointing forward (during daylight) you can make the mirror dim. Shine a torch on the other sensor and it will dim even more.

 

edit as I don't seem to be able to type in English.

Which is why the auto lights turn on when the sun is very low and directly behind.

it makes you more visible to oncoming vehicles with the sun in their faces.

To add to this thread:

 

I have just mounted a BlackVue DR380G-HD behind the rear view mirror on the passenger side, and no issues with dimming function.

Don-Kiddick wrote: I have mine on the passenger side, mounting it as I have it doesn't interfere with the mirror sensor

 

Don, how did you get the sucker to stay on?  I tried it on my Octavia but the dot-matrix section didn't let the mount stay up.

Now I need something like it for the new Yeti.  Otherwise I'm looking at a combined dashcam and interior mirror as one unit.

Cheers

Clive

26 minutes ago, Clive1942 said:

how did you get the sucker to stay on?  I tried it on my Octavia but the dot-matrix section didn't let the mount stay up.

 

The mounts that use a 3M double sided sticky pad hold up well.

10 hours ago, Urrell said:

The mounts that use a 3M double sided sticky pad hold up well.

 

And when the time comes, they are not too difficult to remove with the aid of some kite string or a few lengths of cotton twisted together.

Thank you.  I had tried some black number plate sticking strips but they were useless being quite thin so had no gap-filling ability.  Somewhere I read about using the end of a Pringles tube with silicon sealer but that failed too!

Before you do anything else make sure you clean the area the silicone was on. 

Once that is done try some 3M number plate pads.

Thanks.  Octy VRS is now sold and Yeti here since Thursday.  Now I'm looking at the possibility of a combined dashcam and mirror unit.  I think it will be worth starting a new thread for that.

Cheers

Clive

On 4/16/2017 at 23:08, Urrell said:

 

The mounts that use a 3M double sided sticky pad hold up well.

 

I use one of these with my NextBase dashcam (others are available).  You just need to swap the tripod mount on a balljoint for the balljoint-mounted clip that comes with the NextBase.  The 3M adhesive pads themselves are readily available eg on eBay - they're usually sold for GoPros but they fit the cheapo mount base just fine.

On 17/04/2017 at 18:45, Llanigraham said:

Before you do anything else make sure you clean the area the silicone was on. 

Once that is done try some 3M number plate pads.

 

And clean any area you are sticking sticky things to with brake cleaner or surgical alcohol.