Diy: Hardwired Dual-channel Dashcam Installation In The Xuv700, With 24 Hour Surveillance

DO-IT-YOURSELF:

DUAL-CHANNEL DASHCAM INSTALLATION IN THE XUV700, HARDWIRED WITH 24-HOUR PARKING SURVEILLANCE AND CONCEALED WIRING.

Hi everyone. Amit here. I person precocious assumed ownership of an XUV 700 AX7L P AT.

One of the archetypal things I wanted to bash was to instal a bully dashcam successful it. I'm not utilized to specified a large car, and wanted documentary grounds if I ever got into trouble. The AX7L comes with a built successful 360-degree camera which tin grounds video onto an optional SD card. But it is constricted to 32GB, hard to entree and the videos are distorted owed to the highly wide space optics. While I person it enabled connected my car, this is lone a plan-B benignant solution. My archetypal prime was inactive a high-quality, dedicated dashcam.

Before delivery, I approached the dealership to instal a dashcam on with the different accessories I had selected. I was bluntly told that since Mahindra did not merchantability dashcams, they could not officially instal it for me. I could either bash it connected my own, oregon outsource it to a 3rd enactment accessory shop.

I caught myself reasoning ? ?How hard tin it be? Watch a fewer videos, speech to a fewer people, larn immoderate caller skills, and conscionable bash it yourself!". "I've been tinkering with worldly since I was a child." "Isn't it fantastic to person immoderate trepidation, uncertainty and excitement successful life?" "What was the constituent of being a subordinate of the planet's astir intelligent taxon if I was not going to usage my encephalon and opposable thumbs?" These, and galore specified delusionary thoughts ran done my caput astatine unusual hours of the night, arsenic I summoned the courageousness to commencement poking astir the innards of my marque caller ride.

At immoderate constituent bravado won implicit reason, optimism triumphed implicit caution, and I made the committedness to bash it myself.

Enough with the prologue, let?s get down to the nitty gritty.

1. The Mission Statement:

a. COMPREHENSIVE. Both beforehand and backmost video recording.
b. CLEAR. Sharp day-time and noise-free night-time footage, with the quality to work fig plates and different good detail.
c. CLEAN. No disposable wires. This was non-negotiable. I hatred clutter and dangling wires and volition ascent a upland to lick this occupation if I person to.
d. SMART. The dashcam should person 24-hour parking surveillance function. I wanted the enactment to grounds adjacent erstwhile the car was off, successful a work centre oregon with a valet, etc.
e. SAFE. No messing with existing electronics, cutting wires, oregon worldly that would void warranty, and compromise information successful immoderate way.

2. The Decision-making Process:

a. Based connected my research, I concluded that immoderate of the champion dashcams utilized a Sony IMX675 (Starvis 2) sensor. After cautious reappraisal of dashcams utilizing this sensor, I chose the 70Mai A510. I had besides contemplated the A810, but decided it was unnecessarily costly and an overkill to grounds 4K videos for dashcam footage. I aslo wanted to debar the added thermal and retention load that came with 4K. People who had first-hand acquisition with the A510 spoke precise highly of it, and the terms was tenable arsenic well.

b. To destruct glare and reflections from the dashboard, I would besides request a CPL filter to use implicit the beforehand camera lens. It is irritating to person these changeless reflections successful the video similar perpetual watermarks! A compatible filter was avialable connected Amazon, and was promptly ordered.

c. Since I wanted the enactment of utilizing 24-hr parking surveillance and time-lapse recording, the dashcam needed to person entree to the car artillery adjacent with the car turned off. Wiring it straight to the artillery was retired of the question, due to the fact that it would drain the artillery dormant successful a fewer days. I learned that for parking surveillance, we request a abstracted accessory called the hardwiring kit. It is made by 70mai but sold separately. One extremity inserts into the camera, and the different extremity has 3 wires, yellowish (ACC), Red (VCC) and Black (GND). In the mediate is simply a tiny container containing the tech that controls the parking surveillance mode and prevents heavy discharge of the car's battery. There are 2 versions of this ? a micro-USB and a Type-C model. Choose the close 1 to debar having to woody with dongles and adapters later. The A510 uses a Type-C USB connector.

d. Have I mentioned that I hatred dangling oregon disposable wires? Well, I HATE them with a vengeance. So, the wires would person to beryllium concealed successful the pillars and the head-liner, arsenic adjacent to 100% arsenic possible. From dashcam installation videos, I noticed that astir radical successfully routed the rear camera cablegram upto the footwear and past conscionable gave up trying to conceal it immoderate further, letting the ligament spell crossed the footwear hinge and onto the rear windshield. I cannot unrecorded with that. Did I notation that I hatred exposed wires? I conjecture I did, but I conscionable privation to beryllium crystal wide astir however vehemently I detest clutter. This meant that I would person to fig retired however to conceal that past spot of rear ligament arsenic well. Ahhh, the holes we excavation for ourselves...

e. The last and astir important measurement would beryllium figuring retired the fuse-box. There is precise constricted accusation disposable online connected the XUV700 fuse-box. Nearly each tutorial seems to urge utilizing an existing fuse and piggy-backing the dashcam wiring connected 1 of them. They urge to usage the "less critical" fuses that volition apt lone harm insignificant functions of the conveyance successful lawsuit of a malfunction. No prizes for guessing that I had a MAJOR occupation with this approach. This car is infamous for having mode much tech than it tin grip and is often maligned for its unreliable electronics. Did I privation to adhd much masala to this piri-piri eye-wash? No sir. I did not privation to interaction the existing fuses if I could debar it. Let sleeping dragons sleep.

Funnily enough, successful the owner's manual, Mahindra has precise helpfully marked galore fuse slots with the connection "spare" but someway nary of the installation guides urge utilizing 1 of these. Logic dictates that if it's a spare, it's not connected to immoderate indispensable system, and is conscionable an bare powerfulness root begging to beryllium used! I person a kink for logical things, truthful I was consenting to prosecute this further. Unfortunately, Mahindra does not people these spare fuse slots with BATT oregon ACC - to differentiate betwixt which ones were permanently powered vs those that were lone powered with the car turned connected respectively. I would person to fig this retired myself.

A basal Multimeter from Amazon, 25 unusual minutes of "how to usage a multimeter" connected Google, and immoderate investigating connected random household electronics (that didn't outgo Rs 30 lakhs) convinced maine that I had capable basal cognition to instrumentality connected the challenge.

Armed with this optimism (or delusion), I prepared myself to dive into the fuse-box, acceptable to commencement stabbing it with the multimeter probes until I had identified 2 spare fuses that I liked, 1 for BATT/VCC and the different for ACC.

Time to buckle up, Dorothy!

The Installation Process:

1. Installing the beforehand dashcam:

I wanted to instal excavation close down the IRVM - wherever it didn't intrude into my imaginativeness portion I was driving. Unfortunately, this is precisely wherever the dealership had stuck the FasTag! - dormant halfway connected the windshield, close beneath the ADAS camera module.

In my opinion, this is the champion determination for the beforehand dashcam. It is retired of show of the operator (behind the IRVM) and perfectly centered connected the car, truthful that the video captured is symmetrical from 1 borderline of the hood to the other. Second champion presumption would beryllium to instal the dashcam beneath the existing FasTag. But that would encroach into the my peripheral imaginativeness and would beryllium an eyesore connected an different beautiful, ample windshield. Third prime would beryllium to spot it connected either broadside of the FasTag. This would origin the camera footage to beryllium disconnected center. You tin take which benignant of irritation you tin unrecorded with and determine for yourself.

Naturally, I went with the astir achy enactment of ripping retired the existing FasTag successful bid to spot the camera successful my preferred location. Perfection exacts a toll (*wink *pun).
For those reasoning I'm a lunatic, fret not - I had already procured a replacement FasTag that I ordered connected the time aft conveyance transportation (Yes, I did enactment a batch of readying into this).

I spent the adjacent 10 mins furiously cleaning the glue residue from the aged FasTag with IPA, a leaf and immoderate microfiber cloth. Once the solid was squeaky clean, I placed the provided electrostatic sticker arsenic instructed successful the dashcam manual and stuck the camera onto it. So far, truthful good.

2. Routing the beforehand dashcam ligament to the fuse-box:

After the beforehand camera was installed connected the windshield, I plugged successful the USB C cablegram provided with the parking surveillance kit into the camera and past routed it on the ADAS camera module up into the head-liner, tucking it successful utilizing the provided trim tool.

This ligament past travelled to the close broadside nether the head-liner's guardant borderline till it reached the A-pillar. Then the ligament was tucked down the A-pillar and traveled down to the fuse-box. There's a drawback here, truthful delight work the adjacent portion carefully.

3. Don't strangle the airbag:

This is wherever my installation deviates from astir tutorials I person seen online. While immoderate radical urge conscionable taking the ligament crossed the A-pillar wherever the integrative pillar lodging meets the head-liner and past proceed down into the fuse-box, I deliberation that's a truly dumb happening to bash if your car has broadside airbags.

Doing this fundamentally stretches your ligament crossed an explosive instrumentality (the airbag is simply a pyrotechnic marvel - fundamentally a state bomb) and I don't privation thing moving crossed it if it ever decides to deploy during an accident. My solution? Partially detach the A-pillar truthful you tin spot the airbag, and way the camera cablegram BEHIND it alternatively than successful beforehand of it.

It involves a small other labour and immoderate grade of contortionism, but hey! possibly it won't termination you successful a crash, truthful I'm guessing it's got to beryllium worthy it! The aforesaid process would beryllium repeated for the rear dashcam ligament a small later.

4. Routing the rear camera ligament to the boot:

This is truly casual - conscionable bash what you did with the beforehand camera cable, but erstwhile you're crossed the A-pillar (behind the airbag) alternatively of going down the pillar, proceed horizontally successful a consecutive enactment beneath the rubber upwind strips and tuck the ligament into the head-liner (NOT nether the upwind strips wherever it is squished by the doorway each clip it closes, but UNDER the headliner - by pushing it successful a small deeper with the trim tool. Go crossed the B and C pillar successful a akin fashion. No worries astir curtain airbags present due to the fact that ligament is moving parallel to them and volition beryllium pushed away/downwards during airbag deployment ? but it won't get successful the way. This volition bring the ligament each the mode into the trunk/boot of the car upto apical halfway of the rear frame.

Here, you person to marque a choice. You tin take to conscionable hop the ligament crossed the spread (hinge) and plug it into the rear camera unit. This volition permission immoderate ligament exposed and you volition spot it each clip you open/close the boot, and besides successful the rear presumption mirror. You cannot debar this arsenic it is indispensable to permission the ligament sufficiently slack to let for footwear excursion portion opening, and the ligament volition clump up during footwear closure.

The 2nd enactment is to transmission it nether the rear headliner, astir the extremity of the airbag (leave capable slack to forestall tangling with the curtain airbag), and retired done the metallic framework of the rear of the car. This requires the usage of a cablegram shuttle. I did not person one, truthful I conscionable crafted a makeshift 1 utilizing zip-ties. From here, the ligament tin spell into the accordion-like connecting conduit that spell from the assemblage of the car into the footwear doorway frame, wholly concealed from presumption and retired done the halfway of the door. Like each things worthy doing, this 1 requires a small other work.

Concealing that past agelong of ligament necessitates removal of the footwear doorway apical trim. It is casual capable erstwhile you cognize what to do. There are 2 achromatic panels held unneurotic with sturdy clips (one connected each side) which conceal 2 screws holding the footwear doorway apical trim successful place. These panels tin beryllium grabbed and pulled distant safely - the pins don't interruption easily. Each removed sheet exposes 1 screw connected either broadside which needs to beryllium removed. The footwear doorway trim tin past beryllium pried distant and placed successful the boot.

This exposes the doorway framework and the cablegram tin present beryllium brought to its last destination done the doorway frame, to the rear camera location.

5. Installing the rear camera:

This is reasonably straightforward. Choose an instal location, cleanable with IPA, spot the electrostatic sticker connected solid and region each bubbles. Then peel the adhesive backing insubstantial from the camera equine and instrumentality it onto the electrostatic film. Ideally you should instal it dormant halfway connected the rear windshield, and debased capable that the lens is down the rear wiper sum country (thanks to @batterylow for the suggestion). This volition guarantee that you get wide visibility successful airy rainfall oregon erstwhile the solid is soiled and you usage the wiper to clean/wash it. Some radical mightiness privation to instal it connected the footwear fascia alternatively of the solid (in bid to usage prima shades) but the adhesion volition beryllium questionable and the much spread determination is betwixt camera and glass, the worse the representation prime is apt to beryllium (coz subject and optics and stuff). But that's a idiosyncratic choice, truthful you bash you. Just marque definite the camera lens is betwixt 2 of the defogger heating lines, to debar getting that enactment successful the video recording. My determination of prime was dormant halfway but high-mounted arsenic I cannot basal a blob blocking my rear view.

Finally, link the abbreviated camera cablegram to the main rear cablegram that you person truthful painstakingly routed to the backmost and unafraid the coupling with immoderate electrical tape. Then clump up the excess ligament and unafraid it successful a cubby-hole successful the doorway frame. This is to forestall it from rattling astir aboriginal and giving yourself 2 footballs successful the footwear alternatively of one!

6. Fuse-box installation:

This was the lone harrowing portion of the full project, due to the fact that I was going to beryllium mucking astir wrong the precocious ampere bay of a 2-day aged car I had ne'er worked connected successful my life. However, if you privation to debar immoderate accent and don't privation to spell done the full process of investigating each fuse with a multimeter, you tin take to conscionable usage the fuses that I ended up selecting - it's up to you, not everyone enjoys pain.

The archetypal measurement is to get entree to the fuse box. This involves removing a sheet located successful the broadside connected the driver?s side. It's a pull-away sheet and precise sturdy - you are improbable to interruption it (but who americium I to underestimate you?). Still, conscionable beryllium a small careful, okay? Peeling distant the rubber beading moving implicit the sheet helps successful its removal. Once you yank the sheet away, it volition uncover 2 screws holding the fuse-box screen successful place. There are 2 much screws connected the bottommost of the sheet that request to beryllium removed (at slightest connected the AX7L) earlier the sheet tin beryllium partially pulled distant to exposure the fuse-box. Mind you, this sheet has switches connected by wires starring into the ECU truthful don't propulsion distant excessively hard. All the enactment progressive tin beryllium completed without disconnecting these wires. Detailed instructions of however to entree the fuse-box arsenic good arsenic the fuse diagram are precise helpfully provided by Mahindra successful your owner?s manual (Yes sir, I work each 400+ pages).

Next, I pulled retired my shiny caller multimeter, acceptable it to DC Voltage mode and selected 20V (next higher mounting than what voltage you're looking for) arsenic I was looking for 12V DC. Since I person already explained I did not privation to interaction existing fuses, I lone went aft the spare slots. There are aggregate spare fuses connected the board: F1, F4, F8, F12, F13, F32, F45 and F52 rated for antithetic amperes.

For dashcam purposes, 5 amps is capable (and that's the fuse that comes with the hard-wiring kit), truthful we tin usage immoderate of the 15A oregon 20A rated slots, leaving the higher rated slots for aboriginal projects (*wink, *wink). Make definite the car ignition is disconnected astatine this point. Touch the achromatic probe to immoderate adjacent bare-metal constituent connected the car chassis (ground) and the reddish probe to the metallic interaction successful the fuse slot that you privation to test. Each slot has 2 recessed metallic contacts inside. These are the points that the fuse comes successful interaction with erstwhile it is inserted. One of the points is connected to powerfulness root and the different is an air-gapped interaction terminal intended to clasp the different extremity of the fuse, and is usually connected to the people device. Once the fuse is inserted, existent flows from the root interaction crossed the fuse into the different terminal and yet to the connected instrumentality (dashcam successful this case). If the flowing existent exceeds the fuse rating, it melts (blows) the fuse to interruption the circuit and disconnects the device, preventing damage. This existent travel is uni-directional, truthful you person to trial some interaction points successful the slot to fig retired the absorption of existent flow. One of the contacts should work 12V and the different should work 0V. Upon inserting fuse, some volition work 12V arsenic they are present connected with a fuse and the existent is escaped to travel across. You person to guarantee that the hardwiring kit is installed specified that the prong astatine the extremity of the fuse cablegram (away from the wire) is touching the root pin. If you reverse it and insert, the existent volition bypass the fuse and travel straight into the ligament and its connected device, thereby affording nary extortion to the car oregon the accessory. This is unsafe - you volition practically beryllium forcing a nonstop transportation betwixt the car artillery and the dashcam without immoderate safety, truthful recognize this decently earlier proceeding. I anticipation this besides explains the basal principles of a fuse.

On slots that are connected straight to artillery (VCC), the multimeter volition amusement ~ 12V speechmaking connected the root terminal adjacent erstwhile the car ignition is turned off. This is your VCC slot. This volition beryllium utilized for debased powerfulness actions similar parking surveillance. Write it down, and besides enactment which is the root pin, to find absorption of travel of current. Some spare slots volition amusement 0V connected some interaction points erstwhile tested with the multimeter. These are not VCC slots and whitethorn either beryllium ACC slots oregon a conscionable a dummy slot.

Once you person identified the VCC fuses, absorption your attraction connected the spare slots which were showing 0V astatine some contacts erstwhile car was turned off. Now crook connected the ignition and re-test these slots. You volition spot that abruptly 1 of the contacts connected these starts speechmaking ~12V and the different reads 0V. Note the fuse fig and absorption of existent flow. On turning disconnected the engine, powerfulness volition driblet backmost to 0V connected some the contacts successful a fewer seconds. This is an ACC slot. This volition beryllium utilized to powerfulness the dashcam during moving of the car. Congratulations! you person present identified your ACC and VCC fuse slots.
I person utilized F4 for ACC and F32 for VCC.

Select the due brace of reddish and yellowish cables. Three sets of antithetic designs are provided ? each fits a antithetic car manufacturer?s fuse slot, and Mahindra uses the narrowest plan among the three. Each comes with a 5 Amp fuse pre-installed.

Connect these cables to the hardwire kit?s corresponding wires (same color) by crimping them successful the provided connector. Now insert these fuse-equipped cablegram connectors successful the ACC and VCC slots, portion ensuring the close orientation.

There is 1 much ligament successful the hardwiring kit - the achromatic 1 labelled GND (ground). This simply has to beryllium connected to the bare metallic chassis of the vehicle. Choose immoderate bare-metal bolt adjacent and pinch the achromatic ligament nether it. I soldered the achromatic ligament to a spade/fork terminal earlier doing that arsenic that is the due mode to bash it, but you tin take to conscionable usage the stripped ligament without a terminal to marque a loop and unafraid it nether the bolt.

With this done, the electrical connections are complete.

Make definite the micro-SD paper is installed successful the camera. Now insert the USB-C cablegram into the beforehand dashcam and crook connected the ignition to powerfulness it utilizing the ACC source. The camera volition initialize and you tin spell done the set-up process and commencement continuous recording. Go into settings and past effort mounting up parking surveillance. If you person done your connections properly, the dashcam volition fto you acceptable up this function. You tin take betwixt signaling connected collision detection oregon continuous time-lapse signaling - the second is much artillery intensive. If not, it volition accidental that parking surveillance cablegram not detected, and you'll person to re-trace your steps and spot wherever you went wrong. After this is done, crook disconnected the motor and successful a fewer minutes the dashcam volition spell into parking surveillance mode (70Mai models really denote this successful a tinny, Chinese-accented voice).

Review the footage recorded connected some cameras connected your telephone - NOT connected the tiny dashcam screen, and tweak the alignment, mirroring and rotation to your liking.

Clean up the car and enactment everything backmost together:

Replace the rear doorway sheet with screws and drawback backmost the 2 broadside panels, re-seat each the rubber seals and upwind strips, drawback the A-pillar closed, and yet re-assemble the fuse-box aft tying up the excess wires and tucking them distant down the fuse panel. Basically, undo each the mayhem you?ve caused truthful far.

And that?s it, you?re done!

Grab a beverage of your prime and marvel astatine the genius that you are, having flooded what appeared to beryllium an insurmountable hurdle conscionable days ago, each connected your own. You go, Tiger!!

Until adjacent time, Ciao.

The Hardware I purchased for this project:

a. 70mai A510 Dual-Channel DashCam - Rs 13,999
b. 70mai Type-C Hardwire Cable Kit with 24 hr Parking Monitoring with fuse adapters - Rs 1,999
c. Sandisk 256GB High endurance Micro SD Card (128GB would person been enough, but YOLO) - Rs 2,200
d. Nextdigitron CPL filter for 70Mai A510 beforehand dashcam (Thanks to @batterylow for the link) - Rs 999
e. Themisto TH-M98 Digital Multimeter - Rs 798

Other miscellaneous tools that I utilized (I person astir of these lying astir astatine home):

1. Philips caput screwdriver
2. Trim instrumentality for tucking wires into doorway trims and head-liner (I conscionable utilized the 1 that came with the dashcam)
3. Headlight/torch/portable airy source. Difficult to spot intelligibly into the fuse-box without outer airy unless you are moving successful wide daylight.
4. USB powered instrumentality - for carnal comfortableness (I unrecorded successful Chennai). Trust maine - you don't privation to beryllium doing this portion sweating (Trust me, you'll beryllium sweating if you're doing this for the archetypal clip :P). You'll apt abbreviated retired thing oregon astatine the precise slightest muck up the achromatic interiors portion struggling with the upholstery and the fuse-box/wiring. Also, I wouldn't urge Dorothy'ing astir successful the fuse-box with the AC and motor moving either, until you person it figured out.
5. Gloves (disposable nitrile oregon plastic, not the rubber type) - utilized portion handling upholstery to forestall smudges, sweat and and lipid marks connected the oh-so-white interiors.
6. Electrical tape
7. Wire stripper/pliers for cutting, stripping and crimping.
8. Zip ties (used for cablegram shuttling for footwear doorway ligament concealment)
9. Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) - utilized for cleaning solid earlier applying the electrostatic stickers provided with the dashcams. You DO NOT privation to instrumentality the camera adhesive straight onto windshield - it has large attachment issues, and does not judge successful giving 2nd chances. IPA tin assistance region stubborn glue residue similar that near down by a FasTag. It?s a fantastic general-purpose solvent.
10. My spot aged tool-box with its eclectic postulation of random tools.

P.S. Up until this project, I hadn't adjacent seen a dashcam successful existent life. Thankfully, the net is simply a treasure-trove of content, created by DIY enthusiasts and technically adept samaritans who tin thatch you astir anything. I learnt a batch of how?s and what?s from these resources. There is besides a batch of contented by radical who person nary thought what they are doing, oregon however terribly incorrect they are - but are not shy to showcase it publicly. These radical were arsenic adjuvant successful teaching maine what NOT to do.

I besides got to cognize immoderate precise adjuvant TeamBHP members and XUV700 owners who guided and encouraged maine connected this project. Some of the honorable mentions are @careind (Indhar), @batterylow (Rahul), Bala, @rudra_shiv (Arun) and galore benignant folks successful the XUV700 Tamil Nadu community.

I anticipation this acquisition tin beryllium of immoderate assistance to those looking for accusation connected the topic.

Post recognition bonus: The sharpest amongst you indispensable beryllium wondering what I did with the FasTag? Well, I americium presently trialing its placement successful the precocious near country (co-driver side). So far, it has worked good crossed toll plazas. I americium waiting to corroborate that is works astatine malls and airdrome arsenic good earlier I permanently instrumentality it there.