paneuro

I want to fit a dashcam front and rear in my 530D e61. Has anybody did this and if so how did they route the wiring especially the rear camera as it is on the tailgate. Where to mount the camera and is it possible to wire it through the hinge of the tailgate. Also I would like to wire it in such a way that the cameras are live if the car is left in a carpark so that if it gets hit then it gets recorded if its within range. Anybody got any ideas? thanks Paneuro.

Erik Sierra

I installed a forward facing Dash cam a couple months ago and wired it to the cigarette lighter (Not plugged into the cigarette lighter but to it's wiring) your camera will definitely drain your battery if you wire it to something that always has power. In my case, I bought a camera that has an internal battery and parking surveillance mode so it shuts off whenever I turn the car off and starts recording if it senses you've been hit while parked. The camera I have is the Xiaomi 70mai pro. It's pretty good and doesn't break the bank. I don't know if it suits you since it only records in one direction. You will have to buy two if you plan on doing front and back.
Also, I must say a have an e60 no e60 so I can't really help you that much with the tailgate wiring but if you have a cigarette lighter for the rear seats or in the trunk, then it should be really easy to splice into those wires and run them to the dashcam.
Good luck!

paneuro

Hi Eric, I got the cameras today, I bought a Nextbase 522GW and the proper Nextbase camera that piggy backs on the rear window. I also got the proper wiring kit for them as well which takes the power from the cigarette lighter fuse. I just need to find the right fuse. On reading about this system the cameras have a mode when you park the car and switch it of they will start recording if the car is disturbed so I'm quite happy about that. I was just looking for someone who has fitted the wiring for the rear camera as its an E61 and the tailgate glass opens as well so I think it may have to go through where the rest of the wiring goes through at the hinge. If I can't find anybody that's done the job then I will just have to play it by ear. cheers Paneuro.

paneuro

Hi Eric, did you put an in line fuse when you wired the front camera? I intended to use the cigarette lighter fuse to piggyback of but when I got to the front fuse box I discovered that the cigarette lighter fuse is in the luggage area which means I would have to run a wire all the way back . thanks Paneuro.

Erik Sierra

Paneuro, I didn't piggyback from the rear fuse box just because I didn't want the hustle of running all the wires. Instead, I wired a USB port directly to the the cigarette lighter wires that way, I get the 5V the camera uses instead of 12V. I then put a 5amp fuse between the USB port ant the cigarette lighter.

I used this style of fuse

paneuro

Hi Eric, thanks for the reply. that's a little bit complicated for me as I don't have a USB port in the car. how would it be if I took a wire from the cig lighter with 12 volt and fuse that? The camera will accept 12 volt as long as I use the fuse supplied with the hard wiring kit. thanks Paneuro.

Erik Sierra

I don't have a factory USB port either. I bought one of these and wired it as mentioned before.

To access the cigarette lighter cables you'll need to remove your radio and AC controls and then the wood trim that surrounds the gear selector and iDrive knob.
I must say this is for a PRE LCI sedan that has the cigarette lighter next to the ash tray and may be different in your case. You can always check YouTube for a more in depth walkthrough.
This is the video I used to get to the cigarette lighter in MY case.

https://youtu.be/3Jk3h0TCVPg

paneuro

Hi Erik , I think I would rather run the cable to the back of the car than start dragging the dash to bits, on the other hand I have a lighter and a power point on the back of the centre armrest that I might be able to hook into without to much trouble. I am going to phone Nextbase tomorrow and see what they say as I don't want to negate the warranty, its just frustrating when I have the cables next to the front fuse box and nowhere to connect them to anyway I will let you know the outcome. Thanks for your input Paneuro.

Erik Sierra

I think using the power point at the rear of the armrest is the easiest way. Just use a trim tool and pull the surrounding vessel out and you'll have access to the cables. Run them through the edge of the center console to the steering column and up the door frame and windshield and you should be good to go.

paneuro

Thanks Eric, Iwill let you know how I get on. Cheers Paneuro