How To Install a Dash Camera, Tips & Tricks on Hardwiring a Thinkware Dash Camera 

This has to be the best instructional video ever made, that tech guy needs to be in a trade school teaching apprentices, he's brilliant and completely comprehensible throughout the entire shoot, well done.

Excellent video. just a couple tips. make sure the unit you purchased works before doing a full install and run your rear wiper and make sure the camera will view thru the small area that gets cleared by the wiper (for those of us that drive in snow and or dirt roads).

I have recently decided to install a dash and rearview cam. This is the best install video I have seen. It also made me decide to just run the cables down the side of the front window and along the floor underneath the seats and mats.

This video is indeed helpful. As a electrician it was refreshing to see and listen to you walking through the process. If followed no one will be wrong. The route of the cables and pulling apart the various areas was most important. Thanks.

Very good video but two cautions if someone is doing this themselves. First, always make sure the front to rear cable is routed behind any airbag unit when installing the cable. If the cable is in front of the airbag unit it may not deploy correctly and increase the risk of injury in an accident. Second, some high end car audio systems have a pin code. If the power is removed from the audio system by unplugging it, you will need the pin code to reactivate the system when you plug it back in. Make sure you know the pin code before starting the dash cam installation.

Very thorough and comprehensive video. You are obviously experienced and comfortable completing this installation. For those less experienced I would offer this advice… Aside from a plug and play device, any time you are tinkering with anything electrical in your vehicle, disconnect the negative battery terminal before you begin.

Best Dashcam DIY install I've seen. Easy-to-understand Aussie voice also.

Video very well done. Warning for handy people that are installing on newer vehicles be very cautious of side airbags. DO NOT RESTRICT THEM.

One tip for joining & soldering wires, stagger the joins. Give 3 to 4 mm ( about 1/4 inch) between joints. This is to prevent accidental shorts between the joints.

I bought a dashcam(Thinkware X700) with the hardwire kit and while I don't consider myself a clueless idiot I had never approached anything like this ever. I have watched a few videos in the past on how to do this thing properly and I ended up just closing the video halfway through because it never showed me the things you did. I had a functioning dashcam but I didn't really want to just yank the interior out in case I broke them, you are the only person who demonstrated this and how easy and effortless it is to do so. I have now hidden 90% of my dashcam cables, unfortunately the front cables are not doable as the dash is just too loose, the wires fall out after a few miles. Not you, you were 100%. I just need some tape to keep them from falling out.

One of the best video for dashcam installation in hatchback / SUV. shows the proper installation method for a car like that. Also answers a lot of small questions that will help a lot if you listen carefully. For example, I was thinking what type of lubricant to use while passing the cable through the rubber gromet thing on the back of the vehicle and this video also describs you can simply use soapy water . Well done. very casually done video. made it look like we call can do it.

Good info never gets old. Recently bought a Thinkware F200 Pro dual channel dashcam and spent the next 24 hrs immersed in RU-vid tutorials on installation. Came back to your video as perhaps the most comprehensive how-to tutorial. Also didn't hurt that you made it look easy - enough so that I gave it a go. Happy to report that the install went well - a couple of small glitches, but nothing insurmountable. Also liked your explanation and use of sound system/radio/stereo to hook up hardwire power and accessory - much easier than fiddling with fusible links, etc . Kudos for an excellent (and helpful) production.

That's the best video I've ever seen about wiring in front & rear cameras. I've had a wifi camera in the back & they have always been very hit & miss to operate. I will hard wire it from now on. Thanks for a very informative & helpful video.

one of THE most useful and comprehensive tutorial in installing a rear dash cam. i applied it and its 100% effective. THANK YOU!

Great job explaining it. I'm going to have someone more agile than myself, mate, to do it on my car. Thanks for sharing your time and experience. You are definitely worth the value you charge to do any installation.

Very rarely comment on videos but that was impressive presentation and with no distracting cheesy music. Very well explained and highlighted options (eg via rear grommets for professional neatness) & pitfalls (eg radio code) etc, At start thought your install cost was expensive but with work, detail and care put into it I'd be happy pay it. Well done guys.

After watching this video I am confident to install this device in my vw golf by myself . Thank you for this wonderful tutorial.

One thing I would have added to the rear camera is if you are looking for the clearest possible view position it just down far enough that the tip of the rear wiper can clean the glass in front of it. My back window gets filthy and covered in snow in the winter which could make it harder to read licence plates. Great video lots of detail.

Excellent video. I followed your guide to route the cable from the front dash cam to rear cam on the hatch. It took a little patience to get the wire through the rubbers into the hatch but its worth it as the installation looks so tidy. Many Thanks

great video! Everyone seems to skip over how to get the cable into the wire tubes between the headliner and the liftgate. This gives me all the answers I need to finish this up tomorrow. Much appreciated

WOW!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ALL OF THIS INSTALLATION PROCESS!!! NOW, I REALLY DO NEED TO INSTALL A DASH-CAM IN EACH VEHICLE I OWN, INCLUDING, ON MY MOTORCYCLE!!!...

Thank you so much. This has been the complete video from start to finish. Others they have cable visible which is not good. At least this one the majority of cables are hiding.

Thank you for taking the time and sharing your experience, need more people like you in this world that are willing to help instead of looking for $$$$. God bless.

I've watched numerous how-to videos on this installation, and I have to say, this is probably the best one I have seen. Keep up the good work guys!!!!

I bought the same and not only had to take dash apart I had to remove the engine and transmission. Overall pretty easy once you get the entire car apart.. I recommend doing this when you have time. Instructions said a day but realistic is six months

This video here is very comprehensive and detailed, most of them just skip thru and suddenly the camera is hooked up lol. Thanks.

OMG, This talented man should be doing videos professionally for any and all types of installations seeing as how he is thorough and concise with his explanations. I give an AAA rating to you sir. Bravo. :)

Dash cams should be built into all cars as mandatory feature, front and back

Just watched here in the UK. I’m 86, best instructional video ever, well done x😊

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. It has really helped me to do a professional job and not just wires everywhere!!!

Best dash-cam install video so far. I was thinking of installing a rear view mirror type but i think this is better

This video is a blessing. I stumbled upon it. I just got a camera for my 2013 RAV4. It has push button, but should be about the same. Except backwards. Lol. Thank you for this. I bought the Pinnacle 4K Dash Cam with GPS, WIFI, 4 inch LCD. It has 4 cameras.

Excellent video- really good explanations and great close ups when they are most needed. Thanks! I installed a Blackvue in my Lexus RX in just over one hour. My 2019 Audi Q5 is another story- a pain in the rear. Changing the cabin filter is an exercise in contortion (poorly designed). The glove box removal has more hard to reach screws than the entire Lexus install. A hint for an Audi install- you can get power from your rear view mirror. In short, I am very impressed with Lexus. Not so much with Audi. That's another story with its own video.

You can get those proper cable fishers from Bunnings they are yellow and about 20 bucks they are for fishing cables through houses but life saving for 0 guague runs through tight firewall grommets but you would definitely have to cut it in half width ways for any other part of the car also there are much bigger thicker stiffer cable ties or metal ones even or a metal coat hanger with the end bent in a loop to not peirce anything. All awesome things to have handy doing installs, good video as always carbon lads

Totally well informed, excellent guide!! The whole time though I miss Australia soooo much, the most wonderful people I've ever met in all my travels!!! Cheers mate!!

Thanks man for sharing the way you put the wire to the rear camera - especially into the rubber hose. I have not managed to solve this - did not know the hoses could be so easily detached. Will fix my installation with your hints!

Excellent video!! Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge and tips! I successfully followed all the steps; my wife and I are very happy with the results. Before doing the installation, I checked five other videos and this one is the very best one!!

Wow! Thanks for all the tips. I'll be powering mine differently here in 2021, but now I know how I'm going to do everything else, including run the rear camera cable.

- Best Demo I have seen. Clear, simple and detailed enough that I could do it after watching this video. Thanks so much.

Melbourne Coronavirus lockdown has brought me here. Keep watching it. I would need your help if we were living in the same town. Thank you for the helpful video. Cheers!

Very impressive video. One of the best DIY presentations I have ever seen.

Interesting for your car model. However, note that some modern ones equipped with built-in equipment, such as the “Toyota Safety Sense” system, have some restrictions as to how close things can be mounted on the windshield - e.g. the Toyota Yaris. Described in the users manual, but roughly 10 cm clear of the bottom of the built-in kit, and 10 cm clear of the centre line from side to side. They are concerned about potential interference with any add-on device; “Do not install an electronic device or device that emits strong electric waves near the front sensor.” It uses a set of class 1M Laser sensors and a camera to detect various things en route. Thus in this car, it’s not possible to ‘hide’ a dash cam behind the rear view mirror, as that bit is already occupied, as it were. It does have a built in “vehicle data recording” device (a bit like a ‘blackbox’), but not easy to access by most of us.

If you guys ever do an update to this video you might want to recommend people use “quick splices” instead so that they can connect to the stereo wires without having to strip or cut or solder anything. So if they want to remove the wiring to sell the car or something there’s no damage to the original wiring.

Great installation. It gave me confidence to attempt this myself. Thanks and great video.

Best video I’ve seen that shows how to route, connect and install the cables. Nice job! *****

I wanted to thank you for this video it saved me 90Euro. I had run the cable already but had no idea how to get this threw the rubber grommet. I used a cable puller which worked great. Excellent video and thanks. Extremely clean install.

Glad i found this video, purchased some cheap electrians rods and fed a rear cam cable along the roof of a Hyundai Kona keeping away from airbags etc then up into the tailgate via the flexible cable hose.

This is one of the best install vids for dash cams (2 channel installation very helpful). Well done

Great video. Great information, and perfectly articulated. Thank you! And thank you for the great and necessary details on the rear cam installation. I have a newer Subaru Outback and want to install a rear (linked to the dash) camera, and this info is VERY useful and helpful! Two thumbs up. Cheers.

Great video. I finally feel confident that I'm absolutely going to screw this up, so I'll for sure pay for someone to do this instead! Thanks!

Was able to do a nice clean hardwired front and back camera install in both my vehicles thanks to this.

Great video. Thank you. The people that think you're "destroying" the car have obviously never worked on a car. Keep doing what you guys are doing. I think your methods are proper and professional. Many different ways to do the same job.

Thx for demonstrating on a difficult vehicle and one with a rear camera!

Just got the Yupiteru Marumie Q-20 dash cam installed in a Honda Stream today, the 360deg camera, with G Sensor, GPS, 32 GB card cost about US $320, plus an installation in 30 minutes for US $ 50, and I am off and running in Japan, talk about efficiency!

Thank you for a very informative video, very detailed. You made so simple and easy but I know I'm going to struggle doing it myself. I appreciate sharing your knowledge. God bless. n

I have done all sort of Radio Antenna Installs on Public Safety Vehicles, Always be aware of Side Curtain Air Bag Systems, be sure to run any cables on the BACK SIDE of these Air Bags, otherwise in a Emergency, you can be injured from your Run or interfere with the Air Bag deployment. Cherrie-O.

Used your zip tie method on my SUV. Worked perfectly! Thanks for the info!

Excellent instructions for fitting a dashcam. Thankyou!

Great step by step explanation! Very clean install. Thank you 🙂

Not much waffle, explained well and comprehensively, found it really helpful thank you👍🏼

Best video on RU-vid, how to install dash cam

Thanks, you gave me the one bit of information that other videos have not; how to deal with the tailgate!

Cable tie, ingenious, why didn't I think of that?!? Thank you, managed to finally thread the cable through!

Superb. I was stuck on how to find and hardwire to constant and acc. Not any more. Thank you CCS! 👌🏾😎🤙🏽🤙🏽

Great video for me as my vehicle is going back to the dealer in 12 months and I do not want to hardwire the Thinkware DC knowing that I want to remove it in a year and transfer to the next car/suv. I will be purchasing the suction mount for the front camera to avoid double side tape.

Great video. I had to edit it so that I could get my bearings for a car that drives on the right lane, not the left. However, getting your accent to convert to Texan was impossible, still looking for an application or filter that could do that for me. Just kidding, man. This was a great video! I had already installed a dual-camera system on my Hyundai Elantra, but my wife has a Nissan Kicks with the hatch back. Now I know how to correctly run the wires in her car. Thanks for the education.

Very nicely done... What I will probably do if I don't use a fuse for my powers (I have some "add a fuse" connectors to replace the shoddy ones that came with the kit), is cut the existing wires and put some heat shrink on, then solder the three wires then slide the heat shrink over them for protection. I know electrical tape would probably be fine since it will also be wrapped with Tesa Tape. I just prefer heat shrink over tape... I know what I won't do... I won't use T Taps. Thank you for the detailed installation and explaining the different ways of doing it.

This video and the comments were really helpful, thanks so much

Very informative video, thank you for posting. Three questions though: 1. The cable that goes down the A-pillar - did I see you run it across the airbag? The cable should never go across or otherwise interfere with the airbag. 2. Also regarding airbags, did you ensure that the cable running from the rear of the car to the front is also clear of the airbag? 3. Why again did you choose to wire the dashcam into the stereo, instead of the fuse box? I would think the stereo does NOT provide constant power - meaning that there would be no way for the dashcam to be used in parking mode. Am I wrong about that?

Fantastic video. Well explained and demonstrated. Easy to follow. Cu do's to the camera person. Very steady hands.

Thank you for making the video. I think everything you did was correct except the hardwire part. I believe many cams come with kits to wire into main fuse box. Not sure I'd be soldering into my factory radio for power. I'm sure it works but not for me.

That dash cam is huge! Wouldn’t have that in my windscreen, great instructional video though.

You should sell training videos for other companies... this is BRILLIANT!

Thanks for a great video, I was able to finally install my rear camera after having it for almost 2 years.

Great piece of tutorial video : knowledgeable, insightful, and full of great tips and tricks indeed! Thanks for this, and especially applaud that you're from Australia!!! Yess!!! Finally, informational videos from Australia!!! PS: I thought and was expecting you to wipe the window contact points with some IPA (isopropyl alcohol) swabs/wipes, to ensure best adhesion, but I guess its already been pre-prepared. :D Cheers mate!!

davetaylor9057 made a comment some time ago regarding the danger of running the cables OVER the top an airbag, in this case in the A pillar. It looks the cables were not run behind the airbag in this video. If the cable is run over the top of the airbag and it subsequently deploys in a crash, you run the risk of being hit in the face with the broken ends of the cable (if it breaks) or the airbag not doing its job (if it doesn’t break). Both are potentially fatal.

If only jobs like this had come up at my career fair growing up! *_I love this video!_* 🔥🔥🔥

The most educative video on dashcam installation. Thumbs up 👍

What an absolutely brilliant video. Thank you so much for taking the time to show how to do this job. I don't have a dual dash camera yet much after watching this tutorial, I think I might invest and tackle the job myself. Thanks again.

Great video, thank you for posting. I did not want to tap fuse box and leave cover off. Looks very amature. Did my car exactly the same way!God is in the details!

I found your video really helpful. I have CHR and planning to install thinkware 4k hd Dashcam on it

Thanks for this video. I joined 3 large cable ties with electrical tape but it kept getting stuck midway in the roof lining. I couldn't get it to the front of the car. I managed to get it from the rear to the rear door, then tried to get it to the front passenger door when I noticed it poking out near the windscreen. Great video, my dashcam looks great on my Volvo XC90 with all wires hidden.

I watch a lot of videos to learn DIY tips; this is one of the best I've seen.

Well done! Makes you appreciate why cost of installation is the way it is. :). Cheers!

Thanks for that, I think I’ll pay someone to install mine 👌

I love how Australian's drive on the correct side of the road so us people in the UK can understand these videos..

Very thoughtful video. A lot of tips and tricks! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.🥰

You shouldn't mount the cable over the A-pillar like that. Right behind the panel of the A-pillar is the side air bag. You should take off the panel and route the cable around the air bag instead of across it. That way, if your air bag goes off, you don't get a whip in the face.

Great video. It helped a lot. I just put in a Thinkware F800 Pro using this as a guide. I was amused at the use of the word "cloth tape". I'm Canadian, that's Hockey Tape. :-)

Great video, I had no idea how to get the wires strung thru the vehicle !!

Good vid mate I'm glad my CX-5 you can just run the power off some fuse taps instead pulling all of that apart just to tap in to the power.

Outstanding step by step training video, great job, thank you.

Great tips for hatchback, btw nowadays you can get OBD2 thinkware connector for hardwiring just plug n play

I used a OBD II connection for the parking mode. Easy Peasy

Think you forgot to mention connecting the rear camera power wire to the reverse light pwr wire. Other than that this is a really great probably the best vid of how to do a dashcam install. Fyi, if hardwiring of pwr, grd and acc pwr instead is wired to an underdash fusebox then two add-a-circuit fuse taps are needed (compatible with the type of fuses).

This was an awesome video a txt book lesson that can apply to most vehicles!

Thanks for that. I was just looking to confirm where I should run a reverse camera cable. I'll leave the rest up to a professional. Just wanted to save a few bucks on the installation.

I have it done today and it did't works as expected since the male connector is big. So I cut the cable 6" from the connector and join them back after the cable went inside that flex hose. Test and everything works well.

Well done. Thanks for taking the time to make a great video. How does the parking mode work in this wiring configuration or do you need a constant power on setup instead? To all the know-it-all haters below: While the OP likely installed 3 dash cams by noon and made a decent how-to video, your mother has yelled at you to get a job and move out of her basement. LOL

Very professional installation and easy to follow