Blackvue 2-Ch Dashcam Install on Model X

[Zroiron]

Look at last picture of the first post in thread. I was confused about it. Pulled out carpet above the kick plate (don't worry easy to tuck back with the pty tool). I thought it was behind the kick plate but it's above the kick plate. Very easy. Continuous power when car is off. As others commented I would not worry about battery accessory they sell, it will not affect vampire drain when car off. I would test the monitor by plugging it into 12 volt plug since warrantee is void once you cut the 12 volt plug off. Had trouble telling which orientation was up so I scotch taped it loosely to be sure images upright (can invert images when viewing but did not want to do that all the time) before permanent mount

One more question. How did you run the cable for the rear camera? I'm not having any luck fishing it through the center area between the FWDoors.

 

[Chickenlittle]

One more question. How did you run the cable for the rear camera? I'm not having any luck fishing it through the center area between the FWDoors.

Looking at plastic edge of door (with door open can see model X label) run wire into crevice along felt to back then follow crevice around door rim to trunk. Did not try to go through the to the existing conduct to the trunk but around the crevice to the trunk weather strip and up to the top of roof where camera will sit. It's longer run but plenty of wire

 

[satheesh.net]

Eureka! I got off without breaking anything! The section under the mirror mount needs to slide forward and down to snap out.

I also got the clips popped out and the housing "free". But how do I get it completely off? What do you mean when you say that the mount itself needs to slide forward and down? Any picture or video of it? I'm definitely making a video of the entire process, but I just need to get it off once first.

Any pointers?

 

[Kutu]

I also got the clips popped out and the housing "free". But how do I get it completely off? What do you mean when you say that the mount itself needs to slide forward and down? Any picture or video of it? I'm definitely making a video of the entire process, but I just need to get it off once first.

Any pointers?

The whole cover is an assembly of 3 pieces. It seem to me that snapping the main piece first let you separate the upper hidden piece and that make the bottom piece easier. It all requires more force than I was comfortable with, but after struggling for a few minutes, it came apart. I would not remove any of that if I could start over!!!

I have my camera installed- finally. I did run the cabling thru the windshield channel, but I would not do it again. If I knew what I do now, I would simple have attached the cables to the side of the channel or purchased the add-on channel. That would mean that I would not have to remove any of the trim attached to the windshield. The installation would be a lot easier and there would be no chance of damaging the Tesla wiring. Personally, while not looking "factory", I don't think it would not look bad. YMMV!

The rest on my install went well. I ran the coax from the rear camera thru the head-liner between the FWD's and got power from the the brake controller wiring in the drivers kick panel carpet ( I used a 1 amp fuse). The trim behind the visor was the only piece that needed to removed.

 

[vandacca]

The whole cover is an assembly of 3 pieces. It seem to me that snapping the main piece first let you separate the upper hidden piece and that make the bottom piece easier. It all requires more force than I was comfortable with, but after struggling for a few minutes, it came apart. I would not remove any of that if I could start over!!!

I have my camera installed- finally. I did run the cabling thru the windshield channel, but I would not do it again. If I knew what I do now, I would simple have attached the cables to the side of the channel or purchased the add-on channel. That would mean that I would not have to remove any of the trim attached to the windshield. The installation would be a lot easier and there would be no chance of damaging the Tesla wiring. Personally, while not looking "factory", I don't think it would not look bad. YMMV!

The rest on my install went well. I ran the coax from the rear camera thru the head-liner between the FWD's and got power from the the brake controller wiring in the drivers kick panel carpet ( I used a 1 amp fuse). The trim behind the visor was the only piece that needed to removed.

Did you do any damage to the wiring, the windshield channel and/or the mirror assembly? If the final assembly looks perfect, why would you not go through it again, is it simply due to the size of the effort?

I'm looking to tackle this job in a few weeks time when I get my X back from service. Do you have a source for a secondary channel?

 

[Kutu]

Did you do any damage to the wiring, the windshield channel and/or the mirror assembly? If the final assembly looks perfect, why would you not go through it again, is it simply due to the size of the effort?

I'm looking to tackle this job in a few weeks time when I get my X back from service. Do you have a source for a secondary channel?

I did not damage to the wiring but the mating between the channel and that forward flared piece is no longer perfect. I don't think anybody other than I would notice it unless it was pointed out. Fitting the the coax and the power cable into the channel was very, very, time consuming. The removal of the original channel adhesive was a real pain, it had to be done so that the matting surface was smooth. (There may be a better way to remove it, but I basically rolled it off with my thumb.) If I were to consider going the channel route again, I would remove the 24 gauge power wires from the sheath and route only the wires in the channel - the coax would then present the biggest chore. All things considered, I think it was not worth the time, and effort. Also, if there is ever a problem, with the camera, rain sensor or mirror, Tesla might, right or wrong, blame my work.

If I could do it all over, I would place 6mm double sided tape along the channel and stick the cables to it. I would use acetone to remove the labeling from the cables before sticking them up. I might then pop the main trim from the windshield assembly and router the cable in and back out near the forward edge- just according to how it looked. This method would leave the option open to doing the channel routing later if it looked bad! And Tesla techs would not have to concern themselves with my dash-cam cables.

The secondary channel was mentioned along with a photo "Vendor - We're Now Offering Dual Dash Cam Installation"

PS: I am 70, was working alone and its over 90 degrees here; maybe that factors into my frustration. But a 10 minute job that leaves my options open sure looks better than the 2 or 3 hours on the channel. If I were younger and had a helper, or maybe if I were the helper, to a proficient, agile, technician the job would have gone more smoothly.

 

[satheesh.net]

I wonder if you could just buy a channel from Tesla Service. Like a new one and just stick it on beside the existing one and do the wiring through this? If you put it on the driverside it shouldn't look that bad actually.

What do you guys think?

 

[ShadowR55]

I wonder if you could just buy a channel from Tesla Service. Like a new one and just stick it on beside the existing one and do the wiring through this? If you put it on the driverside it shouldn't look that bad actually.

What do you guys think?

Good idea, maybe even stick it on top of the existing channel.

 

[Kutu]

The current channel is 1/2" wide and the flared portion is 1" wide. I would like to see how a 1" (or 3/4' with the flare to 1") wide channel all the way would look. Maybe some cleaver person would make one.

 

[satheesh.net]

Ok - so there is a little more to do. But here are a couple of snaps nonetheless...

 

[satheesh.net]

Here you go guys...

Dashcam installation – Tesla Model X | satheesh.net

 

[Colby Boles]

I want to second that installing the additional power and coax wires into the windshield channel takes a lot of time and effort. I like doing things myself, but if you have a competent installer charging around $400 to do this, it's probably worth it.

It takes a lot of time to remove the old adhesive without the use of solvents. The wires all need to be run perfectly parallel without any crossovers for everything to fit. I purchased 1/2" 3M tape, but I needed to trim a millimeter or so off of it to fit the channel.

My biggest mistake was not reattaching both the end piece (close to the mirror) and the straight piece with the 3M tape at once. Not doing that made for much tighter work.

I also opted to run the wires from the camera through a notch I cut in the lower plastic piece. I tried many times to route the wires through the front near the AP camera like the OP did but I wasn't happy with those results - either the wires were potentially in the way of the camera FOV or I couldn't get everything to close up without deformation.

I did not damage to the wiring but the mating between the channel and that forward flared piece is no longer perfect. I don't think anybody other than I would notice it unless it was pointed out. Fitting the the coax and the power cable into the channel was very, very, time consuming. The removal of the original channel adhesive was a real pain, it had to be done so that the matting surface was smooth. (There may be a better way to remove it, but I basically rolled it off with my thumb.) If I were to consider going the channel route again, I would remove the 24 gauge power wires from the sheath and route only the wires in the channel - the coax would then present the biggest chore. All things considered, I think it was not worth the time, and effort. Also, if there is ever a problem, with the camera, rain sensor or mirror, Tesla might, right or wrong, blame my work.

If I could do it all over, I would place 6mm double sided tape along the channel and stick the cables to it. I would use acetone to remove the labeling from the cables before sticking them up. I might then pop the main trim from the windshield assembly and router the cable in and back out near the forward edge- just according to how it looked. This method would leave the option open to doing the channel routing later if it looked bad! And Tesla techs would not have to concern themselves with my dash-cam cables.

The secondary channel was mentioned along with a photo "Vendor - We're Now Offering Dual Dash Cam Installation"

PS: I am 70, was working alone and its over 90 degrees here; maybe that factors into my frustration. But a 10 minute job that leaves my options open sure looks better than the 2 or 3 hours on the channel. If I were younger and had a helper, or maybe if I were the helper, to a proficient, agile, technician the job would have gone more smoothly.

 

[Kutu]

I want to second that installing the additional power and coax wires into the windshield channel takes a lot of time and effort. I like doing things myself, but if you have a competent installer charging around $400 to do this, it's probably worth it.

It takes a lot of time to remove the old adhesive without the use of solvents. The wires all need to be run perfectly parallel without any crossovers for everything to fit. I purchased 1/2" 3M tape, but I needed to trim a millimeter or so off of it to fit the channel.

My biggest mistake was not reattaching both the end piece (close to the mirror) and the straight piece with the 3M tape at once. Not doing that made for much tighter work.

I also opted to run the wires from the camera through a notch I cut in the lower plastic piece. I tried many times to route the wires through the front near the AP camera like the OP did but I wasn't happy with those results - either the wires were potentially in the way of the camera FOV or I couldn't get everything to close up without deformation.

View attachment 190746

I notched in exactly the same spot as Colby Boles did. I will also think that $400 to a competent tech would be reasonable for the install.

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

This is pretty revealing in terms of future autopilot updates, that the hardware is already in place for 2 front facing cameras... I'm hoping they make an announcement soon, on the last earnings call Elon said that the progress in autopilot tech blows him away, and he's so involved and close to the tech, so it will truly blow away the public.

 

[Firewired]

I drove up to Austin and had the Dashcamstore.com install it last month. They charged $299 and it took two hours and looks great.

 

[xkwizit]

I drove up to Austin and had the Dashcamstore.com install it last month. They charged $299 and it took two hours and looks great.

@Firewired - pictures please?

 

[K-MTG]

Here is a link of my DR650S Review:

 

[jezroj]

Would it not be great if Teslas cameras functioned as Dash Cams? They are just missing a loop recording option and a way to view and download. Is that really a lot to ask for?

 

[K-MTG]

Would it not be great if Teslas cameras functioned as Dash Cams? They are just missing a loop recording option and a way to view and download. Is that really a lot to ask for?

Totally agree, Cadillac has done that with the ct6

 

[systemcrashed]

Would it not be great if Teslas cameras functioned as Dash Cams? They are just missing a loop recording option and a way to view and download. Is that really a lot to ask for?

I'm not 100% sure but I think the images that come through Tesla's camera are filtered for contrast and edge detection, the picture would not be useful as a recorded image. Maybe that's what cam 2.0 will be? For 360 view etc.