Thinkware F770

[Nosken]

On my refreshed, I mounted it directly below the mirror, but centered the F770 camera exactly. This offset it slightly, but it actually took my ThinkWare over to the bottom right-hand edge of the AP camera/mirror housing on my AP2 hardware exactly.

 

[rahs]

On my refreshed, I mounted it directly below the mirror, but centered the F770 camera exactly. This offset it slightly, but it actually took my ThinkWare over to the bottom right-hand edge of the AP camera/mirror housing on my AP2 hardware exactly.

Thanks. Any issues with the GPS acquiring signal quickly in your setup below the mirror?

I'm installing mine tomorrow (hopefully).

 

[Nosken]

No---It was bad for a few hours one day----But I think it was another incident. Have you read about that being an issue? If so link please.

 

[rahs]

No---It was bad for a few hours one day----But I think it was another incident. Have you read about that being an issue? If so link please.

Yes, have seen quite a few people discussing GPS issues. Can't nail down any specific thread but if you search 'Thinkware GPS' here you'll see them. It's because of the windshield's coating blocking out certain types of signals. Similar issues people have with EZ Pass type transponders.

It's not anything Thinkware specific related. Seems to be blackvue and other cams as well. Or really anything with a receiving signal. Looks like many people say it sometimes takes up to 30 minutes to acquire the GPS signal.

With the refreshed maybe it won't be an issue and reassuring that you haven't had too many issues with it.

Also, take a look here. They recommend to the right of the mirror a bit. Scroll down to Front Camera Location: https://teslatap.com/articles/ultimate-2017-tesla-dashcam-guide/

Did you install yourself? I have an electrical engineer friend who's pretty good at this stuff who's going to help me tomorrow.

 

[Nosken]

I did it myself, and if you go back to the beginning of this thread, there are some great tips.

 

[rahs]

I did it myself, and if you go back to the beginning of this thread, there are some great tips.

Nice. Yea I've read this thread, plenty others and other sites. Just a bit nervous I'll eff something up. Should be good to go after all of this research. Hopefully can report back good results tmw night.

 

[ND100]

Yes, have seen quite a few people discussing GPS issues. Can't nail down any specific thread but if you search 'Thinkware GPS' here you'll see them. It's because of the windshield's coating blocking out certain types of signals. Similar issues people have with EZ Pass type transponders.

It's not anything Thinkware specific related. Seems to be blackvue and other cams as well. Or really anything with a receiving signal. Looks like many people say it sometimes takes up to 30 minutes to acquire the GPS signal.

Did you install yourself? I have an electrical engineer friend who's pretty good at this stuff who's going to help me tomorrow.

I've had no GPS issues. Mine is installed below the autopilot camera housing. I've also got a toll tag to the left of the housing with no problems. I don't think that my windscreen has a metallic coating (Nov 2016 build).

 

[rahs]

I've had no GPS issues. Mine is installed below the autopilot camera housing. I've also got a toll tag to the left of the housing with no problems. I don't think that my windscreen has a metallic coating (Nov 2016 build).

Awesome. Good to hear.

Did you tap into the 12V near the rear view mirror? I definitely want continuous power but don't really want to use the extra battery from Thinkware.

Edit: never mind — just reread this thread and saw the discussion I had read a few days ago was mostly beteeen you and Nosken.

Just hoping no fuses or anything gets blown as I'll be heading out to my friends place in Queens to do this tomorrow.

Thx for the help you two.

 

[Nosken]

Awesome. Good to hear.

Did you tap into the 12V near the rear view mirror? I definitely want continuous power but don't really want to use the extra battery from Thinkware.

Edit: never mind — just reread this thread and saw the discussion I had read a few days ago was mostly beteeen you and Nosken.

Just hoping no fuses or anything gets blown as I'll be heading out to my friends place in Queens to do this tomorrow.

Thx for the help you two.

I did, I used the Posi-Tap mentioned earlier. At first, it seems to of missed the wire, and it was not giving any current. I reattached it, and it works perfectly. This is a great way to do the constant power source. I did have to replace the fuse for the power behind the mic.

 

[rahs]

Hooked up the cam on Sunday. Haven't been ale to drive around much but it looks like it's continuously recording - even when the car is parked. My friends and I installed it. We used the positap from the rear view mirror area.

I'm thinking there was a wire that's not connected to one of the fuses and the cam doesn't know it's in park mode?

Was a pain to get this thing in - dreading having to unhook a bunch of stuff to get it right but might be only choice.

Any other ideas?

(I've checked the iOS app and played with setting there)

 

[ND100]

Hooked up the cam on Sunday. Haven't been ale to drive around much but it looks like it's continuously recording - even when the car is parked. My friends and I installed it. We used the positap from the rear view mirror area.

I'm thinking there was a wire that's not connected to one of the fuses and the cam doesn't know it's in park mode?

Was a pain to get this thing in - dreading having to unhook a bunch of stuff to get it right but might be only choice.

Any other ideas?

(I've checked the iOS app and played with setting there)

Check that the wire you tapped into behind the mirror is definitely dropping to 0V after leaving the car. To do this I put the window down, held a voltmeter in place, observed the wire to be 12 or 13V, left the car, and kept reading from the voltmeter through the window. It dropped to 0V shortly after.

 

[nico_francois]

Check that the wire you tapped into behind the mirror is definitely dropping to 0V after leaving the car. To do this I put the window down, held a voltmeter in place, observed the wire to be 12 or 13V, left the car, and kept reading from the voltmeter through the window. It dropped to 0V shortly after.

I just opened up both my microphone grill and mirror, and found both constant and switched voltage (I did indeed test this by leaving the car with an open window).

However, unless there's something wrong with my voltmeter I read the voltage at about 14.5V, so quite a bit higher than 12V. Is this going to be too much for the Thinkware F770?

 

[cynix]

I just opened up both my microphone grill and mirror, and found both constant and switched voltage (I did indeed test this by leaving the car with an open window).

Did you have to tap a wire for the switched 12V? I really wanted to get parking mode working for my F750 but didn't want to damage any wires.

However, unless there's something wrong with my voltmeter I read the voltage at about 14.5V, so quite a bit higher than 12V. Is this going to be too much for the Thinkware F770?

Nah it's fine, been running it 24/7 for over a year with no ill effects.

 

[Nosken]

Did you have to tap a wire for the switched 12V? I really wanted to get parking mode working for my F750 but didn't want to damage any wires.

Nah it's fine, been running it 24/7 for over a year with no ill effects.

Is it entering parking mode when the car shuts off?

 

[cynix]

Is it entering parking mode when the car shuts off?

I've only hooked it up to constant 12V and not switched 12V, so it continues to record even when the car is off.

 

[nico_francois]

Did you have to tap a wire for the switched 12V? I really wanted to get parking mode working for my F750 but didn't want to damage any wires.

Nah it's fine, been running it 24/7 for over a year with no ill effects.

Cool. And your voltage was also higher than 14V?

 

[nico_francois]

Did you have to tap a wire for the switched 12V? I really wanted to get parking mode working for my F750 but didn't want to damage any wires.

I only measured the voltage so far, I still need to tap it and install the dash cam. I guess the easiest will be to use a Posi-Tap like most people do, I just need to find some in a shop here in Belgium....

 

[ND100]

Did you have to tap a wire for the switched 12V? I really wanted to get parking mode working for my F750 but didn't want to damage any wires.

Yes, see Thinkware F770 for tapping into the switched 12V - I haven't had any issues with wire damage from the positap.

 

[cynix]

Cool. And your voltage was also higher than 14V?

Yep, seems to be around 14.3 when the car is on, and 13.x when it's off.

 

[SMAlset]

I was over on the dashcamtalk.com website doing some general reading ( DashCamTalk ). We ended up installing a Blackvue DR650S-2ch this month in our MS, but due to the FHD resolution on the Thinkware F770 rear camera and many positive reviews of the product, we considered it as well before buying. In the end we went with Blackvue for the smaller footprint, sacrificing the FHD on the rear camera. I just read a few threads on the above forum of people not happy with their Thinkware F770 because of not getting the video that they were expecting to see after finding their cars were hit. To me this is a big reason people buy a dashcam but I realize not the only one. I can say this isn't a problem on our Blackvue as all the files (Normal, Event, Parking, Manual) are continuous and the Event files can be configured to contain pre- and post-footage (user setable) as well.

I thought the discussions on the dashcamtalk forum for the Blackvue and Thinkware cameras about usage issues was very informative and worth spending some time reading. A few people on the F770 forum mention switching from a Blackvue to the Thinkware and say they have regrets with a few aspects of it now and are considering switching back. I thought if you are in the process of deciding which camera to buy, or already have the Thinkware and weren't aware of this limitation you might find this forum enlightening. Basically both cameras have their own positives and negatives and it will depend what higher priority you place on features/usage to provide you with the best camera for your car. For whatever reason the newest Blackvue DR650S is not reviewed on the site but there is an active forum area for it.

Here are 2 recent threads on the F770's accident threads:
From 1/29/17: parking mode shows inpact, but no files before and after.
From 3/28/17: Thinkware F770 known issues.