[Dashcam] Viofo A139 Pro 1/2/3CH HDR

[Speuk]

Yes. It makes sense for you. Mine will be on the street most of the time. It's safer for break-ins but much more exposed to door dings and old ladies (or not so old men) to back into you and flee. I intend to leave the dascam in parking mode all the time. I can't legally use the footage but there are tiny loopholes in the law that can work in my favour.

One question. How flexible is the cable that goes to the rear camera?

Would this be possible?

I have an idea which I think would look very tidy but would require that cable to be able to be bent that way in the conjuction with the HK4 wiring kit... An alternative would be to reverse the cable ie the angled side into the forward cam and the strait connector into the back.

It's pretty flexible, only 2.7mm dia

 

[tchavei]

Just to let you know, my a139 pro dual camera arrived today. Yay! I'm part of the viofo club.

Just miss a Taycan to install it in... Minor nuisance

Hopefully beginning next month.

BTW, latest firmware is 321. Mine came with 2xx. I already upgraded. Easy.

Thanks again for all the installation details.

 

[Speuk]

Just to let you know, my a139 pro dual camera arrived today. Yay! I'm part of the viofo club.

Just miss a Taycan to install it in... Minor nuisance

Hopefully beginning next month.

BTW, latest firmware is 321. Mine came with 2xx. I already upgraded. Easy.

Thanks again for all the installation details.

Haha hope the new car arrives on time.
One final installation tip...
The power lead has a large ferrite ring about 100mm from the plug. To conceal this I ran the 2 cables through the plastic cover above the rear view mirror. Easy to remove, it just slides forward towards the the windscreen. Use a plastic trim tool in the long edge of trim to start pushing it forward.
I have had a really annoying rattle in my car for the last few months. It only happened when I drove over construction joints in the road. Last weekend I figured it was coming from the overhead panel... as soon as I started to remove the trim I realised it was the ferrite ring bouncing on the hard plastic cover so tape this down to the cover and maybe put some foam above it before refitting it.

 

[tchavei]

So...

I got my car last week. I guess it's time to mount the a139 pro... I already fixed it to the windshield but that A-pillar is scaring the hell out of me. Playing tug of war with a brand new car is not for the faint of heart. I need a couple of days to think how to tackle this.

Current plan is to start from the left (driver's side) fuse box in the footwell to place the H3K-C kit and then route the wire from below/sideways through the outer side of the A-pillar up to the top where I'll try to do the tug of war thing to get the both cables under the airbag and then along the roof trim up to the central piece which has to be removed to store the ferrite ring (I'm going to pack it in foam). I hope neither cable will interfere when I put the cover back.

@Speuk Did you have to cut something to let the cables enter the center trim or will it fit untouched?

Cheers

 

[Speuk]

So...

I got my car last week. I guess it's time to mount the a139 pro... I already fixed it to the windshield but that A-pillar is scaring the hell out of me. Playing tug of war with a brand new car is not for the faint of heart. I need a couple of days to think how to tackle this.

Current plan is to start from the left (driver's side) fuse box in the footwell to place the H3K-C kit and then route the wire from below/sideways through the outer side of the A-pillar up to the top where I'll try to do the tug of war thing to get the both cables under the airbag and then along the roof trim up to the central piece which has to be removed to store the ferrite ring (I'm going to pack it in foam). I hope neither cable will interfere when I put the cover back.

@Speuk Did you have to cut something to let the cables enter the center trim or will it fit untouched?

Cheers

Hi

No the plastic panel will slide back on without any cutting. Press it hard against the windscreen and slide towards the rear view mirror so that it engages with the two plastic studs

 

[tchavei]

Hi

No the plastic panel will slide back on without any cutting. Press it hard against the windscreen and slide towards the rear view mirror so that it engages with the two plastic studs

Thank you.

I'm taking a meditation class this afternoon for the A-pillar. Fingers crossed

 

[Speuk]

Thank you.

I'm taking a meditation class this afternoon for the A-pillar. Fingers crossed

I just released the top bit of the A pillar with a sharp tug. That was enough to feed the cables behind the air bag. I then tucked them down the side adjacent to the door rubber.

 

[tchavei]

I just released the top bit of the A pillar with a sharp tug. That was enough to feed the cables behind the air bag. I then tucked them down the side adjacent to the door rubber.

sharp tug... hmm... I wonder how much a new airbag costs... just in case... or a new A-Pillar

Just joking, it will be fine... it will be fine...

 

[tchavei]

Ok guys, stop posting, stop breathing: I started the A139 Pro installation!

I'll report when it's done.

Wish me luck.

(I'm going to deplete the main battery in the process as I'm going to work in the sun and it's like 25C in the shadow). Max AC for the win!

 

[tchavei]

I hate the A pillar... Just saying.

 

[Speuk]

I hate the A pillar... Just saying.

Man up!!

 

[tchavei]

Man up!!

Done. Well, 95% done. Have to figure out the spot to mount the rear cam so it doesn't show the bottom of the 3rd stop light. It's a sedan so not the same as on a CT or ST. Cable is already routed to the back roof trim so really only sticking the camera in place.

I really really want to thank everyone and especially @Speuk for all the tips and reports. It saved me a HUGE amount of time. I basically knew exactly what to do once I grabbed the prying tool.

The worst part for me wasn't actually the top of the A pillar but the bottom to be able to route the wires from the outside to the inside and make the wires appear in the footwell. Took some effort to return everything back into place.

I wanted to use porsche's recommended fuse locations (row B, slot 8 and row D, slot 2) but for some really strange reason, slot 2 on the bottom row was already used. Didn't want to tap into the circuit so I plugged the aux into position 7 (unused on row D) and apparently it's working.

Going back now to mount the rear cam.

Thank you once again.

Edit: I screwed up with the front camera location. It's a bit too high so there isn't much slack between the usbc connector and the plastic trim. Next time I would place the camera 5mm lower.

 

[Speuk]

Done. Well, 95% done. Have to figure out the spot to mount the rear cam so it doesn't show the bottom of the 3rd stop light. It's a sedan so not the same as on a CT or ST. Cable is already routed to the back roof trim so really only sticking the camera in place.

I really really want to thank everyone and especially @Speuk for all the tips and reports. It saved me a HUGE amount of time. I basically knew exactly what to do once I grabbed the prying tool.

The worst part for me wasn't actually the top of the A pillar but the bottom to be able to route the wires from the outside to the inside and make the wires appear in the footwell. Took some effort to return everything back into place.

I wanted to use porsche's recommended fuse locations (row B, slot 8 and row D, slot 2) but for some really strange reason, slot 2 on the bottom row was already used. Didn't want to tap into the circuit so I plugged the aux into position 7 (unused on row D) and apparently it's working.

Going back now to mount the rear cam.

Thank you once again.

Edit: I screwed up with the front camera location. It's a bit too high so there isn't much slack between the usbc connector and the plastic trim. Next time I would place the camera 5mm lower.

Well done! I moved my rear camera by a few millimetres but I had only gently stuck it to the window to test position.

On routing from the bottom of the A plliar did you remove the end panel to the dash? Removing that makes it much easier to thread power lead through to fuse box

 

[tchavei]

Well done! I moved my rear camera by a few millimetres but I had only gently stuck it to the window to test position.

On routing from the bottom of the A plliar did you remove the end panel to the dash? Removing that makes it much easier to thread power lead through to fuse box

Thanks. Yes I did remove the panel. Also used the ground screw there with a m8 nut and that little empty pocket that's there was perfect to hold the viofo hk3-c kit and my battery monitor.

Rear cam is installed. God, we really have a narrow view back there don't we?

 

[tchavei]

So after 3 days I have to report:

1- battery is holding up nice with 16h parking mode (event detection)

2 - For those that want battery monitors, the (relatively) cheap BM6 (Aliexpress) for lithium batteries works better than the c-tek one (only lead batteries so will report 100% all the time) (I have both btw)

3 - I had a hiccup the first night. The A139 Pro stopped saving clips at 23:22. After further investigation, I'm 99% sure it happen when the card filled up and it was unable to switch to overwrite mode. This might be due to viofo Benelux sending me the wrong card (Sandisk High Endurance is a blacklisted card for the A139 Pro - be aware). Curiously, after a full cold reboot, it started in overwrite mode and is still working that way, days later. I'm waiting for a 256gb sandisk extreme to put this at rest.

3 - In a Sedan, finding the best placement for the rear camera is a chore because you either a) glue it to the plastic third brake light cover which can make the camera "unglue" after 2 days (happen to me) or b) you glue it to the back window and have to find a way to route the wire there. I didn't do this because the plastic trim seems to have a silicon isolation around it so didn't want to remove it.

4 - regarding the previous point, I'm not sure if the camera 'unglued' because I forgot to degrease the plastic with isopropyl alcohol or because my youngest kid was tugging on it asking "what's this dad"? He does say he didn't tug on it but anyway. I replaced the 3M pad, rubbed the plastic with alcohol and re-attached the rear camera. Let's see if it holds.

5 - regarding footage, it's really top notch. I did use the cpl filter for a day but then concluded it could be too dark for overnight parking so I removed it. There are minimal glares. Doesn't affect the footage.

I uploaded an unlisted video on YouTube

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