Thread: Dashcam video with GPS speed imprint - court date soon...

is it possible fi you can post pictures of your setup ?

this is very cool, thanks for all the info on it. How are you powering this btw? If anyone can shine some light on it, that would be great.

For the 5V items (DVR and my separate Garmin GPS) I'm using an old cell phone charger (12 in 5 out) hidden beneath the dash). Everything else comes off 12V

Originally Posted by erkme73

For the 5V items (DVR and my separate Garmin GPS) I'm using an old cell phone charger (12 in 5 out) hidden beneath the dash). Everything else comes off 12V

Thanks! The 12V, from the battery? Are you running it through some kind of regulator? Perhaps...through your PC if you have one?

Im looking to put this in without the overlay stuff for now ($$$$!!!), someone keeps messing with my truck antenna and i want to catch them and turn them in. The bastards!

Here's another video overlay card that can add any RS-232 text to the video. With a little programming, you could have ECU parameters along with GPS. More flexible than the previously mentioned overlay device, which does GPS data only.

That looks very interesting. I havent looked into it very much, so i dont know how much more work it would involve integrating it AND writing the program to display what i need. But the good part is, its a very small package.

I have a custom dashcam in my car also.

Components:

DVR: AverDigi EB134MOB ~$400 4ch. Records 15fps on all channels at full resolution, or realtime at half resolution. Records to hard drive (250GB) and stores weeks and weeks of video. You can batch-backup many individual driving journeys to you laptop using USB and play/rew/ff/review them in the comfort of your house.

Camera 1: Toshiba IK6410 with auto-iris lens, forward facing. $200. This is where the action is, can't cheap out here. The auto-iris and brand-name camera provides a usable picture even when staring at the sun. Cheaper cameras will streak/smear or simply corrupt the entire image when the sun is in shot.



Camera 2: Driver-facing no-name ebay small box camera $65
Camera 3: Rear-facing no-name ebay small box camera $65
Also has a small project box with LEDs displaying the turn/brake/tail lights status in shot.


Camera 4: GPS overlay on blank background. (If the overlay requires an input video signal then I'll just loop a copy of the front camera, or install a 4th camera with a wider front view) This is going in next weekend when the parts arrive.

The GPS data comes via a Garmin GPS 18 PC antenna that transmits GPS data in NMEA format through a DB9 serial port. $80
http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?88069

The text overlay comes from a clever little product that takes NMEA GPS data from a DB9 and overlays Lat/Lon/heading/speed onto a video signal. Perfect! $120
http://www.icircuits.com/store/prod_osdgpsid.html


The DVR is mounted in the trunk using wingnuts to attach it to a custom metal frame a welded up against the back of the rear seats. The frame is hidded byt he trunk trim and only the bolts show through. The thumbscrews allow for easy removal of the DVR in the even of a major accident where the car must be towed from the scene. All connections are BNC and all video images are transferred via RG59 cable. Power is unfiltered 12v into the DVR, and the DVR has a filtered 12v output for the cameras. All wiring is hidden and runs through factory conduits. The cameras are attached to the glass using custom suction cup mounts. They haven't failed yet.

Test fitting using a no-name camera


External view of the final mount with correct camera



I have a small 7" LCD screen I carry with me in case I need to view video immediately, but the USB backup of the DVR's HD is so simple and convenient that I never use it.



There's plenty of light at the front for the camera to see under all conditions so I don't have any IR emitters.


Here's an example video without the rear camera or GPS. The PIP was done after-the-fact using my video editor - the DVR actually output two fullscreen video streams.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hl7G8enhQ8


Any questions?

Wow scruit, that is very cool. Tell us more about the overlay unit you are using. How does it interface with the gps, and incoming video stream? Did you have to do some soldering to wire three independant devices together? Programming involved?

Originally Posted by [H]Bugster

Wow scruit, that is very cool. Tell us more about the overlay unit you are using. How does it interface with the gps, and incoming video stream? Did you have to do some soldering to wire three independant devices together? Programming involved?

No programming involved. The board has input video, output video and input serial. The GPS device connects to the serial port to provide the GPS data and the circuit overlays it on to the video in a standard layout. No muss, no fuss. The camera connects the the overlay circuit's input, and the overlay circuit's output conencts to the DVR input for channel 4.