FatherTo1

Very interesting, Doney01...I was expecting 24 hours of parking mode power from the B-124, based on its 76 Wh capacity. However, I based my calculations on the power consumption of my two VIOFO A119S cameras and assumption of a fully charged B-124. My current setup alternates between two power banks, one to use for overnight parking mode (when traveling or staying at hotels) while the second unit recharges in the hotel room (12-15 hours). The 111 Wh power bank can keep my two dash cams running in parking mode for about 40 hours, but I have to remember to unplug the dash cams from the car charger and plug them into the power bank each time I stop somewhere or park at work. Sometimes I do forget, which makes me want to upgrade to a B-124 in the near future for convenience. The cost of two power banks almost pays for a B-112 but I need longer battery life and will save up for a B-124.

I was curious about the Power Magic Pro but am paranoid about draining my battery, even with the voltage protection. Fortunately, I do carry a portable jumpstarter in the trunk (which has helped out a dozen other folks over the years more than myself, lol). I am glad to hear of your experience with the B-124 recharge rate. I know the B-124 has the option to add on another battery pack but that is ridiculously expensive...but I can see myself justifying the cost for convenience, lol. Glad to meet other dashcam enthusiasts and I enjoy following your adventures with the DR900S.

ericsan13

By video quality alone, the DR900 is the clear winner. Thanks for sharing. Funny that the video was filmed near me.

lexnewbi

I had loved my F770. However, this past week the dashcam kept asking to reformat the SD card every time I started the car.. This is a very loud announcement and is repeated three times. this announcement cannot be turned off. The dashcam also lost settings and could not keep the date and time. After exchanging several e-mails with Tinhkware, I find out from Thinkware that this dashcam uses a soldered battery on the board to power the real time clock. Thinkware would replace this $2 battery (in low volume. In high volume is under $1) by charging $100 repair fee. This is a simple two lead battery and the desolder and desolder takes less than opening the dashcam.

Given that this issue happened after two years, I could not recommend Thinkware dashcams anymore. If you are looking for dashcam, search on the web and ask the manufacturer if they use a CMOS battery. If they do, inquire the cost of the repair since eventually these dashcams will stop keeping track of date/time and require these reformat card messages. Given that these dashcam are on the windshield expose to cold and heat, these batteries will degrade quickly. Not sure why they do not use a supercap...

FatherTo1

Completely agree. I made sure my dashcams used super capacitors. Even then, both of my VIOFO A119S started losing date/time. I contacted VIOFO and they sent me two pairs of super capacitors for free and a link to the repair video. I have my own soldering iron and replaced the caps myself.

lexnewbi

lexnewbi

I just lowered the headliner remover the grommet and pushed the cable through it. The headliner was easily popped off, but it took a while to figure out where after removing the rubber piece at the end. Its been a couple of years, so hard to remember all the steps. I looked at lexuspartsnow.com to see the pieces of the headliner to get me started.

RomanK

I have done somewhat of a similar install, sometime ago for the ThinkWare F770 2 channel dashcam. i chose to hardwire it to the fusebox instead of increasing my cost of buying a battery backup. This way it is still getting a constant power even if my ignition is off. I must say that running the cable from the front cam to the rear was a pain especially the part where it attached to the back glass. I have also made a video to help other fellow Lexus RX owners.

dibl

On my 2018, the only real difficulty that I found at the rear installation was that, inside and under the headliner, the grommet makes a 90 degree turn toward the driver, but I wanted to run the wire over to the rear side of the passenger side rear door. So I used a very small knife blade and cut a slit in the bend so my camera wire could go out in the direction I wanted. I used electrical tape and taped the end of my wire to protect the connector, and silicon spray on the inside of the grommet to help work the wire through. To pull it over to the rear top behind the rear door on the passenger side, I took a long stiff wire, bent a small loop at the tip, pushed it under the headliner to the back edge of the headliner which I had loosened so I could drop it down an inch or two, and I taped the camera cable to the loop, and pulled it through. Make sure to go behind the air bags, not in front.

RomanK

The most difficult part for me was to fish this camera power/comm cable through the conduits that are in the trunk door. There was i) just not enough space and ii) the close to the 90-degree bend of those conduits makes it even difficult and to put the cherry on the cake the camera power/comm wire is also pretty thick at the connector area. However, the way I accomplished this was to find the conduit that had less number of wires already through it and then put a zip tie around the camera power/comm wire connection and fished the zip tie through the conduit and pull the zip tie from the other end. I found this to be the easiest way.

bamalam

Hey ​​​​​@dibl , I'm resurrecting this somewhat old thread to see if you can elaborate on your already good description of running your rear dashcam cable. Reading this and a couple of other posts you've made, it sounds like you:
* ran the cable to the rear on the passenger side of the RX
* ran the cable under the roof/atop the headliner, and away from the side of the vehicle
(that's how I read it, but you also said to go behind the air bags, not in front. That's one area where I'm confused.)
* pulled the headliner down some, apparently disconnecting the fasteners in a few places

My biggest concern for the rear camera is airbag interference. It seems like a really bad idea to just tuck the cable into the headliner above the front window, around the B-pillar, above the passenger window and into the joint between the headliner and fascia running to the rear door. Unless I'm wrong, doing so guarantees airbag interference. It doesn't sound like that is what you did, but I'm not quite understanding your method. So, a couple of questions:

How did you drop the headliner a couple of inches?
Can you restate how you ran the rear cable, where it lays with respect to the side and centerline of the vehicle and how you avoided the side curtain airbags in the front and rear?

Thanks. There's a virtual beer on the way to you!

dibl

Hi Bamalam -- better be careful with your beer offers, I'm not that far from WV ....

For rear cam, I started at the rear, did the fishing through the rubber grommet bit and then over to the rear passenger-side pillar and down that pillar to the bottom and then under the door trim of both doors, and up the A pillar under that airbag, which was kind of a pain because of the plastic "harness" that keeps the trip from whacking you when that airbag blows. After that it was easy to tuck it under the headliner trim. Power cable down the drivers side A pillar -- same PITA with the trim over the airbag. I positioned the camera so the lens is just to the right of the black screen at the top center of the windshield.

bamalam

Ha! A virtual beer is better than no beer at all! Thanks for the description. My preconceived notion was that the rear camera cable ran all the way to the front above the headliner. Now that I know you took the low route from the C-pillar forward it makes perfect sense. I like the idea and will probably do the same when I finally pull the trigger.

dibl

I was concerned that the cable for the rear camera might not be long enough -- misplaced concern. The excess ended up coiled behind the trim and airbag on the passenger side A pillar.