[DaveDee]

Hi Guys
Hope this is of some use or interest to those who decide an a dashcam. Although there's a good BMW Drive recorder there's no provision for parking mode which I think is important given it can pickup offenders of hit run or vandals.
I used the Blackvue DR 900x - 2 channel plus a pair of cellink neo 6 Amp hour batteries.
Having done my own on a few cars and being in the electronics engineering business it was a head start but there is nothing too hard about doing and OCD type job on these.
Priority was wiring through the headlining away from airbags (instead of the usual tucking the wires around door seals)
Front camera is located near the frit band with the lens in clear space and the rear is tucked up out of sight. I'll attach some photos.
In this case it was form over function but the results are still excellent despite the locations and I can post some clips of the front and rear later

The Cellink Neo batteries mount nicely in the battery compartment and wire right to the rear fuse panel. Batteries give around 30 hours in parking mode and charge at 9AMPS
Other than the usual trim removal tools some fibreglass rod soldering iron are a must and plenty of felt anti rattle tape.
To be neater the cable going to the rear camera is normally a straight coax connector rather than a (neater) right angle.
I used a short extension coax around 1 meter that had a right angle and straight connector and used an MCX coax connector to join the cables.
The job takes a lot longer and has more self inflicted wounds than a simple install but I think the car is worth spending the time and effort getting it right.
Some photos attached and hope it's of some use
Mine is a right hand drive car so the cables were routed from the passenger side to driver side by pulling down the 2 vanity lights and running a flexible fibre glass rod as a pilot, then removing the cover over the rear brake lights and routing from the driver side vanity mirror to the brake lamp cover. From there across to the right side and through to the trunk after a side trim cover i clipped.
Any questions feel free to ask

[Hpirx]

Have the same BlackVue from my F22 m240 sitting in a box, waiting for an installation session. I ordered the drive recorder, but the picture quality is nowhere near as good as the BlackVue. And of course no parked monitoring.
Yeah, that spot next to the car battery is just made for a cam battery. I was planning on using the 12V socket in the trunk (boot) like I did on my previous install, I'm a little leery of BMWs fuse block. Unless you can give me some pointers on that. Thanks for the write up.

[DaveDee]

Originally Posted by Hpirx

Have the same BlackVue from my F22 m240 sitting in a box, waiting for an installation session. I ordered the drive recorder, but the picture quality is nowhere near as good as the BlackVue. And of course no parked monitoring.
Yeah, that spot next to the car battery is just made for a cam battery. I was planning on using the 12V socket in the trunk (boot) like I did on my previous install, I'm a little leery of BMWs fuse block. Unless you can give me some pointers on that. Thanks for the write up.

I used the included "add a fuse" to fuse number 203 (7.5A)
This is on an ignition switched circuit that has instant shut off unlike other accessories that remain on for several minutes. Reason being the cellink can charge at 9 amps which I don’t think is a good idea for lengthy periods when the car is not charging the battery. This also includes the +12V socket in the trunk, from memory it stays on at least 3 minutes after the ignition is switched off.

[Hpirx]

Thanks! I feel a bit better going the fuse block route.

[DaveDee]

Originally Posted by Hpirx

Thanks! I feel a bit better going the fuse block route.

Just on parking mode.. the problem is when the ignition switches off it almost instantly goes into parking mode so when you get out of the car the closure of the door becomes an impact event. They way around this but still being able to use a high current fuse block is to solder the yellow and red wires together that come from the Blackvue external power supply lead. This will bypass instant parking mode and default to the GPS based non movement and trigger parking mode after a few minutes.
Here’s a pic of the lighter adaptor wiring, the external power supply lead has the same conductors

[TheMandalorian]

Anyone else happen to install this, ordered my vehicle and won't get it for a few months but will definitely look to install this