[Action123]

Has anyone hardwired an RD or Dashcam? I’m gonna be pulling panels shortly to wire up my Uniden R7 and would love it if anyone has any points to make with the fuse box and panels going up to the rear view mirror. Not my first install I’ve done but I’ve never had a Kia - anything to watch out for other than the usual (airbags, etc)?


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[Jon]

Has anyone hardwired an RD or Dashcam? I’m gonna be pulling panels shortly to wire up my Uniden R7 and would love it if anyone has any points to make with the fuse box and panels going up to the rear view mirror. Not my first install I’ve done but I’ve never had a Kia - anything to watch out for other than the usual (airbags, etc)?


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Hi. Curious as to why you'd want to hard wire in a Dashcam? I have a Navman one that runs off of the 12v plug in great.
I'm thinking that doing that would be considered a modification and negate the warranty by messing with the electronics/wiring.

 

[Action123]

Hi. Curious as to why you'd want to hard wire in a Dashcam? I have a Navman one that runs off of the 12v plug in great.
I'm thinking that doing that would be considered a modification and negate the warranty by messing with the electronics/wiring.

I always check with the dealer. And I only lease cars - I’ve done audio mods in my previous vehicles (DSPs, Sub boxes), and always a dashcam and radar detector. Every dealer I’ve worked with so far has the rule of “as long as it’s out when it’s back and nothing is broken or drilled into”.

My old Ford dealership was even more lenient - they said that any holes have to be hidden.

For Dashcams and RDs in the front, it only takes a fuse tap and running wire up to the rear view. In the Seltos with Bose, I’m not playing with audio as it would require pulling off wire sheathing on the Bose amp/processor under the passenger seat - unless there’s an aftermarket harness adapter that I’m not aware of, but it doesn’t exist AFAIK. But windshield mounted devices that just need power are no sweat.

I hate exposed wires hanging all over my dashboard and taking up 12v sockets. Fuse taps are easy to install/uninstall. I bring cars in for service, no one ever minds. As it doesn’t involve any actual wiring or harness modifications, there’s nothing to be concerned about regarding warranty.

 

[Jon]

I always check with the dealer. And I only lease cars - I’ve done audio mods in my previous vehicles (DSPs, Sub boxes), and always a dashcam and radar detector. Every dealer I’ve worked with so far has the rule of “as long as it’s out when it’s back and nothing is broken or drilled into”.

My old Ford dealership was even more lenient - they said that any holes have to be hidden.

For Dashcams and RDs in the front, it only takes a fuse tap and running wire up to the rear view. In the Seltos with Bose, I’m not playing with audio as it would require pulling off wire sheathing on the Bose amp/processor under the passenger seat - unless there’s an aftermarket harness adapter that I’m not aware of, but it doesn’t exist AFAIK. But windshield mounted devices that just need power are no sweat.

I hate exposed wires hanging all over my dashboard and taking up 12v sockets. Fuse taps are easy to install/uninstall. I bring cars in for service, no one ever minds. As it doesn’t involve any actual wiring or harness modifications, there’s nothing to be concerned about regarding warranty.

Oh ok. I think im getting the picture that elsewhere, other than here in OZ, that you guys are not hit as hard as we are here on warranty issues.
That's good and wish we were treated as easy. Here the dealers look for anything to knock us back even though what we may do is reasonable and can be considered no real modification. I had a car, not a Kia, and when in a dealer here heard them talking to the mechanics and service personal, saying what they could do to get the issue voided that what I heard was a known issue with the same car I had, rejected. Mine had the same issue but I had all the info that it was known by the maker. It was fixed. Mine was under warranty as I believe was the other person but would have cost $2000, the person I listened in on had to pay it. They are ruthless here in OZ and why I always say watch out.

 

[Action123]

Update on this (forgot I made this thread). I pulled a bunch of interior panels and realized that it’s not as straightforward of an install as I have seen with my previous vehicles.

I pulled the panel behind the rear view mirror - it slides off by pushing it downwards and popping it off using a trim removal kit. The A pillar is easy to pop off as well - similar to most vehicles (just be mindful of the curtain airbag). The problem that I saw was that the wall between the fuse box and A pillar on the drivers side is extremely difficult to run wires through without potentially compromising the position of wiring for the airbag.

The only way I saw to do it was by running wires through the door seals which is less than ideal.

I made an appointment with my installer who worked on audio in my Revel van. He will be pulling the dash panel and wiring a hidden mute button hopefully to the right of my steering wheel near the climate control system for my radar detector. And then I’ll be using a Blendmount for my Uniden R7 on the rear view mirror. I’ll be using the Viofo A129 Pro Duo (front and rear) cameras.

I looked into many camera options including the more expensive Thinkware U1000, but the Viofo system is better bang for your buck. I’ve used their cameras previously and love the supercapacitors they use instead of Li-Ion or LiPo batteries. It takes the complication of extreme temperatures out of play.


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[jono]

Update on this (forgot I made this thread). I pulled a bunch of interior panels and realized that it’s not as straightforward of an install as I have seen with my previous vehicles.

Thanks for the update, I'm about to pull my RHD Seltos apart to hardwire a dashcam (front only). I did try and remove the centre overhead map lights to see if there was a switched ignition wire under there (unlikely especially as this is the base model Seltos) but I couldn't get it out.

Did the A pillar have any single use clips or did they go back on okay? It hasn't been easy finding service info on this car!


Thanks,

Jono

 

[bicepeak]

Thanks for the update, I'm about to pull my RHD Seltos apart to hardwire a dashcam (front only). I did try and remove the centre overhead map lights to see if there was a switched ignition wire under there (unlikely especially as this is the base model Seltos) but I couldn't get it out.

Did the A pillar have any single use clips or did they go back on okay? It hasn't been easy finding service info on this car!


Thanks,

Jono

You guys make me nervous pulling things apart on a new car. If I did that, I would probably never get it back together right.

 

[Action123]

Thanks for the update, I'm about to pull my RHD Seltos apart to hardwire a dashcam (front only). I did try and remove the centre overhead map lights to see if there was a switched ignition wire under there (unlikely especially as this is the base model Seltos) but I couldn't get it out.

Did the A pillar have any single use clips or did they go back on okay? It hasn't been easy finding service info on this car!


Thanks,

Jono

No single use clips thankfully. Pull it from the very top and slide a trim tool along the side facing you. You’ll begin by pulling the first couple clips from force at the very top.
Honestly it’s a bit easier if you just pop a bit of the door seal off as needed while you’re going down, and then you can use a flashlight to spot out the location of the clips. Superglue for door seal is cheap if needed, panels are...unavailable. Door seal popped right back on without any glue in my car (I wonder if they even used it anywhere? Maybe not)

The bottom of the A pillar has a lot of resistance so it just takes very careful force. A regular clip may become a single-use if you don’t have have patience. Very bottom will need to be pulled up and out to remove the panel.

I’m not sure whether there’s any wiring up at the dome lights which would be usable. I know the rearview mirror has wires that you could likely tap from but I didn’t look at which fuse they run from. I just really don’t like splicing things on a lease

 

[Action123]

You guys make me nervous pulling things apart on a new car. If I did that, I would probably never get it back together right.

I certainly don’t like being the first person pulling things apart outside of a dealership but hey nothing broke!

 

[Danny1918]

I hardwired my Rexing front and rear dashcam. I used a micro fuse adapter to tap into power when car is on. I don’t recall having to pull any trim off besides the black piece on the rear tailgate to run wire through existing route. I’ll get some pictures up when I have time. Super clean install and very quick and easy to do.

 

[Action123]

Oh jeez I totally forgot about this thread again. I got everything installed by my local guy a few weeks ago. It’s a Viofo A129 Pro Duo (Amazon had a good holiday deal) and my Uniden R7. So that all worked out well.

Blendmount works great and keeps it snug against the rearview - worth the extra money, way better than the suction cup mounts included with RDs.

Dash cam is wired to the fuse holder on the 12v battery itself, with an inline chip for parking mode triggered by the (un)switched acc line. Front cam goes through firewall and up the A pillar, through the headliner, and down. The rear cam is wired back into the rearview panel, inside the headliner trim along the side, and down through the wire sleeve to the hatch panel. RD is the same power deal, accessory line turns it off.

The left metallic-looking side to the forewardmost storage cubby (where the Qi phone charger lives) has my radar mute/power button on it. It’s easy to just reach down and press it without looking.

You definitely don’t NEED to pull anything rear of the dashboard - it can all be tucked in, but it ends up being a bit more clean when it’s all integrated. Front hardwiring is a bit of a different story if you’re using a separate fuse holder. Fuse taps are okay but not completely ideal. Audio installers usually don’t like them too much.

I’m easily bothered by any exposed wires so a full install was just a better route for my own preferences.

Dash cam works great - 4K is a bit excessive so I’m down to 1440p. It uses quite a bit less memory that way. The Exmor R image sensor is fantastic.

The Uniden R7 continues to be my favorite portable RD. The range is awesome. I get Ka alerts from a literal 1.5mi away in general use, and about 1/2-3/4 mile in CO mountains. BSM filtering gets better with each update.
Escort has some better BSM control but at a cost of some range (and ~$250).

Some ran-to-the-garage-at-night pics below. That pic of the blendmount was at a low angle, normal viewing has it against the bottom of the rearview. They’re adjustable to pretty much any position.

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[jono]

I've finally got my dashcam hard wired in. Note my car is an Australian right hand drive model, YMMV. It wasn't too difficult once I got the top pillar trim clip removed (ended up cutting it and replacing it as I couldn't get it out - the clip was only AUD$2.59 from Kia, part number 85815C1100).

Some of my steps below, I won't go into too much detail as there are plenty of YouTube videos showing dashcam installs. Note, I removed the pillar trim from both sides, there are wiring looms running up either side (and airbags to avoid), so you could run the cable up whichever side suited your requirements (eg. if you were going to power using the car's USB port or cigar lighter outlet it might make more sense to run the cabling up with passenger side).

i) Pull away the rubber seal along the front pillar (it's a friction fit).

ii) Remove the front pillar trim starting from the top, pull it towards you and it will pop out about 2cm, this is the difficult clip to remove. It can be removed and re-used by pressing the black latches either side where it goes into the pillar but access is limited, you'll save a lot of time if you just cut the black piece and replace the entire clip. The Kia service manual suggests replacing this clip so I'd recommend doing that. Once you have that free it's easy, there is a blue locator clip in the middle of the pillar trim, no issues with this, then the trim can be pulled up and out towards the middle of the car (there are plastic hooks on the bottom which engage with the dashboard trim).

iii) Install your hardwire kit as per the instructions that came with it. My Seltos has Micro2 type fuses and I used an 'add-a-fuse' fuse tap for the positive supply (I used a fuse that was live when the car's ignition was 'ON') and connected ground to a body ground lug near the fuse box. I ran a pull rope down the side of the pillar / dash trim near the existing wiring harness and it came out near the fuse box. I used this to pull the camera connector side of the hardwire kit up. Give it a good visual inspection where the wire runs up behind the fuse box and up to the pillar, there are some sharp edges there to avoid so the wire doesn't rub through. Then run it to where the camera would be installed, following the existing harness and securing with zip ties, saying well away from the airbag.