WiFi enabled SECURITY dashcams? and infuriating story

"AddMustard" (AddMustard) 04/27/2016 at 15:30 • Filed to: None

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I don’t know a damn thing about dashcams, except that I need them for a use that they don’t seem to be intended for. I’d like one mostly for security purposes, when my car is parked overnight or over a long weekend. I’ve seen motion activated dash cams, but all they do is record to onboard storage. That’s not going to cut it if someone steals my car, or fucks with it and then see’s it’s got a camera, and then steals the camera. I’d like something that uploads to “the cloud” anytime something terrible happens, or any time a bird lands on my car. No discrimination.

Here’s the deal: I live in an apartment complex, it’s in a relatively nice part of town, it’s quiet for the most part, and I’m on the waiting list for a garage. The list is apparently long, as I’ve been waiting for 5 or 6 months, pretty much since I bought my current car. I’ve never really been nervous about leaving my car out in the elements, nothing bad has ever happened to any of my parked cars. This apartment complex however is overrun with children, on scooters, on bikes, on skateboards, and they have complete disregard for any vehicles. They’re outside 18 hours a day, it’s fucking nuts, nobody is safe. One day, 3 months ago, I was sitting in my car after coming home from work and one of these little buggers bounces off the door of my car with his scooter and keeps on scooting. There was no damage but ever since then I’ve been real nervous about parking it out there.

Then, 1 week ago, I finally saved enough money to get the car completely re-sprayed, brand new paint job, the expensive paint, professional work. Dents were fixed, scratches were filled, holes in the trunk (from a previous owners F&F spoiler) were covered up. The car was fuckin’ beautiful. I was nervous. I parked where I always do, all week, the first 5 days were fine (I picked it up on Monday last week) then I parked it for the weekend, Friday afternoon. On Sunday afternoon I went to check the mail, but mentally just wanted to make sure my car was still a) there and b) in one piece.

It was fucked. I can’t describe the damage, the trunk needs replaced. Whatever hit it, and that’s where it’s confusing, WHAT hit it? did so hard enough to pop the repaired holes in the trunk out, perfect holes. There’s a deep gouge that goes back halfway, starting at the lip of the trunk, in a huge dent, and going toward the back window. 26 inches away from that, on the top of the trunk, is a dent that goes all the way from the very lip of the trunk, almost to the window. The window is another concern of mine, when I bought the car it had no back window. Easy enough to get a new one, I thought... apparently not as it took a month and a cross-country delivery to get me the LAST replacement window available.

I went to the police and was told they were up at the apartments on Saturday night for a domestic disturbance call, people were fighting and hitting cars with sticks. In all likelihood there’s no way of linking these two things, so I’m paying for this out of my own pocket. My insurance deductible and the cost of replacing/re-spraying this trunk are practically the same, so there’s no point in me getting insurance involved.

Not even 1 week.

I’d like a WiFi enabled dashcam that can upload incidents automatically. I have a Verizon “Jetpack” WiFi hub ready to be installed with it so it always has coverage. I’m not concerned too much about regular dash cam use, I mean loop recording is probably as much as I need in that respect. But I want front & back recording and incident reporting, I want good night vision, and I want something pretty slick looking that isn’t going to draw attention.

This looks like somebody hit it with a broad axe

This dent goes all the way back to the window

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:36

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That’s brutal.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:37

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Good lord I would have the police open up the report and then go pay them a visit with a lawyer in tow.

MarquetteLa > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:40

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I am so sorry.

and 100 more > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:40

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You may want to look into a home-security camera system, and then rig it to a spare battery, or a 12v-constant under the hood. It would suck some juice, obviously, but I’m not sure how else you’d do it.

That, or an old cell phone or two. There’s got to be a solution.

Michael > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:40

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Do you have a view of the parking area from your apartment? You could put a camera in your own window and record from there.

AddMustard > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 04/27/2016 at 15:42

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Filed a report, not enough evidence to go after anyone according to him. Bleh. Not sure if it’s a collision or criminal mischief. My first thought was that some lifted truck bounced off it, but the otherdent on top has no scratches

AddMustard > Michael 04/27/2016 at 15:43

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I can see most spots, but parking is unassigned, it’s a free-for-all. If I get home early enough I can park right across from my apartment and see it clearly, but usually I’m roughly a block away

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:49

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well in the same regard, you would always be somewhere in the parking lot right? It may be easiest to try to install something on the building or in the lot. Obviously the apartment might not be okay with that idea but you could find someplace to conceal it perhaps. I imagine you could be within wireless range to your router at home or use a repeater to do so.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:50

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I love your 240SX by the way. Its gorgous. If you get any good answers remind me about your post. My LS400 has more dents from what I assume are sorority girls in the parking garage then I can count. Both my fiance and sister are in them so I can say that.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 15:57

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I think you should go with a camera that you can just run constantly and only upload the last couple minutes (this can be adjusted) if an alarm is triggered. That alarm can be any sort of aftermarket system for detecting irregular motion/shock to the vehicle. That trigger could set off the alarm (or stay silent for stealth) and then upload the clip of video via a push over cell data. The easiest for the cell data would be a cheap android phone (or an old one you have) and a prepaid phone plan with data paired with a Bluetooth enabled camera. The phone and the running camera would ideally need to last about a day but maybe you could extend the time. If you want some ideas for how others have done this check out mp3car.com. If anyone has done a project like this, it would be on there. There may also be off the shelf solutions to this ($$$) or rigging up a home security system that definitely already has this capability.

ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 16:00

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looks like you pissed someone off.

MrDakka > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 16:01

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You can get a day/night motion activated wifi security camera, a mobile hotspot device, a hefty battery pack and a data plan to tie it all together, but it’s gonna cost a pretty penny. That should cover what you want.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > and 100 more 04/27/2016 at 16:01

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I really like the home security system if a custom system is too difficult. The only real issue you would have is power. Sure you could have an extra 12V battery (DO NOT USE THE MAIN CAR BATTERY!) with an inverter but those are not ideal for long term use. AC and DC power just do not play well together. Especially with the sort of wattage that the setup might produce since its made for a home. I think it would be the easiest to actually use though.

AddMustard > ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper 04/27/2016 at 16:03

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I don’t know anyone or do anything. I work, I come home, I go to work, I come home. I think it’s telling that I didn’t even drive my car between Friday afternoon when I parked it and Sunday when I found this damage. I don’t have an exciting enough life to piss anyone off :)

cazzyodo > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 16:15

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No idea if there is anything specifically for what you’re looking for but you COULD go the route of a cheap-ish WiFi camera and an adapter.

Nightvision on even cheap ones tends to be pretty good, I got some bulky ones that rotate so I can watch my pets and they were $45 a pop. Nest-like ones exist at that price point as well.

Most tend to have apps that feature motion alerts and can save images at the time of the alert as well.

ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 16:19

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LOL, in America you dont have to do anything in particular to piss someone off..

AddMustard > ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper 04/27/2016 at 16:27

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True enough. Maybe someone hates Nissans. Or hates that shade of green. Or hates people having nice things. Or hates sunshine. My new takeaway is that some people are awful, and it’s really kind of deflated my opinion of humanity and it’s potential for good behavior.

DynamicWeight > AddMustard 04/27/2016 at 17:18

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I’m curious as to how this is going to help. I’ve looked at my buddy’s cam (a fairly nice one) and the video looked good, until we freeze framed and tried to zoom in on a plate of the car in front of him. We could not read it. And let’s say you get video of some dude hitting your car with a crowbar. You still won’t know who this random person is. I get that you wan’t to protect your stuff, but you may end up spending a whole bunch of money for no effect. If you really are around all the time, an alarm might be better.

I had a motorcycle stolen out of my apartment complex. The officers who saw the cameras were like “Were not even going to look at the footage because it wouldn’t help anyway”

AddMustard > DynamicWeight 04/27/2016 at 19:39

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It’s an apartment complex, the same cars come and go all the time. You just need to make out the car, if someone is taking a crowbar to it they probably have a reason for it and you should be able to recognize them. If it alerts me that something is happening to my car, I can do something about it as it’s happening, rather than finding out about it later. I have a timestamp, I have pictures, I know what happened, that’s all extremely helpful. Right now, I don’t have a clue. Even if I don’t get useful information that can incriminate someone, at least I know what happened.

ArmadaExpress drives a turbo outback > AddMustard 04/28/2016 at 09:04

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I happened upon this on Amazon as I was looking for home security stuff.. Thought it may be of interest to you in this situation. I can’t quite figure out the power situation, but think it may be battery operated.

No cloud uploading, but it does have G-Sensors for impacts and I think it said it had motion sensors also.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TXR2P40?…

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > AddMustard 04/28/2016 at 09:13

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This is one of the reasons I’m hesitant to have my cars resprayed with good paint. Right now if someone scratches my MR2 it’s an $8 can of Krylon, but if I spent a ton of money on a brand new paint job and someone scratched it I’d be baby-punching furious.