rear dashcam routing via "gutters" (with pictures) (1 Viewer)

[ac4000]

Ran the wiring for a rear dashcam today. Found a few prior posts very helpful and thought I might as well document this particular route (seemed to be the easiest for me) in case anyone wants a step-by-step.

		I started at the back, although it may be easier to start at the front. This accordion channel detaches and the white clips push out (press the middle tab first, then the sides), making it easier to run the cable through (still not super smooth though). I left about a foot of extra cable here. A 30 ft cable is a comfortable working length, although you could get away with less (maybe 25 ft).
		From the accordion channel, if you remove the seat belt surround on the roof, you do not need to pull down the headliner, and can feed the cable across. Near the RH D-pillar, on the roof, this is a convenient point to clip the cable.
		I then followed this cable bundle most of the way (it includes the window antenna wires, among other things). I used factory clips, when available, and some zip ties to prevent the wire from moving around and getting into trouble.
		Down toward the RH "gutter". I found it very helpful to remove all the lower trim panels (no need to remove the top panels except for the D-pillar panel). If you're really good at fishing wire, I suppose you don't need to, but they come off easily and make it much easier to secure the cable properly. For me, this is a case of, "just do the disassembly and save time and hassle".
		RH "gutter", rear section.

 

[ac4000]

		There is a cross-member here, so I couldn't find an easy way to fish the wire through. Taking off the lower trim panel made this trivially easy (again, I'd recommend just taking off the panels).
		RH "gutter" front section to A-pillar. This is where I coiled the rest of the excess wire. It's a straight shot to the A-pillar, but fish tape makes quick work of it.
		A-pillar; just make sure to tie the wire out of the way of the airbag.
		Removing the sun visors takes a minute and makes it very easy to tuck the wire into the headliner.
		Debating whether to modify the rain sensor cover to allow the cables to exit neatly, or just let them come out of the headliner. Works either way. I used a 29.5 ft cable from Vantrue (camera's a Viofo, and these are just standard cables as far as I can tell, but I couldn't find a lot of options in that length with angled connectors; https://amazon.com/dp/B0CHJ9C1K4).

 

[WMM3]

Did you wire direct to fuse? If so, which fuse? Under glove compartment?

 

[ac4000]

TOW BK/UP -- 12V
SEAT-HTR -- ACC

(NB: ACC wire on the dashcam's hardwire kit, but the circuit, SEAT-HTR, turn on with the second press of the start button. I prefer this, but if you want it to come on with the first press, you'd need a different circuit.)