Locating the vehicle’s fuse box: Now that we’ve got all of that covered, let’s begin the installation process. The first thing we have to do is locate a power source for the dash cam which means locating the vehicle’s fuse box. The fuse box controls the electrical flow throughout your vehicle. If you’re not sure where your fuse box is located, you can always refer to your vehicle’s manual to identify the location of your fuse box. We do have a full video on our YouTube page about locating your fuse box if you need help with this step. Now that we’ve located the vehicle’s fuse box, we’ll have to use our “Circuit Tester” to identify a constant fuse and a switched fuse, because our “Thinkware Direct Hardwiring kit” requires connection to a constant power source and a switched power source.

Identifying constant and switched fuses: Basically, constant fuses are fuses that remain energized even when the vehicle’s engine is shut off, and switched fuses operate in tandem with your vehicle’s ignition, turning on when the engine is on and turning off when the vehicle’s ignition is shut off. Before we can use our circuit tester to test which fuses are constant and which aren’t, we’ll have to ground it before we can check our fuses. You can ground the circuit tester by connecting the end attached with a metal prong on any bare unpainted metal surface such as bolts, studs or screws connected to the vehicle’s frame. Now that we’ve located the vehicle’s fuse box and grounded our circuit tester, we can begin probing for a constant and switched fuse.

Thinkware direct hardwiring kit: After we’ve identified the constant and switched fuse that we’ll be using, let’s grab our Thinkware direct hardwiring kit. The yellow wire will need to be connected to the fuse using constant power, the red wire will need to be connected to a fuse using switched power. Finally, the black wire with the “C” shaped metal prong will need to be grounded on a bare metal bolt or stud.

If you’d like to learn a little bit more about identifying a proper ground point, please see our full video below:

Now, one at a time we’ll remove the fuses we’ve identified as constant and switched. We can use the fuse puller tool, which typically can be found inside your vehicle’s fuse box, or a small set of pliers to remove the fuse from the fuse box.

Plugging the removed fuse into the fuse tap: After removing the fuse, we’ll grab one of our fuse taps and insert the fuse we removed to the empty slot in the fuse tap. Then we need to connect the fuse tap securely to Thinkware’s Hardwiring Kit using a crimp tool or a pair of pliers. You want to make sure you get a nice complete crimp here so you don’t have any intermittent power issues later. Then finally, we’ll plug the fuse tap into the fuse box. Then, repeat the process for the other fuse and fuse tap.

Mounting the front facing dash cam: Now, we mount our front facing camera. Be sure to thoroughly clean the windshield where the adhesive will be attached and allow it dry completely as well. This step is very important to ensure a secure and long-lasting attachment of your adhesive pad to the windshield glass.

Plugging in the power cable: Next, we’ll run the power cable from the front camera down to where the fuse box is located. Then we’ll plug the power cable for the Thinkware F800 Pro directly into the “DC in” slot. Be sure to double check what slot you’re plugging the cable into, because incorrectly doing so can cause damage to your dash cam. We’ll be using the trim tool for this part to safely tuck excess cables into the headliner. As we make our way to the “A” pillar we’ll continue tucking the wiring along the headliner. Don’t worry about the excess cables being loose, we’ll use our provided cable clips to secure the cables in place later.

Tucking away wires: This may vary for some but, to tuck some of the wiring away we’re going to have to temporarily remove the weather stripping on the vehicle’s door for easier access to the “A” pillar. Lightly tug on the weather stripping and it will come off creating a convenient gap behind the “A” pillar allowing us to take advantage of the space to tuck our cables behind.

Buttoning up the front camera installation: Be careful when tucking the cables into and around the “A” pillar to avoid interference with any side-curtain air bags that may be located behind the “A” pillar or headliner. If your vehicle is equipped with airbags like this, please consult a professional for the best way to route the cable so that it does not interfere with airbag deployment in the event of an accident. Typically, the cable can be routed behind the path of airbag deployment, but every vehicle is different so please verify this yourself for your own specific vehicle.

From here, we’ll just continue running the cable down to the fuse box. Once all the cables are hidden behind the interior of your vehicle trim, we can make sure everything is properly secured in place. Now that you’ve drawn the wire you can button up your install and test for proper operation. Congratulations, you’ve successfully installed a 1-channel system! But, if you opted for the rear camera as well, this installation now becomes a 2-channel system. Let’s move on to the rear cam installation.

Powering the rear camera: Now we’re going to plug in the cable needed to power the rear camera; this cable plugs into the micro USB port. After plugging in the cable, we’ll continue running the cables through the headliner all the way to the back of the vehicle by the trunk hatch. We’ll have to run the cable over the top of the “B” pillar and then we’ll thread it around the “C” pillar as well. Once again, to make things easy we’ll temporarily remove the weather stripping by lightly tugging on it to remove it, then we’ll have enough of a gap to continue threading the cable through the “B” pillar all the way to the trunk of the vehicle.

Mounting the rear camera: Now that we’re at the trunk of the vehicle we can take a second and mount our rear camera. Make sure the surface area where you’ll be mounting your camera is clean before mounting your dash cam. Then we’ll feed the cable through the rubber grommet up into the trunk trim. Once you’ve finished running the cable through the rubber grommet into the trunk panel of the vehicle, we’ll snap the trunk panel back into place and finally we can plug the cable into the rear dash cam.

Connecting to your dash cam’s Wi-Fi: Both cameras are connected to power and all wires are hidden, let’s go ahead and power on our dash cams and check out the Thinkware application! In the Thinkware Application you can view and adjust dash cam settings but, first you’ll have to connect to your camera’s Wi-Fi. Connect to a network with the name Thinkware and a corresponding number assigned to it. The default password is “123456789”.