I would like to have a dashcam just above the mirror, and I have done this on other cars, feeding the power supply behind the trim across to the A pillar, down and into the dash area to a 12v cigar/charger socket. I'm a bit reluctant to do this on the x358, as all the trim looks very well attached and I don't want to break anything.
Has anyone checked inside the mirror mounting pedestal to see if there is a 12v power source that I could use that would be closer to the camera? The pedestal mount for the mirror has the dimming supply, and the rain sensor wiring for a start. The plastic housing seems to be split into left and right halves, but I haven't found the way to open it yet, perhaps I should read the manual.

 

I ran mine across to the A-Pillar (sunshade helps hold it up), tucks nicely down the A-Pillar molding, around the back of the pedals well out of the way, under the floor-mat, along past the front seat, and into the rear-passenger cig lighter!
Oh, PeteM. I know what you're thinking. No it's not No.8 fencing wire!
Forgot to say, my camera is an 808 #16, so it's all 5v USB cable.

 

Thanks Chris, I was hoping to avoid the long wires, but if I got a USB ribbon cable...
Have you seen the XJ6 Sovereign X358 on TradeMe? The one that was $45K, but is now at $35k. NZ new, as if that means anything. Dreaming...
Same colour as mine, but a SWB diesel.
Cheers
Pete

 

There's another Sovereign! Green, $39,990.
Always jealous of your Super V8

 

You can run a fairly thin wire along the front edge of the headliner down the A pillar into the glove box

and to the 12v socket in there without removing headliner or A pillar cover.

Just push the wire in behind edge of cover and headliner.

 

You might also pick up 12v for the overhead console - there's definitely power there for the lights, sunroof switch, rear sunshade etec. Still closer than the middle of the center console WAY down below.

 

I ran mine along the headlining trim edge , across the little join where the headlining meets the A pillar trim, and down the passenger side A pillar and then into the glovebox to the power socket, you can just use a plastic comb or similar to just push the wire into place, it also hides nicely behind the door trim as you go down the side

 

Yes, I'm hoping that I can join on to a connector there and then the camera is only a couple of inches away. Now to look at the manual on how to disassemble things... I have had other dashcams with cable feeds etc and wanted to make this one as unobtrusive as possible. Thanks for your encouragement!

 

This car never fails to intrigue. What are these things? (central cable is the rearview mirror supply)
Left: with LED lit and protection plastic still on from new
Right: Weird thing marked ETC, possibly part of a windscreen aerial?
My handbook drawings look different. There's a compass option for the mirror but I have no evidence whether it's installed.

 

Is your car ex Japan? They have a system called (I think) VICS. It's a sort of big brother surveillance system that is probably necessary given the vast number of cars on the road in a country the size of Britain or NZ. My car is ex Japan and I have a small flat box in the left corner of the dash top, that may be GPS? There was also a plug in the lower right cubbyhole that may have been connected to an electronic toll collection system. I took out the cubby liner and pushed the plug up inside the dash. The units in your pic are probably the VICS or the toll road system antennas.

My Toyota has clear plastic film antennae on the inside top of the windscreen.

I've looked at the wiring diagram and I can connect the camera to the mirror power supply which is fed from the passenger fuse box F3.

Cheers
Pete

 

-It's not the mini speaker with that annoying Japanese woman, this doesn't have "The Voice that drives you crazy" but my other 2 Jap imports do / or did.
-It's not the toll system, that was ripped out of the cubbyhole.
-There are small windscreen aerials each side of the mirror placement, which go into some small black bars marked "Panasonic TY-CA270DTF" which is some sort of antenna (2 vertical lines in the windscreen are the antenna, same other side). Can't tell if that connects to the right gizmo, the left gizmo with the LED remains a mystery. All of them seem to have power.
-Wherever the GPS is, mine works and just needed the CD or region change. All done by the dealer.


The handbook says the rain sensor is up there, but for some reason I thought the rain sensor was bottom windscreen in front of the alarm LED.
Anyway, if anyone has a car from a sensible country, maybe they can confirm if it's just the Jap ones that have this stuff. (X358)

I can only dream of a NZ-New car...