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Best place to mount a camera?


dm001681

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Sorry, I didn't put much detail. The camera would be used for watching surfers on the new command center. I don't have a particular camera in mind but I saw 'DarkSide' mounted one on his new MXZ and made me think it is a great idea. Problem is the LSV doesn't have the same are for mounting like the MXZ.

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drone?

Seriously, a suction cup mount on the gunnel above the rub rail with a GoPro facing backwards is what I've found works best. The 12" display is 480i, so it's about the worst screen you can use for video. I suggest mounting a tablet to the window above the 7" display on the dash to watch the video. I've found that RAM tab-tite mounts with a suction cup work the best. Let me see if I can find a picture...

Ugh, I'm 1000+ miles from the boat and I don't have a good picture of the dash. Trust me, a tablet is the better way to go to get video. To convert from HDMI to composite (yellow cable; the input to the Viper II) you need a converter box to downscale the image and the quality is very poor.

Edited by mikeo
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I find my GoPro mount on the transom doesn't give videos I like. I have a tower mount and that's pretty decent for videos. For surfing, the suction cup on the side above the rub rail is really good.

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I've mounted a GoPro upside down with a suction cup mounted to the underside of Rev 410s on the tower then flipped the image in the setting menu. It's a lot less risky if the suction fails and falls, it just falls into the boat vice into the water. It worked well for surfing but not so much for wakeboarding (too far back).

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Whenever I use a suction cup or other temporary mount, I find something to tether the camera to. I have had to stop and retrieve my camera because it was dangling in the spray, banging against the side of the boat.

In this case, I agree with shawndoggy, just get a $20 camera and mount it on the grab rail or some other convenient place.

Be aware that it will become mostly a bootie cam when people stand on the platform, and your passengers may get self conscious. Side mounting can help avoid that.

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I've mounted a GoPro upside down with a suction cup mounted to the underside of Rev 410s on the tower then flipped the image in the setting menu. It's a lot less risky if the suction fails and falls, it just falls into the boat vice into the water. It worked well for surfing but not so much for wakeboarding (too far back).

Thanks for the idea! Didn't realize you could flip the image.

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I did a rear view camera. It works great for filing in the areas the mirror can't see, especially when you have people sitting in the back. It is not good for pictures or video, and not a replacement fit the mirror. It works ok for seeing when the surfer falls but is useless with wakeboarding.

For the gopro I am not liking the suction cup mount, I amean going to try mounting on the anchor light pole that is on the G4 next.

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drone?

Seriously, a suction cup mount on the gunnel above the rub rail with a GoPro facing backwards is what I've found works best. The 12" display is 480i, so it's about the worst screen you can use for video. I suggest mounting a tablet to the window above the 7" display on the dash to watch the video. I've found that RAM tab-tite mounts with a suction cup work the best. Let me see if I can find a picture...

Ugh, I'm 1000+ miles from the boat and I don't have a good picture of the dash. Trust me, a tablet is the better way to go to get video. To convert from HDMI to composite (yellow cable; the input to the Viper II) you need a converter box to downscale the image and the quality is very poor.

I promised a picture of the dash showing the tablet; the angle is a bad and the color is washed out since the boat is covered and in storage. The tablet doesn't cover the 12" screen when you're sitting in the driver's seat, I took the picture with the phone rested on the driver's seat back. Using the tablet for music, chartplotter, and action camera viewfinder all in one is great.

post-3087-0-24372100-1449292626_thumb.jp

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I promised a picture of the dash showing the tablet; the angle is a bad and the color is washed out since the boat is covered and in storage. The tablet doesn't cover the 12" screen when you're sitting in the driver's seat, I took the picture with the phone rested on the driver's seat back. Using the tablet for music, chartplotter, and action camera viewfinder all in one is great.

attachicon.gifmalibu_dash.jpg

Mike, that is awesome so now some more questions!

How are you hooking it up so that you get a camera connected to it and also the chart plotter? Also, can you take some pics of how it is mounted? Thanks!

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Mike, that is awesome so now some more questions!

How are you hooking it up so that you get a camera connected to it and also the chart plotter? Also, can you take some pics of how it is mounted? Thanks!

The tablet is an iPad mini, the 128GB 4G LTE version (only the cellular versions come with the GPS module installed). I use a variety of map programs for the chart plotter functionality; My favorite is MotionX GPS Maps, but it's not available anymore. I can also use the default Apple Maps, Google Maps, and have been looking in to the Navionics software (which is part of the HotMaps Premium purchase as far as I can tell). Music is handled via the native app, Pandora, Spotify, etc. since it's just bluetooth. Most of the music apps can send A2DP data to the Viper II dash system so the track info is on the 7" screen if I'm using different functionality on the iPad.

For the action cam viewfinder (GoPro, SJ Cam, etc.) I use the native WiFI of the camera to the iPad. Each one of the cameras creates it's own wifi hotspot, but is done "correctly" so that cellular data can still be used for music streaming, and the iPad acts as a viewfinder for the camera with it's native app.

I do have an Apple Watch so I'm looking forward to GoPro releasing the viewfinder app that was shown at Apple WWDC. I won't be able to see much, but the cool factor is way up there.

The mount is a RAM suction cup to the side window with a RAM tab-tite tablet holder:

http://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-HOL-TAB12U

with

http://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-238U

and

http://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-166-103U

I might be able to get more pictures on Monday

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  • 1 year later...

Mikeo:

The Ipad setup on your dash looks fantastic.  Any chance you took more pictures that show how the Ipad is attached to the dash?  If not, can you post them or send me them?  Also, can the Ipad run your music if their is cellular service.  I boat on Lake Berryessa in Northern California and get no reception on the lake.  If its easier to respond to the above orally, I can be reached at 415-823-1571.  I have a 2016 25 LSV and would like to duplicate your Ipad Dash set up.  Thanks.  Daniel

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@Setter2016 I don't have any pictures of the back of the tablet holder in the boat, I'll post a picture of the mount arm here. It's (mostly) just the parts you see in the post above with the suction cup going to the dash side glass. I've added a piece of plastic to the back of the tablet holder so I can put a sun shade around the iPad for better viewing too; I use the same tablet for flying my drone, so I've just used the same sunshade for both. As for the music, I've got local music on the iPad but what I've found works the best is a premium subscription to a streaming service (I use Pandora) that allows for offline playlists. Pandora has a feature where every time you "thumbs up" a song it will put it in an offline playlist and if you have enough songs it identifies a pattern and can download what it thinks you like. At least that's what it seems like to me, or my wife is hitting the thumbs up on tracks when I'm not paying attention. After driving around listening to Pandora for a week I almost never ran out of music on the water, there were some repeats though.

top view with sun shade:
59d514723dd51_topwithshade.jpg.9f26a5c65249773c1477cba29d964896.jpg

top view without sun shade:
59d5147330246_topwithoutshade.jpg.bf22879d9c261cb37f09e99435b3233d.jpg

top front view showing tablet holder:
59d51471657ba_topfrontwithoutshade.jpg.65e8488fa498e0d2b3d36203858a5d05.jpg

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Mikeo:

Thanks for the reply and photographs.  How well does the suction cup attachment to the side glass hang on when the boat is cutting through waves and other boat's wakes?  Thank you.

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What I've found works best is to rest the bottom edge of the backing plastic of the tablet mount on the top edge trim of the 7" display. I've never had the mount fall off of the window while out riding or while driving around; the only time the suction cup has fallen off the glass is when I've left the boat in the sun while I've been eating lunch or during the day when the boat is just tied up somewhere. The tablet comes out of the mount whenever I'm not within sight distance to prevent it from "growing legs".

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Mikeo:

Is the shade because of the glare on the screen of the iPad?  Do you have any more suggestions as to how to set up the shade?  Any more photos of the shade or set up?  Thanks for your help and patience on this.

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