Dashcam "component"

I should have made clear that there was no electrical connection involved - it just looks from the photo that the wires might have been connected. They weren't.

Could there have been a magnetic mount that was attached to the windshield and then these iron pieces were what attracted by the magnet?

Mikek

Nothing in the manual about it, and in any case it has a socket for its windshield sucker base to slide into. If there had been an intention to use a magnetic mount, I'm sure it could have been done with something a lot less bulky in the dashcam's body.

Maybe damps a mechanical resonance that would blur the image.

Quite possibly. Mild steel would certainly tick the boxes in terms of a density-cost profile.

I'm pretty certain there are dsahcam breakdowns on YouTube. It'll be interesting to see if those show anything similar, and, if so, what comments have been made about them.

I've just looked through at least half-a-dozen teardowns on YouTube, but nothing even vaguely resembling those pieces of steel appeared in any of them.

On a sunny day (Sun, 6 Oct 2019 08:39:11 +0100) it happened Jeff Layman wrote in :

If it is just steel could it be just vibration damping weights?

My guess is that they are a last minute EMC measure - possibly useless but that wouldn't be the first time. Can you measure the density ?

MK

Jeff Layman wrote in news:qnajj7$jnu$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Mass dampeners to steady the camera assembly into sinosoidal motions so the motion compensation has less to do.

Seems like a fail idea.

I am a rubber baby buggy bumpers guy or full suspension. I always liked the steel wire rope springs used at the base of military racks.

I've no way of measuring the density, but the material looks like it was cut to size with a guillotine. Also, I left it partially submerged in water overnight and rust had already started to form. Both of those point to it being mild steel.

I think that's what the consensus here is - something for damping down excessive movement.

On a sunny day (Sun, 6 Oct 2019 17:19:12 +0100) it happened Jeff Layman wrote in :

After posting that it occured to me that it could also be used together with some mounting bracket with magnets.

Or foam tape to add a little damping.

Jan Panteltje wrote in news:qnd6na$o9u$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Yeah, and if you were someone whom actually read threads, you would have noticed that it was already discussed with the device owner.

snipped-for-privacy@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I think the consideration is that the camera has a built in mechanical motion compensation mechanism. They have limits. So your foam would not work because the light weight plastic and PCB assy would still have high slew rate jostles. I think the weights along with say foam as you suggest, would make those jostles more sinusoidal by sinking into the foam more deeply, all the while slowing the collision force motion.

I think gummy rubber would do it and do so without damping weight. So gummy rubber mounts in the corners of the assembly to outer shell mount.

Full rubber band suspension in a big dashboard consuming box would work best. ;-)