# 5 Dash Cam Installation Mistakes That Void Footage When You Need It Most

The footage from a fleet dash cam is only worth what the install allows it to be. A lens aimed at the sky, a loose power feed, a mount that lets the camera turn, a clock nobody set: each one has ended a claim. The five mistakes that come up most, and how to check for them.

Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/resources/dash-cam-installation-mistakes-that-void-footage
By Stefano Mazzone, IT Technical Support Specialist — published 2026-09-18, updated 2026-09-18

## 1. The Lens Is Aimed Wrong

The most common failure is also the simplest: the camera is mounted too high on the windshield and tilted at the sky, or too low and full of hood, or set so that the near lane is out of frame. In a collision, the footage shows a beautiful sky and no car. The check is a live frame from the platform after mounting: horizon in the middle third, both lane edges visible, hood no more than the bottom fifth. For a driver-facing lens, the whole driver and the passenger side, not the headrest.

## 2. Power on the Wrong Circuit

A camera wired to an ignition-switched circuit turns off with the engine. That means no parked-mode recording, no footage of the hit in the truck stop at night, and — worse — a camera that reboots on every start and may miss the first seconds of the day. Fleet cameras should be on constant power with a low-voltage cut-off to protect the battery, or, on a Geotab install, powered through the GO device's IOX port, which handles that. Test it by reviewing an event from a stationary, engine-off vehicle.

## 3. A Mount That Moves

Adhesive mounts on a windshield that was not cleaned, or on a curved section, or in a Canadian winter, let go or creep. A camera that has turned twenty degrees since installation is a camera recording the passenger mirror. Push it firmly after installation and at every service; if it moves, remount it on a cleaned, flat area with the manufacturer's adhesive, and consider a bracket for vehicles that see extreme temperatures.

## 4. Not Linked to the Telematics Events

A fleet camera's value is that the harsh-brake or collision event from the telematics device requests the clip automatically. An install that leaves that link unconfigured — the camera recording, the device reporting, neither talking to the other — produces a card full of footage and a platform with no clips, discovered after the incident. Trigger a test event after installation and confirm the clip arrives tagged to the vehicle and driver.

## 5. Wrong Time, No GPS, Old Firmware

A clip with a timestamp that disagrees with the telematics record, or with no location, is a clip the other side's lawyer will spend an afternoon on. Time and GPS should come from the platform or the device, not a clock set by hand; firmware should be current, because detection improves and bugs that drop clips get fixed. Check all three at install and at every service, in the same five minutes as the framing and the mount.

## Why Professional Installation Pays

None of these mistakes is hard to avoid. All of them are easy to make in a hurry, in a yard, in the cold, by someone who has not done fifty of them. That is the argument for a technician who has: the install is a small one-time cost against footage that has to be right on the one day it matters, and a checklist run at every service keeps it that way.

## FAQ

### What is the most common dash cam installation mistake?

Aiming the lens wrong — too high, too low or missing the near lane — so the footage shows sky or hood instead of the collision. Check a live frame from the platform after mounting.

### Should a fleet dash cam be on constant power?

Yes, with a low-voltage cut-off, or powered through the telematics device. A camera on an ignition-switched circuit misses everything after the engine is off and may miss the first seconds of the day.

### How do I know the camera is linked to telematics events?

Trigger a test event after installation and confirm a clip arrives in the platform tagged to that event, vehicle and driver. If it does not, the link is unconfigured and no clips will arrive automatically.

### How often should the install be checked?

At installation and at every service: framing from a live frame, mount firmness, power behaviour with the engine off, the telematics link, and time, GPS and firmware. It takes five minutes.

## Sources

- [Geotab: Video telematics](https://www.geotab.com/fleet-management-solutions/dash-cam/)