Backup cams

[Jnbroadbent]

Did a search and a lot of folks are using cheap cams from radio shack/harbor freight. Ebay has quite a few options as well. I plan on making a small fiberglass enclosure for it. Does anyone know if they are generally wide enough to also see other cars? Most also claim to do night vision but who knows how good that is.

Any input would be much appreciated!

[belfert]

I bought an fairly inexpensive system from rvcams.com about five or six years ago and it works well.  It includes the LCD display and a hardwired camera.  The night vision works very well as long as the lense is kept clean.  Dirt that doesn't show up during the day will obscure your vision at night.  If I angle the camera far enough down to see the bumper for backing up I can't really see cars behind me unless they are tailgating big time.

We now pull an 8x20 trailer almost all the time so the camera doesn't add as much value.  We used to pull a tiny 4x8 trailer and we were able to see problems with the trailer twice before they became major issues.

[lvmci]

Hi Jon, night vision, is some infrared led bulbs, usually around the lense that hilite the image of the pickup device, usually a ccd or the like, nowadays. Most come with a sealed cam and are tiltable and weather proof, puting it in an enclosure, if it is not designed that way, like the old tube pickup cameras, might reduce the light coming into the lense and reduce the picture quality, and cause reflection of light, be sure to make as stable a mount as possible, as vibration is the enemy of a good picture and could cause other problems as time goes by, I had no luck with the wireless cameras on my MCI5A, possibly the stainless steal was the issue, but a small coax from the cam to the driverseat monitor gives a good quality image, Brian, there is a license plate wireless camera available from pepboys and autozone for around $60, that might work if there is a straight shot from your trailer plate area to the monitor on your dasboard without the signal having to go thru to much bus, lvmci...

[luvrbus]

Cameras like anything electronic you get what you pay for they are so cheap now compared to years ago I remember I paid t 2 grand or more for the Sony black and white with the distance measuring screen for 400 bucks now you can buy a colored  screen and just as good of a unit

[Ralph7]

     I use a back-up camera that has a wireless feature, an all it needs is a 12V. feed. mounted it up near the top of the bus. It has a wide angle and no night vision, but works well at night. It was $99.00 at sams club. The monitor is 5inch, like a GPS.
   Just hook up to a switch, not the back-up wires, 2 switches , 1 for camera, 1 for monitor. The camera is incorporated in a license plate bracket.
   It is not perfect but does a great job. It is better than the mirrors!!!
   

[Dreamscape]

I bought ours from rvcams 7 years ago. Black and white monitor, hardwired to camera. It has night vision which works very good. It also has a mic so you can hear your wife screaming at you to stop! 

It is setup so we can see our Jeep perfectly.

[bansil]

just make sure the "cheap" ones don't mention RGB lines to "assist" in backing...they are so bright you can not use them; all you see are bright lines over powering the view

[luvrbus]

My Sony had a mike and speaker also Paul it was good to listen to the engine but not much good for communication between the front and the rear unless Sonja wasn't screaming loud enough and I kinda doubt that lol

[bobofthenorth]

Whatever you use for a camera, make sure you have some easy way to clean the lens and any protective glass in front of the actual lens.  It WILL get dirty.  Ours was a major PITA to clean - Bruce Coach had some half-assed rubber gasket that was supposed to hold the external glass in place but it was pretty well impossible to get the glass out so I hardly ever cleaned it which meant the camera was pretty well useless most of the time.  Last summer when I repainted I molded in a 4" sewer fitting with a threaded insert to hold the lens.  Now its dead simple to clean not to mention a whole lot more dustproof than what was there before.

[luvrbus]

The wife's little RV has a camera ran through the TV I can even see it, doesn't do much good if you are not looking at it and jack knife a trailer into the passengers rear corner as bad as I hate to admit I just did that on our trip and every time she walks by that corner I hear it again and I will till the insurance repairs it    

[lvmci]

Hi All, I got a wireless on/off switch at Frys, it has a fob with 2 on off sets of buttons, a small black box about 2 inches square that connected to the battery source to the camera, positive 12volt, and neg, I hung the fob by the light toggle switches, when I sit at the driver seat, I push the on buttons and there is the rear view picture, about $25, lvmci...

[TomC]

I got mine a few years ago from Northern Tools. They had a green screen on sale for $165.00-it is wired. Works OK. Would invest in a better, higher def next time-has sound also. Good Luck, TomC

[Jnbroadbent]

I bought an fairly inexpensive system from rvcams.com about five or six years ago and it works well.  It includes the LCD display and a hardwired camera.  The night vision works very well as long as the lense is kept clean.  Dirt that doesn't show up during the day will obscure your vision at night.  If I angle the camera far enough down to see the bumper for backing up I can't really see cars behind me unless they are tailgating big time.

We now pull an 8x20 trailer almost all the time so the camera doesn't add as much value.  We used to pull a tiny 4x8 trailer and we were able to see problems with the trailer twice before they became major issues.

I failed to mention we will also have a trailer most of the time, right now it's a 7x10 but who knows, wanting to go tandem axl in the future.

Thanks for the input everyone. I really don't want to go wireless. It's gutted right now so running wires would be no problem. Even those cheap cams have 80' cables. I've got two small color LCD screens I picked up for cheap. I was thinking about mounting two cameras, left and right to help with backing up + traffic + monitoring trailer.

[kaptar]

Can the low end cameras be used all the time while driving or will they overheat?

[lvmci]

hi Kaptar, most cameras for this purpose are solid state, no overheating, under the worst possible conditions color may drift, and the lower the camera position the dirtier the lense will get as mentioned, I have a rear view up high that sees past the toad and a passenger side view mounted on passenger mirror for seeing people motorcycles and cars pacing me, they are on whenever I'm in the drivers seat, lvmci...