Cheap backup camera

[H3Jim]

Boogiethecat aka Gary

Thank you for the tip (again) about the VGA box and the large monitor.  I just bought one from EBay.  $31, plus a rip off $15 shipping (cost him $4.60 to ship).  But the box works great.  I can use the backup camera and put its output to the computer monitor I have on my dash, or I can switch to my laptop with GPS, Engine managment software, or Itunes.  I may have to get more cameras now just to use the extra ports on the box.

Very slick.

I will have to get into the box to make the buttons part of the bus.  The box runs on 5 volt, stepped down from 110 volt via transformer.  Since I normally run my inverter while driving, and the monitor uses 110 volts, no worries.

Thanks again.  I really didn't want to use that puny 5" monitor for the backup camera, but there was no way to hook up an RCA plug to the monitor before this thing.

Now to mount the camera - maybe I never will get my heating system installed )

[gus]

Does anyone know if this Winplus model #13107a is the same as the VR3 which seems to me be about the same??

Anyone who thinks paying more automatically means getting more is disillusioned in todays world!!

[rv_safetyman]

I thought I would bring this to the top again and ask a wiring question.

First of all, I have the system that boogiethecat recommends (VGA box and VGA monitor).  Have been using some cheap cameras and decided to upgrade to the camera that kd5kfl recommended.

Last night I tried hooking the camera up to my existing power cord and RCA connector.  Nothing !

The camera has three plugs (power, video and normal/reverse).  I plugged the power cord and RCA into their respective plugs, but did not hook anything into the third plug and I suspect that is my problem.  There is almost no wiring information that comes with the camera (only polarity and generic description of the other two plugs).

I called Gary (boogiethecat) last night and we didn't resolve anything.  I am going to try plugging the RCA output into a TV today, but though maybe one of you have an easy solution to my problem.  I really don't want to have to send the unit back if it is something simple that I am not doing correct.

Jim

[TomC]

I bought one through Northern Tool for $165.00.  It is hard wired, has sound, but the monitor is a green screen-would prefer black and white, or even color-but it works well.  Good Luck, TomC

[boogiethecat]

I had another thought last night... perhaps the BNC connector is the video!  It certainly wouldn't hurt anything to try it... maybe they got the paperwork backwards (Chinese doing something like that? C'm on)  Anyway, the RCA jack might be the reversing plug and the BNC the video... after all, BNC is what all high end professional gear uses as the choice for a video connector so maybe....

Boogie

[rv_safetyman]

Gary (boogie), thanks for the thought.  I would guess you are correct.  The RCA has a plug in it that is probably installed/removed to reverse the picture. 

Now, I will  have to see what I can find in the way of an adapter for that connection (BNC ?) to an RCA. 

Thanks, as always for the help!

I will report back on my progress. 

Jim

[rcbishop]

Uh...speaking of cheap....I have used an HF B/W Camera now for several years....no problems day or night, sunny or cloudy.  $29.95 as I recall.  Now they have a color version for about 10 bucks more.

FWIW
RCB

[luvrbus]

I look at the prices you guys are paying for these cameras now unbelievable prices today I won't even tell you what I paid for my Sony with 3 cameras with the distance screen 10 years ago

[rv_safetyman]

And the winner is:  boogiethecat.  I knew I could count on you.

My reply is related to this camera:  http://www.supercircuits.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4222

As noted earlier, there are three cables coming from the camea:  power, RCA, BNC.  Since my previous camera connection was RCA, I simply plugged the two RCAs together along with the power cord.  Nothing. 

As Gary surmised, the video was the BNC and the RCA (which came with a "plug") is used to reverse the picture. 

The installation instructions are absolutely no help, indeed they are confusing.

I got a BNC to RCA adapter (Radio Shack 48-173) and now the camera works. 

So far I have only played with it in the bedroom area (get your minds out of the gutter ) and had the lighting fairly low.  Seems to work pretty well in the low light.  That was the problem with the previous camera.  The picture still seems a bit grainy, but that is probably because of the low light.

I will now mount it up and see how it works in more natural light.

BTW, this camera does not really fall in the "cheap" category ($109).  My hope is that it will give me good pictures under most lighting conditions.

Jim

[boogiethecat]

C@@L !!  Glad it worked! Sorry the thought didn't cross my mind earlier...duh...

Now that it's working, try either shorting the RCA jack or giving it 12 volts (in that order) one of the two oughta reverse the image.

And the RCA-> BNC jack is a radio shack part (ulp did I say that? ) Oh...yeah you already figured that out...

[rv_safetyman]

Gary, shame on you for being so hard on RS .  We kind of live in the tulies, and to have one within a few miles with the part I need, I can't put them down.

The RCA came with a plug (should have been a clue).  If you leave the plug in, the picture is normal.  Pull the plug and it is reversed.  My guess is that it shorts the RCA cable to present a normal picture.

I got the unit installed.  As someone observed, the base looks pretty puny and I did not use it.  I had made a housing out of PVC tubing for the previous camera.  The new camera has a 1/4 20 threaded hole (could not believe it was not metric ).  I put a stud in and drilled a hole in the PVC cap, shimmed it out a bit with some extra nuts. 

The picture looks pretty good.  The bus is in the shop and the camera seemed to handle the lower shop light mixed with the fairly bright outside light pretty well.  The picture is a bit grainy, but that is on a 15 inch monitor.  Still much better than the old camera.

The 170 degree picture sure covers a large area.  I can't wait to try it out this next week when I take the bus for a spin to check out muffler back pressure.    I will not be on the highway, but I think I will get a pretty good feeling.  We leave on a real trip in a couple of weeks and I will try to remember to give a more detailed report.

Jim

[boogiethecat]

In truth that warn't me being hard on RS... that's actually a cartoon a friend of mine drew of a real scene!!  The gal in the cartoon is a rocket scientist, literally, (used to work for JPL doing structural analysis) and she got kinda pi$$d when a radio shack guy challenged her on a not-so-common battery that she was buying- so much that she *actually* said that to the guy!!  It was so cool that someone in the gang made T-shirts~~~
hee hee

Cheers
G