Rear camera anyone?

[Ascinder]

I picked this up from Costco today for $89, they have them at Wal*Market also for $100. It's a wireless rear camera that gets wired into your brake lines (for power), and the monitor plugs into the cigarette light for power. I plan on changing the cigarette lighter part so I don't lose it as an accessory point. I'll post pics when it's installed.


http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/IMG_0109.JPG

[rowhard]

Do keep us posted on how well it works, both day and night.

[Ascinder]

Well, so far, I have already hit a snag. The camera wires into your backup light circuit (which is obviously only on when backing up) so it would be intermittent. I need to find(or run) a wire going to the rear to splice into the system. If I have to run one, that would defeat the purpose of the wireless aspect. :( . The only other limitation I would list right off is that the screen is only 2.5", making it somewhat small, but for just glancing up at to see behind, it should be able to give you an idea of something back there. The screen also shifts display orientations at the push of a button allowing you to mount the monitor at 90 degrees if you had to.

[Jim Hanzak]

I installed the same camera on mine.........hopefully yours will last longer than mine. The lens on the camera fogged up and now its useless

[Ascinder]

Maybe I'll try carefully sealing around the edges with some superglue. Thanks for the tip. Did you wire yours to a constant source or just use the backup system?

[Ascinder]

Ok, all hooked up. I spliced it into the license plate bulb system. I always use the running/parking lights anyways, so it works for me. Next to zero visibility at night folks, you can see car lights, but if there is a little kid wearing a black ninja costume, they're pretty much coffin filler. As for daytime, clear as a bell. I installed it into the license plate mounts it is designed for, instead of trying to fit it into the camera mounting area in the halfmoon, which I looked at long and hard, but it would take more fab work than I wanted to do for an untested product. Still looking for where to place the screen (it comes with a dock, held down on the dash with velcro), but I am considering either the passenger sun visor, or somewhere on or by the "rearview" mirror. All in all, I think it will satisfy the intent, which was to be able to see what is behind me. For $90 and a fairly easy install (I did it between posts) instead of several hundred dollars and probably more effort in the way of wiring(which I detest), I think it's a good bargain.

[rowhard]

Sounds good. I would mount where the JDM mounts. And then, I only want it for those last few inches when parking.

[IndianaVX]

i saw this the other day at wal mart, and it is a very nice picture, and the options of flipping the picture around 360 was nice for different installs, and it "reversed" the picture also, dont know how to explain that one, but it did it. look forward to see how it holds up.
good job.

david

[Seidmanrob]

I installed the same unit on my 99 VX. I placed the monitor on the driver's sunvisor and hard wired it in. I just flip it down when I am backing up. I placed the camera on the rear license plate. At night there is plenty of light from the backup lights to see. For less than $100, I think its a good deal.

[djkymar]

well its been some time since you huys got those cameras, how they rae working now? still good or any issues?
Thanks

[CrnCnn]

well its been some time since you huys got those cameras, how they rae working now? still good or any issues?
Thanks

I was just thinking about asking this last night.

[Seidmanrob]

Camera still works well, and it is worth the $100.

[Ascinder]

Not too happy with mine actually, I have got the fogging that was mentioned in an above post, and it really doesn't seem to go away. I have not done anything to try and waterproof it though. I need to try to take it apart and clean it out, then either silicone around the edges or superglue as I had mentioned before. Other than that one achillies heel, it works great, just make sure to take the time to waterproof it. As far as mounting it somewhere, I just sit it in my ashtray, and for the most part it is content to stay there on its own.

[AndyC]

I modified mine to fit where the factory one goes. It worked great for a while. Problems arrised when I let my sister use it when her car was in an accident. I was out of town and she brought it back and it was covered with road salt. That salt damaged the plastic lense cover. It also had the moisture problems but I took it apart and cleaned that but the plastic lens cover is hazey. I guess you get what you pay for. So mine still works, camera works fine but the lense cover is messed up.

[djkymar]

thanks everybody for info i guess i gotat waterproff mine and put some protection stuff on lmy leanse so it wont haze and stuff. I put mine in hole where stock VX camera should be it looks pretty good i have to figure out where i wanna put the screen.
P.S is that possible to connect screen to the reverse signal cable so it would turn on only when im backing up or no?
thanks

[AndyC]

Sure is. I didn't, but you just have to find that reverse line up front, or run a new one for the back.
When I put mine in I ran a few extra lines to the front for future options :)

[djkymar]

isnt revese signal is only one wire?

[Ascinder]

You should be able to run it right off of the backup lights in the rear. The only problem is that the front would remain on all the time unless you found the reverse wire up front like AndyC said. Another issue with doing it that way is that the screen takes a second or two to turn on, get set up, and adjust the brightness. It also isn't that great for using just as a backing up camera due to its wide angle. You can see a lot to the sides, but the depth perception is piss poor in this thing. I know that sounds kind of contradictory, but it is pretty hard to use for say backing up into a trailer or parking spot, etc.

[djkymar]

well my camera connected to my back up lights and i didnt figure out yet where im going to connect my screen because its 2 wires red and black which mean positive and ground and reverse signal is only one wire red w/yellow stripe so it would be what?
I installed my camera into VX stock hole and i can see a little peace of my body so i know exacly how close i am to the other car and thats what i was looking for.

[Dino]

I love this thread! :laughing:

I've often thought about hardware hackin a used digital camera with a built in LCD. Put the LCD on the dash and the rest of the camera in the back. All it would take is some shielded wire. Wire up a shutter switch and you can snap pics of where you've been!! :dance:

I've liked the idea of a cam in the back of a VX ever since I saw one here, while researching my lastest theft errr errm, purchase of a VX. :rolleyes: :p

way cool mod!