Back up camera's

[Seann45]

Before I came down last fall I bought a "5th wheel" wired back up cam system for my truck and trailer. Ordered a second cam for the back of the truck. got it from Costco it is an RVS (rear view Safety) system.

[clutch]

My nephew has one so he can see his trailer hitch. I really like it.

[lx22f/c]

Looks good. I can understand having one on the back of rv to monitor traffic and obstacles when backing. But what is the purpose for the hitch? If hooked up properly it should be of no concern. Am i missing something here? Thanks

[Seann45]

Originally Posted by lx22f/c

Looks good. I can understand having one on the back of rv to monitor traffic and obstacles when backing. But what is the purpose for the hitch? If hooked up properly it should be of no concern. Am i missing something here? Thanks

It helps getting hitched .. I travel solo..

[lx22f/c]

Originally Posted by Seann45

It helps getting hitched .. I travel solo..

Well that answers that question. Guess that would help then. Thanks

[chuckworkb]

I have one I put on the hitch to hook up, then I put it on the back of the camper while driving, and when getting into the site.
I just ran 12 volts to the back bumper of the camper, and installed a plug for it.

[Mustang65]

I installed an AirSite Wi-Fi camera ($50) on the ladder of the TT, ran a pair of wires down the ladder to the Brake light fixture on the back. I made a 5 volt voltage regulator (to power the camera) and powered it off the 12 volt running light lead. This way the camera is only on when we are driving (We always drive with lights on). The camera transmits to the the Wi-Fi that is running 24/7 (rewired for 12VDC) in the TT and we pick the signal up on the tablet or laptop (Wi-Fi) in the truck. We tried the camera that mounts on the license plate, but there was always so much interference/weak signal with it so we trashed it (recycled). This system works fine for us.
Don

[Threebutchers]

Originally Posted by Mustang65

This way the camera is only on when we are driving (We always drive with lights on). The camera transmits to the the Wi-Fi that is running 24/7 (rewired for 12VDC) in the TT and we pick the signal up on the tablet or laptop (Wi-Fi) in the truck. We tried the camera that mounts on the license plate, but there was always so much interference/weak signal with it so we trashed it (recycled). This system works fine for us.
Don

I bought a cheapo 12V 2.4GHz Day / Night Camera and powered it off the tail lamp. Worked great while testing it. After I tidied up the wires / antenna the signal got so weak I had to move the receiver antenna outside the TV.....be warned!! I'm able to view mine through our HDTV.

[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by Threebutchers

I bought a cheapo 12V 2.4GHz Day / Night Camera and powered it off the tail lamp. Worked great while testing it. After I tidied up the wires / antenna the signal got so weak I had to move the receiver antenna outside the TV.....be warned!! I'm able to view mine through our HDTV.

I did get the license plate camera to work good up to about 20' to 25' from the back of the truck (using portable 12VDC power supply, and a 2.4Ghz small antenna that I mounted on the camera frame), any farther away from the camera no luck. It is about 40' from the license plate (camera) to the front seat of the truck. In the truck all we got was a zig zagging bunch of lines (engine not running) with what looked like a picture in between them. The only change I may be making this year will be replacing the regular lens camera with a wide-angle lense camera.
Don

[Threebutchers]

Originally Posted by Mustang65

I did get the license plate camera to work good up to about 20' to 25' from the back of the truck (using portable 12VDC power supply, and a 2.4Ghz small antenna that I mounted on the camera frame), any farther away from the camera no luck. In the truck all we got was a zig zagging bunch of lines (engine not running) with what looked like a picture in between them.

X2 - Exactly!...moving the receiver antenna to the back of my TV got me within 20'. I would definitely look at other options if I were doing things over again.

[Clayton4971]

Originally Posted by lx22f/c

Looks good. I can understand having one on the back of rv to monitor traffic and obstacles when backing. But what is the purpose for the hitch? If hooked up properly it should be of no concern. Am i missing something here? Thanks

I double tow and the camera is nice to see what's going on. Flat on the trailer, cover coming off ect. I have had one on the last two fivers that I own. I started out with a long range wireless but changed them both over to wired more reliable for me .

[clutch]

Originally Posted by lx22f/c

Looks good. I can understand having one on the back of rv to monitor traffic and obstacles when backing. But what is the purpose for the hitch? If hooked up properly it should be of no concern. Am i missing something here? Thanks

He is single and uses it to hitch up.

[kjohn73]

Good topic. I have a backup camera on the endgate of our truck (factory), and would like to put one on the back of our 197. So many gizmos!

[campingva]

Originally Posted by Mustang65

I installed an AirSite Wi-Fi camera ($50) on the ladder of the TT, ran a pair of wires down the ladder to the Brake light fixture on the back. I made a 5 volt voltage regulator (to power the camera) and powered it off the 12 volt running light lead. This way the camera is only on when we are driving (We always drive with lights on). The camera transmits to the the Wi-Fi that is running 24/7 (rewired for 12VDC) in the TT and we pick the signal up on the tablet or laptop (Wi-Fi) in the truck. We tried the camera that mounts on the license plate, but there was always so much interference/weak signal with it so we trashed it (recycled). This system works fine for us.
Don

Would like to have a little more information on your camera. Where did you get it through and which model was it? Would love to do that with mine but was unsure of where to get the camera and such.

[joyeux]

I bought this one: http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ya...l#.UyJ4xvldXw8

monitor uses the car cigarette lighter so it can be remove when unused and to wire everywhere stuff.

Camera was installed near the upper TT marker lights - I tapped the marker lights to get the 12v., the transmitter was installed in the inside of the RV. I'm lucky as the truck automatically light up the trailer marker lights when the 7-pin is plugged but the truck light's aren't on. darn Germans...

now I see more easily who's coming and how close when i need to pass.

[campingva]

Would like just the camera that I could see on my Iphone as a monitor.

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by campingva

Would like to have a little more information on your camera. Where did you get it through and which model was it? Would love to do that with mine but was unsure of where to get the camera and such.

When I got tired of trying to get the license plate camera working (distance from back of TT to cab of truck was too great for the weak RF signal), I decided to get an outside Wireless Wi-Fi camera for the rear of the TT (mine is good for 150’). I just noticed that they no longer make the camera that I have, but finding an outdoor Wi-Fi camera is not to difficult. Pretty much any one will work. Just keep the required camera supply voltage to 12VDC. Here is a sample of one I just found.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Outdoor-Waterproof-Wireless-WIFI-CCTV-Network-IP-Camera-20-IR-LED-/161153587774?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

The nice thing about the above camera is that it operates off of 12VDC, where mine operates off of 5VDC. I had to make a 12 v DC to 5 v DC voltage converter for mine. If the camera requires a 12VDC power source, you can tap into the running lights on the back of the TT. Just add a 2 amp fuse and you are set.

Any Wi-Fi router (b,g,n) will be fine, but I found that the ones with the external antennas seem to work better than those that have the internal antenna. I mounted mine in the front storage compartment which works great. I converted my Wi-Fi router to run off of 12VDC and not AC (for dry camping). You can accomplish this by purchasing an off the shelf DC to DC converter like the one in the link, and all you have to do is plug it in (or hard wire it to a 12VDC source). Just check the output of the router’s power transformer, usually 12VDC.
http://www.powerstream.com/dc-2171.htm
The reason for this converter is to ensure that the supply voltage to the router will always be 12VDC, because the battery in the TT is anywhere between 12 and 15VDC, which would cook the router.

When you set up the router you will assign an IP address for each camera (I have 2) and port forwarding for each camera (easy to do) and your devices will use that information to access the video.

As for monitoring the camera(s), on your iPhone (Aplayer) or Android there are apps to use, on the laptop you just enter the routers IP address and the port # for the camera in the URL space, and you are done.

The only suggestion that I would make is that you purchase a WIDE angle camera for the rear view. I believe the above link is for a wide angle camera.

Good Luck!! Any questions just yell.

Don

Link to my Wi-Fi album pictures:
http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/album.php?albumid=328