I recently finished installing a backup camera on my 2015 X23B. It was my most labor intensive mod to date and I wanted to share with the group the products I used and the methods required to run wires through an X23B. I’ll also show the monitor and wiring I added to the TV even though it’s somewhat specific to Ram trucks.
I decided early on I was not going to go with a wireless solution. I know many people are happy with them but once I saw the wired quick disconnect kit I decided to go with that. I figure the extra cost is worth it to eliminate any chance of interference or lost signal. These are the products I went with:
Camera:
Robot Check
Quick Disconnect Kit:
Robot Check
Monitor:
Robot Check
The camera is one of those things that you pick up and you’re surprised at how heavy it is. It seems very solidly built and comes with a mounting bracket, small sun shade, and enough cable (66’) to stretch from the back of my TT to the tongue and then to the back again. If you have a larger trailer you should have no problem making the cable reach. If you somehow run out of cable there are extensions available on Amazon. The camera and the quick disconnect kit use a 5-pin cable I’ve never seen on anything else before but the camera comes with an adapter to convert it to a standard RCA video plug which allows the use of any monitor (the adapter also includes the bare wire leads for the camera power connection). The adapter also allows the option of being installed right at the camera, connecting the power wires there, and running an RCA video cord to the monitor or the option of the quick disconnect kit. When you use the kit like I did you install the adapter on the vehicle side of the kit and connect the camera power to the TV wiring. It’s all very self-explanatory once it’s out of the box sitting in front of you. One last thing about the camera; it allows you to select between regular and mirrored view (mirrored view required for using as a backup camera) and also has grid lines that can be turned on or off depending on your preference (more on the grid lines later…). These features are selected on or off by either leaving intact or cutting one of two small wires on the camera cord. The instructions explain it perfectly, it’s very easy to do.
The quick disconnect kit is exceedingly well built. When you first take it out of the box it seems almost too heavy duty. The coiled cord is very thick rubber that appears like it could take a lot of abuse. The receptacle plugs are very well sealed from the elements and have nice spring loaded covers on them much like a standard 7-pin plug. The receptacles are larger than a standard 7-pin connector and require a large hole in the back of the TV if not using the included mounting brackets (there are two aluminum brackets included, one for the TT and one for the TV). I can’t recall the hole saw size I used since I think I just held the connector up to some until I found the one that would work without ever actually checking the size. Once everything is solidly mounted the pigtail and plugs are very nice quality and look like they will last the life of the trailer. The kit assumes you have a camera with the included 66’ cord and as such has very little cable length on the TT side. The TV side of the kit has a 26’ cable. I had no problems making it reach from my back bumper to the glove box on my short bed, crew cab Ram. There were several feet left over; if you have an 8’ foot bed and a longer wheelbase I wouldn’t image it being an issue. Again, extensions are available on Amazon. Last note about the kit; it does not come with any hardware. I used stainless steel 1/4-20 bolts with locknuts and washers on my brackets.
The monitor is actually pretty nice for the price. It comes with two mounts, one a suction cup and one with a flat base with some adhesive on it. I can’t speak for the suction cup since I never tried it but it does seem flimsy. The flat base that I used is also on the flimsy side (it vibrates a little when going over rough roads) but again for the cost it’s good enough. The picture quality is decent but not great (I’m actually not positive the picture quality is the fault of the monitor since I never hooked the camera up to anything else. If I can ever find a long enough length of RCA video cable I’ll hook it to the television in the TT someday and see how it looks). The monitor has dual RCA video inputs and a power plug with bare wire leads.
The quick disconnect kit and the camera are expensive but I wanted a nice quality unit if I was going to go through all this hassle. The monitor I went cheap on because it’s easy to replace and I felt I’d be happy with the 5” monitor versus the larger, more expensive, 7” monitors. Overall I’m extremely happy with the quality of the products I bought.
Now on to the installation which needless to say is specific to a X23B. I started by investigating the best way to run the wire. I figured out it was very easy to get from the tongue to below the sink in the bathroom but the really difficult part was going to be getting from that sink cabinet, past the shower, and up to the shelf above the rear bunk. On the right hand side of that shelf is a square piece of wood covering a void between the back wall of the bathroom and the back of the TT. It was in the area of this void that I wanted to drill through from the outside and mount the camera. I carefully pulled that piece of wood off and it looked like this (in this photo I already have the camera cable run) –
Next I went in the bathroom and figured out that the angled section of wall behind the toilet was only nailed on and was already hiding several wires and the black tank vent. I carefully pulled that section of wall off and drilled a hole next to the tank vent at ceiling level. I now had a wire run from the shelf above the rear bunk to the floor of the bathroom. It looked like this -
At floor level in the bathroom I was able to pass the cable through an existing hole so it was again behind the back wall of the bathroom. Now for the hard part which was feeding it past the tub and around to the sink cabinet. I took off the small cover at the base of the shower tub and looked around inside.
I was able to see where the heater duct and other wiring went back behind the tub so I knew it was possible but I just couldn’t get my arms in there to reach. I got my electrical fish tape and fed it through the existing hole next to the vent pipe at floor level. It proved to be too difficult so I took off the heater duct and worked through there instead. In the photo you can see where the existing wires go through next to the vent pipe and you can also see the fish tape curving around behind the toilet towards the open vent hole.
I was able to feed it all the way over to the outer wall of the trailer, I could even see it, but I still just couldn’t reach it. I went back to the toolbox and grabbed my mechanical fingers. I was able to get them in there far enough to grab the end of the fish tape and pull it towards me. Once out I tied a piece of string to the fish tape and pulled it and the string back out behind the toilet. I was then able to tie the string to the camera cable and pull it through. It was difficult but the hard part was now done.
While laying on my side, wedged in the door of the bathroom, struggling to catch the fish tape with the mechanical fingers, my helper decided to jump on and see what daddy was doing.
Once the cable was under the bathroom sink it’s easy to route it all the way to the front of the trailer where the TV wiring pigtail comes through the floor. I went from the sink cabinet, to under the refrigerator, past the water pump, and underneath the couch. From the couch I fed it up through the water heater compartment and then finally to the forward compartment below the table seating. I didn’t need to drill any holes and this part of the project only took a couple minutes.
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