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 Topic: Rear View Camera Finished, Conclusions
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05/5/2014 at 9:36am
Location: Rushden Northants
Outfit: Mercedes 614D Conversion
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Bit of an update on the camera system we installed on our big trailer to give us a good rear view immediately behind, using the standard rear view mirrors on the Discovery.
We have a reasonable rear view already as the Discovery is quite a wide vehicle, but occasionally it would be nice to see directly behind. The trailer is 6.2m long with another 1.6m for the drawbar.
We started this a month or two back and have finally got it all working to our satisfaction.
Cameras are 28mm diameter flush mounting types, fitted with an O-ring behind the rim to seal the hole when the camera was fitted.
We fitted two cameras, in from the edge of the trailer by about 200mm at at the top of the rear panel. This gives a view over the top of most cars and small vans.
The transmitter for the two cameras is a standard 2.4gHz unit which we bought with one of the cameras. Long-term soak testing of both units hasn't thrown up any issues. extension leads running from the rear of the trailer to the front connect up the transmitter to either camera,
The transmitter is switched between cameras by plugs and sockets, one camera is used for European towing, the other for the UK. It is located at the inside of the trailer front, up on a shelf inside the trailer.
The receiver is located in a small plastic box along with the monitor multi-way cables, so all we have is the box with a 12V feed in one end and the monitor feed out the other.
The 7" TFT monitor was a bit of a problem to mount securely, as the fittings that came with it were not up to the job. We bought two mounting kits with 'grab arms' to try and sort the problem out, but we eneded up by Aralditing a modified mounting claw off one of the kits to the metal bracket on the back of the camera.
Once that was done, we then moditied the mounting itself to give us a greater vertical adjustment range to bring the screen upright.
The Cyan line is where we removed plastic to allow the arm more clearance. Just a Stanley knife was used.
With the system installed and running, we were getting 25-30ft coverage with no loss of picture quality. We did experience some picture ripple with the engine running and are looking at some suppression.
We have also just installed a recording video camera at the front, a Mini 0801, which is a very neat little device:
The last picture is an unedited still taken from the in-car camera playback, it is HD video and very clear. The satnav option gives you the moving map on the right hand side, we fitted a 32gb Class 6 card to the camera.
Hope this may be of interest to others.
Peter
Post last edited on 05/05/2014 09:45:05
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06/5/2014 at 3:17pm
Location: Lincolnshire
Outfit: Lunar Quasar
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Hi Listerdiesel! (I can remember them, too)
I've been driving a 44tonne Artic with rear view camera for ten years or more now, and reckon its the best thing since they invented reverse gear. However you've done the same thing we did first off, which is to fit the camera flush with the perpendicular rear end of the trailer.
What our people eventually decided was to fit them at about 45 degrees tilted downwards. At first I disagreed, but now I think they're right. It is a great deal more useful for reversing than for just seeing behind you.
What you can't see in your screen is anybody walking across close behind the trailer as you reverse; that was what made the bosses spend the money in the first place, having someone crushed. You don't actually need to know what is fifty yards behind you as you aren't going to hit that yet; you do need to know what is within a few feet of you. As you rightly say, anything farther back should be in your mirrors.
The way ours are lined up, you can see, along the base of the screen in the cab, the rear bumper of the trailer and anything within a radius of about 10 feet. Most importantly when reversing on a curve, you can see BOTH rear corners of the trailer. With it like this we can accurately reverse to within a foot.
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