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 Topic: Rear view camera on Caravan
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02/6/2024 at 12:58pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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No two ways about it, a rear view/reversing camera on the caravan makes life a lot easier!
I mostly tow solo, so without a banksman, reversing used to be a tense procedure, very much a case of take a look then 'pray' as everything of importance went out of view in the towing mirrors when any turning was involved! Found the reversing out of HGV parking bays on motorway services the worst! - always traffic and people around and behind you, pretty much had to rely on the common sense and courtesy of HGV drivers to 'allow' you to manoeuvre out! - not all are very caravan tolerant, so a angry blast on an air horn was common!
I'm a fairly competent driver, and can reverse the outfit well enough, but all the skill in the world doesn't compensate for driving backwards into the unknown and whatever that may hold!
Decided a reversing camera was necessary BEFORE the caravan came to grief. Looked at various types, wired, wireless links, etc. As the caravan is in storage and cannot be worked on in the storage bay, needing to be moved to the booked by the hour service bay, I decided that hard wired types needing holes in caravan and long cable runs was not the best solution, as fitting timing was unpredictable and my slot in the service bay may expire before I was finished, and I wasn't crazy on the idea of putting more holes in the van and risking leak points. Nor did I want another cable link between caravan and car. The hard wired and wireless link to car types were only marginally better I felt.
Wireless and self powered seemed to be the best route. Discounted some of the older models with unreliable wireless links, and found a neat one with good coms, good range good image quality (excellent day, good night time in lit areas), good battery life, easy fitting (bracket double sided taped behind number plate), and moderate cost (https://www.auto-vox.com/product/1610073548.html). Fitting may be as easy as the 5 minutes they claim, IF the adhesive tape holding the existing number plate in place wants to come unstuck! - mine didn't!! Used the old dental floss trick in the end, but so much sticky residue from the tape to clean up, took must have been an hour to be in a position to put everything back with new camera.
Worth all the effort, it's been in use a couple of years now, and worked faultlessly. It's not operational all the time, camera goes to 'sleep' to preserve inbuilt battery life, but a touch of a button on the screen and it springs to life for a preset time, perfectly long enough to check behind when manoeuvring on the road, and when reversing. I've used it on 10 hour tows and the camera battery doesn't even hint at being run down, so no fears that it will expire before I've finished my journey. Camera is detachable, so easy to recharge from a USB port.
One of those gadgets, where the research time was well worth while, and the final choice purchase has proven a good choice.
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via mobile 02/6/2024 at 3:51pm
