Rear View Camera(s)

[BossHog]

Could anyone with a better knowledge explain, we have a 30 month old Swift Kontiki Moho fitted with rear view/reversing cameras, when we went to Spain last year on the first trip the rear live image in day light was perfect on the monitor. At night the image is cloudy and useless on both cameras, so bad I turn it off at night as its also distracting. Initially I thought it may be condensation in the cameras as I had washed the Moho prior to leaving, on checking and finding the camera lenses dry and clear I though maybe it's light glare at night. So fast forward to yesterday, came off tunnel on to motorway and monitor flicks to a perfect night image on monitor then back to cloudy and does so on and off until I had enough and turned it off completely. What would cause image on monitor to cloud up only at night, is there a simple fix, or would I need someone with more knowledge to rectify the problem, if so could anyone recommend a business around the Fylde Coast I could have it looked at.

Ps, No It doesn't leak the rain/monsoon while in France is proof of that....

 

[Vic. Parsons.]

In my limited experience, the camera on ours sounds pretty much the same as yours at night, I think, unless its a camera designed specificaly for low light conditions it will tend towards grey scale and fuzzy or pixelated at night.
It will still pick up headlights etc, so handy on motorways but can become a bit distracting after a while. In which case, like you, I switch it off and use mirrors.

 

[GPW]

I agree with Vic, it widens the exposure and becomes useless, best to switch it off and angle the monitor to act as a mirror if you have rear windows.

You have to use your mirrors then of course

 

[Phill D]

its the IR ( infra red ) detectors, simply put the magnify the available light. so if you have any light directed in the direction of the lens at night it will all but bright out , a bit like a smokey bright white cloud.
any vehicle travelling behind you at night will effect the quality of your vission.

 

[PeteH]

I experienced a similar situation on the R-V, when I braked, the high level brake light "flooded out" the camera. My solution was the make a shield to stop light leaking towards the camera. It might be worth checking if any of your rear lighting is doing the same. Maybe try switching off the lights when parked briefly?

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[davidbaldam]

Never had this problem as I never drive at night, simples.

 

[BossHog]

When the monitor clouds up at night you can't make out, or see any head lights on anything that's behind us as the monitor is that cloudy. The mystery is that when the monitor came on sporadicly we were in a 50mph contra flow and not only was the image clear on the monitor, you could even see the occupants sat in the front of the vehicles behind us. This in pitch dark with headlights shining directly rather closely, on our rear, all very strange ?

 

[GPW]

when the monitor came on sporadicly we were in a 50mph contra flow

More ambient light?

 

[tonyidle]

its the IR ( infra red ) detectors, simply put the magnify the available light. so if you have any light directed in the direction of the lens at night it will all but bright out , a bit like a smokey bright white cloud.
any vehicle travelling behind you at night will effect the quality of your vission.

To clarify: the camera doesn't have IR detectors. All video camera chips detect IR and a physical filter is placed between the lens and video chip to keep it out. Otherwise it affects the image quality in daylight. At night the camera switches to black & white and a ring of infra-red LEDs turns on to illuminate the scene behind the motorhome. IR LEDs are used because visible light versions offer no advantage for B&W video and would be rather obtrusive.

 

[138go]

The cameras I had on the Swift Bolero were rubbish. The Dealer just said they were all like it. After some investigation I found out that it was just crap cabling that was causing the problem. Both cameras are switched on all the time and there was a box of tricks behind the door pillar trim that switched the view depending wether you were in reverse or not. The cable to the cameras was the culprit letting the signal from one interfere with the signal from the other. Disconnect one of the cameras at the back and try it. On the Bolero the cover for the cameras was stuck on with Sikaflex so not the simplest of jobs.

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