Reversing Camera (1 Viewer)

[gradyp]

Hi all ,, I'm looking for a reversing camera and I'm after some advice.
I would like a 7"monitor , wired , CCD camera , surface or bracketed type camera?

My questions are
Prices for the kits from <£50 to >£700. Is there that much of a difference , do the £50 kits do a job
They seem to only come with 10 meters of cable is that enough on a 7.5 meter van
Are they simple to fit e.g. sealing any holes feeding the cable to the van or is it better to have it fitted.
I would like to use it not only as a reversing camera but also as a rear view camera is that possible especially at night with LED lights show white light from the rear.

Thanks in advance

 

[Xabia]

Hi all ,, I'm looking for a reversing camera and I'm after some advice.
I would like a 7"monitor , wired , CCD camera , surface or bracketed type camera?

My questions are
Prices for the kits from <£50 to >£700. Is there that much of a difference , do the £50 kits do a job
They seem to only come with 10 meters of cable is that enough on a 7.5 meter van
Are they simple to fit e.g. sealing any holes feeding the cable to the van or is it better to have it fitted.
I would like to use it not only as a reversing camera but also as a rear view camera is that possible especially at night with LED lights show white light from the rear.

Thanks in advance

My camera was fitted by professionals but if I decided to change it in the future I would do it myself. It is a Waeco which was quite expensive in 2007, it is a single lens but is angled so it can be used for reversing and as a rear view camera but it is a bit of a compromise as vehicles appear far away but in fact are much closer than they appear.

I think cameras have come on a lot since mine was fitted and the twin lens camera advertised by at £179 looks like a reasonable set up. I haven't actually bought anything from this company but when I contacted them some time ago for advice they were very helpful.

As far as fitting the camera is concerned the difficult bit seems to be routing the cable down the inside of the rear wll, unless a wardrobe is there. Sealing the attachments points and cable entry with Sikaflex with mean total waterpoofing so no worries there. If you are a reasonably competent DIYer it shouldn't be a major problem.

Mike

 

[steviebouy]

Hi there, I'll just add my experience if I may. I bought a kit from drwelectronics.com at a show. The kit consisted of a 7" monitor which could take 4 cameras, 20 metres of cable and a twin camera set up. Mr Wood was very helpful and knowledgable and was able to guide me to the set up I needed and offer installation advice. Each of the items were modular so very much pick and mix. My 20 metre cable is huge and ends up with the extra wound into a coil in a rear locker.
Lessons - the monitor is great although having only 2 cameras (1 rear facing, 1 reversing) means I have to scroll through all 4 screens to get back to the original one. Also, the image doesn't dim at night, (surely this is a fairly basic requirement) which means I turn it off on long late motorway journeys. I also have 4 sets of yellow and white audio type connectors on the dash just behind the monitor. Some other monitors have longer leads enabling the connections to be hidden in the bowels of the dash or a tidy multi pin "DIN" type connector.
The cameras, although claiming to have infra red (not white LED) lighting actually light up bugger all. My previous camera (a Brigade) unit was excellent in this respect - even eerie. The infra red lights glow a soft red in use. The view behind the vehicle is faultless in daylight although the image on the screen has a scrolling line going across it, not noticable when driving. Perhaps this is electronic interference or normal for cheap chinese (other cheap monitors are available) electronics.
This set up cost just shy of £200 if my memory serves me right.
Hope this is of some help, I only joined up because of all the things I wished I'd known when starting out.

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[dickieo]

Cheap as chips , get the wife to stand at the back end , simples .

 

[Larby]

Hi there, I'll just add my experience if I may. I bought a kit from drwelectronics.com at a show. The kit consisted of a 7" monitor which could take 4 cameras, 20 metres of cable and a twin camera set up. Mr Wood was very helpful and knowledgable and was able to guide me to the set up I needed and offer installation advice. Each of the items were modular so very much pick and mix. My 20 metre cable is huge and ends up with the extra wound into a coil in a rear locker.
Lessons - the monitor is great although having only 2 cameras (1 rear facing, 1 reversing) means I have to scroll through all 4 screens to get back to the original one. Also, the image doesn't dim at night, (surely this is a fairly basic requirement) which means I turn it off on long late motorway journeys. I also have 4 sets of yellow and white audio type connectors on the dash just behind the monitor. Some other monitors have longer leads enabling the connections to be hidden in the bowels of the dash or a tidy multi pin "DIN" type connector.
The cameras, although claiming to have infra red (not white LED) lighting actually light up bugger all. My previous camera (a Brigade) unit was excellent in this respect - even eerie. The infra red lights glow a soft red in use. The view behind the vehicle is faultless in daylight although the image on the screen has a scrolling line going across it, not noticable when driving. Perhaps this is electronic interference or normal for cheap chinese (other cheap monitors are available) electronics.
This set up cost just shy of £200 if my memory serves me right.
Hope this is of some help, I only joined up because of all the things I wished I'd known when starting out.

I also bought the 2 camera version and 7" clip on monitor. RVS 12 £169.99
I had a faulty camera which was exchanged without hassle the next day.
Cameras change when reverse engaged but I've fed feed via an on/off switch so I can reverse using rear view mirror camera for reversing and flick back to down-looking camera as I approach the brick wall !
Dave will give you 20m of cable and explain patiently what to do.
If you use standard mirror image then set-up text is reversed but hardly a problem. You can switch between views and cameras.
I agree night image is poor then found if you manually reduce the brightness there is a good colour image.
Ample cable to clip to mirror and simple to install. Power for cameras and monitor from same source.
I fed wires along roof lining, down windscreen pillar, picked up power, under dash, around flloor, out via n/s foot-well, along chassis rails, up n/s corner and along to 2 x 19mm holes. Cable splits into power and video.
No wires showing except those that go through back panel to cameras.
You can fit yourself but patience and dexterity will be necessary.
I used the hole where you can see the upper left rear light to raise cable then along to camera holes. You drop string and weight from lamp hole, push house wiring wire through camera hole, raise cable, attach string to wire, pull through camera hole, attach power and video cables.

 

[aba]

Avoid those wireless camera kits as sometimes if the fan in front of you has one you engage reverse and see the front of your van because their transmitter is nearer to your receiver than yours is.
I have witnessed this on more than one occasion but thankfully not in my van as mine are wired.

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[TheDogMan]

I also bought the 2 camera version and 7" clip on monitor. RVS 12 £169.99
I had a faulty camera which was exchanged without hassle the next day.
Cameras change when reverse engaged but I've fed feed via an on/off switch so I can reverse using rear view mirror camera for reversing and flick back to down-looking camera as I approach the brick wall !
Dave will give you 20m of cable and explain patiently what to do.
If you use standard mirror image then set-up text is reversed but hardly a problem. You can switch between views and cameras.
I agree night image is poor then found if you manually reduce the brightness there is a good colour image.
Ample cable to clip to mirror and simple to install. Power for cameras and monitor from same source.
I fed wires along roof lining, down windscreen pillar, picked up power, under dash, around flloor, out via n/s foot-well, along chassis rails, up n/s corner and along to 2 x 19mm holes. Cable splits into power and video.
No wires showing except those that go through back panel to cameras.
You can fit yourself but patience and dexterity will be necessary.
I used the hole where you can see the upper left rear light to raise cable then along to camera holes. You drop string and weight from lamp hole, push house wiring wire through camera hole, raise cable, attach string to wire, pull through camera hole, attach power and video cables.

I have a wired twin camera but specified a manual switch over and they put me a little button rocker on the dash, supposed to be night view as well but pretty poor

 

[jackrussel]

wireless cams

Avoid those wireless camera kits as sometimes if the fan in front of you has one you engage reverse and see the front of your van because their transmitter is nearer to your receiver than yours is.
I have witnessed this on more than one occasion but thankfully not in my van as mine are wired.

Or buy a 'digital wireless' type, more expensive tho. Try TRAILERVISION. I got one unused right price from ebay. Apparently Stobarts used to use them (maybe still do.)
Ordinary types can pick up wi-fi interference, as they work on 2.4Ghz band, as do routers etc, (the Trailervision is also on 2.4Ghz, but the wifi is 'open' and the Trailervision is digitally secured and not affected, it only listens to its own paired camera).

 

[callumwa]

Cheap as chips , get the wife to stand at the back end , simples .

Tried that, she was not happy when we were doing 60 mph....

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[jackrussel]

wireless cams

I might add, I have a cheap wireless 2.4ghz setup on my caravan, which gets occasional wifi interference, even in the sticks (where it comes from can only be wondered at, if you've had wifi signal probs round the house!), but it soon clears as its short range, and for the price (think it was less than £60 from kampa uk via ebay) it works really well indeed, and I'm well pleased. Reliable too. Only real neg, is the infra red leds come on at nite, and as I use the camera on a sucker on the inside of the caravan rear window, it reflects nothing but a white blur at night, so no real use. I can do a simple mod to turn off or mask the leds, or put the camera outside if I really had to, however, I like all the kit to easily QD when not used; but in all honesty, it didn't bother me that much. Recommneded kit!

 

[herbies]

i am looking at a snooper twin camera for about £200 which will connect to the snooper ventura sat nav 7"
anyone any views on this???

 

[jackrussel]

i am looking at a snooper twin camera for about £200 which will connect to the snooper ventura sat nav 7"
anyone any views on this???

could be a good idea- I like putting all devices in one unit if I can. Less mess wires and clutter. If the camera is not a dedicated Snooper unit, ebay may throw up a cheaper alternative.

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[s123wba]

i am looking at a snooper twin camera for about £200 which will connect to the snooper ventura sat nav 7"
anyone any views on this???

hi i av the snooper twin camera setup fitted it myself not to difficult at all was quoted £200
just to fit took me 2 hours
works well it comes with a switch cam 1 cam 2 + aux only problem is you can only watch one at a time i paid £25 for a seperate monitor so can av the satnav and camera on at the same time as i said easy to fit any help you might need let me know

 

[stcyr]

We've got a 'cheap chinese' 7" monitor, wired, rev.camera kit ... £47 incl.p&p.
Worked faultlessly for last two years in all weathers. Brilliant night vision.
A friend who owns a Hymer bought the identical kit from a dealer somewhere - not sure where - for £179 - same kit, same packaging and luckily works as well as ours

 

[ivorantony]

We've got a 'cheap chinese' 7" monitor, wired, rev.camera kit ... £47 incl.p&p.
Worked faultlessly for last two years in all weathers. Brilliant night vision.
A friend who owns a Hymer bought the identical kit from a dealer somewhere - not sure where - for £179 - same kit, same packaging and luckily works as well as ours

So will you give us a link?

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[stcyr]

So will you give us a link?

Yep - ebay.fr = item number 400526574847

(now 55euro)

 

[gradyp]

Just to let you know. Bought cheap one off ebay @ £42. single camera with 7" monitor

Fitted it myself , took a couple of hours running the cables along the inside of the van , tried it out and it works a lot better than I was expecting. I wired the monitor to an ignition live so it is on all the time as I can use it as a rear view as well as a reversing camera

Thanks for the advice