Bionic Man
Colorado
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Joined: 04/03/2009
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I've had a fifth wheel for over 10 years now, and have never needed a rear view camera, but it sure would be nice. I've kind of got the itch.
Usually when I pull the 5er, I have the boat in tandem, so it would be nice to be able to keep an eye on what is going on back there.
What rear view camera do you recommend? Ideally I'd like something that is wireless and won't break the bank. What are your suggestions?
2012 RAM 3500 Laramie Longhorn DRW CC 4x4 Cummins HO
2003 Dodge Ram 3500 QC SB 4x4 Cummins HO NV5600 with Smarty JR, Jacobs EB (Goodbye Old Friend)
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jgallego
Deer Park, Texas
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I have a voyager. A line runs from the camera to the front of the 5th wheel. It is then wireless to the monitor which mounts on the windshield. Works real well.
Jaime
2009 Heartland Big Country 3355
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TexasManiac
Georgetown, TX
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Last fall I installed a rear view camera system and it is one of the best investments that I have made as far as safety I would not consider traveling without it. I got mine on line from www.rvcams.com/. They have several models in various price ranges. With everything required and shipping was around $500 for a 7 inch monitor, color camera, cables, and windshield mount. It was easy to install took approximately 4 hours. Good Luck
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SteveRankin
Sequim, WA
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Bionic Man wrote:I've had a fifth wheel for over 10 years now, and have never needed a rear view camera, but it sure would be nice. I've kind of got the itch.
Usually when I pull the 5er, I have the boat in tandem, so it would be nice to be able to keep an eye on what is going on back there.
What rear view camera do you recommend? Ideally I'd like something that is wireless and won't break the bank. What are your suggestions?
I've rigged a variety of cameras on our RVs and discovered a few things in the process . . .
1. Wireless cameras have a very short range. A camera mounted on the truck's tailgate can connect with a receiver mounted on the truck's rear window great, but poorly if the receiver is mounted on the dash.
2. Cheap cameras often provide lousy images.
3. A nice camera connected to a nice GPS display makes a great combo.
I've cut & pasted a previous response of mine below:
Steve Rankin wrote:Our first attempt was to use a cheap $40 wireless camera & a 4" CRT monitor. The system was a total flop. The range was pathetic (it would barely reach the rear of the truck), the image was almost worse than the range, and the reliability was worse yet.
The second system used an inexpensive wireless color monitor
with night vision that connected to receiver that I mounted on the truck rear window
& hard-wired the receiver to my Pioneer GPS display. I mounted the camera on a magnetic base on the truck's tailgate for connecting our Hensley Hitch. I also had a Velcro mount for the sides of the trailer. It worked fabulously on the tailgate but ran out of range almost instantly on the trailer sides, even when mounted just behind the front cap.
The last version was a 2-camera system on our Arctic Fox 29V. The primary camera was a wired Pioneer backup camera mounted on the rear of the truck canopy
You have to look past the dirty rig to see the little 1" square cam just below the CHMSL light on the canopy.
The second camera was a very nice, but inexpensive wired color camera with night vision.
You can see the second camera was quite a bit larger than the Pioneer cam.
I mounted the second camera on the curb (right) side of the trailer, although it could be mounted on the rear cap just as easily.
A 50' coax cable ran to the trailer tongue and connected to a quick-disconnect fitting that I installed on the 7-way trailer connector bracket.
Both the Pioneer backup cam and the aftermarket cam were connected to the Pioneer breakout box via a DCA Y-connector. I was able to select the desired camera by a On-Off-On rocker switch on the dash.
The system worked flawlessly & reliably.
Here's a view of the Pioneer display taken under adverse lighting conditions. OTOH, the sideview cam turned out to be far less useful than we anticipated. We'll skip the sideview on the current rig and go straight to a rear view using the same equipment . . . unless DW lets me buy a new GPS.
The Chevy's instrument panel showing the Pioneer GPS (in mapping mode) as well as the Garmin portable GPS next to it.
Since my new truck came with a nice NAV unit and backup camera, there is little reason to install the Pioneer system in it too. Although, I may try to tap into the wiring for the OEM backup camera and mount an auxiliary camera on the rear of the 5ver that I can select instead of the OEM camera on the tailgate. But, I've got bigger fish to fry before I start futzing around with trying to make multiple cameras work on the Dodge OEM system.
Steve & C. J.
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Scarface56
Appleton, Wisconsin
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Here is where I got mine: http://www.rvcams.com/
Me & DW
08 GMC 3500 SLT 4x4 DRW Diesel
Pioneer AVIC D3 GPS Nav/Stereo/backup camera
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RGordon
Atoka, TN/North Ft Myers, FL
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I would like to have the three way camera so I could put one in the rear and the other two looking at rear tires. If I had an extra $1200 I could probably get one.
Ron & Libby Gordon
07 Ford F350 Dually Tow Boss Diesel
07 Mobile Suites 38RL3 #3698
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Virginia RVers
Williamsburg, VA
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I replaced my DW (map reader) with a GPS, so if I replace her again with a backup camera... Oh my, I might be looking at replacement myself. I can't replace all her jobs, because "if I have to do her job, then I don't need her". It has taken me many years to get her trained to assist me in backing the 5er just where it needs to be, and I don't think a little camera on the back of 5er will be able to replace her (jumping up and down, yelling for me to stop". Good Luck Fellows...
2009 Dodge 3500 DRW, Cummins Diesel
2007 Crossroads Paradise Pointe PF36SK (Rolling Fun II)
Chelsea & Duncan (Traveling Scotty Dogs)
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Bionic Man
Colorado
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Joined: 04/03/2009
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Thanks for the replies. Steve, you certainly look like you did your homework. I'd really like to find something that is wireless, but that may not work because of interference.
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Bill, KE7FSV
Taylorsville(Salt Lake City area), UT, USA
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Joined: 10/23/2003
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I installed one from RV Cams, Inc. last year. It is a wired model and it was fairly easy to run the cabling.
Good quality picture and sound.
Bill
2007 Tango 2660RKS FW, 2006 Chevy 3500 D/A with service body.
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SteveRankin
Sequim, WA
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Bionic Man wrote:Thanks for the replies. Steve, you certainly look like you did your homework. I'd really like to find something that is wireless, but that may not work because of interference.
We found that it was a combination of range and interference that killed the image quality of the wireless cameras. They seemed to run out of range at about 15' and it took next to nothing to mess up the image when at that distance.
I'm not sure why the wireless cameras are so popular when you still need to supply them with 12VDC power. The 9VDC transistor batteries we use on our portable setup just don't last long enough for normal down the road use. In other words, you still have to drill a hole and run 12VDC to the camera, so running coax to it also is a minor inconvenience.
OTOH, it is possible to use a nice camera like this one
and power it with small 12VDC wiring. This camera has a Sony CCD and excellent night vision. I could see tracks in the gravel in complete darkness. Then mount the receiver just inside the rear cap so it still gets a strong signal and then run the coax from the receiver to the front of the trailer. I had the coax wire-tied to the 7-wire trailer cable and setup with a quick disconnect next to the 7-wire connector on the truck. Another coax ran to the NAV breakout box. It took about 2 seconds to connect the coax.
I also used the backup wiring run of the 7-wire cable to supply the power for the camera. This way, I could switch from the camera on the truck to the camera on the trailer with the dash switch that powered one or the other cameras, or neither one.
FYI, if you're going to rig a backup camera, then one thing that really helps is to put some lines on the display. Here's a pic of the system we had on our DP.
Notice the converging lines and the two horizontal dash lines. The two converging lines show the exact path behind the coach. If the road I'm trying to back down is not between those lines, then the coach is NOT headed down the road. Simple. The dashes indicate 5' behind the coach and 10' behind the coach. The cameras are so wide angled that without some reference you're just seeing a pretty picture of what's there but can't tell very well where you are going or how far away something is.
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