Reversing Camera

[God666]

As the topic notes, I finally got off my butt and drilled some holes in the car to fit my reversing camera. I have been looking around for a while at what is commerically available and all the options were either over the top in terms of $ or had hideous cameras that would stick out like a pimple on the @rse of society.

I decided to go for a home-grown solution. I found a decent colour camera that had a 155 degree view angle and that was waterproof. I fitted this into the trim above the number plate (see pic)

You can make out the silver ring just to the right of center of the (cropped) number plate. That is just a plastic trim that easily accommodated the 25mm holesaw. Then I had to drill a hole in the bootlid behind. This served two purposes, first it allowed the camera cable to go through and secondly, the body of the camera was ever so slightly too large to fit in without deforming the plastic trim. The hole in the lid allowed a snug fit.

Wired in the power for the camera to the reversing lights so that it only comes on when reverse is engaged.

I found a 2.5 inch LCD monitor on the web (available from Singapore) and I fitted this onto the top of the sun visor.

Fitting it to the sun visor is just a short term solution whilst I try to find the best spot for it. It is small enough to fit in the gap between the mirror and the roof lining and that way you could easily hide the two cables in the roof cavity.

Running the cables from the rear of the car to the front was a 30 minute job and they simply fit in underneath the door trims and entered the boot from under the rear seat.

The 2.5 inch display is large enough to see what is going on behind however, a 4 inch display would be perfect. You can get an idea of the size of it by looking at the sun visor mirror that is behind the LCD monitor. Obviously, when you want to look at it, you need to drop the visor down.

Note that the LCD monitor is small enough that you could gut the centre out of your sun visor and hide it very neatly inside that. Use some beige or white cables to exit at the mounting end of the visor and you would have a neat fitout. A new sun visor if you screw it up is about $70.

In daylight, it is perfect and I found you can judge the distance between the back of the car (in my case, the towball) and a car behind within about half an inch. At night time, it is another matter, what I need to find is a halogen light that I can mount next to the camera and pointing downwards. The reversing lights are not good enough for the job, nor are the number plate lights.

Sorry about the quality of this picture however, it comes off my crappy phone camera. It gives you an idea of the type of image you see. Note you can make out the towball in the centre of the image. Trust me, in real life it is far better than this picture.

All up cost, about $300. (camera $200, LCD $100)

Now,.... if you are really handy, get yourself an NTSC camera, you could plumb the camera feed into your ICC. I don't have premium sound so it was not an option for me. I am sure that it could be easily configured to automatically switch to the camera feed when it is powered on. Some guys have done this with digital TV and Xbox etc so that is entirely possible.

Total fit time was about two hours.

I welcome your feedback. Please note that it is an interim fit for the LCD, it does look fugly, I am looking for a better and neater spot.

[Paradoxx]

Do you have the image mirrored so you have the relative picture for reversing?

[God666]

yep, it is a reverse image camera.

[cobrav8]

Good job mate.

I am looking at adding a reversing/rear vision camera at some stage, but to my closed in car trailer - so that you can see behind you - as it will be next to impossible to see what is going on.

[ColinT]

Just purchased a reverse sensor kit from ebay. Not a camera kit. Recommended to me from another forum member.

Instead of the ugly detectors in the bumper it has a detection strip that attaches behind the plastic of the bumper.

Only $36 for the kit and simple to install. Will take a few pics as I go and let the forum know how well it works.

[ZAP]

I was looking at fitting a similar system and found THIS camera, that canbe bought on eBay for $50 and was going to get the video converter for the colour ICC.

The only difference was that I was going to point the camera our the back above the numberplate light cover.

Why did you point your's down ?

It limits the rear visibility and only allows you to look down.

[DBOSS]

Just purchased a reverse sensor kit from ebay.  Not a camera kit.  Recommended to me from another forum member. 

Instead of the ugly detectors in the bumper it has a detection strip that attaches behind the plastic of the bumper.

Only $36 for the kit and simple to install.  Will take a few pics as I go and let the forum know how well it works.

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That sounds like a better idea

Keep us posted on how it go's

CYA JEFF

[thebrunks]

Don't the Ghia Territorys have a reversing camera???

How about fitting up a Territory camera kit to the colour LCD???

Russ

[cobrav8]

I was looking at fitting a similar system and found THIS camera, that canbe bought on eBay for $50 and was going to get the video converter for the colour ICC.

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that's more like what I want to do Zap. How much is it for the ICC converter?

Also - to make the camera a reverse one (like a mirror) do most of these cameras have this option, or do you have to buy one that is specifically reversed?

[Falchoon]

Don't the Ghia Territorys have a reversing camera???

How about fitting up a Territory camera kit to the colour LCD???

Russ

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Like this. Camera goes in the rear tailgate. I guess he already looked at ASL Logistics and and decided he could DIY a lot cheaper. One interesting setup they have is a reverse camera with the display coming up on the centre rear view mirror. Good if you like "gadgets" and can't be bothered or don't have the skill to DIY.