We use one of those Argos baby monitor things. Its wireless so you have the monitor bit velcro'd to your dashboard and the camera velcro'd to the inside of the rear window of the van and bobs your uncle!
I have seen ones on ebay that connect wirelessly to your sat nav screen. Have always talked about buying one to see how good they are but just never got round to it.
------------- The things that come to those who wait, may be the only things left by those who got there first.
we bought a wireless system from Maplins for £42 , to start with it didn't work well - it worked ok if the signal was able to bounce back from vehicles alongside or if we were close to buildings etc, then all of a sudden it worked all the time, its great for seeing whats close behind whilst travelling ( its wired into the sidelights rather than the reverse switch - so its on all the time) the mount for the monitor is a bit iffy,however its not workingat the moment -more than likely a faulty connection. We had to do some alteration work - mainly changing the camera mount from one that screwed to the number plate to sticky back pads & mounting the antenna on the rear panel of the van. IMHO well worth the effort
i have one on the rear of one of my trailers at work and it is good to see what is behind you,however its no good for gauging the width of the trailer because you cant see the sides of it,if you get my drift,so is some use for reversing be you still cant beat mirrors.
Quote: Originally posted by dwares on 19/7/2010
Has anyone fitted a reversing camera system to their van and what benefits/problems have they found.
Hi dwares, have the Maplin one, (good when they work properly),and as dave said in his post they tend to be tempermental,mine is connected to reverse lights, after hearing dave's results when wired to side lights,think thats where they are getting connected.
------------- If everything runs smoothly then I must have done something wrong
If in Doubt Check it Out.
As an idea for the Maplin kits; if they're working when the signal's bounced off of other vehicles, can you not try taping some tin foil on the rear-facing side of the anntenna so that more signal is radiated forwards towards the towing vehicle?
I've seen many a device made for wifi computers with aerials being modified or simply hung in the middle of a metal bowl and the results are apparently quite splendid. Maybe that kind of idea would work for these little antennas?
I can understand someone wanting a rear view camera when they're going to be needing it on a regular basis. I guess if you use your caravan every weekend it may be worth putting a camera on the outfit, but for the three or four times a year some use the caravan, I wouldn't think it was worth it. Cheap cameras don't give a good result & a bad camera is worse than no camera IMO. I have two colour cameras with sound on my lorry & I wouldn't be without them, but they're used several times every day. They're by brigade, they weren't cheap but the picture is perfect.
This link is worth looking at, among many other things, they do a good range of cameras, wired & wireless. http://www.waeco.co.uk/
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Topic: Reversing Cameras
