The Camper Cam Project

[jas0420]

We bought a new Roo and the combination of me disliking blind spots, being new to towing, and having nerd'ish tendencies with a couple of open weekends yielded the Camper Cam Project.


Lots of pics and details here: Towing Cameras - jasonsmith's Photos | SmugMug
(each image has a comment at the bottom explaining what is shown in the image)


Happy to try and answer any questions!
Jason



Parts List
From Amazon
4 Cameras: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MCKA5Q/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i05
1 Quad Channel 7" Monitor: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZOEQZU/ref=oh_details_o05_s01_i00
1 Suction Cup Mount: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002K8Q0EU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
2 Heavy Duty 25-ft RCA Cables (for trailer): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033SH9WI/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00
1 Heavy Duty 50-ft RCA Cable (for trailer's rear cam) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033SH9Y6/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i04
2 Lighter Duty 25-ft RCA Cables (for truck): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002GWRXK/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i03
100 ft of 1/2" Split Loom Tubing: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017686ZC/ref=oh_details_o05_s03_i00

From Lowes:
100' 14-guage wire (black)
100' 14-guage wire (white)
5 big rolls of electrical tape for connections and wrapping the split loom
Various steel rods, tubes, flats, and angle iron for making the brackets
Worm gear clamps to hold a couple of the cameras to their bracket
Black and white spray paint

From my garage
4 PVC connectors (1" couplers)
1 PVC connector (1" T)
3' (give or take) of 1" PVC pipe
Silicone to secure the cameras in place
PVC primer and glue to make the rear-view bracket
C-clamp for the rear-view bracket

Tools Used
Drill (drilling the plastic in the tail gate handle)
Dremmel (making the tail gate hole oblong so the camera could be angled down
Saw (cutting the various metal pieces)
Welder (welding the brackets toghether and in place)
Angle Grinder
Wire cutters/strippers for making all of the connections
Various other common household tools (screwdrivers, utility knife, etc)

[quackor]

Nice job with that project! I've got the camera and cable for the trailer, but have been trying to figure out the connection to the tow rig. Did you just put the RCA cable inside some split loom and and empty connector, or did you solder the cable into an actual 7 pin connector? Any picts of the connection unplugged from each other?

[Iggy]

Very nice!

[jas0420]

Thank you both!

Quackor, I struggled with coming up with a way to keep the RCA ends protected/clean at the bumper of the truck and the tongue of the trailer. I thought about doing something like keeping the ends in a little project box or something similar, but never really could envision a good way to do it. I slept on it and it occurred to me that I simply needed to get 6 wires (a pair for each of the 3 RCA cables feeding the cameras on the trailer) plugged into the truck and shouldn't get bogged down with the fact that they were RCA plugs at the moment. In hindsight, the 7-way connector seems obvious… It has enough leads and is already relatively well protected from the elements.

After second guessing myself a few times (didn’t want to have to redo all of that wiring!) I cut the ends off of the 3 RCA cables at the truck’s bumper and also the 3 that I had run up to the tongue of the trailer from the cams. The 7-way connector (both male and female side) itself is completely unmodified. It was one that they sell at Lowes and once you get it apart, all of the wires are simply held in by pressure plates and screws. So I just had to make sure that I kept my pairing the same… one pair of the trailer’s former RCA cable went to screws 1 and 2 on the 7-way’s male end, and one pair of the former RCA cable on the truck end also went to screws 1 and 2 of the 7-way’s female side… screw’s 3 and 4 were paired up in the same manner as were screw’s 5 and 6.

Unfortunately (and surprisingly for me) I failed to take any pics while all of this was coming together. I hope that the explanation above helped rather than making it worse.

[SCOC]

Wow, that's the nicest rear view camera setup I've seen. Have you used it on the road and reversing yet to know if you have the angles where you want them?

For the original Ford rear camera, did you splice it so you still see the image in the rearview mirror, or is that blank now?

[quackor]

Thanks for the explanation on the connector. Was only thinking of two wires, but with the three cameras the connector isn't overkill. Very clean install.

[Fire Instructor]

Outstanding project, and post!!!

Thank you for the details!