Decisions about RearView/Back Up camera SYSTEM

[bamaboy473]

Currently have the OEM Weldex B/W rear view system, and I want to convert to a color system. Here are some questions:

1. Do I really want 3 cameras? My coach has the triple-mirrors and although another view is always better, do they confuse things? Is running cable for side-view cameras as tough as it would seem to be?

2. There is a conversion cable that supposedly uses the existing Weldex cable from the rear of the bus and saves running a new cable. Do those cables allow Color transmission, too?

3. What whole SYSTEM (monitor, cables, camera(s) do you recommend from having one in your coach?

[FatChance]

I just went through this. We had an old in-dash Panasonic stereo/GPS/backup camera display in the flip-up monitor. I removed the whole stereo unit, mounted a high-def color monitor with dual RCA inputs above the driver seat.

The old rear view camera had a proprietary cable but the rear camera feed went into our Trip-Tec computer and had a RCA output that plugged into one input into the monitor. I then placed a new color camera on the rear engine cover and ran a RCA cable from the front entertainment cabinet and the other input to the monitor, up into the A/C duct, to the back bedroom closet and back into the engine compartment to the new camera. Now I can switch between the old rear view camera output with the Trip-Tec overlay and the new color camera output with the touch of a button.

Under $75 for the monitor, camera and cable, one day of my labor and it works great. Sometimes there are many options to consider, pick the one that works for you.

[bamaboy473]

113 views and one response. Does anybody have DIY experience with installation, or at least some experience going from a one-camera system to a 3-camera system?

P.S. New monitors seem to be 7" x 5.25" and the dashboard hole for our Weldex is 8"x6". What have people done in order to cover the gap?

[bolhuijo]

The old Weldex system finally gave up in my Bounder, and I am just finishing up the replacement. Going with 3 cameras seemed impossibly hard for me due to limited access up front, so I stuck with 1. The cabled systems that I found all seemed to want 1 more conductor than the old Weldex 4-conductor wire.

I ended up getting an Emmako wireless unit. Like the Weldex unit, it has a bracket that allows easy hanging from above. With one block of wood to space it out properly, it hangs in the same hole where the Weldex monitor used to live. It's considerably smaller in depth, but it looks fine.
I cut & spliced the ends of the old Weldex 4-conductor cable to send 12V power to the rear for the camera. The camera itself is very nearly the same size as the old Weldex camera and only minor mods were needed to make it fit the same mounting plate.

[bamaboy473]

I've read just enough to...think...that wireless systems can fail if in areas that have a lot of electrical noise (industrial, lots of traffic, etc). Is this an old wives' tale from years ago, or is that still going on?

[Unicorn Driver]

We had a wireless colour system in our old coach, it would cut out for a second or 2 occasionally. Our new coach has a 3 camera b/w system. I prefer the 3 camera system, would like to upgrade it sometime.

[bolhuijo]

If the literature is to be believed, the older wireless cameras used analog systems that sometimes resulted in picking up other transmissions like nearby vehicles or local security cameras. The newer systems are digital and are better able to reject other transmissions. I hope this is true, but I have zero hours on the road to test this theory.

[bamaboy473]

If that's correct, it opens up a ton more choices in the marketplace. Not sure that installation would be all that different because you'd have to run power to the camera/sending units...and power to the rear camera would be via the existing B/W cable, but to the side cameras would be thought-provoking.

Anybody do an install with wireless and add the side camera?