Backup Camera Woes

[tommar]

I'm on my third backup camera system from Tadi Bros. I have a 38' Newmar Dutch Star. Started off with a single cam wireless system. Picture was poor quality and intermittent despite it being a HD system. So I swapped it for a three cam system and had issues with the rear cam. Now I have a second three cam system and am still having problems with the rear cam--intermittent picture. I've put in an antenna extender... no joy... guy I'm using to help with installation suggests a second antenna extender or possibly hard wiring the rear cam... any ideas anyone?

[Dutch Star Don]

My two daughters both bought new fifth wheels in the past month. They're also celebrating their 10th wedding anniversaries in the next three months. I bought them both back up cameras for their anniversaries. Both of their units, came prewired for a Furrion backup camera. (Smart move by Furrion to push RVer's toward buying their system). I bought two Furrion wireless systems last week. My son-in-law tried to install his yesterday. He plugged in the monitor power cord into his cigarette lighter and the monitor came on. You're then suppose to plug the camera into a second plug on that same cord, so that they're close enough to sink, then disconnect the camera and mount it on the RV. When he plugged the camera in, it blew the power cord fuse. We tried a new fuse, same issue. I called Furrion and they said probably a bad cord. I tried the second unit I bought and same issue. Not a bad cord, but a bad camera. Most likely, the polarity was wrong on a batch of cameras they use.

Okay, sorry about the long post, but the above forced me to do some more investigation into cameras. Some reviews pointed to TadiBrothers as being the best, but as I read reviews on various store fronts, like Amazon, RVUpgrades, etc, the wireless models got terrible reviews. They all said Tadi service was great, but that doesn't really help a junk product.

I continued to read reviews and discovered that "Rear View Safety", the name of a camera system, was highly rated. I read many reviews from several sites, but there was no real discussion about wireless issues with the RVS system. So either they have less issues or more are using wired.

So.....after all my research, I think the best way is to just install a wired camera. Too many complaints along all brand lines about flickering pictures and pictures that just drop out. In your instance, it's in a motor home, so wired is pretty easy. I'm looking at installing it in a fifth wheel. What's nice about the Rear View Safety system, is they have a unit that has a nice coiled jumper cord that connects the truck to the trailer. It looks like I'll be buying them a wired system.

[hohenwald48]

I've always found wireless anything (including phones and internet) to have inferior reliability compared to a hardwired version of the same device.