Community Forums

58Ford · 09-05-2021, 10:25 AM

Does anyone know of a ready made solution for accessing the bed mounted reversing camera full time in the RV?

I usually leave my RV rear camera on while driving and soon will be installing my tow system - Brake Master. Wondering if there’s a way to also use the camera in my Ram and a second monitor in the RV.

Ray,IN · 09-05-2021, 01:12 PM

Check out the aftermarket wireless cameras and monitors. To my knowledge there is no present method of inter-connecting your Ram rear camera and the MH camera system.

nudist · 09-05-2021, 08:07 PM

The view from my Coach Camera was such that I would have never even wondered if I could connect the towed vehicles camera. I mean, it's not like it is possible to back up. The only reason to see the vehicle in the camera is to make sure that it is still there and is tracking correctly. I know people that drove for 50 miles before they noticed the car was gone. True Story. Absolutely no information can be gained from the Backup camera in the bed of the truck you are towing. The camera in my coach gave a birds eye view of my car.

58Ford · 09-05-2021, 08:39 PM

Thanks Ray.
Nudist: my view from my Disco only shows the truck, it’s not aimed as far back as my Winnie was which means I have zero rear view actually. The value would be tremendous to me if I could in fact see what is behind my truck, you know for things like slowing in traffic, lane changes that kind of thing.

nudist · 09-06-2021, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 58Ford

Thanks Ray.
Nudist: my view from my Disco only shows the truck, it’s not aimed as far back as my Winnie was which means I have zero rear view actually. The value would be tremendous to me if I could in fact see what is behind my truck, you know for things like slowing in traffic, lane changes that kind of thing.

Can you change the aim of the camera on the Discovery. The camera is high near the roofline right? It should be able to see right down on the truck and behind it and to the sides. If you want to see the traffic a long way back, it was never designed for that, that is what the mirrors are for. The rear cameras on all vehicles are generally meant for backing up not seeing 100 yards behind your vehicle. Is the lens not wide angle enough? It sounds like potentially, your best option would be to replace the camera on the Discovery with one that shows you what you need to see. Mirrors are used to see far behind the coach and I used the camera to tell me when I was clear to change lanes back after passing someone. Many diesel pusher owners use the camera this way. I know in my current car I can only use the rear camera while backing up. There is not even a way to turn it on if I wanted to use it while Moving forward. I thought I had a video or photo showing my camera view behind my 44’ Diesel pusher, but I can’t find it. I towed a Jeep Grand Cherokee. If you are looking to use the camera the way way a car driver uses a middle rear view mirror, you won’t be able to do that, that is not the purpose of an OEM RV camera.

AnotherMike · 09-06-2021, 02:04 AM

^^^ What he said.

One idea... years ago I was out with a friend in his motor home... we were installing a ham radio in it. He had modified his backup camera monitor system... originally his monitor was full time with a stock backup camera that covered from the rear bumper to maybe 50-75 feet to the rear of the coach.

He modified the system with a much higher quality monitor and a matching (second) camera - one that was mounted to the roof rail and was pointed a few degrees below horizontal. It effectively looked back maybe half a mile and about 120-130 degrees horizontal. He wired a relay to the backup lights and when they came on the relay pulled in and switched the original cable from the long-range camera to the original backup camera.

And if you add an IR illuminator or two or three then the camera will work a little better at night.

Mike

58Ford · 09-07-2021, 01:11 PM

Thanks Nudist, will look and see if it is adjustable first. I really don’t enjoy not seeing vehicles just outside 20ft. I know cars will run up fast behind me in an attempt to get around a slow poke in the left lane, if I then move into that lane it’s not going to be an enjoyable day. I also use that camera for when I want to move back into the right lane after overtaking. If both vehicles are next to each other in the camera I usually have room to move over. I was really surprised you don’t encourage more camera use when it’s available. Each to their own! Thanks for the additional info. I have only been RVing for a year but I have done over 5000 miles in that year.

AnotherMike, that’s exactly the setup I could use but maybe above my tech skills to configure. I figured that if BrakeMaster had figured out how to utilize the Toads taillights, running lights and brake lights + braking they may have figured out how to use the camera too.

Thanks all.

Rusty