roof camera?

Heavy Metal Doctor wrote:
I mount camera systems in lots of vehicles and equipment and many times do odd installs where the customer is looking to view a very specific area / angle around the unit.
Your idea is fine, but I would suggest a few details: Get a multi-camera capable monitor so you can easily view both rear and top on a split screen or switch to either one in full screen. Once you have chosen the equipment, wire it all up temporarily so you can view the screen and move the camera around for the best view of what actually matters for your situation.
I see too many installs where people mount a camera so it just looks out into space with no real way to judge the relationship of that picture with the vehicle.
In the case of watching for roof height clearance, I think mounting the camera in the middle facing forward would work. Set it in place and then use a known height indicator - maybe a 12 foot 2x4 sticking up in the air - to move around the RV at different points and watch on the screen to see where you can / can't see it. You can adjust the camera position as needed to get a know view of good / bad conditions. On the roof, the view could be such that you can see the roof as sort of a horizon line - anything above it that can be seen in the monitor picture will clear - if you can't see it, it's too low, STOP! You'll just have to play around with it 'till your happy with the view.

thanks for the info, I'm surprised these RVs don't come with a roof monitor option, with all the other gizmos an gadgets. Or maybe they do and I just have ancient technology. Seems to me those simple "back up alarms" standard on a lot of passenger vehicles would work great for early overhead detection. Just a little beep beep beep to alert you of an overhead obstacle.