Wireless Reverse Camera Questions

[ToddD]

Looking at a 2018 Jayco 43' 5er. Can either come with camera prep or a Furrion wireless unit. Prep location is center top of rear wall.

Reports from Jayco owners on factory camera are mixed, reporting delayed video when in motion and low res display.

With a typical factory prep package in place, what aftermarket system should I look at that will power on and off remotely and be able to wirelessly broadcast the length of a 43' trailer plus truck?

I think I want one with its own display vs dash screen integration so I can just keep it on as a rear view camera when underway and not have to toggle displays when using the truck's head unit.

[Impulse24]

I installed a wireless Furrion its wired in to the center top running light and work fine.
As others have said you have to have your lights on for it to work, but hey drive with your lights on and you have a good rear view too..

[justme]

justme wrote:

johndeerefarmer wrote:

neal10a wrote:
I have the Voyager and it works well on my 40ft 5th wheel. It does wag out once in a while traveling at highway speeds. I does better after I put the antenna straight up. I also have a Ford truck, but I doubt the Ford TPMS is the problem because its operating frequency is much lower than the Voyager frequency and is not at any harmonic. I believe the problem is the ground plane for the Voyager which varies when traveling. However the signal loss is not bad enough for me to improve the ground plane which would be a little tricky. The Voyager is suppose to have it own ground plane, but it is evidently too small. Increasing the voltage to the transmitter would be another option by running a separate wire for power. Presently I have it connected to the trailer marker lights which are not LED and the power at the Transmitter is less than 11vdc. Maybe changing them to LED would be helpful as well. But the problem is not bad enough for me to hassle with.

What are the freqs for the Ford TPMS system and the Voyager? Since the camera cuts out at higher speeds and the Ford TPMS kicks in at higher speeds its likely there is interference between the two. Get a spectrum analyzer if you are really curious.

The low voltage isn't the problem as mine does the same thing and my voltage is no where near that low. Also I have the repeater installed and it still does the same thing so it's not a signal strength issue either. You can add a counterpoise to the Voyager antennas if you want but it would be a waste if time.

Ford on the '17 Super Duties went with a WIRED system to avoid these issues. The TPMS sensors on the truck "talk" to the receiver mounted on your trailer and then the signal is fed via wire to the truck.The camera for the trailer is hard wired as well.

The FCC allows for items like TPMS to operate at 433mhz and items like Video monitors to operate at 2.4 ghz. I believe that Ford like all other mfgs operate in 434mhz or 315-330 MHz(Europe operates at 434Mhz and the rest of the world at 315Mhz) band. Both of these devices use digital type modulation so they can be encrypted or provide digital identification techniques. Otherwise they would be interference between automobiles, trucks and other rear view video monitors and devices as they pass each other on the highway. The reason video monitors operate at a much higher carrier frequency is because of modulation requirements of the RF. Tire monitor information does not require as high frequency to modulate the carrier as video. Also digital reception by nature of encryption is generally immune to interference as compared to analog reception.
Also the FCC limits to power that can be transmitted. Power is a function of voltage times current. For the camera manufacture to guarantee that they meet the FCC power requirements they design their units at 14-15 volts. Therefore at 12 volts they are below their rated power spec. So the lower the voltage to less power. Therefore it makes sense to get as power as possible to the transmitter.
Could you provide verifiable information as to your claim that Ford TPMS interfere with RF backup cameras? BTY if Ford did interfere with those devices they could be in violation of FCC rules.

[justme]

Ground plane is very important for transmission of RF.

[johndeerefarmer]

neal10a wrote:
I have the Voyager and it works well on my 40ft 5th wheel. It does wag out once in a while traveling at highway speeds. I does better after I put the antenna straight up. I also have a Ford truck, but I doubt the Ford TPMS is the problem because its operating frequency is much lower than the Voyager frequency and is not at any harmonic. I believe the problem is the ground plane for the Voyager which varies when traveling. However the signal loss is not bad enough for me to improve the ground plane which would be a little tricky. The Voyager is suppose to have it own ground plane, but it is evidently too small. Increasing the voltage to the transmitter would be another option by running a separate wire for power. Presently I have it connected to the trailer marker lights which are not LED and the power at the Transmitter is less than 11vdc. Maybe changing them to LED would be helpful as well. But the problem is not bad enough for me to hassle with.

What are the freqs for the Ford TPMS system and the Voyager? Since the camera cuts out at higher speeds and the Ford TPMS kicks in at higher speeds its likely there is interference between the two. Get a spectrum analyzer if you are really curious.

The low voltage isn't the problem as mine does the same thing and my voltage is no where near that low. Also I have the repeater installed and it still does the same thing so it's not a signal strength issue either. You can add a counterpoise to the Voyager antennas if you want but it would be a waste if time.

Ford on the '17 Super Duties went with a WIRED system to avoid these issues. The TPMS sensors on the truck "talk" to the receiver mounted on your trailer and then the signal is fed via wire to the truck.The camera for the trailer is hard wired as well.

[neal10a]

I have the Voyager and it works well on my 40ft 5th wheel. It does wag out once in a while traveling at highway speeds. I does better after I put the antenna straight up. I also have a Ford truck, but I doubt the Ford TPMS is the problem because its operating frequency is much lower than the Voyager frequency and is not at any harmonic. I believe the problem is the ground plane for the Voyager which varies when traveling. However the signal loss is not bad enough for me to improve the ground plane which would be a little tricky. The Voyager is suppose to have it own ground plane, but it is evidently too small. Increasing the voltage to the transmitter would be another option by running a separate wire for power. Presently I have it connected to the trailer marker lights which are not LED and the power at the Transmitter is less than 11vdc. Maybe changing them to LED would be helpful as well. But the problem is not bad enough for me to hassle with.

[johndeerefarmer]

craigandsue wrote:
I have a Voyager Wireless on my 5er and it is worthless. I get a signal to the monitor 10% of the time at best. I think the camera antenna should be mounted towards the front of the 5er for a reliable signal.

Is your truck a Ford? If so then it's the truck's fault not the camera. Read my post above

[craigandsue]

I have a Voyager Wireless on my 5er and it is worthless. I get a signal to the monitor 10% of the time at best. I think the camera antenna should be mounted towards the front of the 5er for a reliable signal.

[johndeerefarmer]

ETCrockett wrote:
I have a 42' Jayco FW and I bought my wireless camera from RearViewSafety.com. We had some intermittent reception when in motion. I contacted Rear View Safety and they sent me a booster antenna that is connected to the camera and mounted to the roof of FW. This seems to have resolved the issue. The camera is wired into the running lights which is no problem since I always tow with my lights on.

My problem with three different brands of cameras including Voyager and RVS was the TPMS on my '15 Ford Super Duty. Once you get above 5 mph the TPMS system on the truck kicks in. This causes interference with the cameras

[ETCrockett]

I have a 42' Jayco FW and I bought my wireless camera from RearViewSafety.com. We had some intermittent reception when in motion. I contacted Rear View Safety and they sent me a booster antenna that is connected to the camera and mounted to the roof of FW. This seems to have resolved the issue. The camera is wired into the running lights which is no problem since I always tow with my lights on.

[twinstick]

I've got the observation camera. Works perfect.

[Arcamper]

Butch50 wrote:
I don't have a Jayco but our rear view camera is a Furrion Observation one and it works great but we are only 33' long trailer. Ours has been wired to operate with the clearance lights. So if I want to use the camera I just turn on my marker lights and boom there is the rear view.

Same here except ours is 39 feet long. Keystone wired ours hot all the time from the factory and it burned out after 6 months. It was the Furrion backup so I got it replaced with the observation camera for a small charge, changed the power to feed from a marker light and it has worked great.

[Butch50]

I don't have a Jayco but our rear view camera is a Furrion Observation one and it works great but we are only 33' long trailer. Ours has been wired to operate with the clearance lights. So if I want to use the camera I just turn on my marker lights and boom there is the rear view.

[ToddD]

Scrounged around on YouTube with that part number and found a series of videos by a gent:

https://youtu.be/CmgVCbBsPLY

Not sure why he didn't just use a clearance light for power in the area of the camera, which would be switched.

Then in a subsequent video he does some voltage drop calcs of clearance lights circuit based off the stationary battery voltage, instead of engine running alternator voltage (oops).

Anyway, these videos seem to answer my questions.

[ToddD]

Ok, I see there are two models, at least from Furrion. A backup model and an observation model. The observation model gets good reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010XWNFOM/ref=psdc_2504395011_t1_B017P8H7BO

Question about factory pre-wiring: will it let me use it as a rear view mirror when traveling? Still not sure how this would power on and off if not triggered by the reverse lights...