Installing After-market Rear View Camera Issue

[Hoerschel]

I recently bought a Four Winds 28A from Cruise America and attempting to install a highly rated wireless rear view camera. Upon drilling into the back wall I discovered a layer of sheet metal that apparently is interfering with the wireless signal from the camera to the monitor in the cab. The manufacturer of the camera has offered to send me a booster antenna with 13' cable to install on top of the rig and closer to the monitor. However, I'm still concerned the metal layer is going to interfere. Has anyone had this experience and any recommendations? I'm trying to avoid installing a wired unit due to the extra level of work involved.

[IAMICHABOD]

Hoerschel wrote:

IAMICHABOD wrote:

Hoerschel wrote:
I recently bought a Four Winds 28A from Cruise America and attempting to install a highly rated wireless rear view camera

Which camera did you buy? This may be of help to others.

I searched and researched and the most highly rated, in terms of value and features, was this one from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078PDH6Z8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for the Link,It has good reviews that are backed up by Fakespot

I will definitely look into it.

[Hoerschel]

IAMICHABOD wrote:

Hoerschel wrote:
I recently bought a Four Winds 28A from Cruise America and attempting to install a highly rated wireless rear view camera

Which camera did you buy? This may be of help to others.

I searched and researched and the most highly rated, in terms of value and features, was this one from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078PDH6Z8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[IAMICHABOD]

Hoerschel wrote:
I recently bought a Four Winds 28A from Cruise America and attempting to install a highly rated wireless rear view camera

Which camera did you buy? This may be of help to others.

[bobndot]

Glad you got it to work well.

In case I need to install one someday, I have to write it all down otherwise I will forget what the colors mean. 🙂

Someone once said to me "I have to use memory foam insoles so I can remember why I walked into the kitchen".

[Hoerschel]

Aha moment finally arrived. Wisdom received = Polarity is NOT reversed. RV lights are wired correctly. The color coding, however, is different than what I was used to: RVs white / red goes to ground; black / green goes to power. Camera powers right up. Four bars of signal strength received in the cab monitor. Works great. Still enrolled in The School of Hard Knocks where there are no graduates and no degrees because the learning never ends.

[bobndot]

Good find, thank you for the follow-up.

[Hoerschel]

While troubleshooting this problem further today, I ran a test by connecting my camera directly to the coach 12 volt battery in the rear. The camera was attached to the intended mounting bracket up top and, voila, it came to life. Better yet, I had four bars on the monitor in the cab, 30 feet away. So my problem is not due to interference with the metal sheet panel embedded in the back wall. It appears to be a polarity problem with the 12 volt wiring I tapped off from the upper marker light. A volt meter, in fact, reflected -11.7 volts when I put the negative probe on the sleeve and the positive probe on the center pin of the camera's power cable. Am in process of reversing the wires that feed the camera. Admittedly, I'm a bit confused that the LED marker lights seem to work wired the opposite way. While doing a bit more research it appears that some manufacturers make LEDs that are not polarity sensitive. So, I guess I must have those, too. It's dark now and I will have to wait until tomorrow to run the penultimate test. Stay tuned.

[bukhrn]

pushtoy 2 wrote:
my wireless works great so far:D

Mine too.

[bobndot]

A tech was talking to me about the ABC's of backup cams and I didn't absorb what he was saying because I honestly didn't care.
But for this post that info might be worth looking into for someone buying or installing a system . Here is a link for the info. It might be the reason some systems work better than others.
CMOS chip vs CCD sensor .

https://camera-source.com/blog/cmos-or-ccd

[pushtoy_2]

my wireless works great so far:D

[Lwiddis]

Use heavy duty tape to temporarily mount the camera while you check the signal but I too believe wired is better.

[bobndot]

I was always told that metals do interfere with a wireless camera signal. Sometimes mounting the camera off to the side will work but you have to try that without drilling more holes.
I found wireless things to be a PIA in general and prefer wired products.