Rear View Camera - UPDATE-

[BFL13]

Updates 5 Jan 21, 8 Jan, Booster idea 11 Jan,
New camera -now one for each RV -26 July.

If this is supposed to be in the technology section, the Moderators can sort it all out 🙂

Anyway we can't see out the back of the truck camper and only out half the back window in the Class C while driving. Apparently you can get a dash camera or maybe a back-up camera that has a display unit with it, and hang that from your rear view mirror. True?

It might even be possible to use your cell phone somehow as the display, but in BC you will be arrested and locked away for life for using a cell phone while driving, so I don't know abut that! No idea if they would consider the display on the mirror as a "distraction" either.

What is the real story, and if true (whichever part), how do you rig it up? Thanks.

[BFL13]

BFL13 wrote:
I don't have a for sure answer on the wifi for a long 5er.

I was able to walk about 100ft back from the back window camera and still see myself on the iPad. I was able to go out front of the MH about 20 ft and still got the picture from near 50ft, but off to the side with more MH in the way, not the front window see right through, I lost the signal. However, I got behind the truck with camper on it with the front of the truck to the back quarter of the MH for about 35 ft or so and got the signal.

It goes with line of sight but also with barriers in the way what you get. I think at 50 ft it might be spotty, hard to know.

Discovered it has a time delay if that matters for a rear view. I could see myself move and stop, and the picture caught up after I stopped. I counted one, two, but before I said two it caught up.

I mounted the camera on a piece of wood and can move the piece of wood between RVs. You don't need two of the OEM holders.

Following up on this, got tired of swapping the camera back forth so looked for a second camera that would still work with the old iPad Mini which is easy to swap between vehicle rear view mirrors using elastic bands.

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/type-s-1080p-app-view-backup-camera-0350726p.html#srp

First found the FHD on sale, which worked great with DW's big iPad but the old iPad Mini kept crashing the App. I tried it with my Android phone and discovered I can't get new Apps using Google Play. Looked into that, and found a bunch of stuff you are supposed to do that didn't work for me ( I am a spaz with all this stuff). Too much tech stuff! 😞

So took the FHD back and got a different camera that is wireless, but has its own monitor. Success!

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/reload-wireless-backup-camera-4-3-in-0354093p.html#srp

The Reload camera I now got is more expensive than that FHD (both on sale for now), but I like where you don't have to fiddle with the iPad to restart the picture every time the camera is turned off. This is actually a big thing if you are in a hurry. The Reload monitor just starts showing the picture as soon as you turn the camera on.

I have the camera outside on the TC now, wired into the "porch light". Light on means camera is on too.

The Reload monitor is way smaller than the iPad Mini up on the rear view mirror with elastic bands, but is plenty big enough for the job. Didn't like the suction cup option.

I see in the specs the Reload claims 49 ft vs about 30 for the Hopkins so if true, that would be good in a truck/trailer. The Hopkins is ok for the 28ft Class C for sure and for the TC.

AFAIK, the Reload monitor will not pair with the Hopkins so I still need my own device for that monitor job.

A note on the delay in picture with wireless processing time. It is no big deal when driving, but it occurs to me that it would be when backing up with a trailer. You need to react when the trailer starts to go off course. It might be awkward if the camera delay is too much. Haven't tried that yet.

[BFL13]

Good info, thanks!

I don't have anything to add to this, but there are perhaps un-answered questions for those with longer rigs and those with newer trucks with cameras in their removable tailgates.

Over to them if there is anything to add here.

[mgirardo]

BFL13 wrote:
I tried to tether the Nokia 2.1 phone to the iPad using a USB hub to connect the two cables that charge each device, and I couldn't get it to work like I can with the phone and laptop.

That won't work, you can't split the tethered signal. The USB cable needs to go directly from the phone to the device.

Since you have to connect directly to the camera's SSID, creating a hotspot on your phone isn't going to help you with the camera. However, you can watch this video to show you have to turn on Wi Fi hotspot on your phone.

-Michael

[mgirardo]

BFL13 wrote:
Would this thing do the job? It has three modes, but I am confused whether it needs wires as a repeater.

https://www.amazon.com/1200Mbps-Extender-US754-Amplifier-Extender/dp/B08NZGJFT7/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3TC6...

This one should work just fine for you: click. It does have an ethernet port, but that's to use to wire directly to it instead of using wifi, which is a nice feature.

-Michael

[BFL13]

I tried to tether the Nokia 2.1 phone to the iPad using a USB hub to connect the two cables that charge each device, and I couldn't get it to work like I can with the phone and laptop.

I suspect there might be a way and I don't know which buttons to push. While doing that, the Nokia came up with a "hotspot" thing for itself. I don't know if I pushed a button that did that or what.

So the iPad wifi search showed "Nokia 2.1" as a choice, so I got on that and it said it is connected and wanted a password. the cell phone meanwhile was on the Hopkins wifi but I did not have the camera App on the phone.

So it just proved I am a spaz when it comes to gizmos and I quit!

Meanwhile, more on how having the camera in the Class C is such a good thing--
Yesterday I went to a quick oil change place and had to back and fill to get lined up for going in a bay, but there were cars passing behind me going to the car wash. I could not see the cars behind using the side mirrors. To back up I would need somebody out there directing traffic.

Not with the camera! I could see the cars close behind and knew when it was safe to back up. Very neat!

[BFL13]

All phones are not equal it seems! Mine is a Nokia 2.1 with Android 10.
The tethering USB is the same cable used for charging it.

If doing that for a time, you would have to disconnect the tethering and do a recharge

Would this thing do the job? It has three modes, but I am confused whether it needs wires as a repeater.

https://www.amazon.com/1200Mbps-Extender-US754-Amplifier-Extender/dp/B08NZGJFT7/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3TC6...

[jaycocreek]

My phone has Hotspot/USB tethering/Bluetooth tethering and Ethernet tethering..You can use the hotspot feature to bring up your own network off of your provider like Verizon, if they offer hotspot..This makes it a wifi connection to whatever you connect to it like a tablet or computer..The name of your hotspot appears in the wifi section just like your home network say like Centurylink...

[BFL13]

Thanks! Based on that, I found this. Apparently this job needs a "repeater"

https://www.waveform.com/pages/wifi-booster-repeater-extender-differences

[mgirardo]

BFL13 wrote:
I have looked at wifi extenders (lots of those) but can't make out how they can pick the right wifi signal to extend by wireless and then relay that to the farther along device. Some(all?) have LAN from the extender back to the first wifi source box and then they wifi from there, (I think)

What you are describing sounds more like an Access Point, not a Wi Fi Extender. All the Wi Fi extenders I have used get plugged into the wall. Then there is either an App or a Web Interface that you connect to the Extender with. Then you tell the Extender what SSID you want to connect to. It connects to that SSID. Generally, you would give the Extender's SSID the same SSID you normally use, however, if you have older Wi Fi devices that don't auto select the strongest signal, you can name the Extender's SSID something different so you know you are on the strongest signal.

With that being said, there are Access Points that can act as Extenders/Repeaters that don't need to be wired. Just be careful as some may require being setup wired directly to the router, then used wireless.

-Michael

[BFL13]

Yes, my cell phone has "hotspot and tethering" but it lies! It actually has Bluetooth or USB tethering. No hotspot relay as such.

So the USB part works great to my laptop, EG. I can get free hotspot wifi on the cell (or my camera signal), and leave that alone and run the laptop as though it had that hotspot connection.

So you could do that if you had a USB cable that has the plug in for the phone on one end and the different Apple one on the other end or an adapter for that, and long cable run (end to end sets) from the cell in the front of the trailer to the truck's mirror. (Might as well buy a wired camera?)

I have looked at wifi extenders (lots of those) but can't make out how they can pick the right wifi signal to extend by wireless and then relay that to the farther along device. Some(all?) have LAN from the extender back to the first wifi source box and then they wifi from there, (I think)

I am waiting to hear from Hopkins how you can do it. I suppose any 13 year old knows, but I don't! 🙂 I am just curious anyway, I don't need that in my set-ups.

[DrewE]

BFL13 wrote:
My cell phone says it can do "hotspot" or tethering. Would that work as a "booster" for the camera wifi in a long trailer/long truck? (where it is too far for the wifi now)

Eg, I have an iPad on the truck's mirror and the camera at the back of the RV. If I use the cell phone in the front of the RV with the Hopkins app to get the camera's wifi (so it is free that way NOT using "data"),

and turn on the cell's "hotspot", would that give the signal to the iPad it could select as its "network" in the truck for that extra distance?

EDIT--the cell seems to have its hotspot with Bluetooth. I have a question about this idea or another booster in to Hopkins. I will pass along any info.

Almost certainly the phone will not work as a WiFi extender.

The cell phone has three radio systems (that matter here--there are others as well, such as GPS and often an FM radio): the cell phone system, the WiFi system, and the Bluetooth system. Tethering basically connects the WiFi to the cell phone's data connection, with the WiFi unit acting as a hotspot/host rather than a client. (Or, in the case of Bluetooth tethering, it connects the cell phone data connection to a Bluetooth connection.) What you need is a WiFi to WiFi connection/extender, which cell phones are generally incapable of doing; I believe it generally requires additional hardware or at least specialized software.

[BFL13]

My cell phone says it can do "hotspot" or tethering. Would that work as a "booster" for the camera wifi in a long trailer/long truck? (where it is too far for the wifi now)

Eg, I have an iPad on the truck's mirror and the camera at the back of the RV. If I use the cell phone in the front of the RV with the Hopkins app to get the camera's wifi (so it is free that way NOT using "data"),

and turn on the cell's "hotspot", would that give the signal to the iPad it could select as its "network" in the truck for that extra distance?

EDIT--the cell seems to have its hotspot with Bluetooth. I have a question about this idea or another booster in to Hopkins. I will pass along any info.

[BFL13]

More lessons:
-turned the iPad brightness to max--better!
-you can see it with sun glasses on
-driving home in the rain, picture blurry with wet back window, but you can still make out what is happening-sort of.

Not a tech issue, but Mex sometimes mentions he was RVing on the Island here and stayed at Englishman River park. So here is a photo of the upper falls from two days ago to remind him what he is missing by being across the wrong border! 🙂

[BFL13]

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