Getting INTO Tight Spots - Wireless Backup Camera Install

Note Fresnel Lens On The Lower Right Corner

    Backing Up. We all have to do it. It's a P.I.T.A. (if you don't know that abbreviation ... think about it a second ..... it starts with "Pain In The...") Most newer RVs are equipped with a backup camera of some sort. When I bought mine it wasn't. It DID have a rear window with a fresnel lens. What the heck is a fresnel lens, you ask. Simple, it's a piece of plastic that has concentric ring grooves cut or molded into it so it acts as a lens. In the case of the one glued to the rear window of my RV it lets me see a much wider angle of the stuff behind me. (Warning: Objects in this lens are WAY closer than they appear!) The window and lens combination are great when you a driving along, not so great when you are trying to back up into a tight spot.

7" Backup Camera Kit

 I'd used backup cameras before and liked the guidelines on the screen that showed how close you are to obstacles.  Back then, they came with old style TV or C.R.T. monitors in mostly black & white. Nowadays you can get cool LCD color displays that use very little power and are much easier to find a place to mount! I looked around a bit and found that you could purchase wired versions and wireless versions. While you would likely get less interference and static on the screen with a wired version, you have to run a cable from the camera, all the way in the back to the monitor, all the way in the front. This is not fun. I do not recommend it as a recreational activity and I actually LIKE wiring up gizmos! I decided to go for the wireless version. Since my RV is only 23' 8" long I was pretty sure the signal strength would be OK. After some copious internet research I came upon a 7" Color LCD display wireless backup camera system on sale. It was pretty neat and had an additional video input should I ever decide to add another camera. I have no idea WHERE I would add one, but it's nice to have the option!

Display/Receiver Installed

Once it arrived, the only issue I had was the cable for power. The LCD Display/Receiver was designed to be installed on a mounting bracket on top of the dash, and the power cable gets plugged into the cigarette lighter. I was going to hard-wire it into my electrical system anyway, so I cut off the cigarette lighter plug. The problem? It came out of the SIDE of the unit, and since I was going to install it on the dash itself, I needed the power to come in from the BACK. Seemed easy at the time. I opened up the display unit, found the power wiring and then realized there wasn't room inside to simply pull them out the back! I ended up going to smaller wire (it uses VERY little power so the smaller gauge (AWG) didn't matter) and soldering it directly to the circuit board inside. if you aren't comfortable doing this kind of thing....DON'T. It WILL void your warranty and you could end up with an expensive paperweight. Once that was done I used some of the heavy duty hard plastic "Velcro" to affix it to the dash itself. I was covering up the hole for the already removed ashtray so I had room to hide the wiring. The hard plastic Velcro is strong stuff! The LCD Display doesn't move at all!

Mounted On The Roof To Body Seam

Next up, the camera itself. The backup system I bought came with a camera that is designed to fit on the license plate mounting bracket on most vehicles. It would probably be OK on my RV, but I really wanted more of a downward view of the rear of the RV. This way I could see how close I was to an object when backing up. It would also have to be angled in such a way as to provide a side-to-side picture as well. My RV has a seam that goes all the way around the one piece fiberglass roof and connects to the fiberglass body. It has a vinylr strip that covers all the screws. I could easily mount the unit to this assembly.

Clearance Light With Camera 12V Power Lead

The camera still requires 12V power even though it transmits it's signal without wires to the display. I chose to tap into the parking/clearance lights for this juice. I COULD have ran a wire inside the rear cap to the trailer hitch 12V positive, but that was a MUCH harder job. The light is very close to the camera's position and the wiring would be very short and it would put the transmitter.antenna unit inside a rear cabinet, right on the shelf. I drilled a hole through the base of the light fixture (Avoiding contacts and wiring) through the rear cap and straight into the top of the cabinet the shelf is in. The main issue with doing it this way is the parking lights have to be on when you use the camera! Not a big deal, really. I tapped the inside of the clearance light and soldered the wire ends to the terminals inside. I put a dollop of silicone over each connection to ensure less corrosion and a bit of water resistance, then replaced the lens. This silicone will also cover the hole into the cabinet. On the inside, I had to place the transmitter/antenna box (about the size of half a deck of cards), like everything else in my RV the inside of the cabinet is carpeted I simple put some non-fuzzy sided Velcro on the back of the unit and stuck it on. I coiled up the extra cable and used a plastic tie to secure it out of the way.

Camera Installed

The camera arrived from the factory in black plastic, it was painted to match the RV using multiple coats of automotive spray paint. Once I had the placement and angle correct, using a good silicone based adhesive caulk I adhered the entire unit to the seam and used tape and little bits of wood (shims) to hold it in the correct place as it dried. Not the prettiest install, but very secure. One final test of the system and a bit of adjusting of the transmitter antenna and the install was done!





This system works quite well and will assist you day or night with the sometimes tedious task of backing up into a confined space.

Be Seeing You...Down The Road,

Rich "The Wanderman"
www.thewanderman.com

Why An RV is Awesome During a Major Storm!

Tree Down!

Here I sit in a comfortable chair, working on this article. The lights are on, the heater humming away and food cooking on the stove. Meanwhile, outside there are high winds, steady rain and most of the town around me is dark. Last week I was complaining about having to winterize my RV, this week I am awfully glad I didn't! We here in the Northeast had a bit of a storm come through and the damage levels were high. I have my RV near my house which is about 90 miles northeast of New York City. Thankfully, we didn't receive the full brunt of the storm, but there were power lines and trees down everywhere. My house is dark, the heat won't work, but I have an oasis in the middle of this crisis.

Comfy, Warm Bed

An RV can be many things to many people: an escape from day to day life, a treasured vacation memory creator, or even a 24/7 full-time home. I'm grateful I have one. I've had some time to sit here over the last couple of days and really appreciate what an RV means to me. It's more than just a "home away from home." It's a shelter, a place you can go to when the rest of the world isn't running correctly. 

On a more practical note, we are not immune to outside elements. My shower skylight, a non-standard size and shape (of course!) was smashed by a flying piece of debris. I've covered the big hole with some stiff plastic signage (at least politicians are worth SOMETHING!) and some "100 MPH" tape. I'll admit it was already very brittle from sun UV exposure and age and I was already doing the research on just how I would get a replacement. Mother Nature just accelerated the process. No luck figuring out how to replace it yet, though I have some ideas. Stay tuned for that article.

I'll stay here in the RV until I see power come back on at the house (I left a few outside lights on just for that purpose) then I'll somewhat reluctantly move back in. I'm amazed at how often I find something else to like about RVing in general.

Be Seeing You...Down The Road,

Rich "The Wanderman"
www.thewanderman.com

Windshield Washer Nozzle Blues - Remove and Replace A Broken One

Driver's Side - Still OK

    OK, so I'm a moron. I was wiping down my RV after a quick wash and snapped the passenger side windshield washer bulkhead fitting off. Great. This is the part that takes the larger hose from the windshield washer fluid reservoir pump and goes through the front of the RV the to the smaller hose that feeds the wiper arm squirter nozzle. I had some Gaffer's tape on hand and did a quick "band-aid" repair. It would likely get me down the road and back so I could replace the thing properly. Of course i couldn't actually USE the washer spray until then... at least on that side. Ah well.

Sometimes, Tape Is A Good Thing!

When I got back from the trip I had a good look at the way it was assembled. It had a nut on a threaded barrel on the back and 2 barbs holding the hoses on. Looked like a simple job to replace. Took a ride down to the local autoparts emporium to buy a replacement, that's where it got, "interesting." Seems that this part isn't all that popular and is NOT standard for anythings else. Yup, typical situation for me and my "orphan" RV. I'm beginning to get used to it. Besides, the hunt is part of the fun, right?

[Left] Old Fitting - [Right] New Bulkhead Fitting

Back to the internet to find a relacement. Of course, not having ANY idea what it was called makes for a difficult time searching online. After a long bought with various search engines I stumbled across a "Bulkhead Fitting" as used in Fire Engines! They had various sizes and shapes, but since they were mostly 2 bucks a piece I ordered 4 sets. Figuring the right one would be amongst them. As most of you know, this kind of gamble rarely (if ever) works out for me.....but guess what? This time I got one that fit! Well, the other three were useless and ended up in the parts bin...who know's maybe I'll find a use for them.

Hose and Nut Behind The Fiberglass

I began by removing the hoses. The one behind the front of the RV's front was larger and took quite a bit of force to remove. Most likely it was baked on by engine heat over the years. That  happens with a lot of rubber hoses in a hot environment. I used an adjustable wrench to loosen the nit slightly and removed it by hand. It was plastic! The new one is a much deeper stainless steel one. I guess that Fire Engines need better hardware! With the nut removed, I slid the old fitting out. Make sure you figure out a way to secure the old hose, either tape or a convenient "pinch point" so you don't have to go fishing for it later!

Getting The Broken Bits Of Barb Out

The outside hose was much more of a problem. Since it had already been broken off, there was no place to pull on to remove the leftover piece of broken barb stick in the hose. Finally, I figured out that by using a screw, sized a bit bigger than the inside diameter of the old barb I could use it to pull out the broken plastic. Once that was done, I pushed the smaller wiper feed hose onto the new stainless steel barbed fitting and it was sort of done. Sort of? Well the end of the hose was a bit stretched out from the removal of the old plastic barb so I had to heat it a bit to force it to regain it's shape. I didn't want to cut it shorter as there is really no slack in the hose.

New Stainless Barbed Fitting

Done!

The only thing left to do was testing for leaks. None were found! It's a miracle! I'll get around to doing the other side later on. This way everything will match. It's nice to have two working washer nozzles again. Now I just have to get the wiper arms to clear where I want them to. Hmmm...Sounds like another article. Stay Tuned!

Be Seeing You...Down The Road,

Rich "The Wanderman"

www.thewanderman.com