Rear view Camera

[Mr Grumpy]

Well adjusted mirrors have worked for me for over 50 years of towing.
When it comes to reversing my lovely wife grabs a small pmr446 radio to guide me back in

 

[trevormonty]

When it comes to reversing my lovely wife grabs a small pmr446 radio to guide me back in

For lot couples that could result in divorce.

 

[Hutch]

Where ever I pitch the caravan , it's in the wrong place according to SWMBO.

 

[RogerL]

Well adjusted mirrors have worked for me for over 50 years of towing.
When it comes to reversing my lovely wife grabs a small pmr446 radio to guide me back in

If I did that I'd have to get out to show my wife how to use the radio! She is wonderful at plenty of other things though.

 

[Hutch]

We have small radios and use them whilst levelling the van, saves the shouting and walking back and forwards. To the Mrs..

 

[Mel]

I use hand signals when OH is reversing. He seems to think that they are the wrong ones.
Mel

 

[trevormonty]

We have small radios and use them whilst levelling the van, saves the shouting and walking back and forwards. To the Mrs..

Motor Movers a great at this and save marriages.

 

[Buckman]

We have small radios and use them whilst levelling the van, saves the shouting and walking back and forwards. To the Mrs..

We refer to listen to Greatest Hits. Much more pleasant to listen to while using the MM.

 

[trevormonty]

Just fitted this camera. To 4.2 M car and 6m caravan.

Nextech Digital Wireless Reversing Rear View Camera Kit Witch Lcd 5 Inches | eBay

The 5" colour screen simply plugs into a cigarette lighter socket and mounts to your car's dash or windscreen using the suction cup bracket. Other features include infrared illumination to improve visibility in the dark, reversing guidelines, and 12-24VDC operation, making it also suitable for...

www.ebay.co.uk

Not road tested yet but quality seems good from my backyard tests. I've velcro camera to rear window blind handle, so inside. Power from readingl light circuit.
Monitor mount is suction cup to inside of windscreen. Easy to unclip from mount so don't need to remove mount from windscreen.

I did quick check of reception range by powering off gel cell. Hooked car up to caravan and placed camera transmitter in exact location I was going to mount it.

While it should be useful for reversing more important use is to see how many cars I'm holding up.

Done a couple trips now with this camera. Main issue is reception on move is patchy. One minute have 4 bars, then none. When travelling does show rear most of time but only updates picture every for seconds, good enough to see if we have someone following. Reception when reversing seems OK and that is when need good real time video. Picture quality is good.
Because of reception issues wouldn't recommend as towing camera and this probably case with most reversing cameras that aren't really designed for towing.

 

[AndrewAventura]

I hired a Ford Transit van at the weekend, with towbar, and found it made a very capable towing vehicle - as you'd expect really.

My point is that the van was fitted with an electronic rear view mirror, image taken from a camera at the back and projected from a conventional style rear view mirror in the cab. Strange to experience an internal rear view mirror in a van (Obviously, when towing, all I saw was the front of my caravan!). But I really disliked the experience driving solo, since it seemed like every time I glanced at it my eyes needed to focus on the image. Not at all like when glancing at a conventional rear view mirror. I don't get that sensation when glancing at the LCD displays like navigation map and so on, so why did it feel so unnatural glancing at the electronic mirror? Since it meant re-focussing when returning to looking ahead and a fraction of a second loss of vision, it made me avoid looking at the rear mirror unless there was a conscious reason to, whereas when driving normally I'm frequently using it to check what's going on behind me.

I figure that we'll find more cars coming with electronic mirrors, already one or two with electronic wing mirrors and on their way will be electronic rear view mirrors. Has anyone else experienced or felt the same? Maybe with the setups described in this thread the screen is not in the near field of view like the internal mirror is?

PS Please don't tell me I need an eye test!!

 

[Buckman]

Our car also has the facility to switch on the reverse camera while driving forward, but as you say all you can see is the front of the caravan when towing.

 

[otherclive]

I hired a Ford Transit van at the weekend, with towbar, and found it made a very capable towing vehicle - as you'd expect really.

My point is that the van was fitted with an electronic rear view mirror, image taken from a camera at the back and projected from a conventional style rear view mirror in the cab. Strange to experience an internal rear view mirror in a van (Obviously, when towing, all I saw was the front of my caravan!). But I really disliked the experience driving solo, since it seemed like every time I glanced at it my eyes needed to focus on the image. Not at all like when glancing at a conventional rear view mirror. I don't get that sensation when glancing at the LCD displays like navigation map and so on, so why did it feel so unnatural glancing at the electronic mirror? Since it meant re-focussing when returning to looking ahead and a fraction of a second loss of vision, it made me avoid looking at the rear mirror unless there was a conscious reason to, whereas when driving normally I'm frequently using it to check what's going on behind me.

I figure that we'll find more cars coming with electronic mirrors, already one or two with electronic wing mirrors and on their way will be electronic rear view mirrors. Has anyone else experienced or felt the same? Maybe with the setups described in this thread the screen is not in the near field of view like the internal mirror is?

PS Please don't tell me I need an eye test!!

Not a very useful gadget as courier man never looks in any mirror 😱

 

[Mr Plodd]

I have a wireless rear view camera on the back of my caravan. Monitor is clipped over the rear view mirror in the car.
I haven't experienced the issue yiu appear to have had, it's just like looking in a "normal" mirror, but it never looks to be "out of focus"
I did have a couple of slight panics initially, looked in my rear view "mirror" and NO caravan visible

 

[Steve1962]

I use hand signals when OH is reversing. He seems to think that they are the wrong ones.
Mel

Photos please..... so we can be properly informed of course...