Trailer Back Up Camera

[brianD]

So last fall took the family boatster to Table Rock Lake (incredible lake by the way). Launched the 27.5' behemoth of a tritoon, we like to call "2nd Honeymoon", and my wife pulled the trailer up the ramp to drop it at the 'trailer lot'.

In her defense, it was raining just a bit, and visibility down the length of a 30+ foot trailer is limited, even though we have the Smith uprights with lights at the back. To make a long story short, she backed it into a tree, and broke one of the little bitty plug in market lights on the back of the trailer.

Truth be told, she maneuvers that trailer like a pro most of the time. She backs me in, I unhook the bow, she give me a little 'run and bump' and we're off the ramp in like 12 seconds.

Anyway, she felt really bad about 'trashing the trailer' so I said, what if I could give you a backup camera. BOOM! The only Member of the Admiral's "Funds Appropriation Committee" voted, and the quest was on...

So I found a cheap LCD screen, and submersible camera from one of those Japanese sites to use as a prototype. Turns out the prototype was good enough quality to move to production. Little bitty camera (about 1" x 1" x 1" without bracket)with LED lights for night vision, and a decent 4.5" screen for the dash that plugs into the cigarette lighter.

Mounted the camera on the bottom of the rear cross member of the trailer, ran RG6 Quad coax up to the tongue through the frame, and then ran another piece of the same from the dash to the hitch. Then I mounted a couple of Coax screw terminators (one to the hitch, and one to the trailer), I have a replaceable one that ties the two together, and since it will do all the moving, can be replaced if it breaks.

then there was the issue of how the hell am I going to get power back there... Then it hit me. a 5 pole trailer plug has a lead tied into the backup light circuit. New 7pin round to 5 pin flat adapter, ran wire down through the frame, to the camera, and voila. Put it in reverse, and you can see just what the prop sees.

Whole thing was a little over $100.

If anyone is interested in Pics, I'll post them, but I thought it was a pretty slick installation to solve the problem of seeing behind a wall of aluminum or just a long ways behind you.

[lakerunner]

pic's

[curtiscapk]

Fantastic! Post them up! I have been thinking of trying the same thing!

[SeaBreeze]

I installed a similar backup camera on the back of my 24' Bayliner cruiser's trailer, otherwise I do not know how one would back it up in a lot without hitting something. BTW, the one I had was not waterproof, I removed it when not trailering and right before I backed into the water. I have backup camera's on all my vehicles now.

[brianD]

this one is IPX6 waterproof, and it's not in the water that long. I don't have to remember to remove it.

As requested here's some pics. Works really well.

Looks like I put them in ass-backwards order, but you are all smart and can see how it works.

[Bryden24shp]

Looks good! I bought a cheap "Peak" brand wireless B/U camera for the trailer. Works real good. I like to see what I can't see in the mirrors, when I'm towing long distance. And it makes it a lot easier when maneuvering around the fuel pumps and parking lots at the truck stops along the way, too. It also saved me a from buying a new TFD. I saw it blow out of the boat on the display. It didn't say if the camera was waterproof on the package, so I sealed around it with sillycone, just to make sure.

[tuned]

Beauty install!
I use one at my bow to see my power anchor. I can't stand running and not knowing that it is up and secure. It helps alot when bringing the anchor up as well. Handy little devices for a lot of miscellaneous uses I'm thinking

[brianD]

I initially tried to do the wireless thing. I have the TX and RX, but neither said they were waterproof, and it wouldn't reach from the back of the trailer to the dashboard, and I still would have had to run power, so not even so much wireless I don't have backup lights on my trailer so had to go front to back with power. If I already had those, it may have been easier.

When I'm fully hooked up, I'm 53 1/2 ' long from front bumper to prop, so that's quite a distance for those little Japanse 2.4Ghz transmitters. Maybe with a much better (read $$) TX/RX setup it would have worked better for me.

I found that using the heavy Coax (RG6Quad), while difficult to fish through the trailer rails, gave me a much better signal at the dash (i.e. no snow or cutting out)