L19MUD Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 As you may have seen on another thread I have made a demountable luton body to go on one of my trailers. Tonight when i was working out the best way of wiring up the top rear marker lights I wondered what solutions there are for wireless reversing cameras that i could mount up there given i would have a 12v power supply when the side lights are on. The body is 7feet wide and 7 feet high , ending around 25 feet behind the driver so visibility is not great I have googled but not found what I want. Ideally i want something that connects to my android phone via bluetooth or wifi, both of which I think are possible, however i want it to be an Android Auto supported app so that it will appear on the Android head unit on my dash. Information on that seems sparse and I don't want to buy something that won't work. Has anyone done anything similar? The other option appears to be plugging a receiver into the spare video input on the head unit with a corresponding camera and transmitter. This seems like a less elegant solution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arjan Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Garmin has a wireless camera fot their various SatNavs. Looks at some wireless CCTV camera's - quite a few work on 12 volt and have a WiFi option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Lots of recent motorhomes have reverse or rear view camera system mounted at rear end of roof, there are loads on ebay to look/choose from. some examples ------------ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150-WiFi-Wireless-Car-Rear-View-Cam-Backup-Reverse-Camera-For-IPhone-Android/184626107152?hash=item2afc92d310:g:nV0AAOSw7ahgBSJz https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175-HD-WiFi-Wireless-Car-Rear-View-Camera-Backup-Cam-Reverse-For-ISO-Android/353354555424?hash=item524592a020:g:6m8AAOSwN7hgAUvV https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-Wifi-Radio-Car-Rear-View-Camera-For-Android-iPhone-Wireless/284148266250?hash=item42288e750a:g:OoMAAOSwmtVgAPvD https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-Wifi-Radio-Car-Rear-View-Camera-For-Android-iPhone-Wireless/284148266250?hash=item42288e750a:g:OoMAAOSwmtVgAPvD https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WiFi-Wireless-Car-Truck-RV-Trailer-Rear-View-Backup-Camera-CCTV-For-iOS-Android/324451604619?hash=item4b8ad2988b:g:bNgAAOSwWNBfXzJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L19MUD Posted January 18, 2021 Author Share Posted January 18, 2021 The issue is I want it to work with Android auto. There is so much choice I cant see the wood for the trees! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I feel your pain. I've looked into it in the past, and all you can find are either only compatibly with ****ty Chinese apps, or analog video with a wire... It can't be that hard to find a 12V BT/wifi IP camera, right? The Chinese ones are just slightly too expensive to buy one and see if I can make it work without the app... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I bought a cheap clone of a Go Pro some while back. That takes some fair quality video, but my reason for buying it was to use as a wireless (it uses Bluetooth and is battery powered) reversing camera. The plan was to use it with my Android phone, but as has been noted above, the apps for Android are rather too flaky to work without a load of faffing about. There seem to be a plethora of WiFi cams (still need a power supply) on evilbay that work with their dedicated screen. IMO the ones that hook over your rear view mirror seem like the best plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 6 minutes ago, mickeyw said: I bought a cheap clone of a Go Pro some while back. That takes some fair quality video, but my reason for buying it was to use as a wireless (it uses Bluetooth and is battery powered) reversing camera. The plan was to use it with my Android phone, but as has been noted above, the apps for Android are rather too flaky to work without a load of faffing about. There seem to be a plethora of WiFi cams (still need a power supply) on evilbay that work with their dedicated screen. IMO the ones that hook over your rear view mirror seem like the best plan. My problem with that is I already have one or two screens in the car - why would I want yet another one? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 2 minutes ago, elbekko said: My problem with that is I already have one or two screens in the car - why would I want yet another one? The big glass one in front of me plus my phone makes 2 😉. Having one to replace the RV mirror seems less intrusive that something else stuck on the dash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Have a look here https://www.trailervision.co.uk/downloads My rear view/ reverse cameras are wired ones with a mirror/ screen that replaced the normal rear view mirror. https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/78855-reversing-camera-kit/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L19MUD Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 Thanks. All of the above highlights the issue perfectly! I have a big 9 inch Pioneer touchscreen that is connected to a reversing camera on my 90, what I am looking to do here is connect up another camera just when I have the trailer on with the luton body attached. It won't be used that often and I certainly don't want another screen. I know I can do it with a video transmitter/receiver directly into the spare video input on the head unit but I wanted to avoid that really, having to take the dash apart again, get some power to it etc etc. It feels like it should not be that hard! I was wondering if my screen can be set up to easily mirror my phone, this would mean anything that works with the phone could be on that screen. The advantage of looking into this means I could display OS maps on there whilst laneing (with the OH controlling it from the phone). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 3 hours ago, L19MUD said: I know I can do it with a video transmitter/receiver directly into the spare video input on the head unit but I wanted to avoid that really, having to take the dash apart again, get some power to it etc etc. It feels like it should not be that hard! I was wondering if my screen can be set up to easily mirror my phone, this would mean anything that works with the phone could be on that screen. The advantage of looking into this means I could display OS maps on there whilst laneing (with the OH controlling it from the phone). Mirroring the screen could maybe be done with Mirrorlink or similar? Then you're not dependent on Android Auto. Maybe in your case it would be easier to just send the analog video signal through the trailer plug (in case of a 13-pin with some spare pins) and plug it directly into the aux video port? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L19MUD Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 2 minutes ago, elbekko said: Mirroring the screen could maybe be done with Mirrorlink or similar? Then you're not dependent on Android Auto. Maybe in your case it would be easier to just send the analog video signal through the trailer plug (in case of a 13-pin with some spare pins) and plug it directly into the aux video port? I think I am going to see if I can mirror with an app like that first as this also solves the OS map issue Irritatingly the trailer has a 13 pin plug but only sufficient wires to run the lights as I was hoping the extra power cables were there that I could pick up to power a light in the demount body. Short of replacing the main wire to the plug and rewiring to the junction box I don't have any extra wires to play with, otherwise that is a good idea! As it is I was planning on pinching 12v for the interior light/camera from the side light feeds which would need to be on to get things to work. not a huge deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 I recently bought a Gamin Mini dashcam, hoping I could just stick that to the rear window and use the app (as well as use it for general dashcam duties normally). But sadly it's impossible to see the towball through the sloped rear window, and I don't want to have to put it on the outside when it rains... So time for another project that'll get 99% finished before I get bored with it and never finish it: Raspberry Pi Zero W with a ZeroCam attached. Hopefully I can get it to spawn a wifi hotspot with an IP camera endpoint. Then probably graft it somwhere in the license plate light on my P38's tailgate. Sounds simple enough, we'll see if it works (and how good the quality is). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L19MUD Posted March 5, 2021 Author Share Posted March 5, 2021 13 minutes ago, elbekko said: I recently bought a Gamin Mini dashcam, hoping I could just stick that to the rear window and use the app (as well as use it for general dashcam duties normally). But sadly it's impossible to see the towball through the sloped rear window, and I don't want to have to put it on the outside when it rains... So time for another project that'll get 99% finished before I get bored with it and never finish it: Raspberry Pi Zero W with a ZeroCam attached. Hopefully I can get it to spawn a wifi hotspot with an IP camera endpoint. Then probably graft it somwhere in the license plate light on my P38's tailgate. Sounds simple enough, we'll see if it works (and how good the quality is). The camera on the 90 is positioned so that hitching trailers is it's main job, it is not really in the right place or the right angle for reversing. Makes life so much easier though as you can get the ball perfectly under the hitch first time every time to the surprise of people watching who can't see the camera Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 45 minutes ago, L19MUD said: The camera on the 90 is positioned so that hitching trailers is it's main job, it is not really in the right place or the right angle for reversing. Makes life so much easier though as you can get the ball perfectly under the hitch first time every time to the surprise of people watching who can't see the camera Exactly why I want it. For reversing I have mirrors. For hitching a trailer by myself and maybe parking really close to another vehicle/low feature (things tend to disappear behind a P38). Yes, I can do it without a camera, but it's a lot more hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreePointFive Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 On 3/5/2021 at 10:45 AM, elbekko said: I recently bought a Gamin Mini dashcam, hoping I could just stick that to the rear window and use the app (as well as use it for general dashcam duties normally). But sadly it's impossible to see the towball through the sloped rear window, and I don't want to have to put it on the outside when it rains... I'm just looking at the Garmin camera now, not cheap at £100 but looks to be smaller and higher quality than a lot of offerings. How would you find it using one as a general (non-hitching) reversing camera? I am unsure how geared up for live viewing it is. At least with a company like Garmin, the Chinese state doesn't get to watch whatever I do with my vehicle or on my phone by downloading some unknown app for a suspiciously cheap camera off ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbocharger Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 I bought a suspiciously cheap WiFi camera off eBay, and it works "some of" the time, but I wouldn't buy again. Raspberry Pi isn't an easy answer for live video either, it seems. My camera is a £30 WiFi eBay job, pair your phone to its network and then the Chingrish app shows a picture, unless it's in a bad mood and then it shows 'connecting' regardless of the number of restarts. Even when you're out and about, connecting to its WiFi obviously doesn't have a data connection, so no email or surfing etc. At home it won't preferentially swap to the camera network when it sees it, so no use for reversing onto the driveway. Most unforgivably, there's sometimes a lag in the video stream, so what *was* a gap to the trailer/wall/other car is suddenly a dull thud. I think Pi is the answer here if you just want to use your phone, but the data connection/WiFi issue isn't trivial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 2 hours ago, ThreePointFive said: I'm just looking at the Garmin camera now, not cheap at £100 but looks to be smaller and higher quality than a lot of offerings. How would you find it using one as a general (non-hitching) reversing camera? I am unsure how geared up for live viewing it is. At least with a company like Garmin, the Chinese state doesn't get to watch whatever I do with my vehicle or on my phone by downloading some unknown app for a suspiciously cheap camera off ebay. It's ok, but it takes a minute to connect via the app. So wouldn't want to use it every day, only when you need it. 1 hour ago, Turbocharger said: My camera is a £30 WiFi eBay job, pair your phone to its network and then the Chingrish app shows a picture, unless it's in a bad mood and then it shows 'connecting' regardless of the number of restarts I figured it would be pretty crappy. App privacy/malware issues notwithstanding. It would be interesting to see what kind of interface the app connects to, if it's proprietary or just an MJPEG/H264 stream that you can connect to via another app. I'm guessing the latter. 1 hour ago, Turbocharger said: I think Pi is the answer here if you just want to use your phone, but the data connection/WiFi issue isn't trivial. You'll lose your data connection for a bit, yes. I don't plan on connecting to it constantly, so that's probably fine. Not sure how hard it would be to have the Pi streaming the video over bluetooth, might make consuming the stream harder. I've experimented a bit with my setup now. It has about 1s delay, which is indeed annoying (but at least consistent). Not sure how much of that is due to it being a Pi Zero, and how much could be improved by disabling OS features (currently running full Raspbian with UI turned off). I'll keep messing with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoSS Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 Bluetooth no, does not have the bandwidth for video. Wifi is your best bet. Plenty of Wifi security cameras out there, less so small ones. I have a couple of bullet wired cameras, one for reversing and one underneath as a 'rock cam' for offroad. One useful feature is that the reverse camera is reversed video on the X axis, makes it easy as it looks like a rear view mirror we are used to. A wired camera may tolerate being run through spare pins on the trailer socket, you lose the screen only in the plug/skt area. Or just put another small connector alongside the towing socket. Why go for a troublesome solution, when simple ones are available.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zardos Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 Yes Raspberry Pi and streaming video is not easy to get decent quality (or was in the past when I looked at it). But an HDMI based Touch Screen monitor start around £40 for a 5 Inch , so you could just run an HDMI and USB cable from the Raspberry Pi Zero with camera in the rear to the screen at the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 20 hours ago, HoSS said: Why go for a troublesome solution, when simple ones are available.... Because I'm a difficult person. And I don't want an extra screen in the car. I've looked around, and Wi-Fi direct may be an option. Will have to fiddle around with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.