RV Modifications Part 2- Rear view camera system

 Wednesday October 20, 2021

RV Modifications Part 2- Rear View camera system

Driving a class C RV is different than driving a normal passenger vehicle.  It is wider and longer than normal passenger vehicles, so it is of critical importance to be aware of what and who is around you, both on the road and around the campsite.  Most class C RV's are equipped with extended rear view mirrors attached to the forward pillars of the chassis cab.  These allow you to see beyond the "shoulders" of the RV that bulge out from the sides of the RV behind the chassis cab. These also have wide angle fun house mirrors to help you spot vehicles in your larger blind-spots.  But what most class C RV's don't have is a functioning rear-view mirror.  Of course, if you look at the chassis cab, there is a rear view mirror mounted on the windshield, but from the driver's seat, usually all you can see through this is the inside of the coach.  Knowing if there are vehicles immediately behind you, and what may be going on with items you have attached behind your RV (Bike racks, tow-behind vehicles or trailers) is extremely important for safety.

When I drove the RV initially, I kept looking into the rear view mirror out of habit, and every time I did so, I wondered why this couldn't be a true rear view.  So I hit the internet and it didn't take long to find several rear-view camera systems with  a display that either replaced or fit over the factory rear view mirror.  

Adding a rear view mirror system is a much more complicated modification than adding a tire pressure monitoring system.  Prior experiences with rear view monitor systems has shown many to be prone to radio interference and noise.  These can cause static or complete disconnection of the monitor from the camera unit, even with the newest systems on the market.  There are simply too many devices sharing the limited bandwidth of the radio frequency spectrum that these monitors use.  So I decided to use a system with a hardwired camera.  Since most of the rear view monitor systems on the market are designed for passenger vehicles, I had to find one that could accommodate a much longer camera to display unit cable, one at least 30' long, or one that could accommodate extension cables.  

Another factor to consider is we usually have something in our 2" hitch receiver- either a bicycle rack with bikes, or a cargo carrier, both of which can block the normal license plate mounting position.  We also wanted to minimize the need to tear things apart to run wiring or mount equipment.  A rear view camera simulating the actual view a rear view mirror would show would also require different mounting than the back up camera that is standard equipment with this RV.  The backup camera displays on the 7" multifunctional display for the Sprinter chassis entertainment system, but only turns on when the RV is placed in reverse, and the camera angle looks down at the area immediately behind the RV, rather than outward towards the rear at traffic nearby and in the distance.  For these reasons, I decided to create a flexible rear-view camera mounting system so that it could be mounted above the bike rack and at a height and angle optimized for visualizing surrounding traffic, rather than for parking maneuvers.  Since this monitor can be on the whole time the ignition is on, rather than only when the transmission is in reverse, it will be possible to have two different camera angles displayed when in reverse (rear view mirror mount and entertainment system displays).  

Since I wasn't 100% certain this would work for this application, I decided to start off with a cheap no-name 9.66" Starlight Night Vision Dash Cam display unit and rear view camera unit I found on Wish.com for under $100.  More reputable and undoubtedly better units are available for $200-400 elsewhere, but I figured I'd give this a try for a proof of concept experiment.  Now that I have had the system installed and working, I would recommend a better unit primarily because the lack of a touch screen and poor software quality, reliability and terrible user interface make the dash cam aspect of this particular unit unusable, but as a rear-view monitor, it works just fine.  

The Sprinter chassis rear view mirror is mounted below a module containing cameras for the Sprinter chassis lane departure detection camera and radar sensors for the frontal collision warning system, so the built in forward dash cam is largely obstructed.  I got around this by cutting the dash camera component out and mounting this on a fabricated metal bracket, but since the user interface for this unit is so poor and the dash cam recording software is so unreliable, I wouldn't waste your time worrying about this modification to the unit.  

The main issues in installing a true rear view monitor are providing power to the monitor at the rear view mirror position, and figuring out how to run the video and power cable to the camera unit on the rear of the RV.  

I ended up tapping power from the fusebox at the passenger footwell.  I ran this power around the base of the passenger seat and then up to the overhead console position behind the trim and fascia behind the passenger seat.  This proved simpler than blindly fishing wiring up the A-pillar, which is crowded with factory wiring harnesses and difficult to access without tearing out the entire headliner.  You do have to be careful to protect the power wire from chaffing from the tool box that lies over the fuse box and where the wire runs under the passenger floor mat.  

Running the video/power cable to the rear of the coach was more challenging.  I decided the most direct path would be to run the cable through the vertical fiberglas roof section where the View coach transitions from the cab-over bed section and the flat rear of the coach.  This requires removal of a few trim pieces and a ceiling panel forward of the air conditioner but access is actually pretty straight forward. An alternative would have been to run the wiring through the firewall at the front of the passenger foot well, and then down to the frame of the RV, and then back along the frame, and then back up to the back of the RV body.  This would have required at least 15' more cable run than going over the roof.  

Once through the vertical fiberglas roof section, I installed rigid plastic watertight conduit to run the cables through.  The conduit will provide ultimate protection against UV, rodents, tree branches and debris on the roadway.  I also used the same watertight rigid plastic conduit to run the license plate wiring up from the bottom to the middle of the RV where the license plate can be seen when bicycles are mounted on the bike rack.  

I was able to purchase a 10M extension video/power cable, and when this was added to the native video/power cable, it was just barely sufficient to reach the middle of the rear of the RV.  

When I first installed the system, it was interesting to play around with the dash cam, which could display the front camera and rear camera in various split displays or full width displays, but I soon ran into troubles with the dash cam running out of memory despite a 64GB microSD memory card, failure to format the microSD card, and inability to read any of the recorded files on any computers- all due to terrible software.  

And the user interface was practically unusable.  It required so much effort to try to figure out how to get it into the required mode, or to constantly reformat the memory card while driving, that I ended up pulling the memory card out to disable the dash cam recording functions, and left it simply on full screen rear view mode all the time.  

So in the end, I do have an intuitive rear view mirror display that works well to keep me aware of traffic behind me while driving.  All the other bells and whistles (dash cam functions) ended up being useless garbage due to terrible software, but for the price paid, I got what I needed and not one bit more.