Reversing Camera

[Kontiki]

I have a Waeco camera & monitor on my van, the picture is very poor quality & at night useless. I have bought a dual camera + monitor from the NEC, it was supplied with a cable & all fittings. I had a look today & I can't find where the cable run is through the van, at the back of the van it disappears into the side of a cupboard & I can't find where it goes to except for where it comes out at the other end of the van I've tried taking panels off where I think it should be but can't find it. There is plenty of spare cable at both ends & the new camera seems to use just standard phono & power connectors, I am thinking about just cutting the original waeco socket/plug off, tracing which wire is which & fitting new connectors.

Just wondering if anybody has done anything similar as it seems an easier job than feeding the cable all the way through the van. I think that the cable for the camera is fitted by Rapido when the van was manufactured so it might not even be possible to remove & replace.

 

[Rsykes103]

It's got to be worth a try, you can always resolder the ends to the original cable if unsuccessful can't you? I bought a dual camera system with mirror mounted monitor from the Nec yesterday and have spent all today striping my van out. If I had old wiring in place I'd be very tempted

 

[Kontiki]

Probably got it from the same stall (£155 for dual camera + monitor + cable) he seemed really busy. I opted for the other monitor as I might mount it on the dashboard, I tried it al out today to make sure it works, found that you can flip the image as well as reverse it so it isn't a mirror image. If I go with the original cabling if I can, the Waeco camera is mounted under the drop down bed so the easy option would be to fit it there.

 

[Rsykes103]

Yes that's the one I got, it looked like the deal of the day as others were selling the same cameras for 120 and screens for 80 with out the wiring. The only thing I was concerned about is that I thought there was a wire broken off where the 2 camera cables go in to one rubber section then in to one cable as I could see an orange wire/sheath not connected. After striping the outer cable back a bit it turns out its made like it. It's got extra wiring inside it that's not connected, phew. Good luck fitting yours

 

[Kontiki]

Spent most of the day seeing if I could fit the new cabling in place of the the old one, I removed panels, draws, covers etc but still no wiser where the cable goes it disappears somewhere behind the shower & comes out at the front in the engine bay, can only assume it was fitted when they were building the van.

I had a good chat with the guy selling them at the NEC when we bought it, he said take your time & plan where you want to run the cable, he told me it can sometimes take longer working out where to get the cable through than actually doing it. Decided to ignore what was there & have a look at it as if there wasn't already a camera fitted. I started in the middle & found that there was a gap just big enough in the double floor to get the cable past the water tank into the garage & from there it is simple to go around the edge of the garage up to the back locker. I will fit some small cable trunking to hold it under the floor & get the cable up to the front of the van. Decided to fit the monitor on the dashboard rather than the same place as the original one.

Problem now is trying to find a live feed from the ignition side (cab is a 2009 Fiat Ducato) anybody know a good place to connect it? I also plan to wire a switch in the line where I can have the camera coming on with the ignition, also have a permanent live feed to the switch in case I want to look outside without turning the ignition on & have the ability to turn it off altogether if I want.

 

[nickb]

I managed to run my cable underneath the van to the step in the ducato where the plastic step panel removes and there is an access hole which I then routed the cable up to to rear view mirror,

Nick

 

[Smaug]

Just a thought;
Does the old cable pull to & fro? if so, connect the new to the old & draw it thro the same route. Won't work if it is stapled down anywhere, but brilliant if they've run it thro a plastic pipe. I was lucky, I have a complete line of high level lockers from bow to stern, so fitting my cable was a doddle!

 

[janstevecairns]

I fitted mine by runing the cable down the rear mouldings then along the underside of the van in plastic corrugated tube. Once at the engine compartment I fed it through a rubber gromit on the engine rear bulkhead drivers side, this led to the rear of the instrument panel. From here it runs up the window pillar tucked into the plastic trim then across the top of the windscreen to the mirror, the LCD screen then fits over the rear view mirror. Theres plenty of oportunity to find a 12v supply behind the dash and also with dash mounted gear shift its easy to fit the wire to the reversing light switch, I also fitted an isolation switch on the dash.

 

[Kontiki]

Just a thought;
Does the old cable pull to & fro? if so, connect the new to the old & draw it thro the same route. Won't work if it is stapled down anywhere, but brilliant if they've run it thro a plastic pipe. I was lucky, I have a complete line of high level lockers from bow to stern, so fitting my cable was a doddle!

I wish, it's pretty much solid both ends where it disappears, if you can imagine it comes from the camera through the back across to the nearside. There is a cover on a shelf which goes to the shower compartment, from there it seems to go down behind the shower looking under the shower & surrounding area there are about 3 or 4 cables it could be. From the monitor fitted to the underside of the drop down bed the wire travels to the front offside then down to the engine bay then back inside somewhere Did I mention that the cable at the back is grey but the one at the front is black

Anyway I'm getting it sorted by going inside the double floor area & it's much less hassle, I will fit some cable trunking to the underside of the floor. Managed to sort the power from the dashboard, taking one live feed from the main cigarette lighter (this is live when the ignition is on) the other live feed is from some sockets powered from the hab. batteries. Tried to buy a small on-off-on rocker switch from Maplins but they didn't sell them anymore, luckily I found one I'd taken off something.

I wanted to wire it this way so I can have a look out the back without turning the ignition on as this would either disable the alarm or set it off.