Replacing a B&W Camera on a Motorhome

REPLACING A B&W CAMERA ON A MOTORHOME

RVS 770613 Backup Camera (with flush display kit) mounted on a 35’ 2003 Winnebago Class A motorhome.

Everyone who elects customer installation will likely have a different story. I bought the 770613 package and then discovered that the monitor installation that was included was not satisfactory for me. A call to Rear View Safety provided me with an inexpensive upgrade that worked very well.

My motorhome had been equipped with a black and white CRT camera system that really failed to meet my needs. In one instance, the deep shadow behind my motorhome completely blocked view of the bright yellow VW I was towing and I actually thought I had lost the car. At other times it became cantankerous about allowing me to use it in reverse gear but worked fine in all other gear positions. Finally, the image was b&w, coarse and grainy. It had to go.

The RVS systems are priced well below most other systems offered anywhere. I ordered the 770613 system and was delighted to receive it in short order. I removed the old camera and tied a string onto its connecting cable and fed it back through the hole and allowed it to drop all the way to the ground. I used the same string to bring the new cable up to and through the hole. This was all very simple because there is a hollow fiberglass shell on the rear of the motorhome to streamline the contours of the machine and there is a gap of as much as ten inches between the shell and the rest of the coach. I changed out the camera mount, installed the camera, hooked up the cable and it was done. For my installation, mounting the camera was a snap.

With and without the original shroud. Routing the cable up to the front was also not much of a challenge except that I left the work world behind about twenty years ago and dragging myself around under the motorhome was hard on my creaky body and it was dirty, as well. No matter, I carefully avoided securing my wiring to the older camera wiring because I planned to remove that cable when the project was complete. I was able to bring the end of the cable into the cab, up through the same entrance originally used. Pictures I took of the wiring are not of interest although it was substantially better than the original (which appeared to have been an add-on.)

Then came the monitor installation. I was changing a 7” monitor for a 7” monitor and the dashboard real estate was almost identical if nothing else was. The original CRT unit was huge, heavy and snapped into the instrument panel in a fashion that had me about ready to use a hammer to remove it. The hole it left behind was fearsome. Here is where I was going to install the new RVS monitor. There were steel brackets on each side and I figured I would use them to support my installation, however it turned out. My solution was to build a ¼ inch box to fit inside the hole to support the new monitor. I wanted the front of it to slant back in order to give the monitor a slightly better angle for me to see. The picture on the left shows the monitor setting in the box before any tailoring or fitting occurred.

The multiplexer tucked in right behind the monitor on the bottom of the box. Note that two layers of duct tape on the front improved the fit and removed a raw edge. I constructed a cradle from a thin aluminum strap from the hardware store in order to support the other end of the box. After a trial and error phase, it bolted securely to the frame inside the big hole, neatly using up the ½” difference between the box and the frame. I did have to grind the top off the bolts.

The box finally had to have an extra strip of plywood to support the front edge and to ensure that it would stay inside the hole. The box was never fastened to the motorhome. A third layer of duct tape ensured the snug fit I wanted so that the monitor would not fall out, either. It can be removed from the wooden box with some effort, and the box can be removed from the instrument panel, also with some effort.

Here is the finished installation, up and operating in what appears to be high definition color video. It really is if you compare it to what was there before. I am very happy with the result and with the equipment. I was doubly pleased that the on-off button allowed me to turn on the camera manually while it automatically came on in reverse. I had imagined that I might have to install a switch for that.

But there are a few complaints. The manual is substantially less than satisfactory (you can read it on the website) and I largely had to wing it on how to hook up the components. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out but the manual is confusing, contradictory and is missing parts of text in several places. It is obviously not created by someone with a mastery of the American English language. The manual does not address mounting the monitor at all - either the standard version or the flush mount monitor that I acquired. It is up to you to figure it out from scratch and monitor mounting just isn’t all that easy or straightforward.

The monitor will allow you to switch the image from normal view to mirror image and also inverts from top to bottom. That would work a lot better if the menu items didn’t also switch the same way when you use this feature. It is possible to wind up with the menu upside down and in mirror image. I learned that little flaw because I mounted the unmarked camera upside down initially and had to use the REV button to get a correct image, which included inverted menu items. I learned that the camera has a logo that goes on the top when properly mounted. I recommend testing the system to see how yours works out before you install the camera.

Not a flaw, but definitely worth noting is that assembling the camera, its mount and the sunshade must be done after the mount is installed on the vehicle. When that is nearly twelve feet up, those tiny little hex screws are maddeningly difficult to manage while hanging onto the ladder, your balance and your temper at the same time.

All that said, I found the people at Rear View Safety to be willing to work with me on whatever problems I had and I think the system is a bargain and a good buy. I am glad I undertook to do it myself because I doubt I would have been pleased with someone else’s ideas on how to install the monitor.

‘ROLLNRV’ in Arizona