Reversing camera on caravans
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I have a digital wireless system. I find it really helpful to see what's behind me on the motorway and when reversing into a pitch.
Bluetooth systems are very prone to interference so I hope that swift are installing more expensive systems.
There are a number of threads on this topic on this and other forum and a couple of websites selling dedicated system. Use Google to find.
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I doubt it will be bluetooth, most of the ones I've seen use a 'secure' wifi protocol.
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I always put my GoPro in the back window and WiFi it to my phone in the car.
Good for motorway driving to check you are past before pulling in and for watching how far back you are when reversing onto the pitch in the rain, when SWMBO refuses to get out of the car!
(though as I have said before, I believe doing what I do on the motorway is technically illegal, as you are only allowed to use cameras when manoeuvring, not driving).
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Previous threads have got responses from traffic police officers stating that it is not illegal to see the view behind you in a rear view camera/screen combination whilst travelling.
If you think about it you are only seeing what you would see in your review view mirror, if you could, and what you are seeing in your wing mirrors.
It is illegal to watch a TV/DVD showing a programme whilst driving.
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Swift now fit a wireless system.
Details about it are on their downloads for the 2017 range. I'm going digital wireless with my next caravan, last one was a wired system , which does give a slightly better picture.
I have bench tested the same camera and compared wired to wireless.
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Many thanks for the replies. I am not intending to use the camera whilst driving as my tow car is wide and visibility enough to see overtaking traffic. However as I sometimes caravan solo it might be useful to check for obstructions when reversing onto a pitch.
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Just fitted a rear view camera to the caravan with wireless link into the Transit and it really fills in the area just behind the van where a car can get "in your baffles". Should be very useful on those odd occasions where I need to overtake to make fully sure I'm not about to overtaken (especially in France where overtakes tend to be a last minute move).
Camera is mounted on the decor panel of the Valencia (no holes in the van) cable then clipped underneath and brought up next to the electrical box. Wired into fridge circuit so only on when engine running. Easy job and well worth doing.
The Transit Custom mirrors + the towing mirrors are good but this finishes the job.
Additionally my insurer is offer a few percent discount when I renew.
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Sounds better than mine. The new 2017 Swift Elegance range have their cameras mounted high on the rear panel at a point where there is a downwards curve resulting in the camera pointing towards the ground. As I was buying a late 2016 model my dealer fitted a non Swift model. It just shows the ground to the rear of the caravan so might help when reversing onto a pitch. It does not show any approaching traffic. Whilst the Swift version might have a wider angle and be able to see a little more area I doubt it will see much distance along the road. Certainly my set up is pretty pointless but I would be interested to hear from 2017 Elegance owners as to how they find theirs.
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We have one on order Tirril pick it up next Thursday staying at dealers for two nights to check things out.Dont know much about it although i thought it was a rear view camera it has a built in sat nav as well wondered if it recorded video. Does that mean that i will be able to hold the screen in my hand and use the M/Mover to reverse onto the pitch
.Will try to inform you later.Steve
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Download the 2017 manual and search for camera.
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I am interested to hear how you get on Steve. I wonder if you are buying from Bardsea Leisure as you mention staying at the dealers for 2 nights which is something they offer and is very useful. I bought mine from them and they thought from the steep downward angle of the camera it was intended just to show the ground at the rear of the caravan to assist reversing onto the pitch.
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The system I fitted does have dual cameras (originally bought for a motorhome and not fitted) and all the cables are there but at the moment only using one. The transmitter and receiver are just a drawbars length away with the receiver located behind the door pillar of the rear doors. Used it to reverse onto the drive the other day and once the garage door fills the screen its time to stop.
Bottom line, a very useful addition to the backwards view.
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Hi Tirril will keep you informed,no it's not Bardsea,it's Lowdhams (Nottingham).
Steve
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we have had reversing cameras on all four of our MHs. they can be left on and used as a rear view mirror. we have great visivility via our coach style mirrors but the camera is particularly useful when guaging when safe to pull in after passing slower moving traffic.....like lorries and other towing vehicles
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Hi Tirril update on rearview camera, as you thought better for reversing than rearview unless someone is right up your rear end.A little bit on the dark side as well,I suppose i could always tow with the front end down
.Glad to say that the rest of the van was perfect first Swift we have had,had Bailey Abbey Lunar and Elddis. Lowdhams(Nottingham) treated us with a lot of respect and if i could mention a salesman Richard Walsh for special attention thank you.Steve
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Thanks Steve for the confirmation regarding the restricted vision from the Swift rear view camera. I guess it is to be expected given that it is mounted so high up and on a downward facing curve in the rear panel. It does provide some assistance when reversing onto a pitch where you cannot see the peg although I am still gauging the scale of the distance the camera is displaying.
Glad to hear you are enjoying the new Swift
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Hi I purchase a 2017 Sterling Contintal 645 with a reversing camera fitted as standard.well don’t bother it’s totally useless, now 12 months later still not working,constantly drops signal or freeze frames.
Swift, the supplying dealer and Sergents cannot fix , back with dealer three times, once for two weeks came back just the same.
The whole episode has been a nightmare, Swift Dealer has no training or idea, plus support with Sargents good when you get through.but even Sergent dont know how to fix.
My Caravan has the option of cycle rack which I had fitted, on the odd occasion the camera worked, it gave a distorted picture, you can only see the bike rack. So a waste of money and now dropped on 2018 models.
This experience has show how the Caravan industry is so fare behind in customer service, like the motor trade 25 years ago.
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The low wages paid to caravan fitters will not draw the same standard of fitters that work on cars, who are paid higher.
Having had a rearview and reversing camera for the last 7 years i had already foreseen a possible problem with the reversing camera picking up the rack or bikes, which i also have. So I've fitted mine under the rack.
My system is very simular to swifts in that i use a wireless bridge so no connection wires required between the car and caravan. I've found the system to be excellent and can honestly say its just as good as the wired system i had, its been in use now 9 months.
So i see no reason why your system shouldn't work, i realise that there seem to be a lot of unhappy swift owners with the standard fit camera, so can only assume swift have fitted a cheap system.
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Hi, I want to install a wireless rear view camera on my Sterling Elite 480 and am currently awaiting delivery of a Thule bike carrier. I would be interested to know what product you bought and was it straightforward to install. I take it from your user name that you also tow with an Xtrail?
Regards
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I have just picked up a 2018 Swift Elegance 650 from 'Bardsea Leisure'. I can confirm that the Rear View Camera transmits its images via a secure Wi-Fi link to the monitor unit in the car (not Bluetooth). The unit comes in an anonymous box with no manufactures details but is labelled merely 'GPS'. It looks very much like a cheap and cheerful import from the far east typically available from e-Bay. The monitor unit also has a Satnav capability as well as other Apps but for it's intended primary use it is absolutely rubbish! Even the monitor mounting attachment would not stick to any internal flat surface and kept falling off even without the weight of the display. The received image is very poor quality. It is difficult to say even if it is supposed to be colour or black and white since it looks uniformly grey and ill-defined. That's not really surprising given that most of time it will only be showing you gravel or grass as the downward-looking camera only projects an image of the ground about 4 feet behind the van. The unit powers-up from the same circuit that the car uses to supply the caravan fridge and leisure battery charging so if you don't have this capability then it won't power up at all. I tried to pair my Samsung Note 8 phone in the hope that the image would be clearer but so far even though I can 'See' the named transmitter it stubbornly refused to connect. Once I get a bit of spare time I will investigate if it would be possible to replace the camera with a higher quality one and orientate it so that it gives a more useful field of view. In summary I think the best that can be said is that it is a poorly implemented feature which is more of a marketing ploy that a useful caravanning aid.
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Rear View Camera - A year on.
Just changed the caravan and have up graded to a fully wired rear view camera (parkingcameras.com).
So a year what are the advantages?
A view of those tucked in behind.
Overtaking much easier - you can see those approaching fast behind even if you can not see them in the mirrors.
If you can see the vehicle you have just overtaken in the monitor you are clear.
Combined with towing mirrors a great aid to safety.
Reversing all a bit easier.
General - a must have accessory.
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ChemicalJasper - I don't think what you're doing is illegal. Firstly laws applying to the use of phones apply to all roads and don't differ for motorways. How you're using your phone is actually hands free which is legal. As far as cameras go, yes it's illegal to watch a camera while driving, as in watching a film. But again you're using it to what is equivalent to a dash cam. Its no different, apart from the fact the images are from the rear not ahead.
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On my current caravan, I have a camera mounted just above number plate, this is powered by sidelight feed, (need lights on for it to work), gives full view behind van while towing and reversing, it is bluetoothed to receiver in rear light cluster of towing vehicle (Isuzu D-Max) which is connected to my rear view camera screen at bottom right of dashboard.
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Well, one year on and I've decided to give up on the built-in rearview camera. Swift should be ashamed of this product, I have decided to purchase a battery operated wi-fi rearview camera, attaches to the van via a steel plate glued to the van and a magnet in the base of the camera. Switch on before your journey and the battery will last for up to 8hrs to be on the safe side I have it tied to the plate with a cable tie. I did have it going to the original Swift tablet but I've tried it with a 7in Nexus tablet placed in the lefthand corner of the windscreen and it's a better picture. Good job the van is still O.K. but why do they use equipment that isn't up to scratch. It's like the Elddis whip aerial that didn't work properly either.
Steve
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Just fitted a WiFi rear view camera setup from reversing cameras.com, I went for the number plate camera and the clip over the rear view mirror monitor and I must say I am impressed with picture quality. I also chose an extension cable so that I could position the sender unit at the front of the caravan thereby giving a stronger signal for the receiver unit in the car to latch on to......fingers crossed. Off to Cornwall in a couple of weeks so will road test the setup then, again fingers crossed.
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Steve, I'm thinking of getting the battery operated camera from Amazon (£149). This is the only battery operated one I've ever seen so we're not exactly spoilt for choice are we? Just wondering what height you are mounting on back of caravan. My first thoughts were to keep it fairly high to avoid attention but then there's the obvious difficulty of switching on and off etc.
Cheers
Adrian
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I have a Garmin Camper 7” Sat Nav. I purchased the Garmin wireless camera at the same time. Our caravan is an 2016 Elddis Crusader Super Sirocco with a rear cycle rack fitted. Although the bikes are securely fitted it was always on my mind as to whether they were secure on the move so I fitted the camera below the number plate just popping out under the caravan. I didn’t want it just working off reverse but the ability to just touch the camera icon on the Sat Nav to view occasionally. I did ask the dealers to fit me a 12v cable directly off the battery to a 12v socket in the front side box, somehow or other they got it all wrong and just wired it into the normal caravan 12v circuit which goes off when you plug the caravan to the car, so I ended up doing it myself! I also bought the Garmin extension cable for the camera then fed the cable all the way under the caravan through existing cable loops (bit fiddly especially between the two axles) and through an air vent into where the 12v supply was, the wireless sender unit is just clipped with wire to the front middle window handle. The 12v socket is just one of those cigarette lighter type female sockets then the feed to to camera and sender unit is wired into a male socket with a little red light on it. I just plug it in on the move to provide the power. I can just see the bottom level of the bike rack and the stretch cover and can use it for reversing too or just viewing what’s behind in slow traffic. The picture isn’t HD but it’s good enough for me.
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