Backup Camera v2.0?

[dpantazis]

hey guys-

under a hunch, i opened up the wireless backup camera from my other thread. here are some pics: thumbnails yield bigger pics.




some interesting things observed-

1. the camera board has the 12V+ and ground wires going to it, and there are 3 wires going from the camera board to what i think is the radio transmitter unit. i think its the radio transmitter because its the only thing that the antenna attaches to and the shielding in the connected to it.

so i am thinking that the yellow wire from the camera board is the video out signal.

so i am thinking that i will try hardwiring the camera to the monitor. so the next question i have is which way to wire it to an RCA connector?

2. the camera lens has an adjustable barrel on it. i think i can adjust the focus/field of view with it. aside from monkeying with it, anyone have a clue which way to turn it?

bush? jharvey? anyone?

dennis

 

[johnrrogers]

The wired cameras I have seen have the 12 volts + and the ground. The video signal is usually a yellow wire and another one will probably turn on the camera when shifting into reverse. The video conn is usually a RCA type connector. I would recommend scraping off some of the insulation on the wires, then use the camera and record the signals when in gear and then shifted into reverse. Good luck.

 

[kenholl]

I am in the video production business. You are correct about the yellow wire. YELLOW is the universal color of the video signal wire.

 

[bushpilot]

i know its not nearly as much FUN...but you could just buy
a new CAMERA/LENS...
back up cameras on eBay.com

 

[dpantazis]

news- SUCCESS!

if this experiment did not work, i would have gotten a new backup camera from ebay like bush linked. since the camera is already packaged in a weatherproof housing and has the IR LEDS i figured what do i have to loose?

i clipped off the wireless transmitter and gave myself as much wire to work with. i jumped the connection from the antenna shielding to the black wire which i assumed is ground. the center antenna wire to the yellow wire.

then i cannibalized a extra RCA terminated wire. i soldered the shielding to the shielding and the center wire together. (the center pin of the RCA is the signal, the shielding goes to the outer ring or the 4-petals).

then i used an adapter RCA-RCA to get it back into the OEM AUX-IN cable.
i used a 12V gell cell battery i pulled from a UPS to power everything.

here are some pictures- my picture taking is not very good-kinda hard to keep the camera still and hold the wired to the terminals to keep power supplied. the focus of the B/U camera is fine, I am out of focus on the image. I will try to take a new picture later. you can see lint and smudges on the LCD clearly. I'm no jharvey.



so now all i have to do is put it all back together and run a cable to the cab of the truck and hardwire the connections.

tips- be VERY careful with those little wires. they are fragile. with my ham-fistedness i broke the yellow off the board. it took me as long to resolder it as all the other work i did to it.

 

[bushpilot]

youre inspiring me NICE WORK btw !

I think when/if i do this I'll pull the display apart and
connect the wires such that that wont stick out the side jacks
when connected...should make for a little cleaner install and make
it possible to hide all the wires feeding the monitor.

 

[dpantazis]

one more thing-

messing with the lens on the camera did not good. i could not change the focal point. there is no need to mess with it. looking at the screen image, the cabinets are 4-5 feet away, the door is about 10' away.

i can not get any decent pictures of the display. they are all out of focus or will have scan lines running across the display? any tips on how to get a decent picture of the display?

dennis

 

[bushpilot]

i can not get any decent pictures of the display. they are all out of focus or will have scan lines running across the display? any tips on how to get a decent picture of the display?

dennis

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/digphotohks/chapter/hack89.pdf