Dash cam as backup camera

laknox

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Haven't yet bought a dash cam for my car/truck but got to thinking about putting wiring in my fifth wheel for a rear-view dash cam instead of the usual "backup cam". Anyone here done this?

Lyle
 
you dont have distance or guide lines on rear dashcams, and the footage are not mirrored to suit so you will have to adjust to that too.
+ Dashcams while also wide angle the lens are aimed more strait out the back where as a reversing camera are aimed down a bit more to not have a blind spot behind the car.
Reversing cameras are also often mounted very low on cars, or on vans up high but aimed down.
Also. Depending on what type of car you have can get you issues, a sedan for instance, even with the rear camera high on the rear window, the boot will still create a blind spot behind the car where a child could be sitting.

It is 2 different beasts, and you are better off taking them on at their own turf one at the time.

I think a few of the mirror style dashcams do have the stuff needed on their rear cameras, but these are mostly frowned upon and something that see very little mention on this forum.
 
Yep- best to use the proper device for each job. Besides, with dashcams the rear cam cable will be too short and they cannot be extended due to data loss and data corruption. Get a wireless backing cam, and for driving protection put a dashcam on the back of the trailer powered by the trailer battery or an added 12V line from the tow vehicle.

Phil
 
I'm not so worried about a true backup cam, in fact, most RVs with "backup cams" don't even have a backup "grid" and are more for monitoring traffic and/or a rear load or a towed vehicle, trailer or a double-tow on a fifth wheel. Personally, this is more what I had in mind, anyway. A hardwired cam with a screen in the truck to monitor traffic. Now, if I =really= wanted total situational awareness, I'd put some cams on the front of my FW, facing back along the sides or on my truck mirrors. :)

Lyle
 
I forgot to say, most dashcams also have a really small screen, but of course some do have a AV out to connect a even larger screen.
You can also get a big screen dashcam, but then it is not stealthy which often are a big must have for people, or at least us in the western part of the world.

You could maybe adopt a dual remote MC camera and put those camera units on the mirror tree on the outside of your rig, but as i recall most MC cameras dont have a AV out so you have to make do with the tiny 2" screen.
There are also dual remote dashcams, and also brands that will eventually make a water proof camera unit for those, but as i understand they are not there yet the waterproof camera units.
 
There's still the cable length issue, and any trailer large enough to be a 5th wheel (or even almost all goosenecks) is going to be too long to get to the tow vehicle :( And then there's dropping the trailer- you have to unplug the cable from one end or the other, and some cams can't be unplugged at the cam. So any way you look at it, you're not going to get a dashcam signal from the rear to the cab using the consumer-type dashcams this site focuses on :cry: I'm sure there are commercial systems capable of something like you want- those will go into 4 figures in cost :eek:

The only reasonably easy alternative I see is to use something like a waterproof WYZE or NEST type cam which transmits the signal via wifi, but if the trailer is metal-walled then even this may not work. You've got a special situation so you really should go for one of the specialized solutions already made for the job ;) If you want the recording feature of a dashcam from there, that's relatively easy once you've got the other cam going- just don't expect to be able to view it's pics as you drive.

Phil
 
SawMaster, I was planning on hardwiring from front to rear for both power and signal. Would do that even with just a backup cam. NBD to add a second plug in the bed to handle this. Before I decided on using a dashcam, I was going to hardwire a backup cam as so many people seem to have issues with wireless setups.

Lyle
 
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