back up cam for $24

walmart.com. probally crap
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Xovision-Universal-Car-Backup-Camera-HTC35/10972997

 

cheap, crap..

 

yeah but its only $24 so its not like your losing $200 and it sucked

 

I'm gonna try one, this model to be exact. As far as the cheap ones go, this appears to be the pick of the litter. I have a new pioneer head unit on order from Amazon. I also ordered the $200 pioneer back-up camera. Both these items are back ordered for the moment, so it's given me some time to change my mind and go with something else. I wasn't really crazy about the price of that pioneer camera to begin with, as it was about 1/2 the price of the head unit...point being, I think that's too much for a little camera now days. So, I'm gonna go for the cheapo camera. Amazon sells this unit for a little more than wal-mart, but it got 4/5 stars in its reviews. I normally agree with the masses on reviews on Amazon. It's worth a shot. If it sucks, then I already have my cables run for the camera underneath the truck and I can just swap it out with a better one. At this point, I could buy 10 of these cheap cameras for the price of 1 pioneer unit. Short of zoom capabilities, I can't justify spending that much on the pioneer. I'll let you guys know how it turns out for me, but be patient, as my deck isn't supposed to ship until like the middle of September.

 

keep us posted. maybe post pics of the view

 

I will do that. If you're curious though, on Amazon there is a picture of someone's double din deck displaying the view from the cheapo camera. It looks decent to me. It's a tough one. My only dilema now is where to mount is when I have all the parts I need. One guy on here made a bracket that fits right inside his receiver hitch. It looks like a pretty sound choice. However, other people on here have gotten the newer style tailgate handles so they can install the pioneer camera, which is smaller, and when they're done it looks like a factory install. Plus with it in the handle like that you can look down a bit and see the end of your bumper, which makes backing up and parallel parking a snap I guess. I'll have to think on it.

 

Alright. After 9 hours of hell my pioneer avh-p4200dvd head unit is operational, along with the HD Radio add-on module and a rear camera. I followed through with my earlier post and went with the cheap camera that was the topic of this thread. So far, so good. Image quality is good and I'm happy with it so far. I couldn't find this at Wal-mart.....neither the website or the local stores in my area carry it any longer. However, you can get the same make and model at Amazon.com for $34, which is where I purchaesed it. I'll post some pics later on. I'm exhausted and I need a nap.

Here's a link to the camera on Amazon:

$12 XO Vision HTC35 high definition Universal Weatherproof Rear View Backup Camera with Night Vision, 170 Degree Viewing Angle

http://www.amazon.com/Vision-HTC35-...2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1283012978&sr=1-22

 

cool.lets see the life span of it now

 

I hear ya.....we shall see. A few Wisconsin winters and some automated car washes with the underbody flush will be the true test. But would the higher-end models fare any better? Construction on this one seems decent. Only thing I did to it is put a glob of RTV gasket sealant where the video and power wire feeds into the back of the camera. I did this for a little insurance on keeping the water out of it. Anways, yeah.....the final hurdle, life expectancy, offically starts today.

 

where did you end up putting that camera? I have the same one and not sure where i want to mount it.

 

I made a bracket out of reasonably thin metal. Drilled 3 holes in it. One for the body of the camera, and two holes that lined up with the bolt holes for the right hand side of the 7-pin electrical plug for trailers. In the end, the piece of metal is kind of triangle shaped, as I kept hitting the loop for trailer chains, as they are angled. If I could do it all over again, I'd make a bracket that allows me to see my bumper in the image, as I still don't have a real good feel for depth perception when I'm backing the truck up, but at least I can see if there's something behind me, like a kid, post, shopping cart, etc....just tough to tell about how far away it is.

 

hey thats pretty cool i like that

 

How about some image pictures (images from the AVH-P4200 with the rear camera on).

 

x2^

 

$12 XO Vision HTC35 high definition Universal Weatherproof Rear View Backup Camera with Night Vision, 170 Degree Viewing Angle

http://www.amazon.com/Vision-HTC35-Weatherproof-Installation-NightVision/dp/B001P3PSR6

here is a sample pictures of the quality hope it helps.

 

Had some questions sent to me about my install. Here goes:

If your skills are decent with electricity, this might make sense to you.....Here goes: If you've seen my pics on the post, you realize my camera is under my bumper. Therefore you have to get a +12V and a ground wire to the camera back there. You also need to run your video signal cable (for the picture) all the way back there as well.

Let's start with the video signal.....I found a relatively cheap video cord on Amazon.com. Keep in mind this is just like what you use on your TV at home, it's the cord with the yellow colored plugs on it. It's fairly long, as it has to reach from the cab of your truck all the way to your back bumper. Now keep in mind I have a double cab with the long bed on it, so depending on what model of truck you have, you might not need as long of a video cable as I did. Just bust out a tape measure and kind of visualize where your cable with run beneath your truck, and about how far it needs to travel inside of your cab to get behind your stereo to be hooked up. Add maybe 3 feet to that to be on the safe side, as your run beneath your truck won't be perfectly straight as you will have to route your cable and wires around obstacles like your exhaust, spare tire, etc....

I recommend running your video cable and your +12v power wire to the camera at the same time to only have to crawl under your truck once. It's a sucky job. You'll get dirt raining down in your eyes and face from the frame of your truck, so wear safety glasses. Fill your pockets with 8" zip ties, or cable ties, as you'll need those to attach your wiring and cable to the frame as you work your way from one end of your truck to the other, attaching the wires up in what looks to be "safe" places, meaning they won't get hit, melted, etc. I started on the bumper end and worked my way to the cab.

When you get to the cab, you need to find one of the rubber plugs, or grommets, that are in your floor. These will be located under carpeting, beneath your floor mats. You'll have to pull off some of the plastic trim pieces by your door as well as the dummy foot pedal to the left of your brake pedal to be able to fully pull your carpet back to completely be able to access the metal floor of your truck under the carpet. Then you'll see the rubber plugs in the floor. You can then cut a hole in one large enough to pull your video cable through along with your +12v wire. From there, route your video cable up behind your dash and eventually out to behind your stereo. You will then need to find a +12v source to tap into for your camera power wire. I used a toggle switch that I inserted into one of the blanks to the left of my steering wheel, where the other OEM switches are. Then I ran a wire to my battery, make sure it's fused. So you end up with a wire to the battery (fused) leading to a toggle switch in your dash to turn the camera on, and then the long run of wire back to your camera. I put the toggle switch in because I didn't want the camera on all the time. Even if it was on the entire time the stereo was on seemed like it would burn it out prematurely in my book, so this way it's only on when I flip the toggle switch on. Your camera comes with a short run on wire on it, but it won't be long enough to make it all the way. You'll have to solder the wires to make the run long enough. I recommend soldering and shrink tubing the connections for weather resistance. I also recommend getting the plastic sheathing to go around your run of wire and video cable to protect it underneath your truck. Harbor freight sells the wire sheathing, they are the cheapest around that I've found for the stuff. Make sure you buy enough of it, based on your initial measurement of your truck for the wire.

Last, you need to ground the camera. You don't need to run a wire all the way along the bottom of your truck like your did for the video and +12v. You can have a short run, just long enough to reach the frame of your truck. Grind your frame a little bit until it's shiny bare metal. Attach the ground wire to the frame with a screw and a crimp on type ring connector. Then spray paint or undercoating back over the screw where it goes through the frame to protect it from corrosion/rusting, which would eventually cause the camera to stop working.

Here are the links to the stuff I used that I mentioned above:

Mediabridge ULTRA Series Subwoofer Cable (25 Feet) - Dual Shielded with Gold Plated RCA to RCA Connectors - Black

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FVX9FO/ref=oss_product

With that video cable, like I said earlier, you might not need one that long. If your truck is shorter, just search on Amazon for a shorter one that will work for you. I ended up with a lot of extra cable that I had to hide, which kind of was a pain. It's not like a wire where you can just cut the end off.

That's about it. Hope this helps!

 

Here's some pics of the Pioneer head unit with the back-up camera in use. If you happen to see lines on the screen in the pics, it's just my camera. I took a bunch and couldn't seem to get rid of them. I'm picky about stuff, and I can honestly say the cheap little cam has a really nice picture. Pics taken just before it got dark out. The one of the switches in my truck shows the switch I use to turn the camera on and off. It's a 12v switch, so the led light comes on to remind me that the camera is on when the switch is illuminated.

 

Any way to make a camera like that work with the stock in-mirror display?

 

that looks pretty good

 

Wow madtown, good job! I have a stock rear camera but the dude I got it from just cut it off his totaled truck so I have to hard wire everything. I'll probably try your method.