Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
My video mirrors are about 3 years old, and the main challenge I have had is the camera longevity and the monitors dealing with heat. I now have LED backlit 7" monitors and they are much better than the first set which ran hot, and they get dimmer and dimmer as they heated up. The glare and loss of contrast in direct sunlight and the heat made them very hard to use.
The other issue is having a camera lens that is *too* wide angle. This adds a lot of barrel distortion and shrinks objects, so they look farther away than they are. I can deal with a camera with 100-120 degrees of view, but more than that is a problem, and less would be great, but you probably cannot find one with say 90 degrees or less. Having the camera be 4:3 image with the 16:10 screens actually helps "re-expand" the horizontal size of other vehicles.
Wiring needs to be robust. The cameras I have used all have power wires that are concentric rather than paired wires, so pinching them can cause a short. I had this blow the clutch cutoff switch fuse, so I could not start my car... So routing of wires is important, and relieving stress when the wires are bent (say at the door) is also important to consider.
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More details, which is what makes the difference between a good or great camera system, or just having cameras. The side cameras we use we order special with 50 degree FOV (field of view) lenses just for the reason you point out. Anything much bigger makes things look three times further away than they are, and so small you need a magnifying glass to see what they are. Cables are key to longevity. We used to have our specially built but found a supplier who builds them in large quantites and so are more cost effective. They use M12 connectors, which are water proof, metal at the joint, and factory overmolded for max strain relief.
When you run wires through a door or tail gate you do it like the factory does, you do it so when the door moves the wire is twisted lengthwise, instead of bending-cross sectionally Open your vehicle door, it will most likely having a harness inside a bellowed boot, you'll see what I mean.