Whiskeymac Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 My Hymer M/H has a reversing camera fitted but it seems to be on its way out and will have to be repaced. Can anyone recommend a good, proven camera that I can plug into my existing circuitry. Twice now I have misjudged when clear of gateposts, driving forwards, turning right and the rear left banging the post. Is it feasible to fit reversing sensors to the side of the wrap around rear bumper moulding, as well as the rear, in order to detect when the vehicle has cleared an exit? Has anyone tried this? Has anyone installed multi cameras to cater for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Welcome to the forum! :-D Have you tried stopping van, engaging the hand brake, removing the keys (in case you get van jacked) then getting out and having a look? I appreciate this a novel and highly technical soloution but it works for me. The mirrors (mounted on your doors - either side) are also a useful aid in looking down the rear side's of van whilst negotiating corners etc.....As your title indicates these toys are only "aids" and are not infaliable. Do you know the make of your camera and how many wires and type of connection it has? as this may help others find a direct swap of a wider angled model for you. a picture may help....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Nice on Eddie, you must be the only bloke on here who uses a bigger brick than me to hit people over the head with. I tend to agree with you here but to try and answer part of the question if you fit reverse sensors close to outside of rear skirt they will detect any obstacle close to the sides at the rear, at least mine do. You would however have to wire them to enable you to switch them on going forward. Welcome to the forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Welcome again Whiskeymac. Reading your problem more carefully I wonder if in fact your camera is perfectly ok as I don't think you will be able to pick up the rear left side that close to the gate post. As you turn right the back of course swings out to the left hiding the post - this is something that catches out a lot of m/homers. There are always blind spots (been there, done that!) even with the best of cameras and side mirrors and the bigger the overhang the worse it is. The only answer I suppose is to pull further forward before turning the wheel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 We have same problem but I never get in van until we are right out of the gates and manovered straight on the road! I think if your on your own I would be having a couple of camera,s as sensors will bleep when your about a yard away from an object so you are going to have to be well clear before they stop! if your road is as narrow as ours you will be in the garden over the road by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 specsevvers could be a cheaper option me ansums. fartinacollanderfred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 To stop side damage, it's simple, set your side mirrors so that you can see all the way down the side to the back, when maneuvering at all times keep your eyes on the mirror, especially when turning close to an obstruction and you can see a problem before it occures, no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hey, go easy people - the guy is new! Whiskeymac - don't be put off, the helpful people will probably be along soon. Sorry I can't be one of them in this instance, but as I only run a cute little van conversion I have it easy. (Although I did have to have a bit of body repair done within the first couple of weeks, after a disagreement with the gatepost of the Church car park!) :-( Best wishes, and enjoy your time on here Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roamer Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 One technique I use, is to keep activating the brake lights (or switch on the hazard lights) until I can see an effect on the post/wall in the mirror on the side that could hit. At this point the brake lights must be passing/past the post to enable the reflection and it is the safe to start turning. This is very effective in darker conditions and when the obsticle is reflective (painted white). As I have a 9ft gateway that requires me to turn immediately having passed it, I have fitted a clear reflector to the post to aid in this. The second is to know how much the rear will swing out. For our m/h a rough guide (based on Fiat with 3.8M wheel base [approx 6M inner turning circle - 3M radius] and a 2.4M overhang) I need to allow approx 0.5M for the rear to swing out. Using old money, if the entrance is 2ft 6in wider than the m/h and I keep close ( 6 to 9 in.) to the side I am going to turn towards, I know the rear end will miss when turning. To calculate the amount of swing out you need to know the radius of the inner turning circle, the width of the m/h and the overhang. Add the radius to the width and then square, square the overhang, add together and then squareroot (Pythagoras). Now subtract the radius and width and remainder is the maximum amount the rear will swing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 See? I told you the helpful people would be along soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Perhaps best not to take literally Trooper's last sentence as advice otherwise you will drive into something forward and Tony I thought my previous post was being helpful - at least I was trying to be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Mirrors Camera Wife Me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Sorry. Don't do gates or gate posts, mine went 30 years ago, no problems any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 sorry none of my remarks should be taken literally, I do assume people have some common sense, although i haven't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 trooper - 2009-02-15 1:47 PM sorry none of my remarks should be taken literally, I do assume people have some common sense, although i haven't. No need to be sorry Don as I was joking - my turn to say sorry as I didn't indicate that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 libby - 2009-02-14 11:04 PM Sorry. Don't do gates or gate posts, mine went 30 years ago, no problems any more. Whiskeymac didn't say they were his own gateposts. He might be having problems on campsites. :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 libby - 2009-02-14 11:04 PM Sorry. Don't do gates or gate posts, mine went 30 years ago, no problems any more. Most of us don't brag about crashing into our own gateposts Bill - still less about not bothering to replace them 30yrs on!! :D And Patricia, I thought my previous post was being helpful - at least I was trying to be! - or course you were. It was just the overall feel of the thread that struck me, especially when a new member had asked advice on his/her first post. We're a bit too good at responding to questions by saying "If I were you I wouldn't start from here ....." See my recent one about Dover! :-D Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskeymac Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 Thank you Judge Mental (Expert) and other wits. Fell off my chair laughing! Pulling out of a courtyard onto a narrow high street, blocking the entire road, then getting out to walk back to see if the vehicle is truly clear as my mark one eyball, ably assisted by Specsavers is telling me, is hardly likely to endear motorhome owners to other drivers. This is a serious question asked to elicit a serious answer and thanks to those who have treated it so. In a bit of a rush now so will read the helpful answers in detail tomorrow. Tks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Do/did you drive in, or reverse in, to this courtyard? I ask because if you drove in comfortably, you may be better off reversing out. You will, or course, need someone to keep a lookout in the road before commencing. If that is impractical and you have to drive out, the trick, if you can, is to complete as much of the turn as possible before you reach the gateway, so that you approach the narrowing on the skew, and then stop turning to pass between the posts, keeping the post on the inside of your turn as tight as possible to that side of the van. Then, as soon as the rear wheels are alongside the posts, apply lock while watching the outside rear corner of the van in the mirror. This gains the largest practical clearance between the outside rear corner of the van and the post on that side while, by approaching on the skew, you reduce the amount of turn to be completed while the rear of the van is between the posts. Hope that all makes sense! The safest test is probably to find an empty, marked out, car park and experiment on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Whiskeymac - 2009-02-16 9:55 PM Thank you Judge Mental (Expert) and other wits. Fell off my chair laughing! QUOTE] Bless you! it was all meant in good humour :-D Brian’s solution is what I do. I have a longish drive up a narrow unmade road and then have a tight dog leg turn onto a gated hardstand next to my garage. I used to reverse my demountable up and unload it no problem with the 4x4. But the Ford is a little like the Fiat and does not like reversing uphill on loose surfaces and clutch starts to burn....... Initially it never occurred to me that driving straight up and in. Then reversing out and down the hill onto the road, was the easiest option by a mile until I tried it....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskeymac Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Thanks for the ideas in your posts and the welcome to the forum. Clearly this is a shared problem for those of us who are fortunate to own large motorhomes with the inevitable, appreciable overhang. Judging by the HGV fraternity flashing after being overtaken, the problem worstens the longer the vehicle. It makes me wonder if the is an answer already there in my nearby HGV accessory shop. I must call in and ask. HGVs sometimes have springy rods with balls on the end fitted at the corners. I had always thought that these were to judge side clearance, as well they might be, but they could also help with distance judging if long enough. It occurs to me that a whippy rod prodruding fom the back could, feasibly, rub along a gate post and spring out as the vehicle clears the obstacle. Of course it could also decapitate pedestrians, but some collateral damage might be acceptable. I'll think this one through further. Perhaps they could be quickly fitted and removed for such an event. Actually, the simplest solutions are often the best and I like Roamer's suggestion of using the hazard lights though I'm not sure how well this would work in bright sunlight. In fact, I have the last of 3 orange coloured lights on each side, only a foot away from the rear corners. These are hooked to the headlight circuit, but it would be tempting to reroute a couple to the indicators. The Pythagoras is fine but would require sufficient space to be of practical use. My friends far too frequently have courtyards with very narrow gateways through perimeter walls and there is only just room to squeeze through at right angles. Of course, using observers is fine unless hunting alone, but with a wife toting a disability, just hopping out quickly is not an easy option. Plenty of scope here for innovative ideas and as those of us who are of mature years will know, innovation and creative solutions often materialise from tossing around whacky ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskeymac Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 Just to acknowledge Brian's suggestion of reversing out, I fully agree that this is a preferred option. However, there is a big difference in doing so when the road is a deserted country one, or there is visibility of the road. It is not one that I would undertake when leaving a courtyard through a gateway in a 10ft stone wall, onto the main road through town, especially when there is another such wall on the other side of the road. At least I have learned my lesson and no longer wave goodbye whilst exiting! I have no idea what make my reversing camera is but it's cheap and nasty and doesn't have any night vision, infra red facility. It is also in the wrong place and gets clobbered every time I load and unload windsurf boards from the roof. I may well have to jiggle the terminals of a replacement to match the old plumbing, but that's dead easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catinou Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hi & welcome Whiskeymac, We had similar problems with the length of our van in some tight spaces when we first got it. We have now fitted angled "arm lights" on the towbar - which was our most vulnerable part in the very tight turn into and out of our drive (due to cars which insist on parking immediately opposite our drive ...). These are brilliant (so my husband says, as he still enjoys driving more than I do) and work well day or night. When reversing, especially on sites, I get out with my hand held walkie talkie, leaving the other one on my vacated seat, so I can "talk" hubbie back, without loads of shouting, dancing around waving my arms - as we have seen others do on numerous occasions. ( A trick we used when sailing and trying to slip out of harbours to catch the tide in the early hours, without waking the whole marina up.) This is particularly useful when the driver is watching width, length, other vehicles / obstacles etc. and can easily miss the odd tree branch which looked high enough until you start backing in - Belgium sites seeming the worse for this........ Good luck and enjoy your MH Jenny B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olley Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hi replace and move the existing camera to one side, buy another and fit it the other side, fit a toggle switch on the dash or a security monitor which will do split screen. Not cheap but solves the problem. I have three on the RV two at the back, 1 looks straight down the other is long distance and another mounted on the side at the front, brilliant during the day or night for maneuvering. The infrared facility on most of them is pretty useless. Olley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskeymac Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Thanks for the tip Catiou. I realise that I already thought of this whilst preoccupied with something else, then promptly forgot. I have a set that I bought for use when skiing with teenage boys, before every teenager had a mobile phone. They are now on charge and will be transferred to Hippo. Thanks Olley; I was convinced that someone would have ventured into this sphere of technology. A quick Google reveals that this may be commonplace in the RV world. I guess that pre mounting with blutac to find the best positioning would be wise. Can you recommend a split screen product? My current camera is plumbed to a flipup screen Pioneer radio/CD/DVD bells and whistles setup. This is good but I've never been able to get it to give a permanent rear view, only working when reverse is engaged, despite the menu indicating that shis should be possible split screen with the satnav display. It would be good to be able to view a towed trailer. I have always had concern about a trailer tyre bursting out of view and leaving a trail of sparks! I foresee an excellent setup with the current facility actually working and performing that task, plus a switchable split screen in place of the useless internal rear view mirror to turn on for manouvring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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