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John Iverson photo
Sweden
1 Level
751 Review
40 Karma

Review on πŸš— Enhance Your Car Safety with the BW 7 Inch TFT LCD Digital Rear View Monitor and Waterproof Camera Combo by John Iverson

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Key Things I Learned During Installation - Instructions and Video Cables

Monitor is sharp with great colors. The camera appears to be waterproof as advertised. It has rained a lot in the last 2 weeks. The image quality is still excellent. I learned a lot about installing this backup camera and I want to share it as it comes with no instructions. The first. Do not use the included 20-foot video cable that came with the device. I have used it and found it unable to transmit video the required distance without losing a lot of signal resulting in a very poor or non-existent picture. Second. I initially connected the monitor to the cigarette lighter so that it only turns on when the key is on. Bad idea. The first ride with him was just after sunset and the monitor was so bright on my face I couldn't see driving. My solution to the problem was to power both the camera and monitor from the backup light on the back of my large 4 person pickup truck. That is, the monitor is powered by the reversing light. This only turned on the camera and monitor when I was reversing. I replaced the flimsy, tiny 20ft video cable with a coaxial cable (this is the cable you use at home to connect your TV to a cable company outlet. There are 2 sizes, so you'll need to buy matching RCA plugs , 1 each ) connectors can be purchased at Home Depot and a cable crimping tool. Probably useful at Radio Shack too, but it'll cost more there.) While I was routing the new coaxial video cable from the back of the truck, I also ran a black and red 14 gauge wire for the power supply. When I ran them I used zip ties to attach them to the existing factory installed wires for the taillights. At that point I was ready to go. I put it in reverse but the monitor didn't come on at all. It turned out (after scratching my head for several hours) that the subsoil was too weak. I noticed under the hood that there are two wires coming from the battery negative cable. One hit the engine block, the other the bed of a truck. The one bolted to the truck bed was easy to work with. I soldered a large eyelet to the end of a fairly thick 14 gauge black wire large enough to accommodate the ground stud holding the ground to the truck bed. I routed the other end into the cabin and attached it to the junction of the black wire from the reverse light and the black wire from the monitor. After that connection was made, the monitor turned on with a nice picture. It took me 2 weekends to figure it all out and re-stretched all the wires from back to front.

Pros
  • Excellent overall performance
Cons
  • Modern