Brian894x4
Explorer
I’ve been wanting to try out a back up camera system for a while now, but it wasn’t until I saw one the other day, that I sort of had this impulse to really give it a try.
I looked around at a bunch of different systems. Including some camera/LCD combos and separate camera and LCDs. You can really spend some cash on this stuff if you want too. But the one problem I had with all of the set ups, is that I didn’t really have a place to mount the LCD, which usually was meant to go on the dash or flip down from the ceiling.
There was one set up that really caught my eye. It’s from Audiovox (The kit is Audiovox RVMPKG4) and essentially replaces your rearview mirror. Or more accurately straps over it.
The result is a large standard looking rear view mirror, when the system is turned off, and a 4.5” LCD screen in the mirror, when its turned on.
What I like most about this set up is, that there’s no LCDs in the vehicle to attracts thieves (not that I don’t enough other garbage to attract them instead) and it looks like a stock mirror at first glance. But even better, the location of the LCD is very natural, since we’re all used to looking in the rear view mirror to see what’s behind us anyway.
Set up is not super fancy, but it does have a few cool features. The LCD is a 4.5 TFT screen 480x234 resolution at 4:3 ratio. Definitely not the highest and its not widescreen, but it works. The constrast ratio is fixed at 150 to 1, but the brightness is adjustable via a dial on the mirror.
The camera is ¼” CMOS Sensor, color, same resolution as the screen with a wide viewing angle of 130 degrees. There are definitely better cameras out there, but I’m fairly happy with it. It’s pretty heavy for its size with a metal water proof housing. Minimum illumination is .3 Lux.
What’s interesting is the camera comes with a built in microphone and the mirror has a speaker, with a volume dial. This is meant to allow you to hear people or kids behind the vehicle before you back up. It actually works pretty good. For example, I could hear the exhaust turbo like whistle going down the road (bear in mind, my exhaust is stock and in good shape). Of course, it’s not meant to be used while driving and I just leave the volume down, unless I need it.
The LCD can toggle between two cameras if you have a second one. I bought a second one with the intention of mounting it up front and down low for better off road visibility, but I nixed that plan and instead mounted one camera up high on the roof rack and the other down low just above the license plate. This gives me two different, very useful rear views.
The kit is designed to come on automaticly with the reserve lights and only come on with the parking brake on…so you can’t watch the video while in motion. Of course, I didn’t wire it up that way, because I want to be able to use it while driving and especially while backing up. Instead, I wired it so that it has power with the ignition on only and then, you can toggle the on/off switch on the mirror as desired.
Pic one: Shows the two cameras mounted. One on the roof rack and one just above the license plate, under the license plate light hood.
Pic two: Shows the upper camera
Pic three: Shows the lower camera
I looked around at a bunch of different systems. Including some camera/LCD combos and separate camera and LCDs. You can really spend some cash on this stuff if you want too. But the one problem I had with all of the set ups, is that I didn’t really have a place to mount the LCD, which usually was meant to go on the dash or flip down from the ceiling.
There was one set up that really caught my eye. It’s from Audiovox (The kit is Audiovox RVMPKG4) and essentially replaces your rearview mirror. Or more accurately straps over it.
The result is a large standard looking rear view mirror, when the system is turned off, and a 4.5” LCD screen in the mirror, when its turned on.
What I like most about this set up is, that there’s no LCDs in the vehicle to attracts thieves (not that I don’t enough other garbage to attract them instead) and it looks like a stock mirror at first glance. But even better, the location of the LCD is very natural, since we’re all used to looking in the rear view mirror to see what’s behind us anyway.
Set up is not super fancy, but it does have a few cool features. The LCD is a 4.5 TFT screen 480x234 resolution at 4:3 ratio. Definitely not the highest and its not widescreen, but it works. The constrast ratio is fixed at 150 to 1, but the brightness is adjustable via a dial on the mirror.
The camera is ¼” CMOS Sensor, color, same resolution as the screen with a wide viewing angle of 130 degrees. There are definitely better cameras out there, but I’m fairly happy with it. It’s pretty heavy for its size with a metal water proof housing. Minimum illumination is .3 Lux.
What’s interesting is the camera comes with a built in microphone and the mirror has a speaker, with a volume dial. This is meant to allow you to hear people or kids behind the vehicle before you back up. It actually works pretty good. For example, I could hear the exhaust turbo like whistle going down the road (bear in mind, my exhaust is stock and in good shape). Of course, it’s not meant to be used while driving and I just leave the volume down, unless I need it.
The LCD can toggle between two cameras if you have a second one. I bought a second one with the intention of mounting it up front and down low for better off road visibility, but I nixed that plan and instead mounted one camera up high on the roof rack and the other down low just above the license plate. This gives me two different, very useful rear views.
The kit is designed to come on automaticly with the reserve lights and only come on with the parking brake on…so you can’t watch the video while in motion. Of course, I didn’t wire it up that way, because I want to be able to use it while driving and especially while backing up. Instead, I wired it so that it has power with the ignition on only and then, you can toggle the on/off switch on the mirror as desired.
Pic one: Shows the two cameras mounted. One on the roof rack and one just above the license plate, under the license plate light hood.
Pic two: Shows the upper camera
Pic three: Shows the lower camera
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