Rear View Camera

[Sudesh]

Originally Posted by King

Sorry but I don't think it's a great idea to remove the rear wiper. It's your truck so you can do whatever pleases you, but why not install your camera centered in the BMW roundel in the trunk??

I didnt remove the rear wiper to fit a camera! I was just having a nosey to see what it would look like without the wiper. Plus as I said I have never used a rear wiper on anything I ever had before so it really is not big deal to me. The rear wiper can be installed again at any time in a matter of 20mins so nothing to really worry about. It was just when I removed the wiper a covered the hole that I though I would have a go at doing a rear view camera conversion and I'm going to do it in such a way that it can be removed at any time without damage to the vehicle.

[Tom G.]

Originally Posted by Eric Le Baron

Yeah, saw that some time ago.
Looked way better than this solution.
Can you tell me where to find pictures of the roundel solution?

Couple of issues on the roundel mount:

1. Tailgate requires drilling for the camera to mount through.
2. Clearcoat on the roundel will flake off after about a year since the surface has been penetrated.

For the X5, we're recommending the Bumblebee Camera since this does not invlolve drilling and can be easily hidden:



Reverse "Bumblebee" Camera
http://www.europeanautosource.com/pr...roducts_id=439

[Eric Le Baron]

Originally Posted by Sudesh

I'll get it photographed and do a write up as soon as its done.

Would appreciate that very much
Please tell us as well how/where to connect the different wires...

Remember I saw on a German forum a posting from a guy who connected the wire which is normally connected to the backup light, to the PDC.
Reason being the fact that otherwise the camera would switch off every time you change from Reverse to Drive during parking.
This way you can also switch the camera on when driving slowly or at a stand still by pressing the PDC button
Gr. Eric.

[Sudesh]

Well I installed my rear view camera conversion today. My initial idea was to install it where I removed the rear wiper but this was not going to work as the angle of the rear window is to the sky so the camera would be useless. I then had a look at doing it the through the rear roundel but the problem I found with this method was, the need for drilling the vehicles bodywork behind the roundel is require. This can also be complicated as you have to drill out the roundel support which is screwed to the body, so a new method of reattaching the support would be needed. Not only that but behind the bodywork is the mechanism for opening the rear hatch so again depending on the camera you choose the roundel method is not straight forward and may not work as the depth on the camera you choose plays a big part!
I then decided that I wanted to attach the camera in such a way that nothing would be damaged that can’t be replaced easily. So I choose to attach the camera to the tow hitch cover! The cover is easy to access, not expensive and easy to replace. Wiring the camera was also very easy to do at this point as when you remove the tow hitch cover there is a rubber grommet attached to the main bodywork up behind the bumper. One the grommet is removed it allows you to feed the wires into the spare wheel well so finding a power source and plugging the camera in is quite simple form there. I wired the camera in to the power source for my DVD player, I also plugged the camera video cable into the auxiliary “IN” video feed, on the DVD player. So once I turn the X5 on I can access the camera quite simply by pressing a button on my DVD remote control and I can switch back to DVD also at any point.
Here are some pics, there will be more to follow!!

REAR TOW HITCH COVER WITH CAMERA INSTALLED


TOW HITCH SECTION WITH WIRES FROM CAMERA RUNNING INSIDE


UP INSIDE TOW HITCH AREA RUBBER GROMMET REMOVED WIRES RUNNING INTO SPARE WHEEL WELL


PIC OF REMOVED GROMMET


PIC OF GROMMET REMOVED AND WIRES RUNNING THROUGH IT


INSIDE VIEW OF GROMMET FITTED AGAIN AND WIRES COMING INTO SPARE WHEEL WELL

[Eric Le Baron]

Very nice
Aha, you have a DVD player to connect the camera's output.
I don't, so I need a different way of connectting it.
Is the picture you're getting what you expected it to be (not too much off-center)?
If you would have 2 auxiliary inputs you could choose between the left and the right hitch cover camera
Thanks for the pics!

[Sudesh]

Yeah the picture I'm getting is pretty good! It's dead centre and the camera I got is guite large angled so picks up more than I thought. I think there is another way of connecting up the camera. It would involve hooking into the board monitor module but I'm unsure if there are video feed on there. I'm planing on having a look though.

[X5 Sport]

Can you post some pictures of the camera working ie the view on the screen I did think about putting the camera in the tow hitch, but thought it would be to low So I am thinking of drilling the rear light.

Thanks in advance

[Eric Le Baron]

Originally Posted by Sudesh

Yeah the picture I'm getting is pretty good! It's dead centre

Oeps, off course it is....
Thought you used one of the covers on the side off the bumper where the exhaust is on petrol cars.
I have the 3.0D so I've covers there as well.
Just received the Westfalia hitch so won't be able to use the same cover you did.

Originally Posted by Sudesh

It would involve hooking into the board monitor module but I'm unsure if there are video feed on there. I'm planing on having a look though.

Please let me/us know

[Sudesh]

Originally Posted by X5 Sport

Can you post some pictures of the camera working ie the view on the screen I did think about putting the camera in the tow hitch, but thought it would be to low So I am thinking of drilling the rear light.

Thanks in advance

Yeah no problem I'll take some photos. I also thought it would be too low but it worked out fine.

[Sudesh]

Here is a few more pics.

Pic of view from monitor. Note the 4x4 behind was about 12 feet behind me so gives an indication of the camera's ability from the tow hitch area. The view is in color but hard to tell in the pic for some reason.


This is a pic from the rear to show you how it looks fitted. If you didnt know any better you would think it was a park sensor!


Close up view.