Well, I've risen from the ashes again and got a bit done this week. My new Traverse has very limited visibility out the rear due to the small windows and how high the windows are. In addition I don't like twisting my head due to the pain it causes so I've screwed up a couple of times in the past and backed into things. So, given my desire to protect Suzy's investment in my new car I decided to add a back up camera. I bought Magellan GPS/Wireless Back up camera and installed it. Took three times to get one that worked. Not sure what the problem was but the third one works fine. I bought a pole mount, made a wooden plug (pictured is the prototype but I have a better final version to install) to fit into a cup holder, made a special mount to attach the display to the pole mount and now have the display in place. The only connection to the vehicle is the cigarette lighter plug so it's easy to move from one vehicle to the next. It's kinda cool to have a GPS displayed all the time as you can see the names of streets as you approach em.
This is the camera that came with the unit. In addition there is a transmitter that the camera plugs into which transmits the view to the display when the back up lights come on (you have to connect the transmitter to the back up light wiring). This camera produced a good image in daylight but was useless at night so I bought a new camera with IR LEDs built into the unit. This camera was easy to install as all you had to do was unscrew two of the license plate screws, place the camera in place, and then replace the screws. The only additional step was to drill holes for the wiring through the license plate and the body of the truck.
The new camera didn't mount as easily so I had to make my own mount. Here are two pictures of it. Note the recess for the wiring. This was required to allow me to use the holes I drilled for the first camera with the replacement. I made it out of a piece of aluminum I had hanging around. You can never have to much old metal around. It always comes in handy.
Another view of the bracket. Note the extended flange I made. I thought it might be a good idea to protect the camera from being bumped as it's a bit vulnerable hanging out in the back.
Here is the finished installation. What's really cool is that you can see the trailer ball in the display and back up to a trailer w/o any help. You can get so accurate all you have to do is drop the trailer hitch onto the ball. POIFECT. With the IR LEDs you can see very well at night. The camera's image isn't quite as good as the original but good enough to get the job done both during the day and at night.
Cheers,
Gus
