By Ted Choat with Russ and Tiña De Maris
Ted, who claims to be 148 years old, writes, “Anything labeled ‘easier’ gets my vote.” So he set out to install a rearview (back-up) camera on his travel trailer. By the time you’re 148, you’ll be happy to have the experiences of others to guide you to avoid making boo-boos. Ted says he’s a sadder-but-wiser guy now that he’s installed his back-up cam, and says if he had it all to do over again …
Don’t drill another whole in your RV skin to run wires for the camera. Just get out your ladder and crawl up to where the rear marker lights are located. Yank off the center marker light cover and tap the wires for power and ground. Yes, you’ll need to have your running lights going when you want to see out the back-up camera, but you won’t need to poke holes in the rig, and it’ll cut down on the amount of wiring to be done, too.
While you’re up there, you’ll most likely find that the lights are mounted on a backing plate. That’s a great place to mount your camera because it will give the whole installation a bit of steadiness. Mount it on the metal siding and you’ll likely have a peculiar bit of vibration making its way into your monitor — it’s that shaky camera. If you mount the cam to the backing plate, hey hey! Vibrations are cut way down.
Still another advantage to Ted’s installation? If and when you remove the back up camera, you’ll have fewer holes to “fill.”
Keep an eye out — back!
