...so I have this adjustable multi-ball hitch:



...and I have to hitch up a lot at night. A long time ago I bought one of those $15 eBay specials an a tiny monitor to use to help me hitch up quickly at night:





With the hitch I have, even where it is, it would only pick up the ball alone:



That was enough and worked fine with me.

As with anything that's $15 and off of eBay, I didn't expect it to last too long...3 years had me pretty happy. It did finally fail (I didn't take the time to add any type of waterproofing, so eh).

I decided rather than drop upwards of $100 on a 'proven' one, let's just drop another $15 and see if I could add some waterproofing.


I wired the system in so that the disconnects for the power and video were up in the top of the hatch, so the wires were already run. I took the camera apart and found this particular model has the main seal area for the circuit board and camera as the lense against the back casing...the front casing doing nothing for the seal.

I couldn't find any clear sealant that would dry flexible at PepBoys, so I decided on just some blue RTV (remembering that even when pulled from a motor, it was 'rubbery' in consistency).

Sealed the back of the case where the wire enters, and also sealed the back casing where it meets the front lense, and I also added a desiccant packet (behind the circuit board) from some shipment I had received some time ago (those little packets they use on camera equipment and computers to keep humidity out - I save those in zip lock bags for just this type of situation).

That SHOULD in theory keep this thing dry at least.

So I remove the old cam and install the new one. Remove the tail light, pull the old cam, install the new one, done!



...then of course, the cheap curse hits, and I find out the FOV of the new cam doesn't match the old one...so the hitch isn't in view.

So with the old cam in hand and cursing myself for not getting the specs of the original cam before buying the new one, and trying to figure out how to make it work in the same location and then realizing I needed to make a new bracket:



With the old cam in hand, I realized that it might actually fit in the opening of the hatch handle:



So this afternoon I decided to see if this would work or not.

Pulled the rear hatch trim off (six bolts from the inside, I didn't take pics since you guys can find them on a bunch of other posts). I was able to open the green clip on the handle to disengage the handle, and temporarily removed the cable sheath mount from the driver side cable that runs to the driver side hatch release, and the black outside trim came loose. I was able to twist it to remove it from the lock clip as not to break the clip (take the right side of the trim and lift it up so the trim is vertical, then twist it clockwise and it can come off the lock rod).

No need to remove the center latch assembly or anything else.

Once off, I found the cable can come through the trim on the right opening for the latch handle:



...won't rub or tear up the cable.

The handle closes fully, but does rest against the camera body. Time will tell if the vibrations damage the camera at all.



Back at the work bench, placed the camera:



Drilled through and mounted the cam using the same 2 bolts from the old camera mount:



Yes, the camera is off center, so any alignment lines won't work...plus this type of cam will actually be upside-down, so your monitor needs to be able to flip the image. Had I thought of this, I'd have found one without any alignment lines, but hey - I use it only to hitch up and it's easy to ignore.

Back at the truck, cables routed through the same hole in the hatch that the handle rod goes through:



Image from the inside:



There is plenty of room so don't worry about the cable getting in the way of the rods or other wiring.

I did need an extension cable (shortest I could find was 15ft)...way too much cable. I also needed a female/female RCA adapter...even thought they sell the extension cables as EXTENSION cables, they put male connectors both sides of the video side...the electrical side is an actual extension with male on one end, female on the other.


Zip tied the excess and tucked it in the hatch behind the lock tumbler area:



Plenty of area back there, just zip tie it to keep it from getting too close to the lock arm.

Ran the wire behind the driver side trim and connected it to the old power and video-to-monitor leads:



Now the old out-of-place camera is gone:



...I have a much more discreet camera:









and I have a tight shot of the hitch:



...the lines are generated at the camera, and because it's a) a cheap camera and b) off-center, the image is not as centered as the old one, but is more than good enough to let me hitch up solo at night. The two 'arcs' on the bottom is the bumper itself, so a regular hitch would be easily seen by this camera.

 

Cool beans, I just ordered one that flush mounts and I'm going to mount it through my license plate

 

Question for you guys, are the wireless backup cameras any good? I would like to be able to move the back up camera from my Excursion, to the back of my camper.

 

I have a eBay special wireless one installed on my 2005 F350 it flickers sometimes when it comes on as I back up of course but overall been very pleased. It's been in the snow and rain without any water proofing and almost 8 months now at $45 I believe and still works. Mine came with camera all the wiring and LCD display for dash or wherever you want to mount it. I will say the monitor is not the best quality as far as mounting goes but overall I'm happy. I'll look up my eBay purchase if anyone is interested and I'll let you know who I ordered it from.

Mine is mounted to license plate.

 

Your success here will depend on the wireless camera quality and how long the camper is, many of the wireless cameras (even the decent ones) do not have a strong enough signal (without a signal booster) to send the image far enough to go from rear of TT to dashboard.

 

Nice install.

Yep too bad on the centering.

I had the wireless camera unit on the X about 2 years before it water logged. It did flicker a bit.

Replaced just the camera since, now a good 5 years and still going strong, and now seeing image in the dash Kenwood.

 

Don't be cheap. I'm going to replace my Amazon one. Compared to the resolution and quality of picture of a new vehicle, it is pitiful. They all do the fisheye approach. However if the picture is not crisp enough at the furthest part of the image, it seriously reduces its effectiveness. Make sure you see and actual screen shot before you buy...if possible. I purchased an Esky 180 degree high definition ccd camera with 8 LEDs--not happy with it-it was $50 FWIW

 

I have the remote one and it is fine for several years now. Now that we have a dbl din radio,dvd screen i would like to rig it to that.