I've always felt bad for companies that have to supply to the big stores like HD, or Wal-Mart. I had a former customer who used to be a clothing supplier for a huge sporting goods store. Lets call them Crabellas. Crabelas asked for their clothing to be wholesaled on a tier system as in tier 1 would put crabellas making 100% profit on the item. Tier 7 would be 700%. Every year they would come back to him and ask him to lower his prices so that they could move to the next tier without raising prices for the consumer. Long story short, he couldn't make it at tier 12 and Crabelas now gets there crap from overseas instead of Made in the USA. It's a shame that this crap happens all over the place.

 

Here's one to check out? (I'm having trouble finding any ordering info, the site appears to be slow or down?)

Unisee 800B Multi Camera System

 

I have to laugh a little bit about a self proclaimed "old guy" embracing technology (I believe in your only old as you feel and act) while I as a 34 year old whippersnapper dislikes this technology, it seems rather counterintuitive. I currently can back my 35ft GN flatbed with a load that requires oversized load signs into literally anywhere but give me a few years and I may possibly be seeing things the same way you do.... The maintenance cost and reliability are currently my biggest concerns because I can't afford a new truck every few years.

 

Who you callin' old? LOL

Backing in and positioning your camper is pretty serious stuff. I usually have 7-10 days to find faults with where and how I positioned it

Granted, that is from a lounge chair, watching the kids roast something over the campfire, so there is 'balance'

At 52ft combined (a little more if I extend and use the rear rack), and with the turning radius of the Excursion, I anticipate some pretty tight maneuvers. I'm good with those, just gotta "see" what is back there.

This is a new camper and the wheels are set differently. Gotta get used to it.

Speaking of high tech, I just ordered a set of Anderson Levelers. Simplifies leveling the camper.

After I get the backup camera installed, I'll be able to back up to the hitch, use my remote controlled electric jack, and hitch up as a one-man show

Eliminate stress and keep the Mrs happy. Keys to long life...or at least avoiding the premature ending of it in your sleep LOL.

 

8 Cameras, eh? That is total overkill with the cameras of today. I have some cameras at work with insanely wide fields of view, but they don't have that fish eye look to them (where everything looks all bendy). With decent cameras and lenses (not expensive, though), you can see everything you need for backing with 3 cameras, plus a backup camera on the Excursion can watch for a jacknife. My boat has a radar arch, with a less-obstructed field of view out the back. One single camera mounted up there is all I need for an overview of the whole rear of the boat.

 

I'm looking at quad systems for our use.

1- rear of camper
1- left side near front, looking down the side of camper
1- right side near front, looking down the side of camper
1- rear of Excursion to see hitch and rear areas

It is irritating the daylights out of me that the costs are so high with the quality of the "wireless" connections so low.

If I still had R&D resources, I'd spend 30 days putting together something really nice to bring to market...

But I guess I'll be stuck trying to get someone else's stuff to kludge together, or risk WAY overspending for a very simple function

Oh well...at least my fridge cooling unit will be here today and it's supposed to be nice weather. Another round of flu in our house these past few days, I've been bouncing off the walls

 

Side note: I looked into the fridge thing and mine is a 12 VDC/120 VAC system. It does not have the hazards of the Gas/120V systems we discussed the other day. The 12V fridges also far outlast the life span of the units found in "land yachts" - but they are small.

I still think your best option with the products of today is to install a low-cost DVR (that uses 12 volts for power) and find the smallest/cheapest cameras you can find with a minimum IP67 rating. It's tempting to avoid that IP67 or more rating because of cost, but towing your trailer in a hard-driving rain will leave you feeling better about those cameras covering their own butts. Once you have the DVR, it's a simple matter of networking it with a WiFi switch (also 12 volts) you would want in your camper anyway. Your tablet could then log onto the camper network and you have full access to your camera system.

One drawback: This system means wires reach the cameras, but guess what... the cameras need wired power anyway - unless you buy those self-contained WiFi cameras with a Limited battery life. The Siamese cables that frequently come with cameras are a good way to wire the cameras, but the ends need weatherproofing. I have a backup camera (BOYO VTL425HD HD) on Stinky that came with waterproofing for the connections to the Siamese camera cables.

I have seen a few ads for backup camera systems with 4 cameras, but I have trepidations. Anytime I see the claim of "up to xyz feet range" on a wireless anything, I know that is in a laboratory environment for the sake of bragging rights. Cut that number in half, and that is your realistic range for a reliable image - but you can get unreliable images up to about 3/4 of the advertised range. This is where the DVR and Wireless switch rules - improved range to the other vehicle, in part because of the location of the wireless switch (as far forward as possible).

 

Your comment about the 12v refrigerator, Rich, made me recall an incident with one of the brilliant Instrumentation Controls Engineers with whom I used to work with in Texas. He got this brilliant idea to get a 12v cooler for his truck so he could have a cold one in the parking lot right after work every day, and not have wait until he could stop by the bait/convenient shop two miles down the road on his way home.

Some of you may already know where this is going.

Day 1 after install... He's all excited and can't stop talking about what will be waiting for him in the parking lot after he logs out and gets through the security gate. We hear about it ALL day long!

Day 2... early morning as we all get in... so there's no way to avoid asking him if he enjoyed his "cold one", and was it really really cold enough to enjoy. His answer was, "Yes, I enjoyed it very much!" And yes again, it was really cold. BUT... I had to wait around for twenty minutes to find someone to jump off my truck because that darned cooler drained my battery down!"

Day 3 and forward... we never hear about the cooler again!

 

He should have got a YETE, mine will keep ice for 4-5 days.

 

I keep an ice chest in my vehicle with those blue ice blocks. My cooler is big enough for 6 beverage, the ice thingy, and my lunch on top... and it doesn't drain the battery while keeping my beverages cold dawn to dusk in the summer. My kit is cheaper than a 12V fridge.

Can't wait two miles? Sank that much money into his goal? Cold one in the parking lot before driving off? All he can talk about all day? Ominous clues of an underlying issue.

 

Well, as I'm sure you already know, Rich, some of those Process Control Engineers can be really weird birds. Understand that I'm not saying that you're one of them by any means, Rich, but in your line of work, I'm sure that you've run across them yourself.

 

It's "weird" only if there is no alcohol in the cold one. Another word comes to mind in the other case. I've winked about as hard as I can here.

 

I know, Rich. The rest of us laughed at his "brilliance" for days, and our boss even threatened to demote him from Sr. Process Control Engineer to Summer Intern... he should've KNOWN better!

 

He should've put the battery in the fridge. Hear, they last longer

 

Unfortunately, I have to admit I am part of this embarrassing generation, as I am 20 years old. I am proud to say that I am nothing like the vast majority of them though. I have owned 4 trucks in my life, and all four had crank windows, manual locks, and 3 of them were manual. The truck that was automatic, I actually converted to manual.

I can park my F450 in spots most people would never consider putting a sedan, and to the amazement of all my friends, I usually do it with my mirrors. I can operate machinery, and I actually have a backhoe of my own, that I purchased myself. When I bought it it did not have brakes, and the PO ran it into a tree when he discovered the lack of brakes. He hit the tree so hard, the bottom of the bucket was about 3 inches from the top of the bucket!! The boom had snapped, and was all twisted. I framed it all out, and replaced the broken section of the boom. The bucket was not cost effective to fix, so I bought another.

For work, I do pile driving and dock building. We have barges in the Hudson river, and I can captain the tug boat when needed to move them. We also have a 1971 Lima truck crane, with a conventional boom. Every jobsite the boom must be dissembled, and moved on trailers to the next destination. The booms have ears that slide into one another, with a pin that passes through to hold them together. There is about 1/4 inch of play in the ears, side to side. One time when we were putting it together, I was able to look 35 feet away in the mirror as I backed the trailer up, and slide the ears together. My boss said that in 30 years, he had never seen that. I do believe that was more luck than anything, haha!

A few years ago, I was at my buddies house and his little brother, who was 5-6 at the time climbed into my truck. He asked "whats that?" I laughed and told him it was a window crank! He was amazed that it didn't have a button, he played with it for a good 10 minutes.

My peers disgust me, I am very glad I had the discipline I had... I was hit when I did something wrong and I am a better person because of it. I can also say my incentive to behave as to not get hit, was much more persuasive then having your cell phone, tablet, and video games taken away for an hour.

I hope you fellas know that my generation isn't all bad, only the majority of it