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Does anyone know of a decent tailgate handle camera that will last? I bought the Eway off Amazon and it worked great for about a year and a half, then started to drop out and now it has failed completely, not looking forward to taking everything apart again. This camera has had very little use as my truck sits in the garage mostly except for a couple trips a year to Mexico. The tailgate camera angle is perfect for hitching up so I'd like to stay with a tailgate handle camera. The Eway seller has offered me another one for 1/2 price but I'd rather find one I won't have to replace every couple of years.
I use a license plate frame camera ..... I have had it on for 3yrs now under extremely rough conditions and its still rocking. Has night vision lights too.
FWIW I had an eBay plate camera last about a year and got water intrusion. Replaced with the same and this one has been fine for 9 years. Luck of the draw sometimes I think. I may have added a slight bead of silicone at the seam on the replacement though.
I bought and installed the camera in the image below in 2014. It has been working great since then, but I noticed yesterday while backing up to a trailer I was going to tow that the lens was fogged or dirty. The humidity conditions where I was at were OUT OF CONTROL high! So, I will wait until I have a chance to clean the lens and inspect the housing for moisture intrusion.
I have it installed on the horizontal surface of the rear bumper centered above the rear license plate. It is low enough profile for the tailgate to open and not contact the lens housing, but high enough to give me a good perspective of what is behind me. I am confident that the more birds eye view of the handle camera would be a more useful angle though, so I may consider that option as well. I would need to ensure the wiring to the camera was routed in a way that was conducive to the tailgate and bed being used often and for work.
I bought and installed the camera in the image below in 2014. It has been working great since then, but I noticed yesterday while backing up to a trailer I was going to tow that the lens was fogged or dirty. The humidity conditions where I was at were OUT OF CONTROL high! So, I will wait until I have a chance to clean the lens and inspect the housing for moisture intrusion.
I have it installed on the horizontal surface of the rear bumper centered above the rear license plate. It is low enough profile for the tailgate to open and not contact the lens housing, but high enough to give me a good perspective of what is behind me. I am confident that the more birds eye view of the handle camera would be a more useful angle though, so I may consider that option as well. I would need to ensure the wiring to the camera was routed in a way that was conducive to the tailgate and bed being used often and for work.
Somewhere on here I did a write up showing how I routed and protected the wiring, it's pretty easy to route it alongside one of the hinges out of harms way into the tail light area and cover it with corrugated loom. The handle mounted camera was great for trailer hookups, with it I can back under the ball perfectly first time every time, I can even get it just where I like it which is a tad forward so that when the tongue drops onto the ball it slides forward and makes it real easy to latch down as there is no pressure on the latch at the rear part of the ball that way.
I had a camera on my work van similar to yours and condensation got under the outer lens cover making for a foggy image. I simply broke out the outer lens and figured I run it that way till it died. 5 years later I sold the van and it was still working fine.
Somewhere on here I did a write up showing how I routed and protected the wiring, it's pretty easy to route it alongside one of the hinges out of harms way into the tail light area and cover it with corrugated loom. The handle mounted camera was great for trailer hookups, with it I can back under the ball perfectly first time every time, I can even get it just where I like it which is a tad forward so that when the tongue drops onto the ball it slides forward and makes it real easy to latch down as there is no pressure on the latch at the rear part of the ball that way.
I had a camera on my work van similar to yours and condensation got under the outer lens cover making for a foggy image. I simply broke out the outer lens and figured I run it that way till it died. 5 years later I sold the van and it was still working fine.
This is great information and I thank you sir for your time and effort to explain it to me and other readers. I have added the rear view camera to my "winter maintenance to do list". If that doesn't work, I will seek out your thread on wire routing internal to the tailgate.
I have this one on my '01 and its been working great, got it so I can hook up my boat trailer by myself. I also bought the rear view mirror that has the compass and outside temp with the display for the camera. Highly recommended.
I'd previously bought the emblem camera from this company & couldn't have been happier with it, sharp picture, not too bad in the dark either, which was fine on the later tailgate (2012) I'd fitted to my F350 as it had the central emblem.
So when I got the Fontaine F550 I automatically went for the handle mount camera as there's no emblem on the tailgate, firstly as I have no key I paid extra $$$$$ to have the "without keyhole" option which turned out to be a cheap grommet in the hole......secondly & more importantly the picture is OK but if the sun is shining behind then you can't see a thing & after dark isn't great either, it's just about OK for hitching a trailer.
I'd previously bought the emblem camera from this company & couldn't have been happier with it, sharp picture, not too bad in the dark either, which was fine on the later tailgate (2012) I'd fitted to my F350 as it had the central emblem.
So when I got the Fontaine F550 I automatically went for the handle mount camera as there's no emblem on the tailgate, firstly as I have no key I paid extra $$$$$ to have the "without keyhole" option which turned out to be a cheap grommet in the hole......secondly & more importantly the picture is OK but if the sun is shining behind then you can't see a thing & after dark isn't great either, it's just about OK for hitching a trailer.
I too have noticed some issues with the sun and at night, not much i can do about the sun, but at night i place my DeWalt flashlight on the trailer!
Well I was all set to order the new camera when I decided to take things apart first and double check everything and it looks like I am guilty of badmouthing a product when there was nothing wrong with it. On my initial install I had put the tiny 4 pin connection up behind the tail light to keep it safe and dry, and I wrapped it in some electrical tape. It did stay safe and dry but the electrical tape softened and the connector slightly pulled apart and was not making contact all the time so I cleaned it, applied a dab of dielectric grease and put it back together with a fold of 2" PVC pipe wrap tape to hold it together. I sent an apology to the seller and edited my review with 5 stars. So if you're considering this camera it's still working with a good, sharp image, it will be 2 years old next month.
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. On my initial install I had put the tiny 4 pin connection up behind the tail light to keep it safe and dry, and I wrapped it in some electrical tape. It did stay safe and dry but the electrical tape softened and the connector slightly pulled apart and was not making contact all the time so I cleaned it, applied a dab of dielectric grease and put it back together with a fold of 2" PVC pipe wrap tape to hold it together. I sent an apology to the seller and edited my review with 5 stars. So if you're considering this camera it's still working with a good, sharp image, it will be 2 years old next month.
