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Backup cam in 3rd brake light with dual monitor rearview mirror
First of all, hi! I am a new member, but not at all new to forums.
I tow a lot of different gooseneck trailers and I hate getting in and out to look at the ball. After a lot of looking and finding nothing that I liked, I decided that I had to come up with something. I really wanted a centered camera, which meant 3rd brake light. I did find one, for $400. I figured I could do a little better and have some fun.
I went to that big auction site that starts with a lowercase e, and started looking for cameras. The only ones I could find that were surface mount are meant to be installed upside down under a bumper. I did notice that there were four screws on the back. At a cost of $10 I figured I blow that each week, so why not? I bought one from China and took it apart and the cam is held in place by two spots of hot glue. I popped those off and rotated the camera 180° and hot glued it back in and rtv'd it.
Next I needed a 3rd brake light with enough room to mount the camera. I found a led job for $25. When I got it, the led"s are held in place by two screws. I removed those and the light bar came off. I cut a hole in the bottom to route the wire and to be able tighten the 10mm nut that holds the camera wherever you mount it. A 5/16" hole in the lens and I was able to assemble everything. Some more rtv went around the outside.
The mirror is from rearview safety.com. It has two 4.3" displays. It also supports up to 4 cameras. It also has a reverse trigger so one or two select cameras come on when the truck is in reverse. While driving, you can cycle through the displays. This is particularly important to me as it gives me a quick visible check of chains, coupler, etc.
As for the actual install. Overall, it's not hard, tedious but not hard. The headliner has to come down. That entails a lot. All trim, the back seat, sunroof trim ring, grab handles, lights, and visors. I got picked up power, reverse trigger and the factory camera feed from the factory mirror connection. This had to be carefully cut away from the headliner where it was glued in. I pulled it back to the passengers side windshield. All my connections were made behind the grab handle. This way I can pull off one thing and get to everything. As the mirror supports four inputs, I might add two more cameras.
I found some RCA connectors that use set screw terminals. This made the video connection from the factory camera easy. I wrapped all the cable and connections in foil tape to cut down on interference. My factory camera was not great to begin with, so I expected a little fuzzy image. It worked out better than I thought it would. The China cam has a great image.
The one issue I have is that the factory camera has guide lines, and so does the mirror. So for the bumper hitch, I have two sets of guidelines. No real problem, I can still see the hitch clearly.
And lastly, I mounted a capacitor (not battery) dashcam under the mirror.
Nice job, looks great, and welcome to the site! I have not seen the dual screen mirrors before, has me thinking........
We don't have any issues with posting links to the various parts, personally I encouraged direct links to products that are working well for other users, it helps other find the exact stuff that has been proven to work!
Not sure what part you are referring to, so here's all of it.
I cut the factory wiring loose from the glue o. The headliner and took it back to the right front pillar (windshield). I cut the factory plug loose there and got the video input from the factory tailgate latch cam. I also picked up the reverse trigger, power and ground.
The brake light cam I routed through the factory routee in the cab frame. This was easy since the headliner was down. That wire again went to the front pillar.
Power in that harness is switched from the key, and since I wanted my dashcam to come on when the key is on, I got power from it there. I have a bench top DC supply and during testing the backup cam, dash cam and mirror, they only pull 1.2amps. I think the factory mirror fuse is 2amps, so no worries there. As a side note the dash cam is a capacitor and not a battery. It is made to come on and off with the key. One less button to push.
All connections are behind that one piece of trim (right side grab handle). This way, if I ever need to access it, it is easy. The mirror supports up to four inputs, so I might add two more cams in the future.
Nice job. Reputation points sent to you. (Justice scale icon in upper right hand of post, for those who don't know). And Welcome to FTE!
I'm subscribing to this thread, and want to know more details, like part numbers for the mirror monitor, the camera that you modified, the 3rd brake light, the capacitor dash cam, all of it... a complete write up!
Also, can you post a pic of the third brake light illuminated, so we can see how it looks with the camera in the way of it?
cargo lights in daytime and then brake lights. There are three separate LED lights for the brake, I only covered up the middle. My wife says it is very very visible at night
when she is behind me.
Dashcam: Spy Tec G1W-CB Black Capacitor Edition Dash Camera| Full HD 1080P H.264 Car DVR
Various sources. I used Ebay, but make sure it is a BlackBox product. There are a lot of counterfeits out there. Though light, the black box feels like it is rigid metal covered in plastic. The counterfeits are all cheap feeling plastic.
Here is the direct link: G1W-CB 1080P HD Car Dash Camera /w Capacitor
Backup Camera: There are tons of these on ebay. And after two orders (my truck and wife's car) I think they are all the same. $10 seems to be the normal cost. I only got the cheap ones, and they seem to be great. Just re-seal them good with RTV and take your time and do it right. 170 Balck Anti Fog IP68 Backup Night Vision Car Vehicle Rear View Parking Camera | eBay
As far as a write up, I will anwser any specific questions. I think I covered it pretty well in the initial post. Attached is the only wiring diagram I needed. It is the mirror plug. I made all my connections for the factory cam from it.(screen shot off my phone, sorry for volume bar)
All you would need is a simple"y" splitter. The Ford cams and the aftermarket all use NTSC. It is a simple two wire system that is standard for everything from computer displays, to TV's to security cams. With the small wired in the factory harness and the low power output coming from the cam, I would not split it more than once. Ford is not going to use more expensive copper for a wire larger than it needs to be.
From experience, I can assure you, you can split the signal once with no loss in image quality. Be sure you tape the connections with foil tape to prevent interference and to make sure they stay together.
love the install!! been tossing around ideas for a multi-camera setup on my dually, and i like this a lot, especially your mounting location. i haven't read through the whole thread yet, but i will shortly, i wanted to at least post so i subscribe to it in case i need to read it later.
Here is a good pic that illustrates why I wanted to do this. I am safely rolling about 5mph on an empty road so I can take a good safe pic, but I can hit one button and visually satisfy myself that everything is good. The larger 4.3" screen over the factory 2" is a great improvement. Hooking up was a much smoother experience.
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