I need to preface this with an admission: I am a tough cookie to please when it comes to electronics. I have high expectations (and often unrealistic) demands. This seemed especially true with the camera system. I spent a lot (read: unreasonable) amount of time researching this. My main concerns were: The wireless signal being strong enough to reach 50+ feet to the truck cab, and that the clarity of the picture would be perfect.
Also before I dig into the cameras we added, it’s worth mentioning the backup camera that came with the truck (in the tailgate). I use it to line up when hitching to the trailer. See this page for adding white spots to make it easier!
I really wanted to have three cameras: Rear view (backup camera), and both sides of the trailer. Yes, it’s overkill. We actually work together really well in backing, so it’s not even that. In part, I want to be able to watch traffic around us. I want to know if someone is in one of the blind spots when I go to change lanes.
You know how you lose sight of the right side of the trailer when backing to the left? I wanted to see both sides of the trailer when backing up, regardless of what angle the trailer was at.
We ended up buying the Haloview RD7 Wireless Max system, though I went back and forth a LOT between that and the RVS wired (RVS-770616-2133-NM-04 ) one. I really didn’t want to run all the wires for the RVS, and I didn’t like the potential for damaging the wires hanging between truck and camper. I loved the idea of a 9″ quad view monitor and the (apparent?) clarity of the RVS system, plus no chance for video lag or cutout. But in the end the wireless was cheaper, easier to install, and with the extension cable that moves the antenna to the front of the camper I thought it was worth trying.
Update: We’ve made several trips with the cameras and I’m not sure how I feel about them. I was sure I would love them and use them all the time. They are helpful, I’m just not sure in retrospect they were worth the money. Most often, I use them for backing and I show the three cameras (two sides and a rear) all on the monitor at once. It’s really nice being able to do that instead of cycling through them, but then of course each camera picture is smaller on screen to fit them all. I can pretty much back the trailer without a spotter now if I wanted to but we try never to do that – too dangerous!
I think what might be perfect for me is higher resolution cameras, combined with a few push buttons to quickly change views (one for each camera, one to split the view).
Moving the side cameras up towards the top of the trailer helped a lot, I just don’t have the view(s) I was hoping for.
I used the included adapter to install it in the Furrion mount. It took me several tries to get the right order of wiring, because I wanted all the short(ish) adapter pieces inside the RV wall, so that only the single transmitter wire was outside/exposed (both for weather and aesthetic reasons). I also used white Plastidip to hide the wire a little more in the space it runs from camera to roof. I see now that the RV is nowhere near as white as I thought it was! Brenda is likely going to roll her eyes at that – she has been (correctly) telling me it is straight gray since the day we bought it. =)
I added their 8m cable extension to the package so I could route the rear camera transmitter cable along the underside of the RV instead of the top.
The red arrows point to where I ran the rear camera wire down the side of the trailer. This wire is how Haloview relocates the antenna for the rear camera all the way at the front of the trailer to lower signal loss and delays. They include adhesive thingies to run it across the roof, but I preferred to have it tucked up underneath the trailer instead.
This is the antenna transmitter for the rear camera. I used the double sided adhesive pad (included), along with zip ties to mount it on the hitch.
Original mount point for the side cameras. Yes, I am aware that I mounted it on a funky angle. I hated the look of it, but I did that to capture both the bottom and top edges of the trailer. In the end, I still couldn’t see the tires well enough, and this up-angle was really bad when the sun was out.
The new camera location. I moved both up high, with a downward angle and leveraging a custom bracket to move it outwards. I still need something to mark the tire locations for me so I can see my pivot point!
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