Rear View Cameras
You must have many times felt the inadequacy of the rear view mirrors you have in your car. The large blind spots in the view make the rear view mirrors very dangerous to rely on before changing lanes or making turns. You also need to look into multiple mirrors before you can be reasonably sure about the cars being not in your vicinity. Even with all the rear view mirrors installed, once is often prudent enough to take a quick peek directly before making any turns or changing lanes.
Another shortcoming of the rear view mirrors is when you are moving in the reverse direction, like while coming out of a parking lot or your garage. The field of view right behind the car is not available, even for the smallest cars.
Well, if you have been frustrated with the rear view mirrors, there is a new option available at least for some relief – a rear view camera.
Several manufacturers have launched rear view cameras that can be fitted on almost any car or SUV or truck. Most of these cameras are in fact to assist while going in the reverse direction. These cameras are very small and get mounted on the top edge of the license plate. The rear view cameras have a very wide angle of vision. Therefore, it can literally show you if a child is standing right behind your minivan before you start moving in the reverse. It is a great help for women and people who cannot turn all the way back to see while they drive to go in the reverse direction.
Now since the cameras from these manufacturers are designed to be on only while going in the reverse, we will talk about a way to keep the camera on as long as the car is on, giving a rear view constantly.
Some car manufacturers have finally got the idea to add such a camera as an option. It is surprising why such a good idea of using a rear view camera has not been in use by the car manufactures long back. Obviously cost can be consideration, but I believe all customers would have paid the extra few bucks to get the convenience of an enhanced rear view. Besides, it would be a great marketing point for the car manufacturer too.
Anyway, let us come back to the rear view camera that is available in the market that can be attached to any car. This camera basically has two parts:
1. The camera – that gets mounted on the rear license number plate using the same screws that are used for the license number plate.
2. The monitor screen – that can get mounted on the air conditioner vent or by various other methods.
The camera sends the video information wirelessly to the monitor. The camera, as per the normal design, is connected to the reverse motion lights for power. Therefore, when these lights light up when you switch to the reverse gear, the camera also starts getting the power and starts sending the video signal to the monitor. When the gear is shifted off of from the reverse position, along with the back lights, the camera also shuts off. The monitor in the absence of no signal goes into a sleep mode. It wakes itself up as soon as the vide signal is received again.
If you want to camera to be continuously on, instead of connecting the rear view camera to the back lights, it should be connected to a source that would be on continuously regardless of you turning any lights on or off. This is normally possible only when you connect the camera directly to the battery. For that you would need to run a wire from the junction box close to the battery to the camera mounted at the rear license number plate. This can be complicated and may void any support or warranty from the camera manufacturer.
A rear view camera can be ordered online or bought directly from physical stores for about $70-$100 price range.
