Testing update - Rear view camera

[Gregular]

Just having a break and thought I'd upload some photos of the rear view cam in action.

Everything is very much loosely installed at the mo and I don't have my tail tidy yet so it's making it kinda hard to decide where the camera goes - maybe drill a hole just above the number plate (but then the white led number plate light might interfere) or mount just below the middle led strip that I installed, but that might not be high enough. Hard to say yet, I get the feeling that if mounted at the bottom of the number plate it would wobble too much.
Will have to wait on that I guess, but good news is the screen fits nicely between the cluster and a double bubble screen

and the camera has night vision, it has a ring of infra red leds that look well cool at night
Still needs some adjustment though and there may be a fault on the camera as there's some haze on the left that's deffo from the camera as you can rotate the view on the screen and the haze moves with the rotation
Last 2 pics are without the lash as that interfered with the night shots.

[OldGuy]

That is amazing Greg - going for the James Bond 007 bike are we?

[Gregular]

maybe lol, that 6 month wait for my bike burnt a serious hole in my pocket

The rear view camera part is just a scam to get lower insurance, the screen has a wired composite input that I'm gonna be using for on route entertainment

I'm just jokin, though the features that the screen has like extra inputs/rotation/4 wireless channels and more are pretty cool

[Trozza]

Geezzz, that looks good. I'm doing it for sure!! My shoulders suck and as a result I can't see much in the rear view mirrors.

Where did you get the screen from and is it waterproof/water resistant?

[Gregular]

Originally Posted by Trozza

Geezzz, that looks good. I'm doing it for sure!! My shoulders suck and as a result I can't see much in the rear view mirrors.

Where did you get the screen from and is it waterproof/water resistant?

Well I'd hang 10 for now.
All is not as peachy as it seems and I need to iron out a few crinkles

The camera supplied has some haze on the left part of the image, this remains day or night vision and is bad enough for me that I will be seeking a replacement or refund for the whole lot. I'm hoping that this is just a defect of the camera that came supplied.

The flexible bracket supplied has a very poor mount for the screen and screams 'Temporary install. Please steal me' ..... But not to worry on this score, you can't use that to mount the screen where I want to - above the cluster. I'm gonna fab up a bracket that makes it fit snugly in there and makes it a permanent install and look like a permanent install.

It's not waterproof, there are vent holes at the bottom (nothing to worry about unless submerging), the buttons aren't sealed (but the positions of buttons are memorised so if I turn my bike off with screen on, when I start the bike later on, the screen comes on. So once its setup I won't need to press buttons that much and I'm going to cover these buttons in some clear silicon which should be flexible enough to allow continued use and be waterproof). Plus the positioning under the double bubble should mean it doesn't get that wet anyways.

But it's not all bad. The screen image is very good and its easy to pick out small objects on it with a cursory glance. Traffic should be real easy to quickly spot. Will have to wait to see what its like for real on the road though.

The screen also has plenty of adjustments for brightness/contrast/rotation has a wired video input socket

The screen can support up to 4 wireless cameras which I think is really cool. For example if I lived in a slightly rougher part of town and had to park in an alley that had recently been used for muggings/assault/theft, I could have a 2nd wireless cam installed at the end of my alley and switch to that camera as I was pulling up to make sure it was safe and clear. This is just speculation for now, I have not tested what the range of the camera is yet. But there is potential for a garage cam/alley cam/see if the folks are in cam lol

But I'm just waiting now, any more work requires modding it and I can't do that if I have to return it. Until I get to talk to the supplier tomorrow, I can't do any more

[Sailariel]

Greg, That looks like it has the potential for a real breakthrough in sport bikes. Rear view mirrors just don`t make it. I got some mirrors for the ZX10R and they are a small improvement. I still have to rely on blind spot mirrors. Your setup looks like the answer.

[Trozza]

Originally Posted by Gregular

Well I'd hang 10 for now.
Plus the positioning under the double bubble

Yeah, I just cut out a mock piece of paper for a 3.5" screen, and I can't figure out where to put it with a OEM screen in place. Might have to get a double bubble as well.. But I'll hold off until you get yours sorted.. Iron out the kinks so to speak.

[Gregular]

Originally Posted by Trozza

Yeah, I just cut out a mock piece of paper for a 3.5" screen, and I can't figure out where to put it with a OEM screen in place. Might have to get a double bubble as well.. But I'll hold off until you get yours sorted.. Iron out the kinks so to speak.

Sounds like a damn fine excuse to invest in a double bubble

Ok, so progress has been made

I managed to contact the supplier once. I'm not overly impressed with their service really - no phone number to contact them on and they churn out 1 email reply a day it seems and the reply kinda made the assumption that there was nothing wrong with the camera even though he'd looked at pictures I emailed him.
Maybe my impatience is starting to grow, I'm fed up waiting now and when things don't work right I want to be able to talk to someone and get the ball moving.

So anyhow..... down to the problem - the haze or whiting out on one side turns out to be a reflection of the LEDs off the lens cover.
Take the waterproof lens cover off and hey presto! We got a mighty fine picture. And the reason it's on one side is cause the camera is not perfectly in the middle of the housing.
Whilst I waited hours for the guy to reply to me I tried to fix it.

Toyed at first with just leaving the cover off and putting some silicon on the circuit board and to cover the holes - this is still an option really but doesn't look so clean (plus I wasn't sure at the time if I was gonna be returning it so couldn't experiment too much)

Desoldered the wiring to the circuit board. No more LEDs - no more night vision but no more glare and the camera can remain in the housing. This is still an option too as the nightvision in use on the roads could be pants and pointless. Dunno yet.

Looked at creating a better seal between the lens cover and spent hours adjusting the circuit board position and trying to use various packing materials to push the foam (the little ring of foam is what's used as standard to stop the glare) up against the lens cover better. To cut a long story short, rubber washers are great

So here's a pic of the camera partly assembled. I've removed all the stock packing material



Here's a pic of the washers I used, sorry dont know the sizes (but they are very snug fits around that central pillar), I just raided one of my 'useful parts bins' and came up with them



So with my tail tidy in place (arrived today ) I marked up with a ruler where my license plate would finish and then started to place the camera with masking tape and experiment.

I'm trying to keep the camera in the middle (not off to one side) and the best 2 positions I've come up with so far are

at the back but I do end up with a tiny bit of license plate at the top and a tiny bit of hugger at the bottom.



On top of the hugger, but it looks a little bit exposed there - like when it's parked up, I'm just thinking of vandalism or theft really. And there's still the power cable to run and it's not so easy to hide from there.



Any thoughts/suggestions on placement would be gladly received

And here's another shot of the console end (the monitor is showing a good image, just when I take a shot, it looks crap)



So here is the site I got the package from. The product does work and does require some tinkering - mount brackets are flimsy and no good for mounting above cluster, camera has glare problems that can be fixed, screen is not waterproof (but can be made so)

the image is good, but in use on the road I cannot say yet
I do not know if the nightvision is any good either yet

and customer service is not the best in terms of contactability

http://www.4kam.com/bikeeye_wireless...iew_camera.htm

More to come

[Trozza]

Out of those two positions I think the one higher up would be best, like you said if its sitting on the hugger its going to be easily seen and it will increase your chances of it being stolen.

Would it get much dirt chucked onto it in that position?

[Gregular]

Ok, DIY is coming this weekend so gonna start a new thread.
It will have everything except for a ride review as my bike is still on its stand for probably another week.

Gonna leave you with this little teaser

[Trozza]

That looks good.... Looking forward to the DIY

[headshrink]

Fantastic!

[Gregular]

Originally Posted by Gregular

Ok, DIY is coming this weekend so gonna start a new thread.
It will have everything except for a ride review as my bike is still on its stand for probably another week.

DIY is still due the weekends gone and time has flown by so fast. Any spare time has been spent on my lightning kit from tapeworks and once I started experimenting with it, I couldn't stop.

DIY for the camera is still coming, as is the completion of the mirrors DIY and and the crash protectors DIY.
I just got real carried away with working out how to place the kit, it's so freakin cool!! Sorry

[islanderman7]

This looks nice. Maybe in the summer I can afford this.

On a side note, you got some serious mods for only 2 miles.

[Gregular]

Originally Posted by islanderman7

This looks nice. Maybe in the summer I can afford this.

On a side note, you got some serious mods for only 2 miles.

I know, I know. I'm itching to get her on the road.
The wait for the bike to arrive killed me. I read all the forums and each month I couldn't help substituting my lack of bike with an upgrade.

But it's no biggie, I worked hard at school, got good grades, got a good job that pays well and generally have a fairly awesome life. I'm no millionaire lol but there's not much I'd change in it either. I try to live an honourable life and so far karma is treating me well

So with that said, I reckon it's ok to treat myself every now and then and hand on heart, even though she only has 2 on the clock, I have a huge grin on my face every morning I wake up and have a quick sneak peak in the garage before I make my way to work.

DIY's are still on route, just gotta finish it all first

[islanderman7]

Originally Posted by Gregular

But it's no biggie, I worked hard at school, got good grades, got a good job that pays well and generally have a fairly awesome life. I'm no millionaire lol but there's not much I'd change in it either. I try to live an honourable life and so far karma is treating me well

So with that said, I reckon it's ok to treat myself every now and then and hand on heart, even though she only has 2 on the clock, I have a huge grin on my face every morning I wake up and have a quick sneak peak in the garage before I make my way to work.

Haha, were in the same boat. But I just graduated last year and awaiting to get into Grad school next year.

I too find myself having a sneak peak more than I used to now that my bike is not working.

Be safe if this is your first bike.

[kkim]

Originally Posted by islanderman7

I too find myself having a sneak peak more than I used to now that my bike is not working.

yikes... is there a story behind that?

[islanderman7]

Originally Posted by kkim

yikes... is there a story behind that?

Oh sorry, its not that serious. Remember my frayed clutch cable story? Still haven't been able to repair it.

I didn't realize that it would take 2 weeks to get a part from CheapCycleParts because most OEM parts they have listed they do not carry on hand. So it takes 3-5 business days to get it shipped to CCP warehouse, then another 3-5 business days to get to me.

[kkim]

whew!

as an aside, I've ordered stuff from bikebandit and though they may be a few dollars more, I received my parts within a week to my mailbox. something to consider the next time you need parts in a hurry.

[snoopy07]

Hi, nice job, but I think there will have mud on your camera at this place...

[Sailariel]

Greg, The spot on top of the hugger seems to be a good one. Have you thought of getting a small fog/bullet light and putting the camera inside. You can always find a glass shop that could cut you a lens out of glare-proof glass. It would fool thieves and would protect the camera as well. If you look at my avatar, you will see an example of such a light.

[thebulbousone]

i was just at advanced auto parts and they have a waterproof,wireless 2.5" color screen back-up camera on sale for $79.99. its made by peak (the same people that make the anti-freeze) and looked pretty cool. think this might work?

[headshrink]

How did you mount the monitor? I am interested in mounting a GPS in the same position.

[sometimesido]

I just found this. Cool stuff!
Hmm.. wondering if you could use a MPC(size of a playstation portable) with some kind of OS to run a camera, video recorder, GPS, media player, bluetooth, wifi, SSD or 16gb flash memory in a waterproof case...
Anyone?