OT reversing cameras.
 

In article ,
Richard Brooks wrote:
Maybe 45 years ago my old man had something that fascinated me as he
parked his (?) large American/Canadian version of the Morris Traveller
at night, a big thing it was.

Anyway, it had a feature which picked up the illuminaton from the rear
reversing lights off of surfaces behind the vehicle and pre-dated
fibre optic of course, so that said, maybe you could use a fibre optic
bundle facing rearwards, the ends coming out on the dashboard? The
closer you get the more it glows.

Sensors which bleep faster the closer you get to an obstacle sound rather
easier - and kits are available for cars not so fitted for not a lot.

--
*I started out with nothing... and I still have most of it.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

OT reversing cameras.
 

On 7 Dec, 16:45, Colin Stamp wrote:
On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 11:58:01 -0000, "R. Mark Clayton"

wrote:
Over ten years ago I bought a little black and white camera for my PC.

Low resolution (but adequate for reversing), wide angle and small.

The software automatically adjusted white balance, and I made the surprising
discovery that it would produce a daylight type image of the completely dark
garden opposite. *Within a few seconds it would clearly show details that I
could not see after minutes of dark adaptation.

That's interesting. One thought I had was to try to find a very
sensitive camera and fit that looking down from inside the back window
at the top. It'd certainly make fitting a lot easier if it could see
through the crummy privacy glass. Maybe that's a real possibility
then.

Cheers,

Colin.

--
Threre's a spam-trap on my return address, just in case you hadn't noticed...

That's exactly what I've done. Has to be an Estate type car with a
tailgate though. I fitted it at the top and inside the tailgate angled
downwards so that it also gives me a view of my towbar. Be aware that
the sensitivity of the camera has to be offset against the increased
graininess of the picture.

OT reversing cameras.
 

David wrote:


"Colin Stamp" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Sorry about the blatant OT post, but I'm sure a load of TV type people
will know all about video cameras...

Have you driven a car with a rear view camera picture?
My Nissan has the feature as standard I just can't get used to it and do
not look at it, just use my mirrors. It may well be me but you might
consider if an aid to you before going a head particulary as you going
to put holes in your car.

Thought the reversing camera on my Prius was a gimmick. But now I've
got used to using it I can't imagine being without it. Solihull
Morrison's car park with the strategically placed, middle of the bumper,
just high enough to hit it, concrete posts hold no fears for me now! (I
reverse in as there's a path between the rows of cars actually intended
to allow you to load the boot without wheeling the trolley in the road!)

Surprisingly the lens doesn't get very dirty either.

Richard

OT reversing cameras.
 

"Dickie mint" wrote in message
...
Thought the reversing camera on my Prius was a gimmick. But now I've got
used to using it I can't imagine being without it. Solihull Morrison's
car park with the strategically placed, middle of the bumper, just high
enough to hit it, concrete posts hold no fears for me now! (I reverse in
as there's a path between the rows of cars actually intended to allow you
to load the boot without wheeling the trolley in the road!)

Surprisingly the lens doesn't get very dirty either.

I now feel that larger vehicles are almost undrivable without cameras. They
are a legal requirement in some countries, I believe. Dunno where I heard it
mind you.

Bill

OT reversing cameras.
 

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:08:22 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Colin Stamp wrote:
Plain ol' reversing sensors are much more use.

The car already has sensors front and back, and they're much more
useful than I thought they would be. I'd still find it comforting to
be able to see where I'm going though. There's also the worrying
number of back bumpers I see around sporting both sensors and dents.

Having sensors or cameras don't stop others bashing your car. A decent
towbar helps, though.

I can also confirm that no one has dented my rear bumper since fitting
a tow bar.

Marky P.

OT reversing cameras.
 

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:00:29 +0000, Marky P
wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:08:22 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Colin Stamp wrote:
Plain ol' reversing sensors are much more use.

The car already has sensors front and back, and they're much more
useful than I thought they would be. I'd still find it comforting to
be able to see where I'm going though. There's also the worrying
number of back bumpers I see around sporting both sensors and dents.

Having sensors or cameras don't stop others bashing your car. A decent
towbar helps, though.

I can also confirm that no one has dented my rear bumper since fitting
a tow bar.

Marky P.

Actually, that made me think. How well do reverse sensors work when
you have a tow bar? Can they be re-adjusted or is it not a problem?

Marky P.

OT reversing cameras.
 

On Mon, 8 Dec 2008 02:21:36 -0800 (PST), g6zru
wrote:

On 7 Dec, 16:45, Colin Stamp wrote:
On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 11:58:01 -0000, "R. Mark Clayton"

wrote:
Over ten years ago I bought a little black and white camera for my PC.

Low resolution (but adequate for reversing), wide angle and small.

The software automatically adjusted white balance, and I made the surprising
discovery that it would produce a daylight type image of the completely dark
garden opposite. *Within a few seconds it would clearly show details that I
could not see after minutes of dark adaptation.

That's interesting. One thought I had was to try to find a very
sensitive camera and fit that looking down from inside the back window
at the top. It'd certainly make fitting a lot easier if it could see
through the crummy privacy glass. Maybe that's a real possibility
then.

Cheers,

Colin.

--
Threre's a spam-trap on my return address, just in case you hadn't noticed...

That's exactly what I've done. Has to be an Estate type car with a
tailgate though. I fitted it at the top and inside the tailgate angled
downwards so that it also gives me a view of my towbar. Be aware that
the sensitivity of the camera has to be offset against the increased
graininess of the picture.

Mine's a hatchback, so I'm not expecting the view from inside the
window to be much better than the one from the driver's seat in
daylight - there'll still be a blind patch below the spoiler. I'm not
too worried about that though since all I'm trying to do is re-gain
the view that the privacy glass robs me of after dark.

I ordered a cheapish low-light camera today, so I'll have a play with
that and see if it really can work at night through my back window.
I'll be testing it with a welding visor.

Thanks again to everyone for all the good advice.

Cheers,

Colin.

--
Threre's a spam-trap on my return address, just in case you hadn't noticed...

OT reversing cameras.
 

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:03:31 +0000, Marky P
wrote:


Actually, that made me think. How well do reverse sensors work when
you have a tow bar? Can they be re-adjusted or is it not a problem?


The OE Ford ones on mine seem go to flatline when the car is still
over a foot from the obstacle, so that should leave plenty of room for
a towbar. I haven't experimented too much though - presumably the
distance is less for thin posts that end-up halfway between two
sensors.

Cheers,

Colin.

--
Threre's a spam-trap on my return address, just in case you hadn't noticed...

OT reversing cameras.
 

On Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:42:50 +0000, Colin Stamp
wrote:

Hi all,

Sorry about the blatant OT post, but I'm sure a load of TV type people
will know all about video cameras...

I'm upgrading the stereo in my new pride-and-joy Mondeo to one of
those fancy double-din navigation thingies. The car has nasty privacy
glass which makes it a real pain to reverse after dark, so I thought
I'd hack a hole in the back bumper and bodge in a reversing camera.
Gaffer tape will no-doubt play a vital role in the installation.

Anyway, the question is, which camera do I get? The aim is to have the
ability to get a reasonable view by the reversing lights alone, so I
guess low-light performance is going to be the main requirement.

A quick Google suggests that CCD cameras have better low-light
performance that CMOS, though the specs quoted for individual cameras
don't seem to tally with that. "Lux" values seem to range from 0.01 to
1 regardless of the sensor type. A lot of the cameras have IR LEDs, so
you don't get a "lux" value at-all for those. Of course, no range or
beam pattern info is given for the IR illumination.

So, would a CMOS camera do, or do I need a CCD one? Do I even need to
go to one of the more specialist black-and-white low-light cameras?
Are the "lux" values meaningful at-all? Are a few IR LEDs anything
like enough to light up a wide-angle camera's field of view
effectively?

And I thought buying the camera would be the easy bit...

Cheers,

Colin.

How will you overcome the problem of the camera becoming covered with
****? You would have to get out of the car to clean it every time you
wanted to reverse
--
Cheers

Peter

OT reversing cameras.
 

"Petert" wrote in message
...
How will you overcome the problem of the camera becoming covered with
****? You would have to get out of the car to clean it every time you
wanted to reverse

This isn't the case. I am involved with four vehicles with reversing cameras
and cleaning the camera glass is a fairly uncommon ocurrance.

Bill