Installation of Camera Monitor - Goodbye Axxera!!

[oldgold]

Some people have asked about the monitor we installed in our Challenger. Here is a copy of my post.





I bought everything from www.rearviewsafety.com. Here is the parts list from them. Also you will need 18ga butt connectors.



I tied the power supply into the incoming power wires to the dash fan switch. This makes the screen only power up when the RV is running or in the on position and it was the easiest to steal power from.

Unplug the wiring harness to the dash fans. Crank up the RV and use a volt meter to test which wires are hot. My wires were two of the multi color wires. Make sure you have correct polarity. Turn RV off double check with volt meter to make sure no volts before cutting. Cut wires about a foot away from the switch and tap into them with the power leads on the wiring harness for the screen. Once tied back together, make sure your dash fans still work.

On the back of the Axxera there is a video cable. Follow it backwards till you locate a black box with 4 inputs and one output. This is the video switch box. It is about the size of a deck of cards.

Unplug the 3 video feeds at the ASA connections. Note which ones are CA 1,2,&3. On my unit CA1 was left, CA2 was right and CA3 was rear. You might have to switch them back around if the wires are mislabeled or different. Plug the incoming video feeds into the screen harness using the adapters which are 5 round female to ASA female. At this point you can turn on the screen and make sure your feeds are the correct camera label on screen. Turn it back off.

Next, the 4th cable hitting the switch box is the trigger wire set. Follow it out from the switch box to the backside of a connector plug. There will be multi color wires before the connector and should be labeled CA 1,2,&3 as well. On my unit, the wire colors actually matched the colors on the screen harness. Hopefully they will on all units. Cut these 3 wires. Use a butt connector to attach each of them to their corresponding video trigger wire on the harness.

Power on the screen and TEST, TEST, TEST!!!

The blinkers on the RV should trigger the corresponding side camera. Shifting the RV to reverse should trigger the rear camera.

I unplugged the harness from the screen and then ran the cord thru the hole just above the left corner of the Axxera. This way you don't have to drill thru the dash cap.

Mount the bracket arm. I chose the flat spot just above right of the HDMI port. MAKE SURE THERE IS NOTHING BEHIND IT BEFORE YOU SCREW ON THE BASE!! I installed the screen on the bracket arm with the thumb turn facing down so you can get to it to tighten.

That should be it. Congratulations, you now don't have a crappy Axxera as an issue anymore for video feeds!! Lmao... Let me know if y'all have any questions... I tried to be fairly thorough. I highly suggest looking under the dash before ordering everything. As much as manufacturers switch stuff around, it would be a PITA to get all this stuff and not have the correct adapters, etc.

[CasaLoca]

For those who hesitate to try wiring all that stuff yourself, I found that the Geek Squad at Best Buy was an authorized installer. I bought my gear through Amazon, made an appointment at the local Geek Squad and got it installed. About $300 as I recall. Have had no trouble with it.
Chuck Peck in CasaLoca

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by CasaLoca

For those who hesitate to try wiring all that stuff yourself, I found that the Geek Squad at Best Buy was an authorized installer. I bought my gear through Amazon, made an appointment at the local Geek Squad and got it installed. About $300 as I recall. Have had no trouble with it.
Chuck Peck in CasaLoca

$300 for the install? It's only 2 power wires, 3 signal wires, 3 plug ins for the video feeds. 4 screws to take off the dash cap and a couple screws for the mounting bracket. I need to get in the monitor install business. Mine took about an hour. If I had to do it over again it would be a 20 minute thing.

[CasaLoca]

Mine was basically a from scratch installation. New cameras, new wires end to end, upper dash panel remove and replace. About a three hour job. Sounds like you put a new monitor into an existing system. My old cameras were B&W with poor contrast, now I've got color.
I suppose I could have done it but my dear wife doesn't like me climbing ladders any more. While I have done some power wiring I am intimidated by electronics. So I think I got a good install at a reasonable price.
Chuck Peck in CasaLoca

[halfprice]

Originally Posted by oldgold

Some people have asked about the monitor we installed in our Challenger. Here is a copy of my post.

Attachment 4200

Attachment 4201

I bought everything from www.rearviewsafety.com. Here is the parts list from them. Also you will need 18ga butt connectors.

Attachment 4202

I tied the power supply into the incoming power wires to the dash fan switch. This makes the screen only power up when the RV is running or in the on position and it was the easiest to steal power from.

Unplug the wiring harness to the dash fans. Crank up the RV and use a volt meter to test which wires are hot. My wires were two of the multi color wires. Make sure you have correct polarity. Turn RV off double check with volt meter to make sure no volts before cutting. Cut wires about a foot away from the switch and tap into them with the power leads on the wiring harness for the screen. Once tied back together, make sure your dash fans still work.

On the back of the Axxera there is a video cable. Follow it backwards till you locate a black box with 4 inputs and one output. This is the video switch box. It is about the size of a deck of cards.

Unplug the 3 video feeds at the ASA connections. Note which ones are CA 1,2,&3. On my unit CA1 was left, CA2 was right and CA3 was rear. You might have to switch them back around if the wires are mislabeled or different. Plug the incoming video feeds into the screen harness using the adapters which are 5 round female to ASA female. At this point you can turn on the screen and make sure your feeds are the correct camera label on screen. Turn it back off.

Next, the 4th cable hitting the switch box is the trigger wire set. Follow it out from the switch box to the backside of a connector plug. There will be multi color wires before the connector and should be labeled CA 1,2,&3 as well. On my unit, the wire colors actually matched the colors on the screen harness. Hopefully they will on all units. Cut these 3 wires. Use a butt connector to attach each of them to their corresponding video trigger wire on the harness.

Power on the screen and TEST, TEST, TEST!!!

The blinkers on the RV should trigger the corresponding side camera. Shifting the RV to reverse should trigger the rear camera.

I unplugged the harness from the screen and then ran the cord thru the hole just above the left corner of the Axxera. This way you don't have to drill thru the dash cap.

Mount the bracket arm. I chose the flat spot just above right of the HDMI port. MAKE SURE THERE IS NOTHING BEHIND IT BEFORE YOU SCREW ON THE BASE!! I installed the screen on the bracket arm with the thumb turn facing down so you can get to it to tighten.

That should be it. Congratulations, you now don't have a crappy Axxera as an issue anymore for video feeds!! Lmao... Let me know if y'all have any questions... I tried to be fairly thorough. I highly suggest looking under the dash before ordering everything. As much as manufacturers switch stuff around, it would be a PITA to get all this stuff and not have the correct adapters, etc.

Attachment 4203

Attachment 4204

I'm thinking about adding this to the Hurricane 29M. If you have time can you take a few pics of how it is mounted, the mounting bracket. Your dash is different than mine so I think I'll have to drill into the dash to get the wires hooked up.

Thanks

Jerry

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by halfprice

I'm thinking about adding this to the Hurricane 29M. If you have time can you take a few pics of how it is mounted, the mounting bracket. Your dash is different than mine so I think I'll have to drill into the dash to get the wires hooked up.



Thanks



Jerry

It's going to be a week or two before I can take pictures. I posted in the original post the mounting bracket I used. It took 4 screws to hold the baseplate down. The base that comes with the camera had a 3M adhesive and the that base plate was huge. I couldn't find a big enough flat spot to use the original base. So I bought the one that is included on my parts list above.

If you can't find a way to fish the wires through a crack somewhere. I would drill a hole in the dash and use a rubber grommet to run the wires through.

[halfprice]

Originally Posted by oldgold

It's going to be a week or two before I can take pictures. I posted in the original post the mounting bracket I used. It took 4 screws to hold the baseplate down. The base that comes with the camera had a 3M adhesive and the that base plate was huge. I couldn't find a big enough flat spot to use the original base. So I bought the one that is included on my parts list above.

If you can't find a way to fish the wires through a crack somewhere. I would drill a hole in the dash and use a rubber grommet to run the wires through.

Thanks and no hurry on the pics. Like I said my dash is different than yours so the mounting will probably be different.

Jerry

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by halfprice

Thanks and no hurry on the pics. Like I said my dash is different than yours so the mounting will probably be different.



Jerry

It looks to me like either the right side of the dark wood panel. Either in the front face or on the top. The top looks better to me because it would end up blocking your view of the three buttons if on the face.

[Mo_Mike]

We went ahead and just split our video feed from the axxera to our Garmin RV760 and use that for our backup/side view monitor.

We were able to put this more in the driver's field of view, and it also provides the "marks" on the screen for distance when backing.

Not quite as good as your monitor system, but trying to keep the add-on screens to a minimum...

[SuperD]

Originally Posted by halfprice

I'm thinking about adding this to the Hurricane 29M. If you have time can you take a few pics of how it is mounted, the mounting bracket. Your dash is different than mine so I think I'll have to drill into the dash to get the wires hooked up.

Thanks

Jerry

Jerry, I've looked closely at oldgold's installation, which by the way is fantastic! If you go with a slightly smaller monitor and use a suction cup disk I think you can avoid drilling in the dash except for a small hole to run coax and power up. You could also notch a spot in the removable dash cover for the coax and power, either way I would add a rubber grommet to protect the wires.

If I decide to do this I'm not going to wire in mirror cameras, just the rear. I think our side mirrors are good and prefer to use camera to see when I'm clear to change lanes.

Oldgold you did a Great job, Thank You for sharing your install along with parts!!!

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by SuperD

Jerry, I've looked closely at oldgold's installation, which by the way is fantastic! If you go with a slightly smaller monitor and use a suction cup disk I think you can avoid drilling in the dash except for a small hole to run coax and power up. You could also notch a spot in the removable dash cover for the coax and power, either way I would add a rubber grommet to protect the wires.



If I decide to do this I'm not going to wire in mirror cameras, just the rear. I think our side mirrors are good and prefer to use camera to see when I'm clear to change lanes.



Oldgold you did a Great job, Thank You for sharing your install along with parts!!!

Thanks!

I thought I only wanted reverse on the screen. I've noticed in the Challenger the light reflects back and forth in the side windows and sometimes it appears no one is beside you. Daytime it's a non issue. It's only at night when there is light coming from opposite side. The side cameras help to see head lights when changing lanes for me. The side view mirrors are great. They are just like in my F250. My issue was the actual side window reflecting back light making the mirror useless at times. The place I ordered the stuff from has all kinds of screens. They even had some that would record in case of accidents.

Now, I normally run like my pictures. Rear on the left half. Left and right sides on the right quadrants. Then mirror my phone to the Axxera for GPS. I was looking into a 4th feed for the phone. But started to think it might be good to have one camera inside shooting backwards at the couch. This way I could keep tabs on our kids and the back of house while driving. Still thinking on this one and haven't done anything with it yet.

[SuperD]

The 29M mirrors are different from yours, haven't noticed any reflection problems so would still just hook up rear camera. We have a Garmin RV model so won't be hooking in to radio for gps. I might change out the rear camera for a better quality one. I need to unmount the camera to see what kind of connections it has, cameras are cheap.

I'm like you, like to see what's going on behind me in the coach. I had an extra ski boat mirror with suction cup which I attached to the top of the dash above the radio, works great since it's wide angle and I already had it.

Thanks again for your Great post and advice!!!

[DinoC41]

Originally Posted by oldgold

Some people have asked about the monitor we installed in our Challenger. Here is a copy of my post.

Attachment 4200

Attachment 4201

I bought everything from www.rearviewsafety.com. Here is the parts list from them. Also you will need 18ga butt connectors.

Attachment 4202

I tied the power supply into the incoming power wires to the dash fan switch. This makes the screen only power up when the RV is running or in the on position and it was the easiest to steal power from.

Unplug the wiring harness to the dash fans. Crank up the RV and use a volt meter to test which wires are hot. My wires were two of the multi color wires. Make sure you have correct polarity. Turn RV off double check with volt meter to make sure no volts before cutting. Cut wires about a foot away from the switch and tap into them with the power leads on the wiring harness for the screen. Once tied back together, make sure your dash fans still work.

On the back of the Axxera there is a video cable. Follow it backwards till you locate a black box with 4 inputs and one output. This is the video switch box. It is about the size of a deck of cards.

Unplug the 3 video feeds at the ASA connections. Note which ones are CA 1,2,&3. On my unit CA1 was left, CA2 was right and CA3 was rear. You might have to switch them back around if the wires are mislabeled or different. Plug the incoming video feeds into the screen harness using the adapters which are 5 round female to ASA female. At this point you can turn on the screen and make sure your feeds are the correct camera label on screen. Turn it back off.

Next, the 4th cable hitting the switch box is the trigger wire set. Follow it out from the switch box to the backside of a connector plug. There will be multi color wires before the connector and should be labeled CA 1,2,&3 as well. On my unit, the wire colors actually matched the colors on the screen harness. Hopefully they will on all units. Cut these 3 wires. Use a butt connector to attach each of them to their corresponding video trigger wire on the harness.

Power on the screen and TEST, TEST, TEST!!!

The blinkers on the RV should trigger the corresponding side camera. Shifting the RV to reverse should trigger the rear camera.

I unplugged the harness from the screen and then ran the cord thru the hole just above the left corner of the Axxera. This way you don't have to drill thru the dash cap.

Mount the bracket arm. I chose the flat spot just above right of the HDMI port. MAKE SURE THERE IS NOTHING BEHIND IT BEFORE YOU SCREW ON THE BASE!! I installed the screen on the bracket arm with the thumb turn facing down so you can get to it to tighten.

That should be it. Congratulations, you now don't have a crappy Axxera as an issue anymore for video feeds!! Lmao... Let me know if y'all have any questions... I tried to be fairly thorough. I highly suggest looking under the dash before ordering everything. As much as manufacturers switch stuff around, it would be a PITA to get all this stuff and not have the correct adapters, etc.

Attachment 4203

Attachment 4204

Hello Oldgold,

I have the 2017 Windsport 29M and I am very interested in the monitor system you have. Did some research and found the my camera cables will not need the 5 to 4 pin adapters as your's did. I also found the "video switch" box in my 29M (that booger was hard to find) and have attached pictures of the box.

[WarEagleDan]

Mo_Mike, I would be interested in a little more info on how you hooked up your Garmin.
Thanx,
Dan

[VinceAndPam]

Originally Posted by WarEagleDan

Mo_Mike, I would be interested in a little more info on how you hooked up your Garmin.
Thanx,
Dan

Same here, I already have the Garmin. Please let us know how you got it hooked up Mo_Mike. Thanks!

[VinceAndPam]

As mentioned earlier, by Mo_Mike, it is possible to use the Garmin RV as a backup/side view camera monitor. I figured out how to splice it into my 2017 Hurricane 35M stock monitor setup. Here is how to do it.

1. Locate the video in on the Axxera radio, it will be a yellow female RCA connector connected to a blue RCA cable that comes from the video switch box.
2. Unplug the connector and plug in one end of a male/male to female RCA Y adapter.
3. I then used a six foot RCA extension to go from the other side of the Y adapter out to the Garmin RV GPS.
4. Plug the blue RCA cable that was plugged into the back of the Axxera's yellow video in to the remaining female connector of the Y adapter.
5. So you now have the blue cable that comes from the video switch box going into the Y adapter that now splits, one end goes to the yellow video in of the Axxera and the other going to the video in of the Garmin RV.
6. To get video into the Garmin, you have to use a 3.5mm male video cable. Garmin sells these online and you can also find them on Amazon. However, my Axxera came with a 3.5mm male cable that splits out to a RCA video and two RCA audio connections. The Garmin is not wired to the standard, so instead of plugging the RCA extension cable into the yellow RCA video connection of the 3.5MM adapter, I had to plug it into the red connection.

I can now see the output of the cameras on the Axxera and on my Garmin RV760. I'm able to switch between the map and active camera on the Garmin and the Axxera works as it always did. I'm posting pics of the Y adapter (as well as the RCA female to female needed for the triple male RCA Y I used), the RCA extension cable and the 3.5mm adapter that came with the Axxera. I picked all the RCA cables up at my local Radio Shack. Total cost of the mod was under $20 since I already had the Garmin.

Having the video displayed on the Garmin which is located closer to eye level just to the left of the steering wheel is a lot better and requires a lot less effort to view than the Axxera. Hope this helps. I can take more pics if anyone needs them just let me know.

Vince

[rmblaster]

Originally Posted by VinceAndPam

As mentioned earlier, by Mo_Mike, it is possible to use the Garmin RV as a backup/side view camera monitor. I figured out how to splice it into my 2017 Hurricane 35M stock monitor setup. Here is how to do it.

1. Locate the video in on the Axxera radio, it will be a yellow female RCA connector connected to a blue RCA cable that comes from the video switch box.
2. Unplug the connector and plug in one end of a male/male to female RCA Y adapter.
3. I then used a six foot RCA extension to go from the other side of the Y adapter out to the Garmin RV GPS.
4. Plug the blue RCA cable that was plugged into the back of the Axxera's yellow video in to the remaining female connector of the Y adapter.
5. So you now have the blue cable that comes from the video switch box going into the Y adapter that now splits, one end goes to the yellow video in of the Axxera and the other going to the video in of the Garmin RV.
6. To get video into the Garmin, you have to use a 3.5mm male video cable. Garmin sells these online and you can also find them on Amazon. However, my Axxera came with a 3.5mm male cable that splits out to a RCA video and two RCA audio connections. The Garmin is not wired to the standard, so instead of plugging the RCA extension cable into the yellow RCA video connection of the 3.5MM adapter, I had to plug it into the red connection.

I can now see the output of the cameras on the Axxera and on my Garmin RV760. I'm able to switch between the map and active camera on the Garmin and the Axxera works as it always did. I'm posting pics of the Y adapter (as well as the RCA female to female needed for the triple male RCA Y I used), the RCA extension cable and the 3.5mm adapter that came with the Axxera. I picked all the RCA cables up at my local Radio Shack. Total cost of the mod was under $20 since I already had the Garmin.

Having the video displayed on the Garmin which is located closer to eye level just to the left of the steering wheel is a lot better and requires a lot less effort to view than the Axxera. Hope this helps. I can take more pics if anyone needs them just let me know.

Vince

Vince does the garmin automatically switch over to camera when you put motorhome in reverse or use turn signal just like the Axxera radio

Richard

[Mo_Mike]

Originally Posted by WarEagleDan

Mo_Mike, I would be interested in a little more info on how you hooked up your Garmin.
Thanx,
Dan

No problem, just came out of the video switch box that was pictured above with a RCA plug to 3.5 mm video plug (that I got on eBay for 4.00. free shipping) cable. Plugged the 3.5 mm into the camera input in the Garmin. That was it. Now I also have the backup lines like I have on my car so I can judge distance. Haven't calibrated yet, but one step at a time

[Mo_Mike]

Originally Posted by rmblaster

Vince does the garmin automatically switch over to camera when you put motorhome in reverse or use turn signal just like the Axxera radio

Richard

On mine it doesn't (at least not yet) but is simple to press the CAMERA icon and bring it up.

[rmblaster]

Originally Posted by Mo_Mike

No problem, just came out of the video switch box that was pictured above with a RCA plug to 3.5 mm video plug (that I got on eBay for 4.00. free shipping) cable. Plugged the 3.5 mm into the camera input in the Garmin. That was it. Now I also have the backup lines like I have on my car so I can judge distance. Haven't calibrated yet, but one step at a time

mo-mike so your not using the radio as a monitor now since you came out of the video switch box