Axxera av615bhm rear camera

[Rickosterloh]

Finally got 2017 4 wind fe 26he and 2014 Ford C-Max energi hooked up and taken for first tow. Now seem with every bump the camera lose signal and next bump re-gains signal . Assume there is a loose connection, does anyone have a suggestion where to start.
Thanks
Rick

[JamieGeek]

Easiest thing to do is pull the radio out of the dash and check the connections there.

[wredman]

if you have access

look under the radio for some wires hanging, look for a common audio/visual RCA connection, likely a yellow, twist and wiggle it, I finally put some tape on it and supported as much of the cord so the bounce would not pull on this connection.

[Laco]

As suggested most likely place is behind the radio, if its not an internal radio problem.

[RadioRanger]

We have had camera issues with all of them since we got our coach last summer. I was just at the dealer yesterday and they replaced the switching unit. So far so good. Although it seems that after it is fixed it works for a bit then fails again. If I pound on the dash the picture would come back for a while. So the issue for me at least is in the dash/radio.

We had some work done at Thor in Wakarusa last month and I mentioned the camera issue to the tech. At that time my dealer had a part so I told them that mainly that they would notice issues with the camera as tney drove it. He went the extra mile and swapped out the radio. Well, that worked for about 700 miles plus of driving. That was the longest I had cameras working. So hoping that the camera switcher is the last fix. FYI.

That is the most nagging problem. Not the worst issue to have, but bothersome too.


John

[SuperD]

We had the same problem with our Windsport. One big highway bump and no signal, next bump it was back on. I checked for loose wires, none found. When I took the coach in for some minor warranty work recently the tech replaced the camera switch box, seems to work fine now.

[EA37TS]

Had the issue with two AV614 radios. Both times it was the radio itself. Last time the AV614 was replaced with an AV615 and they replaced the harness as well. No problems since and have made 2 400 mile round trips on rough roads since the last replacement.

[Shawn62]

Originally Posted by Rickosterloh

Finally got 2017 4 wind fe 26he and 2014 Ford C-Max energi hooked up and taken for first tow. Now seem with every bump the camera lose signal and next bump re-gains signal . Assume there is a loose connection, does anyone have a suggestion where to start.
Thanks
Rick

If you do a search on AV615BHM in the forum you will find some posts about fixing this problems with this camera. It sure helped me.

[Johnlaw25@yahoo.com]

Originally Posted by Rickosterloh

Finally got 2017 4 wind fe 26he and 2014 Ford C-Max energi hooked up and taken for first tow. Now seem with every bump the camera lose signal and next bump re-gains signal . Assume there is a loose connection, does anyone have a suggestion where to start.
Thanks
Rick

Replace the factory RCA jack cable with mediabridge and all issues are resolved. You can access the monitor connection thru the right vertical air vent on a Thor Ace. I had it in for service by the dealer 3 times and it just got worse.

[RichS]

I have seen people with a lot of problems with the Axxera 614 also. Has anybody replaced their radio with something different than an Axxera radio? My radio LCD screen flickers and is unuseable. I have tried the reset button and it does not work. It is in a 2016 Freedom Elite. I am looking to replace with something different after seeing all the problems with this brand.

Thanks for the help.

[SuperD]

I finally got tired of the terrible picture on our Axerra and mounted a 9” quad view monitor that allows me to see all three cameras at the same time or any combination I choose. Got the monitor from https://www.rearviewsafety.com/ and love it!!! The monitor is plug and play, took less than 30 min to install, really easy. I left the Axerra in place and now use it just as a radio.

[RichS]

That looks nice. The Axxera I can't even use as a radio because of the screen.

[jb1911]

Is the picture more clear than it was on the radio?

[SuperD]

Originally Posted by jb1911

Is the picture more clear than it was on the radio?

The picture is Great, and Much bigger! The radio screen was down and and to right, had to lean over to see it. The new monitor is on top of the dash and angled toward the driver, easy to see with a quick glance at the nice big picture. I don’t use my side cameras so I have my monitor set only on the rear camera and love it!!!

[Mo_Mike]

We did the same thing with our GARMIN RV770. Of course we only have one camera at a time, but, like SuperD, I now have the screen where I can see it instead of looking down. And, for me at least, the best part is having backup lines on the screen to judge where and how close we are to surrounfings

[sduff]

Originally Posted by SuperD

We had the same problem with our Windsport. One big highway bump and no signal, next bump it was back on. I checked for loose wires, none found. When I took the coach in for some minor warranty work recently the tech replaced the camera switch box, seems to work fine now.

Attachment 5208

We had the same issue with my new to me 2017 Thor Chateau 31W on our maiden trip to South Dakota earlier this month. While driving through extreme heat in Lusk, Wyoming it quit.

While adding insulation to my doghouse to reduce engine heat coming from it I had to move some wires hanging from the doghouse...the cameras started working again. I was just going to leave it alone, but I had no peace. I knew it would eventually mess it up again; so I decided to remove the doghouse and look at the radio again.

I eventually looked and saw that a flimsy wire that had been hanging from the dash when we bought the coach was actually a part of the RCA cord that connected the camera switch box to the camera portion of the radio!

I replaced the flimsy wire with a thicker RCA cord. I also used zip ties to properly tie up the excess wire and I routed it where it would not dangle. I also put some lithium grease on the male portions of the RCA connectors and taped them up. I also used a zip tie to tie up the switch box as well, it had simply been dangling too! This made putting the doghouse back on so much easier since I no longer had hanging wires and the camera switch box in the way. (I really can't believe that Thor did such a lousy job with the wiring!

Lastly, I suspected that the extreme heat caused or exacerbated a short in the flimsy RCA cord. I suspected that the radio wiring really wasn't designed to deal with so much engine heat. So, I put a piece of Reflectix type material from CW between the doghouse and the radio. That way a lot of the engine heat can't get to the radio.

It has been nearly two weeks, and the cameras are still working, praise God!

[sduff]

Originally Posted by Mo_Mike

We did the same thing with our GARMIN RV770. Of course we only have one camera at a time, but, like SuperD, I now have the screen where I can see it instead of looking down. And, for me at least, the best part is having backup lines on the screen to judge where and how close we are to surrounfings

You were able to hook up the Garmin to the camera's switchbox? That would be neat. I would like to see if if it is possible to connect the switchbox to a backup screen in a mirror as well.

[RichS]

Got tired of messing around with Axxera. Screen was going in and out. Replaced it with a Kenwood Excelon 595. Fit right in the Ford E450 dash. Used existing camera and now I have backup guidelines. Great radio easy install.

[Lbatt]

Originally Posted by SuperD

I finally got tired of the terrible picture on our Axerra and mounted a 9” quad view monitor that allows me to see all three cameras at the same time or any combination I choose. Got the monitor from https://www.rearviewsafety.com/ and love it!!! The monitor is plug and play, took less than 30 min to install, really easy. I left the Axerra in place and now use it just as a radio.

Thanks for that link. My Axxera is so dim, can't really see what's happening while moving, and difficult to see when using as a back up cam. Need something brighter and clearer.

Did you wire the side camera's in, and use the coach's rear camera, or replace all 3 ?

[SuperD]

Originally Posted by Lbatt

Thanks for that link. My Axxera is so dim, can't really see what's happening while moving, and difficult to see when using as a back up cam. Need something brighter and clearer.

Did you wire the side camera's in, and use the coach's rear camera, or replace all 3 ?

If you use the monitor from Rear View Safety the camera connections are the same, no adapters needed, don’t need to change cameras. Works great! The Thor cameras aren’t high resolution but work just fine, having a better monitor makes a HUGE difference!!!