Rear camera install in hub of spare wheel

Hello all,

Just thought I'd share in case it gives anyone else some ideas...

I just installed a rear backup camera in the hub of my rear spare tire. I had seen installs down low in the bumper, and pics of things like AEV's camera mount for the center parking light. I didn't care for either option as one was too low for my liking, and the other too high. Since I run XD Bully wheels, which have a plastic center hub, I realized I could just drill a hole in the spare tire hub and mount the camera there. If I need the spare tire, I just don't use the "spare" hub, I use the one already on the wheel with the flat tire that I'm replacing.

Anyway... I bought a Nav TV which allowed me to hookup two or three cameras. Did a bunch of research and settled on some 600TVL camera's with a 1/3" sony CCD camera in them, as I wanted a little higher quality than normal. Install was a snap once I figured out how to install the NavTV, and that the "security lockout" of the radio goes away once you start the vehicle (I thought I was stopped by the anti-theft feature of the radio when the NavTV was installed when by dumb luck, I decided to start the Jeep and all of the sudden the radio functioned as normal after the NavTV was put in place.)

Anyway, here's some pics. I can elaborate more if someone is interested. I'm only showing the pics for the camera install here as most of the NavTV install is documented elsewhere on the InternetWeb.

Parts:

1) NavTV AllGIG_XG-HS
2) NavTV AV Harness
3) Cameras of your choosing (next time, I'll go with YanTech cameras as you can enable mirror mode if you want for a front camera http://www.yantechusa.com/cubecart/i...d&productId=12)
4) Various cables as needed from Radio Shack. In my case, I needed a BNC to RCA adapter, and a 25 foot RCA cable to run from the spare tire area up to the radio.

Pics:

I had to enlarge the hole in the tire mount slightly as I wanted to put the hub from the back of the tire mount forward so that I could take the spare tire off without the center hub "falling" out.
Attachment 819

Pic of test fitting of center hub
Attachment 820

Marked location of how far I wanted the hub to stick out (I didn't stick it out as far as what it sticks out when on the tire as I wanted to be able to get the tire off easily with the hub staying there.)
Attachment 821

Painted my "enlarging" of the hole slightly to make sure it doesn't rust out long term
Attachment 822

Drill 1 1/4" hole in the center of the hub.
Attachment 823

(urgh, only 5 pics can be uploaded per post!!! I'll post a second message.)

Pic of the hub, the camera, and some PVC adapter that I purchased to make up the difference for mounting the camera in the hub (so my fat hands don't have to reach in as far in the small hub to thread the ring on the camera threads.)
Attachment 824

Camera installed in center hub
Attachment 825

Back picture of the mount of the camera in the hub
Attachment 826

Final pic of the camera mounted in the center hub with the spare tire re-mounted. (The best part is nobody really notices it because you don't suspect it there.)
Attachment 827

Lessons Learned:


1) You don't need NavTV to do this, you can just buy a $30 harness to activate a camera, but it requires a visit to the dealership to activate the camera, of which they usually charge $50. For my case, I want the ability to install more cameras and NavTV offered that, so why spend $50 on stealership when I can by a device that provides that option AND unlocks GPS/Nav destination entry while in motion.

2) If you buy a more expensive camera than the cheapo $30 ones on eBay/Amazon, get one that has a jumper to reverse the image so you can use it anywhere on the vehicle. I plan on installing my 2nd camera under the carriage, but because I bought one without the ability to reverse (or un-reverese) the image, I'm basically stuck with having it point backwards only. For me, I wanted under-carriage so i can see what is going on down there when I'm going over high objects.

3) Don't be afraid of the wiring. I bought a 25 foot 3 pair RCA cable from Radio Shack (ie. a "Right" audio, "Left" audio and "Video" channel) and ran it from the rear door to the front radio in about 5 minutes. Taking off the dash to get access to the radio took maybe 5 minutes. There is TONS OF ROOM under the dash to put extra components such as the NavTV box, the extra cable, a small child, etc.

4) If your radio requests a "Security Code" as part of the anti-theft prevention, don't freak out, just start your engine. There is something about starting the engine that passes on the VIN of your vehicle to the radio that basically re-activates it (wow, wasted about 2 hours researching that stupid piece of info on a Sunday night!!!)

5) If you mount your camera in the spare tire hub as I did, it may be a little too high for the "parking lines" on the camera, as the manufactures obviously intend for the parking lines to match up better with a camera that is slightly tilted to the ground. I plan on trying to "tilt" the camera down just a hair to make the parking lines appear more natural to the ground. The actual mount of the hub in the hole is very tight. I elected to not even secure it with anything. This means I can also remove it very easily.

6) If you go with a NavTV type of offering, you can actually install two backup camera's if you want. One up high, and then one at the bumper that could be used for when you're backing up to a trailer and want a "hitch" view (I plan on installing a camera in the bumper for this soon.)

Hope you enjoyed this posting! - Next up, new CV front drive shaft install (ugh, upgrades never end, right!)

WHOA! KABOOM!

Timmy great work! this is a mod I'll copy. When people tell me how cool it is... I promise to give you credit.

great idea on using the spare tire hub and great write up. I have been looking at the bluetooth enabled backup camera's that are now being offered, but the current camera doesn't have IR emitters so night view would be terrible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ljvsnyder

great idea on using the spare tire hub and great write up. I have been looking at the bluetooth enabled backup camera's that are now being offered, but the current camera doesn't have IR emitters so night view would be terrible.

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Yeah, being a techie, I've learned, stay away from wireless if you can run hard cable. Besides, even with a bluetooth, you still need to get power to the device so you still need a cable for that. In my case, I used the 25" RCA cable for both the video signal and the 12v power to the device. The NavTV offers a 12v send that activates when it requests video from the cameras, so you can actually turn on the rear camera while you're traveling down the road. A lot of guys have been pulling the 12v from the rear backup lights, which means the power is only sent when you put it in reverse. My kids get a kick out of watching people pick their nose while we are stopped in traffic and they don't know we're watching them.

Now, that being said, I was thinking of picking up a battery powered wireless camera (as my 3rd camera) and mounting the receiver in the dash, and then with my wireless camera, just use it anywhere I need that day. So if I get some weird rattle from below, say from the right rear suspension, I can just go hang the camera down there with bungee's and then go drive down the road and monitor what is going on. Maybe the next day, for fun, I want to mount it up above the front windshield (not sure why?) or how about if I had an extension pole and I wanted to put it up high to see above a tree line, or maybe use that pole to look underneath the Jeep like what the border patrol does. Wireless does have advantages, but I wouldn't use it as my primary backup camera.

Then I got thinking... I could mount an AppleTV in the dash or a Google video receiver and stream wirelessly from a mobile device, say if someone wanted to show some pics on a larger screen that they just took of my Jeep - Timmy... (BTW, my Jeeps name is Timmy, named after that disabled kid Timmy from SouthPark that can only ever say his name ;-) My name is Rob.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puTeHNV4gLY

TIMMY!

Give us a pic of the Jeep! Is it orange?

Looks like JL has found an electrical wizard...

TIMMY!!!

Haha, no, he's not orange, just your standard black. Southpark orange would have been awesome. I did buy a Timmy bobble head that yells "TIMMAH!" all the time. Problem was, the bobble head was a little too large to sit on the dash and the slightest movement of his head had him screaming his name all the time. I haven't figured out how to make this a true "Timmy" mobile yet. I need to get some cool graphics on it. I might need to go mess with the paint/emblem schemes on the Jeep in Forza Motorsports for XBox to see if I can come up with some cool graphics package that incorporates Timmy some how in to it.

I was thinking... How funny would it be to get a horn that could play an MP3 file of Timmy screaming his name! I think I would die every time I honked at someone and my Jeep yelled out "Timmah!!!!! Tim, Tim, Timmah!!!"

Attachment 818

http://youtu.be/xHpO-iC2Gjo

that horn would be fantastic.

Man..jeeplab is filling up with ridiculously good write-ups like this one. I had planned on moving my third brake light into the hub of my spare tire with my aftermarket wheels. I also didn't get the upgraded head unit with my rubicon or I'd be all over this for the novelty/use factor. Super cool.

The wireless blue tooth camera would allow me to have a camera without installing a new head unit as I have the base unit. From what I have seen the blue tooth setup that works with an android or IOS powered device is a cheap alternative. I have seen the setup on ebay for as low as $80.00 for everything.

Great write up !
I'd like to see pics of the cameras view ( picture of a picture ) .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2me

Great write up !
I'd like to see pics of the cameras view ( picture of a picture ) .

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Sorry it took me so long to get pics guys...

So, since I had two rear cameras, I went ahead and mounted the 2nd camera just above the hitch in the rear bumper. Didn't take too long since I had already pre-run the video cable back to the radio when I did the original install.

Anyway, here are two pics of the two different cameras while I was sitting in line at the local McDonalds.

This one is the bottom camera, in the rear bumper
Attachment 910

This one is the camera in the hub of the spare tire wheel
Attachment 911

Oddly enough, you can see in the pictures that both cameras show almost the exact same close in spot on the ground. Look at the grease marks on the ground and compare between each camera. Each camera is basically showing the same. I was able to tilt my spare tire camera down maybe 5 degrees whereas the bumper camera I couldn't tilt as much. End result, both cameras show the same distance from the back of the Jeep, it's just the bumper cam allows me to see the hitch for when I hook up a trailer whereas the spare tire cam obviously doesn't have the spare tire in the image so I can see further back. I'm also expecting that in the winter time the spare tire cam won't be as blocked by snow.

I will say I'm not as impressed the the NavTV as I was hoping. I selected it over the Coastal Tech's lockpick because supposedly the NavTV was more reliable. I have found it to not be as reliable as they said, and I think the Coastal Tech actually implemented better features with more convenient access to them. With the NavTV, flipping between the cameras is not as convenient as what Coastal came up with.

I think the NavTV is putting the stupid colored grid lines on the screen, as those are not coming from the camera. I wish they weren't there as they are clearly off since the tilt of my camera doesn't match how they have designed them to appear on the screen. Clearly they were planning for more of a 30 degree down tilt on the camera.