theboondork's RV blog

work, work, work.

9/17/2017

I've been busy the last few days which is strange because busy is not something I aspire to.

I've had three projects going at one time which is not easy for me because of my one track mind, but each project had bits and pieces that I had to order from hither and yon, so while waiting for parts I would work on something that I had parts for, so after a while I ended up jumping around working on three different projects none of which seemed like they would ever end.

But today I finally finished my portable wireless video camera project. The idea behind this was to have a video camera that I could set in the bed of the truck and see when my trailer hitch was perfectly lined up with the hitch in the truck. And to set beside my trailer wheels when I'm pulling it up on the leveling blocks to see when it's centered on the blocks.

Now I understand I could've gone out and bought a camera to do this but I had a spare wireless video camera sitting around with nothing to do and since I'm the only one in the trailer that's allowed to sit around with nothing to do, I figured I could make my own setup.

The only thing I was missing was a wire with a weird plug on the end and a small battery to operate the whole thing. So I ordered a little 12 volt battery from Amazon, the weird plug that I needed, put it all together, and the thing actually works.

When I set the camera on something and turn on the battery my GPS screen in the truck automatically switches to that camera view and I can see exactly how to back under my trailer hitch. Since backing under the Andersen trailer hitch and getting it just right fore and aft had been my only minor complaint about the Andersen system this will fix the problem and I won't have to get out of the truck once or twice to line the hitch up.

And now that that's done maybe I can get around to doing something with the 35 feet of 3 / 0 welding cable laying on my living room floor.

theboondork

This is my video camera set up. The batteries on the right, the transmitters in the middle, and the cameras on the left. Since this camera was designed for a different application it had a lot of wires going to the transmitter. I was afraid to cut out all the extra wire for fear I wouldn't be able to splice the ends back together.

I put all of that stuff in this little Walmart storage box I had sitting around. I also put in a couple of magnets to hold it to the truck wherever I set it

6 Comments

Darrell

9/18/2017 04:33:32 pm

Before I got my trailer, I rigged up a portable wireless camera to use in hitching up. I hung it on a bungee cord that was stretched between the two clothes hooks in the back of the cab. When hanging it, it would automatically center itself which would put it on the centerline of the truck looking right at the fifth wheel hitch. I thought it would works great. Once I got my trailer, I realized I could clearly see my hitch, jaw opening, the alignment dent and kingpin over my shoulder while backing up. I had forgotten that was why I got an extended cab instead of a four door truck. It was much easier than the camera. I packed the camera away somewhere and never used it. As far as backing onto my blocks, I can see the edge of them in my side mirrors and I have a chock that connects to the blocks to keep me on the blocks. Good luck with your camera. I'm sure it will work out great and benefit you a lot. Take care, be safe out there.

theboondork

9/18/2017 05:26:32 pm

Great to hear from you Darrell. Normally I could see my hitch pretty good but the homemade box that I put in the front of the bed blocks a lot of my view looking over my shoulder. But that was okay with my old fifth wheel hitch, I just put some white tape on the pin box and some more on my homemade box and just lined them up as I backed under the trailer. Fore and aft alignment wasn't a problem I just kept backing up until it clicked. But with the Andersen system the lineup has to be pretty close left, right and fore and aft, and it looks like the camera will fix that problem.

The leveling blocks with the chock is a good idea, I've seen those for sale but I never thought about the chock being a stop that tells you you're on the blocks where you should be, I always thought of it as just a chock, I'm going to give that some thought.

As for our seeing the trailer wheels, my truck mirrors are just regular mirrors and not tow mirrors, and to make matters worse the Arctic Fox is eight and a half feet wide, all of which means I don't see much of anything going on beside the trailer. And that's one of the reasons I have a rearview camera so I can see what's going on behind me, and tire pressure sensors to make sure I've still got four tires back there.

Starting to get some fall in the air around Denver. Days are real nice in the high 70s, and its good sleeping weather in the 50s at night. I'm still gonna be here a while longer because last time I looked at still a hundred degrees in southern Arizona.

Tom

Barney Ward

9/19/2017 10:36:51 am

It is still pretty hot here in north Alabama to my surprise. I had 83 at 1000 this morning with extra humidity for more fun. Temps out west seem to be higher than expected this year to me. I guess I need to kick back and do some more grandpaing.

9/19/2017 07:33:56 pm

I think it's been hotter than normal in Colorado but I'm not sure. I used to live at about 9000 feet where it never got really hot and the humidity was always low, but in Denver where I'm staying now it's only about 5000 feet and it gets hotter and a little more humid so I'm not sure if this is hotter than it should be or not. One thing I know for sure is that it doesn't have that humidity the South has so it always feels a little more comfortable.

I've been doing a lot of grandparenting myself and it sure can be tiring. I can see why raising kids is normally done by the young, I've pretty much got my grandparenting job down to, spoiling the Grandkids, and telling their parents how things USED to be.

Tom

9/20/2017 10:44:32 am

Don't forget to "sweeten up" the GKs before giving them back to their parents. Revenge you know.

9/20/2017 04:52:04 pm

Since my oldest grandkid is three he's enough of a handful without any sugary stimulus. I cant imagine what he would be like after eating a Hershey bar.

Tom

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