Front + Rear camera installation in a Cerbera
Discussion
Don't know about you, but when I am sitting in the Cerbera, I really struggle to see where the ends are, both front and rear... Not so much an issue on the road, but whenever I am parking her, I start to sweat... I've had more very slow speed accidents in my life than fast ones (fingers crossed) and I didn't want to risk dinging the Cerbera in car parks or hitting high kerbs with the low exhaust pipes.
I cam across tiny reversing cameras and thought they could be mounted onto the number plates easily, only needed a means of seeing what they were recording. I initially considered a small 4.5" screen, and came across the Pioneer AVH-X7500BT head unit with rear camera + AV inputs.
http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/25/111/281/AVH-...
I also needed a little device to trick the head unit into thinking the handbrake was on, in the old days grounding the appropriate cable was sufficient, but they've become cleverer and now need to see a handbrake on, off, on sequence before enabling the AV input.
Found this on eBay, only available in the states, but no problems getting it across to the UK
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160924506976?_trksid=p20...
The cameras in question are these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JQ2I06O/ref=...
Head unit installed, fits perfectly, it sticks out a little further than a normal one and the screen can't be 100% vertical, but when you're sitting in the car, the fact it is angled down a little is just fine.
I then drilled the number plates to fit the cameras
Front:
Rear:
The rear camera is powered and grounded from the reversing light wiring and automatically switches the head unit to that input when reverse is engaged. Running the cable back to front was relatively easy. First behind the carpet trim that runs along the number plate, over the fuse box. Removed the helmet holder and fished the cable through, then tucked it under the left hand side of the center console and up into the radio aperture.
The front camera wiring was a little more interesting, the main issue being the heat under the bonnet. Usefully, the washer pipe is running up a heat insulation sleeve, so I ran the camera's cable through that too thinking that if it's good enough for a plastic pipe, it should be ok for a bit of wire.
Then along the bulkhead (tie wrapped to the washer pipes), through the wing into the car above the clutch pedal and then into the radio's housing making sure the cable isn't tangled into anything. I also wired the ground for the camera to a bolt on the air conditioning unit, all neatly run alongside existing wiring.
Putting the car into reverse automatically switches to the rear camera, when an obstacle is at the bottom of the screen, it's approximately 1ft from the back of the car.
The front is a little more interesting, the cameras are reverse cameras so they give a reversed image at the front, so I've mounted the camera upside down. This means the ground is at the top of the screen, but left and right are maintained. Again, when an obstacle is at the top of the screen, it's just under 1ft from the front of the car.
I cam across tiny reversing cameras and thought they could be mounted onto the number plates easily, only needed a means of seeing what they were recording. I initially considered a small 4.5" screen, and came across the Pioneer AVH-X7500BT head unit with rear camera + AV inputs.
http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/25/111/281/AVH-...
I also needed a little device to trick the head unit into thinking the handbrake was on, in the old days grounding the appropriate cable was sufficient, but they've become cleverer and now need to see a handbrake on, off, on sequence before enabling the AV input.
Found this on eBay, only available in the states, but no problems getting it across to the UK
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160924506976?_trksid=p20...
The cameras in question are these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JQ2I06O/ref=...
Head unit installed, fits perfectly, it sticks out a little further than a normal one and the screen can't be 100% vertical, but when you're sitting in the car, the fact it is angled down a little is just fine.
I then drilled the number plates to fit the cameras
Front:
Rear:
The rear camera is powered and grounded from the reversing light wiring and automatically switches the head unit to that input when reverse is engaged. Running the cable back to front was relatively easy. First behind the carpet trim that runs along the number plate, over the fuse box. Removed the helmet holder and fished the cable through, then tucked it under the left hand side of the center console and up into the radio aperture.
The front camera wiring was a little more interesting, the main issue being the heat under the bonnet. Usefully, the washer pipe is running up a heat insulation sleeve, so I ran the camera's cable through that too thinking that if it's good enough for a plastic pipe, it should be ok for a bit of wire.
Then along the bulkhead (tie wrapped to the washer pipes), through the wing into the car above the clutch pedal and then into the radio's housing making sure the cable isn't tangled into anything. I also wired the ground for the camera to a bolt on the air conditioning unit, all neatly run alongside existing wiring.
Putting the car into reverse automatically switches to the rear camera, when an obstacle is at the bottom of the screen, it's approximately 1ft from the back of the car.
The front is a little more interesting, the cameras are reverse cameras so they give a reversed image at the front, so I've mounted the camera upside down. This means the ground is at the top of the screen, but left and right are maintained. Again, when an obstacle is at the top of the screen, it's just under 1ft from the front of the car.
To drive it no, to park it yes 
Those look very neat, chap, and a good looking installation. I had thought about a rear camera, following an interaction with a low post on the offside rear, and that looks just the ticket!
I've hled back until now because many of the cameras seem so huge.
Are you able to get a photo of the camera in action? It would give an idea of the quality of the picture...
I've hled back until now because many of the cameras seem so huge.
Are you able to get a photo of the camera in action? It would give an idea of the quality of the picture...
Superb post Greg,
Informative, well laid out and (IMHO) a true benefit to Cerb owners.
I only wish I had seen this before my first Track Day at Spa.
Spent the whole day careering around the track at speeds of 145mph without incident. Whilst driving back to the hotel at the end of the day I actually thanked God, out loud, for looking after B.B. then, whilst reversing, hit a boulder which was underneath a bush on the perimeter of the hotel car park. Doh !
Informative, well laid out and (IMHO) a true benefit to Cerb owners.
I only wish I had seen this before my first Track Day at Spa.
Spent the whole day careering around the track at speeds of 145mph without incident. Whilst driving back to the hotel at the end of the day I actually thanked God, out loud, for looking after B.B. then, whilst reversing, hit a boulder which was underneath a bush on the perimeter of the hotel car park. Doh !
)morebeanz said:
Good spot, Rodger! I hadn't noticed that it was Nick's old car!
You have a piece of Cerb history there mate...
Thanks You have a piece of Cerb history there mate...
she certainly is a lot of funmorebeanz said:
..anyone remember the doughnuts in the petrol station in front of the Belgian police?!?!
Not sure I really wanted to know this (or anything else Nick got up to with her !)morebeanz said:
Are you able to get a photo of the camera in action? It would give an idea of the quality of the picture...
Front (I know it's upside down, it's sort of meant to be... 
):
Rear:
Hope it helps
Edited to add: The cameras don't have night vision (no IR Leds), but reversing at night, the reversing light seems to throw enough light to get an idea of what's behind, not as clear as daylight, but not 100% dark either.
thefrog said:
Don't know about you, but when I am sitting in the Cerbera, I really struggle to see where the ends are, both front and rear... Not so much an issue on the road, but whenever I am parking her, I start to sweat... I've had more very slow speed accidents in my life than fast ones (fingers crossed) and I didn't want to risk dinging the Cerbera in car parks or hitting high kerbs with the low exhaust pipes.
I cam across tiny reversing cameras and thought they could be mounted onto the number plates easily, only needed a means of seeing what they were recording. I initially considered a small 4.5" screen, and came across the Pioneer AVH-X7500BT head unit with rear camera + AV inputs.
http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/25/111/281/AVH-...
I also needed a little device to trick the head unit into thinking the handbrake was on, in the old days grounding the appropriate cable was sufficient, but they've become cleverer and now need to see a handbrake on, off, on sequence before enabling the AV input.
Found this on eBay, only available in the states, but no problems getting it across to the UK
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160924506976?_trksid=p20...
The cameras in question are these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JQ2I06O/ref=...
Head unit installed, fits perfectly, it sticks out a little further than a normal one and the screen can't be 100% vertical, but when you're sitting in the car, the fact it is angled down a little is just fine.
I then drilled the number plates to fit the cameras
Front:
Rear:
The rear camera is powered and grounded from the reversing light wiring and automatically switches the head unit to that input when reverse is engaged. Running the cable back to front was relatively easy. First behind the carpet trim that runs along the number plate, over the fuse box. Removed the helmet holder and fished the cable through, then tucked it under the left hand side of the center console and up into the radio aperture.
The front camera wiring was a little more interesting, the main issue being the heat under the bonnet. Usefully, the washer pipe is running up a heat insulation sleeve, so I ran the camera's cable through that too thinking that if it's good enough for a plastic pipe, it should be ok for a bit of wire.
Then along the bulkhead (tie wrapped to the washer pipes), through the wing into the car above the clutch pedal and then into the radio's housing making sure the cable isn't tangled into anything. I also wired the ground for the camera to a bolt on the air conditioning unit, all neatly run alongside existing wiring.
Putting the car into reverse automatically switches to the rear camera, when an obstacle is at the bottom of the screen, it's approximately 1ft from the back of the car.
The front is a little more interesting, the cameras are reverse cameras so they give a reversed image at the front, so I've mounted the camera upside down. This means the ground is at the top of the screen, but left and right are maintained. Again, when an obstacle is at the top of the screen, it's just under 1ft from the front of the car.
I have that head unit for my Tamora, along with a reverse camera:I cam across tiny reversing cameras and thought they could be mounted onto the number plates easily, only needed a means of seeing what they were recording. I initially considered a small 4.5" screen, and came across the Pioneer AVH-X7500BT head unit with rear camera + AV inputs.
http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/25/111/281/AVH-...
I also needed a little device to trick the head unit into thinking the handbrake was on, in the old days grounding the appropriate cable was sufficient, but they've become cleverer and now need to see a handbrake on, off, on sequence before enabling the AV input.
Found this on eBay, only available in the states, but no problems getting it across to the UK
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160924506976?_trksid=p20...
The cameras in question are these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JQ2I06O/ref=...
Head unit installed, fits perfectly, it sticks out a little further than a normal one and the screen can't be 100% vertical, but when you're sitting in the car, the fact it is angled down a little is just fine.
I then drilled the number plates to fit the cameras
Front:
Rear:
The rear camera is powered and grounded from the reversing light wiring and automatically switches the head unit to that input when reverse is engaged. Running the cable back to front was relatively easy. First behind the carpet trim that runs along the number plate, over the fuse box. Removed the helmet holder and fished the cable through, then tucked it under the left hand side of the center console and up into the radio aperture.
The front camera wiring was a little more interesting, the main issue being the heat under the bonnet. Usefully, the washer pipe is running up a heat insulation sleeve, so I ran the camera's cable through that too thinking that if it's good enough for a plastic pipe, it should be ok for a bit of wire.
Then along the bulkhead (tie wrapped to the washer pipes), through the wing into the car above the clutch pedal and then into the radio's housing making sure the cable isn't tangled into anything. I also wired the ground for the camera to a bolt on the air conditioning unit, all neatly run alongside existing wiring.
Putting the car into reverse automatically switches to the rear camera, when an obstacle is at the bottom of the screen, it's approximately 1ft from the back of the car.
The front is a little more interesting, the cameras are reverse cameras so they give a reversed image at the front, so I've mounted the camera upside down. This means the ground is at the top of the screen, but left and right are maintained. Again, when an obstacle is at the top of the screen, it's just under 1ft from the front of the car.
I have a dashcam for the front, though.
(Car has had complete new re trim since that pic...)
I think I had it quite easy, installing the reverse camera, compared to a cerb:
Edited by chris watton on Wednesday 20th August 16:44
jackwibble said:
Reversing camera on a Tam whatever next, they're really difficult cars to reverse these massive TVR's I think you lot need speed limiters fitting if you can't judge the length of your car at parking speeds how can you judge it at 150mph??
Give me strength!
I want you to know that, in all sincerity, I love you, too. Give me strength!
jackwibble said:
Love you also just one of the strangest things people think they need on their hyper performance car a reversing camera whatever floats your boat I'm off to reverse my boat down a slipway ta ta 
Well, the truth is this - it was wet, windy and downright miserable outside, and I wanted to have a 'tinker' with my car, hence the camera. We all know that they aren't really necessary, but I did enjoy installing it and, sometimes, it can be useful - especially when it's my wife reversing it....Gassing Station | Cerbera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff