upgrade to color sony rear monitor

LandHo · 04-20-2005, 09:44 AM

Anyone upgrade their B/W sony monitor to the color one? I like the newer color one for the increased field of view...It almost looks like a direct fit...anyone try this? I thought about installing a second rear camera...but the sony cameras are discontinued? and rare...

LandHo · 04-20-2005, 09:44 AM

Anyone upgrade their B/W sony monitor to the color one? I like the newer color one for the increased field of view...It almost looks like a direct fit...anyone try this? I thought about installing a second rear camera...but the sony cameras are discontinued? and rare...

Strega · 04-20-2005, 10:02 AM

Tim at rvcams.com told me the cable is different between the bw/color camera. That would involve running a new cable

Cruzer · 04-20-2005, 10:10 AM

I upgraded my Allegro Bus to the Sony setup. It originally came with an ADTH brand monitor/camera. It had a nice wide field of vision but not much resolution and specular highlights off the toad's hood caused excessive vertical streaking so I dumped it. I picked up a Sony color LCD monitor ands camera from Riverpark, which is where lots of RV manufacturers get them from.

The Sony monitor was a direct replacement for the ADTH as far as dash knock-out size goes. If your previous monitor is smaller, it shouldn't be a big deal to upsize the hole to fit. The LCS monitor is a little over 1" thick, so the mounting bracket wound up pretty close to the dash compared to the old deeper ADTH monitor. That meant I had to make a place to set the new mounting bracket on. Not a big deal, really.

The Sony monitor is capable of accepting 3 different camera inputs and is typically used with the side mounted bullet cams that connect to the turn signals. I didn't go that way because I really didn't want to lose my rear view monitor right when I'm ready to make a lane change back into my lane after a passing maneuver.

I can't believe that the Sony cameras aren't made any more. I'd check with Riverpark on that one to confirm price and availability.

The Sony camera/monitor is an awesome setup. It has great resolution, wide field of vision, and good low light capabilities. I didn't think that the color versus B/W issue was that big of a deal though at first. But, now that I have it, I like it. The human eye is used to seeing things in color. I can take a quick glance at the monitor and my brain instantly recognizes what it just saw. With the black and white system it does take an extra second or so for the brain to "decode" what it just saw. That extra second staring at the screen takes away from looking where you are going and my RV will cover lots of ground in one second at 70 MPH. Plus, it's kind of cool to look back there and actually see yellow traffic lines, green grass, etc as you drive.

By the way, the color Sony setup comes with a 65' cable. You'll need it because it's a 6 wire cable, versus the 4 wire that is typically used so you cannot reuse the old cable.

troth · 04-20-2005, 10:40 AM

Cruzer, could you pull your new cable (6 wire) through when you pulled the old cable out?

LandHo · 04-20-2005, 05:02 PM

pulling wires has gotta be easy...just run it along the frame, along with all the other stuff...I'll call riverpark...I used to live in that town...said I would never buy an RV...since I saw how they were made...now, I'm an RVer...go figure.

Cruzer · 04-20-2005, 06:10 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by troth:
Cruzer, could you pull your new cable (6 wire) through when you pulled the old cable out? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

On a gasser, it's pretty easy. I pulled lots of "stuff" through my Workhorse chassis on my Suncruiser.

However, on my Allegro Bus, it's not so easy. The original cable was fished through the ceiling and fastened to the roof joists so there was no way I could get it out or use it as a fishtape to pull the new one through. So, I had to run the new one down the rear cap and alongside the frame rails by the engine (so far not too bad). Then I had to get it past the wheel wells and into the water service compartment. Tiffin supplies conduits for existing wires but I couldn't fit this in there so I removed the tires, drilled some holes and added a new conduit (see, now it get's harder). Then I ran it through the water service area, around the water heater, and through the raised rail basement storage area (easy once again). Then I had to drill a new hole and run the cable past the propane tank and left-front wheel (medium effort). Then wire tie it (you'll need about 50 of them for this job) to the frame to the very front and drill another hole and fish it up through the floorboard by the steering column to get up to the dash. I found that 65' "just" made it on a 40' coach with all the up and down stuff at both ends. When doing this I did find myself wishing I had my Suncruiser back for a while there.

I'm sure Winnebago ties off their camera cable also. When I installed my KVH satellite dome on the Suncruiser I needed to pull two coax lines and a data line down from the dome. I tried to use the factory single coax as a pull line but they had it fastened down to the joists and I couldn't get it to move either.

LandHo · 05-08-2005, 04:09 PM

I called RiverCity. They say the Sony color and b/w monitor have the same HxW dimensions...so I can put the color monitor in without cutting etc. I called RVcams and might try the replacement b/w camera he is selling that fits the sony monitor...The sony color camera has a 100 degree vertical view, whereas this b/w replacement camera has a 90 degree view...This just might do the trick for me