Backup camera stopped working

[AJMike]

The backup camera on our 2018 Winnie Fuse stopped turning on during our last trip. I looked at the little booklet that came with the Winnebago information and found that the warranty period is only 1 year and the RV is now almost 2 years old, so it is my problem, not theirs.

The booklet is really not very helpful. It says to check the fuse (of course) but gives no information about where the fuse is. Turns out the it is fuse 7 in the house fuse box on our Fuse, but that fuse is OK (had to call Winnebago support to find out the fuse location in our Fuse. Too many "fuse"s in this post!). The next issue is getting to the cables to see if somehow one of them came loose, and that is the reason for this post.

It appears that the cables are enclosed in a plastic case mounted on the windshield but there is no information about how to open that case so that it can be closed again when the work is finished. There appear to be 2 halves with a split down the middle, but I worry that just inserting a flat head screwdriver and twisting may damage the plastic and make closing it again impossible. Can someone tell me how to properly open that case? There is nothing in the manual about that.

Thanks.

[Morich]

Lots of funky little ways they hide things from us who don't do it every day!!
One type I find requires pressing in on the box sides at specific points and often seems to take more muscle than my hands give, but that might be my best idea, to go along both sides pressing in as hard as possible to try to find a snap type catch which releases if I press hard enough.
Maybe if we did it full time our hands would get strong enough to crush things??

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by Morich

Lots of funky little ways they hide things from us who don't do it every day!!
One type I find requires pressing in on the box sides at specific points and often seems to take more muscle than my hands give, but that might be my best idea, to go along both sides pressing in as hard as possible to try to find a snap type catch which releases if I press hard enough.
Maybe if we did it full time our hands would get strong enough to crush things??

Thanks. I'll give that a try when we go back to the storage area.

I am assuming that all that has happened is that one of the video connectors has come loose when we swiveled the "rear view mirror" to hold the Winnie windshield reflectors on our last trip. The camera worked just fine when we left but quit sometime during the trip. I don't really think it is anything serious but I have no real idea how to get into that darned plastic compartment that holds all of the wires.

It was so hot in west Texas that without the reflectors we would have baked in the Fuse.

[Morich]

You think it's hot now, you should have been here in 2011 when the record for both dry and most days over 100 were set! So far the Austin area is working up on the record for most days in a row but still have a lot of summer left.

Meanwhile I looked for info and not sure I'm seeing the right model for you but is this the box?
Are you aware of a screw as shown? Any help there? Sometimes a screw we can't see if we don't know it's there?

[AJMike]

It is the item marked Monitor Windshield Mount, but the "box" containing the cables is mounted on the windshield itself, behind the "rear view mirror" that contains the display. It is hard to describe what it is so I will go to the storage area tomorrow and take some photos to post.

I should have done that first.

[Morich]

No problem, just thought the power supply might be one place to start if not looked there yet?
Unfortunately there is a not a lot of really specific wiring info on your unit. You may be the first guy having this question!! Whoopee....

[AJMike]

Here are some photos of the "box" that looks like it might contain the wires that I want to check. It is mounted on the windshield and appears to be two sides of a container that might split in the middle. I could insert a flat bladed screwdriver and twist it to see if that opens the sides but worry that it would damage the plastic.

My normal mode of operation is (1) do something, and then (2) decide I should have thought about it first, but this time I decided perhaps I ought to revise my normal workflow ...

The last photo is the container as seen from the bottom.

[Morich]

That does look like a weird item that has snap together points which we need to know where and press in that exact spot. If we knew it might be a piece of cake to snap it off but that "if" is a real problem. And it's going to be a real eyesore if it gets messed up.
So let me play devil's advocate and question some different things to see if you can avoid getting into that box?
Looking at the Wire ID that goes to the box above, it looks like it has wire codes TR,UR, and KE. Those involve park brake and backup lights and the power source and that brings the question if you have chased down that it is in the box on the windshield or possibly some of the other items not right.
Excuse me please if way off base here but just looking for angles that might be missed!
Looks like by the description of the power as "run only" that this is intended to work only when engine is running??? Did you get to use it enough to spot that as true? Does the park brake have to be off to get the backup camera to work?

Then there is the backup lamps involved with the box above, so do they still work when your engine is running and you go into reverse?
Then there is this item /note for item five on the drawing!
ROUTE CAMERA CABLE, 6-PIN HSG, AND FUSE THROUGH
HOLE IN CABINET. CONNECT TO MONITOR POWER SUPPLY.
Did you locate this fuse which seems to be an inline one?
We don't get a really good wire by wire schematic on the newer units but I'm just looking at alternates going by the wire ID.
Would be nice for you to not have to saw open the box on the windshield!
Not seeing anything else that might have any value.

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by Morich

That does look like a weird item that has snap together points which we need to know where and press in that exact spot. If we knew it might be a piece of cake to snap it off but that "if" is a real problem. And it's going to be a real eyesore if it gets messed up.
So let me play devil's advocate and question some different things to see if you can avoid getting into that box?
Looking at the Wire ID that goes to the box above, it looks like it has wire codes TR,UR, and KE. Those involve park brake and backup lights and the power source and that brings the question if you have chased down that it is in the box on the windshield or possibly some of the other items not right.
Excuse me please if way off base here but just looking for angles that might be missed!
Looks like by the description of the power as "run only" that this is intended to work only when engine is running??? Did you get to use it enough to spot that as true? Does the park brake have to be off to get the backup camera to work?

Then there is the backup lamps involved with the box above, so do they still work when your engine is running and you go into reverse?
Then there is this item /note for item five on the drawing!
ROUTE CAMERA CABLE, 6-PIN HSG, AND FUSE THROUGH
HOLE IN CABINET. CONNECT TO MONITOR POWER SUPPLY.
Did you locate this fuse which seems to be an inline one?
We don't get a really good wire by wire schematic on the newer units but I'm just looking at alternates going by the wire ID.
Would be nice for you to not have to saw open the box on the windshield!
Not seeing anything else that might have any value.

The display normally comes on automatically when we are backing up and, of course, the engine has to be on and the parking brake has to be off for me to do that. I first noticed that it was not working during our last trip (last week) when we were somewhere in Texas. There is also an on/off switch that allows me to turn it on or off when driving, but that did not work either.

There is a small mysterious box behind the front TV and I have never known what it actually did, but it may be the power supply for the backup camera, and I will check that out the next time we use the RV.

You also asked some interesting questions. Does the camera work when the engine is not running? I don't know since I don't think I ever checked that. Similarly, does it work with the parking brake on? Again, I don't know. I have checked the house fuse but there may be an inline fuse somewhere along the way that I have not checked.

As for the box on the windshield, I will try to pop it open but I don't think I am willing to damage the plastic just to get this solved. What usually happens when I do that sort of thing is that I damage the case to get it opened and then I see how simple it would have been to open it if I knew how it was done, and any plastic damage I do to it will just be staring at me all the time I am driving.

The unit is not under warranty any longer but I do have one of those after-market plans with a reasonably small deductible and if I can't find the solution to this I may just take it into a shop and have them look at it. My guess is that the problem is something simple like a loose wire.

[Morich]

Okay, sounds like it may need to be the box but then there are times when things like the switch that lets it know if the brake is off and you are in gear are also part of turning it on and if something like the brake switch falls loose it makes it look like a big problem for lack of a small screw. Sounds like you have a good handle on where and what but it might be worth the time to look along the park brake to see if there is some switch or wire hanging loose there. Brake light switches are sometimes just a pushbutton that has the button pressed when the pedal is up and operates when we press the pedal. It would be super fine luck to find something like that on the park brake pedal and not have to pry the box!!
That part about "push the fuse through the cabinet sounded like something really might be hidden where we would not think to look along the wiring but that's just the cynical side coming out, so maybe worth a check or not!

[RJ2]

* I will leave this reply , but I did not read the whole post and this was a different issue, on my 24J... . ....the input cable isolates itself somehow , corrosion that I really can't see , but I noticed if I bang on dash it comes on . Took out of dash 2 different times , year apart pushed cable end tight and works for a year. Id say tap unit if it blinks on ,there you go . others have verified this .

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by RJ2

* I will leave this reply , but I did not read the whole post and this was a different issue, on my 24J... . ....the input cable isolates itself somehow , corrosion that I really can't see , but I noticed if I bang on dash it comes on . Took out of dash 2 different times , year apart pushed cable end tight and works for a year. Id say tap unit if it blinks on ,there you go . others have verified this .

The camera image is displayed in our Fuse in the "rear view mirror", not the dash, although the problem may be the same. I have moved the "mirror" around to try to get the image back but that did not work, no matter how much I twisted and turned it. I have not tried to tap on it, or pull or push the cables, but I will try that the next time this happens.

I say "the next time this happens" because suddenly it started working again without having done anything to it. I got in the RV to take it in for service and suddenly the backup display was working again. The only difference I can think of is that it stopped when we were traveling in Texas and started again after having been back in Arizona for a while. Perhaps it has something to do with the humidity since we were near the Gulf Coast when it stopped working and back in Arizona when it started again. That is the only thing I can think of.

[Morich]

Oh yes!
The phantoms we can get into are never ending. Actually we are pretty lucky if it is only the back up camera.
I have been fighting a phantom on cranking my car! It will not crank the first time we turn the key if the car has been setting long, like overnight, but if we back the key all the way off and try again, it will often crank and start the second time. OR it may take 6-10 times to get it to crank. First dealer on the third visit said I had a bad battery without checking to see it had a new battery or doing a voltage or load test, but refused further work under warranty if I did not change the battery which was not under warranty! Second dealership found a bad ground after eight trips and then it worked fine for eight days, so we decided to just live with it until it got bad enough for them to
find. This is our tow car and the last trip out we lost the transmission and the car went into "limp mode" so we towed it to the nearest Ford dealer where they changed the whole transmission as a part had broken off the Transmission control module and gone through the gears! Started and ran fine until the next morning when it would not crank!
So the car now lives at the Ford dealer until they can actually get it to start both day one and day two! We have extended warranty until Mar 2021 so hoping they find a cure!
Funny thing is this is the only time I have ever bought extended warranty on most anything!
Here's hoping you get a better result on your camera. Sounds like something loose---but where? Coax at one of the connections as those can back off enough for the center conductor to lose contact but the threads still hold it on the fitting so that a bump can make it work again????