OK, So I have a 2020 Chevy 3500 with all the options, including the rear trailer camera option. The Chevy solution to this is a wired camera, the wire plugs into a tri-axial port on the back of the truck bumper, and you have to run a cable to the back of the trailer to the camera. Sloppy solution Chevy. This should be wireless these days. And the worst of this is that the camera does not have night vision. I need that too Chevy! And the Chevy camera is way more than my Furrion was, and needs to be mounted so low it would need to be where the rear window of the trailer is.
I have explored the Furrion forums, as well as looked into the location of the Chevy camera module, which is behind the rear seat back on the passenger side. The camera module is where all 11 cameras on this truck come together. I have not yet seen a wireless solution.
I have a Furrion rear camera already mounted on my 303 RLS that works well both daytime and night, and is wireless. I pick up the wireless video on a separate Furrion monitor (about 5") in the cab. Now that I have a full navigation / camera screen built in the trick cab, I don't really want another monitor in the cab.
So, on to my question for a solution: I would like a wireless solution for my camera that would interface to the existing truck camera system and operate as the trailer camera. As I said, the port comes out the back of the truck. This is a tri-axial cable port. I suspect tri-axial since the Chevy camera needs both power (12 volts) to power the camera, plus a video signal feed, and ground. So far I have not found anybody who can confirm this is so, though. However, the electrical engineer in me figures this would be how they would do it. Ideally, a solution might be perhaps a dongle that would talk to my Furrion wireless camera, and would plug into the bumper port. Or plug directly into the camera module behind the rear seat, in place of the cable from the rear bumper port..
Chevy, are you listening? We need a wireless solution here, with night vision.
I am hopeful there is someone out there already that has dealt with this for the Chevy camera system. But this is a new Chevy feature, so not sure a solution is in hand yet.
I hesitate to tap into the wiring harness on the truck since it is under warranty. Any mods to the wire harness will void the warranty.
Note that the power to my Furrion camera is through a GD supplied 12 volt wire at the pre-mounted camera mount. This was hot all the time, though, so I drilled a hole from the camera mount into the inside of the cabinet in the trailer, and added a switch to the 12 volt power. I can now turn the camera off when parked since I don't need it.
As an engineer, here are my thoughts (also, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands during this COVID crap):
Open the little Furrion monitor. Find the video feed from the wireless circuit to the monitor input. This has to be a simple video signal. I doubt it is HD, but that would not matter much anyway. Tap into this video signal and bring out to either a video port I could mount on the monitor, or a wire from the monitor to a video connection. Then create a cable (or buy the cable from Chevy) that connects to the port on the bumper. Figure out which wire in the tri-axial connector is video and bring that to the video plug on the Furrion monitor I created. If all goes well, the video should not be available on the truck camera system. I could route the cable from the back bumper under the truck and into the cab, and just put the monitor under or behind the back seat. Assuming my bumper port also has that 12 volts available, I would use that wire to power the Furrion monitor.
Anyway, that is my thought process at this point. An already created solution would be nice, but I have not found it.
Thanks for listening,
Tony
I have explored the Furrion forums, as well as looked into the location of the Chevy camera module, which is behind the rear seat back on the passenger side. The camera module is where all 11 cameras on this truck come together. I have not yet seen a wireless solution.
I have a Furrion rear camera already mounted on my 303 RLS that works well both daytime and night, and is wireless. I pick up the wireless video on a separate Furrion monitor (about 5") in the cab. Now that I have a full navigation / camera screen built in the trick cab, I don't really want another monitor in the cab.
So, on to my question for a solution: I would like a wireless solution for my camera that would interface to the existing truck camera system and operate as the trailer camera. As I said, the port comes out the back of the truck. This is a tri-axial cable port. I suspect tri-axial since the Chevy camera needs both power (12 volts) to power the camera, plus a video signal feed, and ground. So far I have not found anybody who can confirm this is so, though. However, the electrical engineer in me figures this would be how they would do it. Ideally, a solution might be perhaps a dongle that would talk to my Furrion wireless camera, and would plug into the bumper port. Or plug directly into the camera module behind the rear seat, in place of the cable from the rear bumper port..
Chevy, are you listening? We need a wireless solution here, with night vision.
I am hopeful there is someone out there already that has dealt with this for the Chevy camera system. But this is a new Chevy feature, so not sure a solution is in hand yet.
I hesitate to tap into the wiring harness on the truck since it is under warranty. Any mods to the wire harness will void the warranty.
Note that the power to my Furrion camera is through a GD supplied 12 volt wire at the pre-mounted camera mount. This was hot all the time, though, so I drilled a hole from the camera mount into the inside of the cabinet in the trailer, and added a switch to the 12 volt power. I can now turn the camera off when parked since I don't need it.
As an engineer, here are my thoughts (also, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands during this COVID crap):
Open the little Furrion monitor. Find the video feed from the wireless circuit to the monitor input. This has to be a simple video signal. I doubt it is HD, but that would not matter much anyway. Tap into this video signal and bring out to either a video port I could mount on the monitor, or a wire from the monitor to a video connection. Then create a cable (or buy the cable from Chevy) that connects to the port on the bumper. Figure out which wire in the tri-axial connector is video and bring that to the video plug on the Furrion monitor I created. If all goes well, the video should not be available on the truck camera system. I could route the cable from the back bumper under the truck and into the cab, and just put the monitor under or behind the back seat. Assuming my bumper port also has that 12 volts available, I would use that wire to power the Furrion monitor.
Anyway, that is my thought process at this point. An already created solution would be nice, but I have not found it.
Thanks for listening,
Tony
Comment