# Backup Cameras



## TheRookieFD (Aug 25, 2015)

Can anyone give me any advice? I want to purchase a backup camera for my 05 Nissan Frontier. I will primarily be using it for hooking up my boat trailer so I don't want to spend a fortune. I have seen many types online but all of them have mixed reviews. Can anyone tell me about a model that they have experience with; positive or negative will be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you


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## Seon (Aug 25, 2015)

Check out Amazon and buy the 3" screen cheapest combo for less than $60. The first back-up combo I bought costed over $500 for my MH and discovered it was a way over kill. 
Then I bought and installed two "cheapies" on two different trucks that worked(s) great.

NOTE: Connect them directly on your 12v and use an off/on toggle switch instead of connecting it to your reverse light. This way you can turn it on/off with or without your trailer connected to see what's behind you.


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## BrazosDon (Aug 26, 2015)

Thanks Seon, can you use the cigarette lighter socket for the monitor? I also was looking on Google and came up with this. Might help.

https://www.google.com/search?q=backup+camera+kit&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAkQ_AUoA2oVChMIjcTClvfGxwIVgdWACh101AmM&biw=1366&bih=65


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## Seon (Aug 26, 2015)

The monitor and camera both need 12v power. What I did was to run 16ga wires (+ and - ) from the camera and tied them together with the monitor's power wires. From there, you could connect it to a cigarette male plug. But IMO that's a lot of loose wires laying in your vehicle.  .

This is similar to what I have.


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## PSG-1 (Aug 26, 2015)

Once you use one of these, you can't imagine life without it! They make hooking up to your trailer 100 times easier, and saves your bumper, tailgate, and license plate from dents and gouges.


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## Johnny (Aug 27, 2015)

I have a big Dodge 15 passenger van that I use a lot for towing the boat and utility trailer.
It takes on the average of five (5) get-out-and-looks before I get it right.
Glad to see the prices have come down to where the average guy can get one now.
Will be monitoring this one close.

*Good Question !!!*


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## PSG-1 (Aug 27, 2015)

The one I had in my previous vehicle, I bought from auto zone, for about 75 dollars. The monitor plugged into the cigarette lighter. The camera power wire is wired into the positive wire for the reverse lights, so that the camera is on when the vehicle is in reverse, and no other time.


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## BrazosDon (Aug 29, 2015)

Thanks PSG-1 for the info, I'm getting old and I probably would not though of that. I need all the help I can get!


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## Seon (Aug 30, 2015)

Amazon has this for $30 that's rated 4 of 5 stars.

https://www.amazon.com/Monitor-Univ...qid=1440941958&sr=8-5&keywords=back+up+camera

BTW I'm buying one of these for my 28' Pontoon that has an aft enclosure :wink: .


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## lugoismad (Sep 7, 2015)

Maybe I'm just used to being a big dude and this not being an issue, but can't you just get it close and then move the trailer by hand?

My 2500lb camper with a 300lb tongue weight doesn't give me any issues to move around, and I even push it up the 15* grade from the street to park it in the garage.

Invest in a tongue wheel instead?


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## 1lhorn (Sep 8, 2015)

Man, it's hard to believe how inexpensive those are.


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## Johnny (Sep 8, 2015)

This is why I am going to get one . . . . . 
I am a small frame guy that can not lift and move anything 
over 100 pounds. . . . 
My van is 20 feet long with very limited rear vision with the mirrors.
It takes an average of five (5) get out and looks before the ball is
right under the tongue. . . . My boat trailer is the same. I just can't lift it.
I do envy you young guys that can toss around a full grown cow, 
but some of us more seasoned seniors just can't get past the first aarrgggghhhhh.



oh, all 3 of my boat trailers have tongue wheels as well as my 16' utility trailer.
The problem is that I live in the country and I normally park them off the
hard surface in sand . . . kinda hard to push it around.

And just a personal note: If you young bucks continue to over extend yourself
physically, you could, (God forbid), injure your back so badly that each time you
injure it thereafter, by the time you are fifty, sixty or seventy years old, you will be
in such bad shape that you will not even be able to lift your grandchild into the boat.
My first back injury was at 18 years old..... and each twist from that point on got worse
and worse....... 

Just something to think about. ><>





.


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## Seon (Sep 9, 2015)

lugoismad said:


> Maybe I'm just used to being a big dude and this not being an issue, but can't you just get it close and then move the trailer by hand?



Try moving this by hand :wink: :LOL2: .






Even with my overhead camper on, I can back up and get the alignment right the first time all the time with the back-up camera.



Barefoot_Johnny said:


> ...
> And just a personal note: If you young bucks continue to over extend yourself
> physically, you could, (God forbid), injure your back ...
> 
> ...



Also, keep in mind the word "Hernia" ... :-


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## PSG-1 (Sep 9, 2015)

Take it from someone with a messed up sciatic, it's not worth trying to be a badass and muscle things around when there are easier ways of doing it. The old saying "work smarter, not harder", does apply. Once you mess up your back, or other joints in your body, like shoulders, there's no fixing it.

I second the opinion that it's a PITA to get in and out of the vehicle 5 times when you can simply back right up and see it on camera, and then get out one time to hook up. Or the other option I see many lazy people do.....just back up until the tongue either beats the crap out of the bumper, the tailgate, or the license plate. "Close enough....nail it!!" :roll: I've seen some license plates that were concave, and illegible from being beaten so many times with trailer tongues. 

A backup camera makes so much sense.........


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## jethro (Sep 18, 2015)

lugoismad said:


> Maybe I'm just used to being a big dude and this not being an issue, but can't you just get it close and then move the trailer by hand?
> 
> My 2500lb camper with a 300lb tongue weight doesn't give me any issues to move around, and I even push it up the 15* grade from the street to park it in the garage.
> 
> Invest in a tongue wheel instead?



I hear you, and I said the same thing. When I bought my last truck it was part of a $700 option package to get the back up camera and I said "no freaking way do I need that." Then I watched the video showing them backing up to a trailer and it was like, "oh yeah, I gotta have that." I would never go without it now. It's even more useful in the winter with my 4000 lb snowmobile trailer. When the tires sink in snow there is no way you are going to pull it around but with the camera you can get it right immediately. Also, you must have a paved driveway. There isn't anyway you are pushing a camper up my sandy, dirt driveway.


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## Captain Ahab (Sep 19, 2015)

I love mine


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## Seon (Sep 19, 2015)

BTW I also installed a back-up camera on my Pontoon so that I can see who might be "barreling" down behind me before turning :wink: .


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## lugoismad (Sep 27, 2015)

jethro said:


> Also, you must have a paved driveway. There isn't anyway you are pushing a camper up my sandy, dirt driveway.




Yeah, its paved. We have a pretty short driveway, just enough for the car. I couldn't park a long bed pickup in my driveway without the rear hanging out into the alley.

I've gotten better about backing up to it. The wife just sucks at hand signals and it stresses me out.


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