Auxiliary Accessory Trailer Camera

newdude · February 22, 2020

1 hour ago, beaudett said:

Would you happen to know part number of the rear camera kit you installed on your 40' trailer. I have a 40' fifth wheel and I'm concerned about the length of cable that comes with the rear camera kit.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

It comes with 60 feet of harness. You should be fine.

Cool J · February 22, 2020

I have a 37'8" Fifth wheel and installed my camera cabling going underneath my RV. I removed the cable from the camera and was able to slide it into 1/2" non-metallic Liquidetight Flexible Conduit from HD to prevent any abrasions under the RV. I was able to fish the cable from the fifth wheel hitch between the bottom floor of the bedroom and the plastic exterior sheeting all the way to the front battery compartment. My RV had several screws that hold this material up and was able to remove them to drop this plastic sheeting down just enough to fish the cable through between the bottom metal floor joists which run parallel with the RV. I then ran the cable through the battery compartment into my propane compartment (drivers side) and followed the rubber propane line where it exits that compartment outside and under the RV. I then ty-wrapped to the conduit along the propane gas line from the front to just past the rear axles and then used 3/4" cable clamps and attached using the existing removable fasteners holding up the coroplast. I used the stick on cable ties to run the cable up to the camera which is mounted slightly higher than the camera on the trucks tailgate. Once this was done I had 3-4' of extra cable at the fifth wheel hitch. Run everything from front to rear with out securing to the RV; then start securing your cabling from the rear back to the front so all your excess cable ends up at the fifth wheel hitch.

The problem you will run into is how to connect the video connector to the bumper plug and still be able to make turns. Having the cable at the fifth wheel hitch allows you to make turns both directions all to way to jack knife position without having to unplug your video cable. I taped the video cable to the trailer plug cable to take up the excess cable laying in the bed. I was able to fish a velcro cable tie through the hinge on the Pro Tailgate drop down step to hold the video cable where it goes up and over the top of the tailgate and down to the bumper. I also insulated the cable from the velcro to the bumper using 3/8" copper pipe insulation to protect the paint along with 2-6" suction cups used for boat tarps to hold the video cable as it goes down the outside of the tailgate to the bumper.

This sounds like a lot, but wasn't all that difficult and was able to complete in 4 hrs.

rblanch · February 22, 2020

2 hours ago, beaudett said:

Would you happen to know part number of the rear camera kit you installed on your 40' trailer. I have a 40' fifth wheel and I'm concerned about the length of cable that comes with the rear camera kit.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

I thru the box away however as far as I know there is only one camera. It was close but i fished it from the pin box through the propane tank area under the trailer then up inside the corner of the garage and out at the top center of the rear door where the original wireless camera got power and was able to keep it completely concealed. There are threads on here that have the part no.

Cool J · February 22, 2020

Here is the link for the camera part number.

https://www.shopchevyparts.com/electronics/2020-sierra-2500-invisible-trailer-camera-auxiliary-trailer-camera-models-with-uvi-and-cwm/84876818-p-92306125.html

Wbrisett · February 22, 2020

So today, I had a chance to test the camera on the Airstream. I'm getting ready to fly out later today to the UK for a week, so I tested it and my wife wanted me to do more checking before 'rushing it'.

Anyhow, I did run into a few issues trying to make it 'invisible'. My Airstream is 28 feet long, which seems well within the 10 meters mentioned earlier in the thread. When I entered all the data required it told me my parameters were outside the limits and thus couldn't do the invisible trailering.

I've put photos in here of all the measurements. With the Airstream not being square, some of my measurements could have been off slightly, but not by much. Anybody know what the actual parameter ranges are for each of these measurements?

I'm not unhappy just leaving it 'as-is' ... I tried both where the existing camera is on the top (not a fan), or the middle area of the Airstream, which I did like.

jaybauman · February 22, 2020

20 minutes ago, Wbrisett said:

So today, I had a chance to test the camera on the Airstream. I'm getting ready to fly out later today to the UK for a week, so I tested it and my wife wanted me to do more checking before 'rushing it'.

Anyhow, I did run into a few issues trying to make it 'invisible'. My Airstream is 28 feet long, which seems well within the 10 meters mentioned earlier in the thread. When I entered all the data required it told me my parameters were outside the limits and thus couldn't do the invisible trailering.

I've put photos in here of all the measurements. With the Airstream not being square, some of my measurements could have been off slightly, but not by much. Anybody know what the actual parameter ranges are for each of these measurements?

I'm not unhappy just leaving it 'as-is' ... I tried both where the existing camera is on the top (not a fan), or the middle area of the Airstream, which I did like.

Hi Wayne

I'm anxious to see how you get this to work on your camper. I have a 31' Airstream with a ProPride hitch, so I'm close to the 10m limit. Like you, I'm heading to Europe for the week. I hope to figure out how to setup the camera settings when I get back next weekend....

saskfarmer · February 24, 2020

I'm thinking of installing the invisible camera in my 2020 chevy truck pulling a fifth wheel camper heading south for the winter and will need to use my navigation just wondering how this will work would I be able to do a split screen so I can view both options.

MTU Alum · February 24, 2020

2 hours ago, saskfarmer said:

I'm thinking of installing the invisible camera in my 2020 chevy truck pulling a fifth wheel camper heading south for the winter and will need to use my navigation just wondering how this will work would I be able to do a split screen so I can view both options.

Unfortunately no split view is available. You would have to toggle between camera and whatever you use for nav.

#iworkforGM

MTU Alum · February 24, 2020

On 2/22/2020 at 12:00 PM, Wbrisett said:

So today, I had a chance to test the camera on the Airstream. I'm getting ready to fly out later today to the UK for a week, so I tested it and my wife wanted me to do more checking before 'rushing it'.

Anyhow, I did run into a few issues trying to make it 'invisible'. My Airstream is 28 feet long, which seems well within the 10 meters mentioned earlier in the thread. When I entered all the data required it told me my parameters were outside the limits and thus couldn't do the invisible trailering.

I've put photos in here of all the measurements. With the Airstream not being square, some of my measurements could have been off slightly, but not by much. Anybody know what the actual parameter ranges are for each of these measurements?

I will try to get the dimension ranges. Just from looking at the dimensions, I would try making dim 3 smaller. I had several trailers with dim1 at 333 and dim 3 at 98 with rest of the values larger than yours and had no issues.

#iworkforGM

bikersully · February 25, 2020

Does anyone know if other cameras will work with the Silverado besides the one sold by GM

( 84876818 2020 Silverado 1500 Invisible Trailer Camera, Auxiliary Trailer Camera, Models with UVI, UVN, CWM) ?

XY74 · March 2, 2020

I redid mine today through the fridge vent. Managed to snake it through some existing holes.

sdelam · March 3, 2020

15 hours ago, XY74 said:

I redid mine today through the fridge vent. Managed to snake it through some existing holes.

Thats a clean install, nice.

Wbrisett · March 9, 2020

First off, thanks to MTU Alum, I was able to get the unit to try to calibrate for the invisible trailer mode. However, it never did successfully calibrate. I tried playing some with the settings, but no matter what I put in, it wouldn't calibrate. That said, I'm still quite pleased with it. It means I can ignore the less than ideal camera that came preinstalled on the Airstream.

I stole Larry's idea and bought some of that non-conductive conduit and snaked the cable through since I ran it under the trailer. Unlike his clean line, there were a few more obstacles I had to get around on the bottom of the Airstream so my install looks more like a snake than a straight line.

The only downside is while doing some test positions on the trailer, I used carpet tape and the camera fell off the back and wouldn't you know, landed straight on the lens, so now I have a small ding in the lens. It ends up looking like a spec of dirt in the picture, and I'm annoyed with myself, but what do you do?

I will say that I'm right at the bottom range of the 200mm window they want due to where Airstream puts their badging.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Wbrisett

DeJong · March 31, 2020

On 2/22/2020 at 9:13 AM, Cool J said:

I have a 37'8" Fifth wheel and installed my camera cabling going underneath my RV. I removed the cable from the camera and was able to slide it into 1/2" non-metallic Liquidetight Flexible Conduit from HD to prevent any abrasions under the RV. I was able to fish the cable from the fifth wheel hitch between the bottom floor of the bedroom and the plastic exterior sheeting all the way to the front battery compartment. My RV had several screws that hold this material up and was able to remove them to drop this plastic sheeting down just enough to fish the cable through between the bottom metal floor joists which run parallel with the RV. I then ran the cable through the battery compartment into my propane compartment (drivers side) and followed the rubber propane line where it exits that compartment outside and under the RV. I then ty-wrapped to the conduit along the propane gas line from the front to just past the rear axles and then used 3/4" cable clamps and attached using the existing removable fasteners holding up the coroplast. I used the stick on cable ties to run the cable up to the camera which is mounted slightly higher than the camera on the trucks tailgate. Once this was done I had 3-4' of extra cable at the fifth wheel hitch. Run everything from front to rear with out securing to the RV; then start securing your cabling from the rear back to the front so all your excess cable ends up at the fifth wheel hitch.

The problem you will run into is how to connect the video connector to the bumper plug and still be able to make turns. Having the cable at the fifth wheel hitch allows you to make turns both directions all to way to jack knife position without having to unplug your video cable. I taped the video cable to the trailer plug cable to take up the excess cable laying in the bed. I was able to fish a velcro cable tie through the hinge on the Pro Tailgate drop down step to hold the video cable where it goes up and over the top of the tailgate and down to the bumper. I also insulated the cable from the velcro to the bumper using 3/8" copper pipe insulation to protect the paint along with 2-6" suction cups used for boat tarps to hold the video cable as it goes down the outside of the tailgate to the bumper.

This sounds like a lot, but wasn't all that difficult and was able to complete in 4 hrs.

Has anyone been in contact with a GM product engineer to see if they have plans to release an "in box" camera connection? My new 2020 has two connections, one being a worthless 4pin flat connector and the other being the 7pin that all goosenecks use. It appears if I moved the recepticle from the bumper to the box it would fit. But we need a longer wiring harness to reach the box mounted receptacle. I've done lots of searching, but not having any luck or seeing where someone has successfully connected their video cable inside the truck box where "it should be" for a gooseneck/5th wheel.

Cool J · March 31, 2020

GM was no help, but I was able to find a supplier for extension cables to swap the bumper plug with the bed plug at the following link within this forum. Copy and paste into your search engine.

https://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/235530-help-w-relocating-camera-port-from-bumper-to-bed-for-5th-wheel/?do=findComment&comment=2388376