Back in the day we had a discussion about pros and cons of it. I think it is a great idea. Long time ago I purchased a test equipment a £9.99 car parking camera with night vision and £9.99 LCD screen. I have waterproofed the screen by opening it up and showing tons of silicone in then closing it back before it settles. I have recently fitted it using cable ties, only for testing. Both screen and camera are cable tied. Screen is all in all in good location on a monster, it is located on top of the bar clamp where some mount GPS. It is just below my tacho but it does not cover the tacho. I would keep it there but it needs to be mounted a bit higher and at lesser angle which is still ok with tacho visibility (only slightly covers 1k RPM mark). I have mounted the rear view camera under the brake light in the gap between light and tea tray. It is so much better then mirrors, a quick glans at the tacho also shows the screen. On one screen I see so much more then on both mirrors combined. Wide angle lens rules. I can see sides of the tea tray, my own rear indicators (from what I was told my rear indicators are not visible from another vehicle so it seems I am the only person that can see his indicators ) and then more. I have parked next to a car and tested how much I can see. Honestly car wise there is no blind spots. If the car is close enough to have any part of the front missing it is close enough to hit if you change lanes. By the time you see driver doors you already see the car over your shoulder with no much shoulder checking. Video is stable and visible in sun light. I might play with camera position a bit more as I feel it would be a bit better if I could have it so that I do not see sides of the tea tray (camera would need to be raised a bit, possibly over the rear light). I have it all connected to licence plate light so it comes on only when lights come on. My setup is in no way a permanent one as permanent setup I will probably use is what is sold as a kit here: BikeEye Rearview - Wireless Rear View Bike Camera A waterproof screen and wireless camera. I might use my setup if I manage to get someone to make me an alloy bracket for it. I want to move internals as there is 1.5cm on each side of the screen of frame that has nothing behind it.
A + for inventiveness L, I wish you could turn some of your creativity into money, preferably in a 'Robert Dyson' rather than a 'Clive Sinclair' kinda way.
Useless at night, except for parking, car lights behind you overwhelm the camera and all you see on the screen is glare ( have one fitted to car).
Well I am taking it slow as I learned my lesson. As such since weekend did couple of short trips longest 6 miles one way. Today I went on a stretch of road that is 0.1m long and has 6 speed bumps on it, very tall one's. Not even one stall or indication of electrical issue. Charge is strong and constant, no fuses blowing. I am more and more thinking electrics are all good. I forgot to add two trips were in pissing rain and I need to do one more tomorrow to job centre. Defo one of the disc's if warped from my incident but for short town arrants it will have to do. Tested that as well but in dry, glare is big but I can see a car and it's rough direction. Saying that if car is approaching with lights on full mirrors are just as bad until it gets close enough to only appear in one of them. I do ride a lot in night and had encountered idiots with no lights on at all in London, on m-way at midnight. Mirrors were useless for those guys but I guess I should spot them with camera?
The reversing cameras are designed for cars, so at night rely on your reversing lights illuminating what's behind. You'd only have bikes rear light. Not sure of effect of streetlights and whether they too would cause issues at night, 'cos obviously I only use mine when reversing.
Steve my camera has night vision mode that works. In complete darkness I put it on and see behind me but only in black & white rather then colour like during day. As soon as car lights were shined in to it camera switches to colour.
So does mine, but as soon as you get any light source it tries to use that. Yours may well be a better unit than mine, and I'm not trying to be negative, just something to consider
Thx for feedback. I will test it at night on the road before going full way as did not think about the night issue much. The night test I did looked promising, especially that mirrors do not work at night all that good either. Good visibility with no light and ok with lights in to the camera. Idea of thread was to cover all corners
Old tub being thumped, but you really should try a Reevu helmet, excellent rearward vision even at night.
I know, it is my next helmet as soon as I can. I did Wright off my last one in December. I still want the camera in case plus I can always link it to PVR as well.
What about the light it emits (if any) and the reflection?...........should be red to comply if it is rear facing. AL
There is no visible light saying that licence plate light is not red and in it self is enough for that camera to switch to full colour feed just like brake light.
Luca, do you have any pics and places you bought your kit from. I hate mirrors on bikes, and have looked at doing something like this for ages.
Carbon I used ebay to buy cheapest setup for testing mainly, but am surprised how good it is for 20GBP delivered. At the moment it seems both screen and camera went up by 50% in price. Another reason I wanted to try my own combo is because I believe this setup is to expensive for what it is: BikeEye Rearview - Wireless Rear View Bike Camera Do not get me wrong looks well build, of good quality and 4kam is a very good brand. If you want no hassle setup go for that. At the same time I can not use the camera from that setup together with PVR which I beleive to be a waste. In case of my setup all I need is a analog signal splitter and can have feed to both PVR and screen. This is a cheap combo but I do not have that exact screen: CAR REAR VIEW KIT 4.3" TFT LCD MONITOR+REVERSING CAMERA | eBay Here is camera I have: 9 LED Night Vision Car Color Rear Back Reverse Backup View Parking Camera MA07 | eBay and screen I have: eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace You can get cameras smaller in diameter and cheaper by about 5GBP if you select one with no night vision LED's. Screen wise if I am going to use that screen then I will have a alloy case made up for it and replace the current plastic one. On each side there is over 1cm of frame however screen board inside does not reach nearly as far. I think I could make the entire screen about 1.5cm to 2cm slimmer on left/right side.
I know I got the idea from him, he has the one with no night vision mode. Sadly have to report that his opinion would be mostly useless "my bike never sees rain and I rarely use it at night" or something along those lines
thanks for the info lucazade i have been toying with this for a wile ,i think i will give it a go as the mirrors on thr 999 are pants
To be honest, mine is the same. I was looking at a double set up. 2 x Bullet camera, 1 each side of the seat unit and 2 screens, 1 each side of the speedo. But, if the single camera set up works well, I may go for that. As for the feed for a PVR .... I don't want to do that, and would not recommend anyone doing it. If you are stopped for speeding, or being silly on the bike ...... then the police have a recording to help prosecute you. Thanks for the links, will look in to it.
