Camera wiring

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Since many of us in the HDT world have the Levithan_Holdings camera systems off of E-bay, I'm hoping that someone can tell me how hard it is to splice the wiring?

I'm moving the camera's off of the Carrilite onto the DRV.  On the Carrilite I drilled a 3/8" (or larger?) hole for the camera plug end to fit thru the RV siding and rear cap, but I really don't want to drill large holes in the DRV if I don't have to.  The camera cable is smaller than 1/4" and the smaller the hole, the easier to seal.

So my questions are-

Is the camera cabling twisted pairs of wire like phone conductor or is it a coax style- sheathed with an inner core?

At the WCR, Ronbo had an umbilical cable that had been cut, and it was 22 or 24 gauge wiring running thru the sheathing.

 Are the rest of the cables like this? Or?

 

 

[GlennWest]

I cut one of my cables accidentally and spliced, soldered also. Works just fine. Really insulated the wires and used foul between them. Got rather large at splice but works

[Jack Mayer]

The wires are just twisted inside the sheathing. I generally cut the ends off and splice them into either cat5 or into individual lines for just the video/power. Then run them over to the truck from the trailer. No issue with soldering them. It just depends on what you want to do......

[RandyA]

Jim, while not absolutely necessary, it is always better to use shielded coaxial cable when making long runs with composite video signals, especially when the cables are subjected to many different RF and electromagnetic fields.  You will have a lessened chance of signal interference and loss.  The impedance of the cable is not critical to these devices.   Fully shielded Cat5 or Cat6 as Jack suggested should be OK as well.  I just haven't tried using it.  I run RG-6 type coaxial cable simply because it is easy to attach the F type compression connectors or even BNC or RCA if you prefer.  The tool to attach compression connectors is inexpensive - check Amazon.  They also have the RCA connectors that should mate directly with your camera and monitor.  I have a run all the way from the back of my fiver that has a F connector at the HDT and then completes the run to the monitor.  Always a sharp, clear picture.  Also less chance of damage from the tiny video cable provided with the camera.  It is the same amount of time and labor to run the coaxial cable.  Power cable type is not critical. 

[Darryl&Rita]

Local Ag dealers have cameras built for farm conditions. Usually better pricing, too.

[Jack Mayer]

What Randy said is the same thing I'd say if you are maintaining the coax "situation" with RCA connectors. I generally run so many cameras that I condense the video feeds into a single cat5 via splicing. And then run that to a selector box that I hand build. That gives me less wires to manage - way less. But it is work to do.....I consider it a "one time job", though. 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Well, the good news is all the cameras and cabling came out with much issue.  The bad news is one camera lost its connector inside the rear cap.  When we get the new rig, I'll take the time to solder everything.  

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Like Jack, I used CAT-5 cable for my cameras.  I used a separate cable for each camera.  Used one twisted pair for power and one for signal. (built-in spares).  CAT-5 is very easy to run.   I had three camera, one at the end of the trailer, one at the hitch and one on the headache rack.

I used two monitors each switchable to two inputs.  Didn't need external switches.

Had no interference with CAT-5 running from the rear of the trailer (40') and from the connector on the truck to the monitor (30')  For connecting from trailer to truck I used a curled 4-wire toad cable with 7-blade connectors.  7-Blade connectors have a scrapping action when being inserted which keeps the contacts surfaces in better condition.

I did solder plugs and camera connector to the CAT-5 wires but run an inch or two of the twisted core wire from the plugs twisted around the solid core of a CAT-5 wire.  The twisting takes the stress off of the solder joint.  The 22-24 gauge CAT-5 wire is very thin and soldering makes it brittle. 

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

I have a need to replace the male and female ends close to the camera. One of the pins corroded off and broke. There is no way to remove this pin. My questions are the wires colored coded ? What type of plug would you use for this repair ? If I have to, I can spice the wires together. I have not cut into the wires yet. I hope the wires are color coded. The cable has 4 pins. How many wires go to the camera ?

Thanks for any help,
Al

 

 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

4 hours ago, alan0043 said:

Hi Everyone,

I have a need to replace the male and female ends close to the camera. One of the pins corroded off and broke. There is no way to remove this pin. My questions are the wires colored coded ? What type of plug would you use for this repair ? If I have to, I can spice the wires together. I have not cut into the wires yet. I hope the wires are color coded. The cable has 4 pins. How many wires go to the camera ?

Thanks for any help,
Al

 

 

Al, The wires are coded.  I soldered all mine when we switched rigs.  No issues.

[alan0043]

14 hours ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said:

Al, The wires are coded.  I soldered all mine when we switched rigs.  No issues.

Is it possible to use a 4 prong plug like a 4 wire trailer hitch plug ? I would like to have the ability to un-plug the camera if the is a need. 

Thank you for any help,    Thanks Jim for the help.
Al

 

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

I did in the beginning.  But 4-round plugs are fragile with a lot of use.  The pins loose their spring and the sleeve contacts come loose.  

I would up using a 7-flat blade trailer plug/receptacle.  It may seem like over kill but 7-blade plugs/receptacles are robust and there is a swiping action of the contacts cleaning them as the plug is inserted.

[noteven]

Oops wrong thread

 

 

[Sculptor]

Most of this is making sense to me.  (I have not purchased my cameras or screen yet)  Can someone provide a photo or 2 of the connections they made?   "yeah, 220 or 221, whatever it takes."  Michael Keaton

On 7/23/2017 at 3:48 PM, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

I did solder plugs and camera connector to the CAT-5 wires but run an inch or two of the twisted core wire from the plugs twisted around the solid core of a CAT-5 wire.  The twisting takes the stress off of the solder joint.  The 22-24 gauge CAT-5 wire is very thin and soldering makes it brittle. 

 

On 7/23/2017 at 1:19 PM, RandyA said:

Fully shielded Cat5 or Cat6 as Jack suggested should be OK as well.  I just haven't tried using it.  I run RG-6 type coaxial cable simply because it is easy to attach the F type compression connectors or even BNC or RCA if you prefer.

RG-6 

 CAT-5 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

21 hours ago, Sculptor said:

Most of this is making sense to me.  (I have not purchased my cameras or screen yet)  Can someone provide a photo or 2 of the connections they made?   "yeah, 220 or 221, whatever it takes."  Michael Keaton

 

RG-6 

 CAT-5 

The Cat 5 cable is what I redid my cameras with.  It works better with the camera wiring.  Camera wiring on mine from Levithan Holdings (no longer in business) was twisted pairs as well.

[Brad & Jacolyn]

Jim I ran my cable across the roof and into a box that is on top of the rig. Then down the existing hole and into the basement then forward. Prevented drilling a hole in the cap and fishing the cable. could also go over the top and down a vent pipe.

 

Brad

[Pete Kildow]

What plug is everyone using when hard wired? To make the Connection from the trailer, to the truck? My old camera is wireless, = junk unless used on  truck only. So will be adding a wired camera to the rear of the camper. With 3 other camera's on the tractor.

Pete