T&T: Underwater Camera / Rear View Camera

[Albin43SDtr]

'Lo All,

At 08:52 AM 7/25/2006, WRHNCO@aol.com wrote:
>You could even make  a
>bracket for the back of the pilothouse and use it as a rear view camera.
I did just that, but the monitor must be able to have the picture 
reversed - left to right - so that what appears on the monitor to be 
going to the right/starboard comes up along the starboard side of the 
boat. (I view the monitor in front of me, when I am facing forward 
towards the bow, and with the camera facing aft, left-right is 
reversed unless corrected.)

The system that I use is wireless, so that I can move the 5" monitor 
from helm to helm and still have full use of the system.

I tried it first with the monitor in the "normal" mode and was afraid 
that I would get confused as to which side a passing boat might be 
on. I installed a switch in the monitor, so now when a boat moves to 
the starboard side of the monitor, it passes on the starboard side of 
the boat. The camera and monitor I have are black and white, so 
installing the switch to accomplish this was a simple task. The 
biggest challenge was to find a place to put the switch.

Another possible problem is the camera's angle of view. A wide-angle 
camera will make close objects appear a lot farther away than they 
really are. (Like the bumper cams on Nextel Cup stock cars.) I 
ordered two cameras, each from a different company, one worked well 
as a rear-view camera, the other was useless. With the "useless" wide 
angle camera, a boat 50 yards away looked as if it was about a 
quarter of a mile away. However, it worked well in the engine room, 
as the wide angle was perfect.

For some reason, the two cameras were not interchangeable with the 
two monitors, and since I did not want two monitors at the helm, I 
only use the one rear view camera. I am still looking for another 
camera that will work with my existing monitor. I will then mount it 
in the engine room. Both monitors did come with a switcher, that 
would allow switching between two cameras, either manually or timed 
automatically. The infra-red lights light up the engine room like day.

A more detailed description of this setup should still be in the archives.


Take care and be safe.

Wayne
M/V Celestial
Albin43 Sundeck