Purchasing a camera system for my truck

spudhead911

Seasoned Expediter
I am thinking about putting a camera system in my truck. I don’t know if I should go with the color cameras or the black and white, can anyone out there make any recommendations? I will be purchasing the system from Safety Vision, and I will be using a 4 camera system, 1 on each side, 1 in back and 1 in the box. I will be using there 7†LCD monitor. Any help will be appreciated

Spudhead911
FedExCC
Unit CR3133
 

tec1959

Expert Expediter
Spud hi contact Phil his screen name is Ateam.He just built a truck with a camera system I'm sure he can help you out...
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
We have the safety vision color cameras. We have three and would like to add one more. We have one on our passenger side mirror, one as a backup camera, and one in the box that faces the back doors. We would like to add on at the back of the box facing forward. We have been very happy with our cameras.

My question to you is why do you want or need a camera on the drivers side?

Can not help you with the monitor though.
 

spudhead911

Seasoned Expediter
Spudhead911

My wife thought it might be a good thing to have. How do you like the color cameras, how do they perform at night? Do you get a good picture with the color cameras at night?
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Our cameras have to have some type of light so that we can see. At night our back up lights are enough to use the back up camera, going through a city we use the street lights for our passenger side camera and that is about the only time that camera is needed. If we want to just check our fright at night we have to park under a street light.

I also wanted the driver side camera and Bob asked me exactly what it was I wanted to see. There really is not any blind spots on that side.

There are bigger and badder camera systems out there but we have what need.
 

spudhead911

Seasoned Expediter
>Spud hi contact Phil his screen name is Ateam.He just built
>a truck with a camera system I'm sure he can help you out..

Thanks, I just e mailed the A team
 

Paul56

Seasoned Expediter
>I am thinking about putting a camera system in my truck. I
>don’t know if I should go with the color cameras or the
>black and white, can anyone out there make any
>recommendations?

Most monitoring/security camera systems are black & white.

We went with colour to have the ability to differential colours. One never knows when it will be real handy to be able to provide a colour, other than saying it was light or dark.
 

Wingnut

Seasoned Expediter
We have that exact camera system on one of our trucks. We have the black & white with 3 cameras and the monitor. Don't have any complaints with this system. It works great for us.
 

spudhead911

Seasoned Expediter
>We have that exact camera system on one of our trucks. We
>have the black & white with 3 cameras and the monitor. Don't
>have any complaints with this system. It works great for us.

Thanks for your help. Is the 7" LCD monitor a flat screen?

Spudhead911
 

nightcreacher

Veteran Expediter
i pull fed ex trailer,it has black and white camera,i put color camera on side of tractor under passenger door,best money ive ever spent,no blind spots,no hitting docks to hard,i also have the big screen so can put 2 more cameras if i want
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
We purchased our 8-camera system from TS2.

http://ts2net.com/prodmobile.html

I am reluctant to provide advice about camera types because technology changes so fast and I have not kept up. It might be best to contact these folks and Safety Vision with your color-camera and night-vision questions.

The cameras we chose were color, not infrared (night vision). They do best in daylight. At night, they will record images that are lit. The better the lighting, the better the image. They do not see in the dark. We chose color over black and white because the price difference was not significant. If you can get color video at little extra cost, why not?

While we have a nice monitor in the dash, we do not drive down the road with it turned on. I know people use theirs when driving. To me, it is a distraction. I'd rather use the windows and mirrors. When backing up, the rear camera us used all the time. It provide great comfort to see the area immediately behind the truck as you back up. At night, the vision behind the truck is as good as your lighting. Having a backup camera does not substitute for getting out and looking before you back up or having your codriver serve as a ground guide.

Note that our TS2 system was more expensive than Safety Vision offered when we shopped. That is because our system is a survellaince system. A digital video recorder captures images from all eight cameras 24 hours a day, whether the truck is running or not, whether it is occupied or not. The images are kept on the recorder for up to five days before it loops over itself.

We view the system more as a liability management system than a driver's aid. While it helps us back up the truck and keep an eye on the freight inside, we bought it more to protect ourselves from the unsafe drivers and loading dock people out there who might cause an accident and then try to blame us for their faults.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Here are some photos.

The first shows the monitor built into the dash. Volvo had enough blanks for switches to accomplish this. I moved active switches to blank areas, freeing up enough room to cut a hole in the dash plastic and mount the monitor in it.

Also shown is the camera dome on the dash. It houses three cameras. One looks to the center-left, another to the center-right. The third camera points straight down the middle and is magnified. It is there to capture license plate images and/or car descriptions. If someone cuts us off and then slams on the brakes, we will be able to prove that was the case when the driver's lawyer claims we caused the wreck by following too close.

Of course, if you are going to have such a system in your truck, you had beetter be an exceptionally safe driver. Otherwise the images could be used against you.

The second photo shows rear view camera outside the truck and one of the cameras inside the box. The inside camera is mounted in the top left rear corner of the box and points to the bottom right front corner.

The third photo shows the other box camera. It is mounted near the top front right of the box and points to the bottom left rear.

Not pictured are the left and right side-view cameras. They are mounted on the rear view mirror brackets.

We have considered moving one of the box cameras to the outside as a second rear view cam. One would point mostly straight down from the top of the truck to display the space immediately behind the truck (which it does now). That is good for docks. The second camera would point rearward but higher to show space futher behind the truck. That would be useful in some traffic situations. It would be somewhat like converting the monitor on the dash into a rear view mirror.
 
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