Some cameras are not designed to be on continuously as for a rear view.  They are meant to only come on when reverse gear is selected.

Make sure of what one you are looking at.

Cheers Neil

delta is right.. my dad has a reversing camera in his car, only comes on when you put the car in reverse.. where as the camera in our motor home is on all the time.. plus i think you can add another camera if you wish.. depends on what you want..

Have not had anything to do with these but IF all the cameras are the same then its a choice of whether you wire it direcr to reverse light switch or to a onboard switch so you can turn it on when needed.
Even if there is a difference I personally would have it on a seperate switch so it can be used at any time.
If it is on the reverse switch & you are trying to possition your van then the camera is on& off every time you change gears, buy having it on all the time you have a constant view of where you are.
This is my personal view.

-- Edited by justcruisin01 on Thursday 24th of February 2011 09:19:05 PM

I have the reverse camera on my vehicle wired to my reverse light, the camera on my van is powered by the number plate light (need to turn park lights on to power it). my 5 inch monitor is turned off and on when required manually cheers blaze

We've recently had cameras put on both caravan and Prado... the one on the Prado stays on all the time, which is unexpected, we thought they only activated when in reverse. I guess theres lots of different types. Its got a "fish-eye" lens quite low down so the picture is a bit distorted and takes some getting used to, but excellent for reversing onto the caravan, also to make sure theres no kids behind! (You wouldnt see them otherwise, its scary)

The caravan camera is above the rear window and gives a clear picture of the road behind.
When its hitched up and connected the view to the rear is fantastic!  Mr D backed up our driveway just so easily... it is quite tricky, uphill  from a busy street and with a narrow gate, we have often thought caravan park sites are a breeze in comparison.  

You can get wireless set-ups, ours is hard wired.

gerkel wrote:

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Am keen to purchase a camera to attach to the back of our van that will help see what is travelling behind us when on a long straight piece of road. Am I looking for a reversing camera or a rear view camera or are they the same thing? Advice on best buys much appreciated.

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Hi Gerkel, they can be 2 separate things, however if you have the option of having both then that's what I would recommend. Avoid some of the cheap items on E bay if you can. I would also include a camera with IR (infra red) for night travel/reversing and that it is waterproof.
I have a audio optics camera with fish eye lense, its pretty good but loses some quality due to the distortion. Visit someone like Auto Barn and get a demo to make sure you like the image etc.
They certainly are worth having and its nice knowing what is in your blind spot when on the move.
Cheers,
ozi2

 

as they say you only get what you pay for there is some cheeper camera's on the market that are not that good, when wiring them in its best to have the camera on your car wired to revers light switch & the camera on your van wired via a switch so you can turn it on when ever you like, ( having fitted quite a few i'm an auto electrican) it all depends on what system you would like you can have some that go through a navigation screen, or you have just a seperate screen, best to go in to 4x4 shops they normaly have some on show so you can play with them and see what they do or another place is big car audio stores,

This is the only system to get http://www.polarisrearvision.com.au/

had this systam for the last 7 years great unit