Was wondering where those of you with reverse cameras have them mounted?

My P38 had some under bumper parking sensors fitted when I bought it and they are old and pretty useless. I thought about replacing them, but then I realised it wouldn't work so well, as I have a fixed towbar that would be the first thing to hit anything.
When I fitted a cheap android 7in unit, I did fit a reverse camera, next to the towbar, it was a temporary solution until I could find a better place to mount it.

Currently neither the camera or sensors are much use, as all I want them for is to know where the towbar is.

I thought of trying to fit something into the upper tailgate handle/number plate light trim, if I could find a camera with the correct angle, it would probably be a good subtle place to fit it, that actually allows a bit of a guide to how far away the towbar is from anything. It would also help for backing up to trailers then too...

Any ideas or inspiration of where you've fitted yours if you have one would be much appreciated :)

I don't have one, but they do exist as part of a number plate surround for a normal numberplate. You mount the camera in its frame to the car and attach the plate to it.

Example > https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172300142379

I've got a Garmin wireless camera wired to the reversing light feed so it displays on my sat nav when I select reverse. I fitted it to make hitching a trailer up on my own a lot easier rather than having to keep getting out of the car and having a look to see how close I'd got (I've got one bruise on teh back bumper from when I got too close....). I've mounted it on the bumper between the two holes for the trailer sockets so it is just above the OE swan neck towball. Wiring was dead easy as there's a blanking grommet beneath the LH rear light unit and a dangling plug there for twin socket electrics with a permanent live, ignition switched live reverse light feed and ground all there. However, it isn't easy to judge the distance from the trailer. It could really do with being higher up so it looks down on the towball and where the number plate lights are would be ideal but installing it neatly and wiring would be a real pain.

I don't have it mounted yet but after a million thoughts I decided to copy Marty's idea to mount in the recess of the handle for the upper tailgate. Basically, cut a hole in fit it - with proper fitting - in the middle of this:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/qTQAAOSwb71enCc-/s-l640.jpg
He claims once you get used to the lens being in the middle of the handle, life becomes easy again :-)

For fitting there, you would need to remove all upper trim parts to pass the cable, and obviously also all the boot side trims as well :-)
Or you can do a piss-poor job like most auto shops do, and just pass it "outside" the tailgate trim, use zip-ties all over, and the like ....

My camera of choice was the Pioneer ND-BC8, higher price than the usual chinese variety, but guaranteed compatibility with whatever I will fit as a screen/display, which I am not sure which will be (many ideas crowding my mind, will share) ...
https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Accessories/Rear-View-Cameras/ND-BC8

@BrianH - I've looked at similar items, but decided I'm too fussy and it's not a clean enough look for me! xD

@Gilbertd - That's basically how it's been for me, mine is mounted roughly there, though I mounted it very slightly off centre, so that the top of the tow ball (with a cover on) didn't block any of the view. It helps to check there is nothing behind, like a neighbours dog running past or something! However for distance or backing up to a trailer it's not much use. I used the 4 pin connector behind the rear light too, very handy for these things!
I'm now considering the higher position, as you say it's not as easy to wire, plenty of trim to remove etc, but I'm so used to that higher angle from my other car (factory fit camera) I feel like it would be worth the effort. Just need to find the right camera now.

@leolito - Hmm, do you know if there are any photos of Marty's install around? That sounds like just what I had in mind! The trim in the upper tailgate isn't the worst, I removed it all a while back when I was removing some old faded tint film and someone hadn't fitted the section around the brake light properly previously, so it was a little loose. I also added a cable for a rear dashcam at the same time, so cable route is possible through the existing rubber grommets. The cheap Chinese camera that came with my headunit seemed a bit big to fit in the handle/plate light area properly, I started looking at alternatives a while back, but got distracted with other more important jobs on the P38 :D Would be great to see Marty's and/or your install when you complete it :)

I keep thinking about doing similar to our Vogue SE but I want it to work with the original sat nav screen. With the sat nav unit in the boot it must be fairly easy to pick up the feed to the screen and switch the feed when the reverse lights come on.

Maybe. ETM shows 3 screened wires between the nav computer and display unit which suggests to me that it is sending RGB (especially as they are coloured Red, Green and Blue) rather than composite video that you normally get from a revering camera. Not sure how you'd make it switch either....

My Garmin camera is very small so drilling a hole in the hand grip part of the numberplate light panel and mounting it behind with it peeping through a hole might be possible. Not sure how I could attach it though.

I've seen someone do it to a P38 with a factory sat nav screen.
If it's RGB then you'll just need to use a cheap 12v composite to RGB converter. I think the one I've seen done used a bunch of relays, switched from the reverse light feed and then that switched the RGB signal from sat nav to camera and back again.

It would be a clean install, not sure how great the stock sat nav screens are though for the image, I've never seen one in person.

Hi AC6,
I mounted my camera up under the overhang covering the rear wiper. I removed the trim and drilled two 4 mil. holes and bolted it up with S/S bolts and lock nuts. It is mounted just to the left of the wiper arm and looks down and back. Running the wires was not that hard but took a while to get right. This camera feeds to the widescreen head unit and although it is only black and white it is very clear. There was a camera mounter down near the tow bar when I got the car so now this is connected to a screen mounted in the aftermarket rear vision mirror, for reversing back onto a trailer. I don't have any photos tonight but I could get some tomorrow if you are interested.
Regards,
Alan Temperley

Hi Alan,
I'd certainly be interested in a photo when you get chance. That's an interesting mount location, I hadn't thought of that, it would be clean and out of sight!

Agreed, it's an interesting option, but can it see the towball?

Out of my area of expertise but there's a guy on another forum I go on who's an audio/visual specialist (his day job) and a whiz at doing stuff like getting/ incompatible signal feeds to appear on factory or aftermarket displays. If there seems to be a problem getting a reversing cam picture to appear on an existing screen I could invite him to come on this forum if anyone likes? For problems like that he's usually able to advise/sell an inexpensive gizmo that gets it working and is happy to chat.

Hi Guys, OK I have some photos, so how do I attach them to a message?
Thanks,
Alan Temperley

https://rangerovers.pub/topic/1877-how-to-topic

A bit of a faff but easy once you get the hang of it.

Thanks Gilbert, I am working on it. Slowly.
Alan

Just looked at mine and while it sounds good, it doesn't look like it could see the towball so not an option for me. Had the numberplate light surround out and that doesn't seem to be an option either. If I mounted the camera at the back so it doesn't get in the way of my fingers when I open the tailgate, the wide angle lens on the camera will see both sides of the opening making it a kind of widescreen image with very little rearward visibility. Thought about mounting it to one side in the bit of plastic between the hand hold and one of the numberplate lights but there's a bit of steel between inner and outer skins that would get in the way. Options seem to be partially filling the hand hold so the camera has a better field of view but is unlikely to be adjustable so the angle it points down at will be fixed, cutting a hole in the steel to one side of the number plate light panel so it is offset to one side but looking downwards (again, adjustment might not be easy and I don't like the idea of cutting a hole only to find it isn't ideal for one reason or another), mounting it above the numberplate as per the surround that Brian linked to (but it's ugly) or living with it where it is.

I had a ear-view camera fitted a while back. It is screwed to the plastic number plate light unit/tailgate handle panel thingy. The cable is fed through the plastic and run in the cavity in the tailgate frame and then loops into the tailgate door seal at the top of the tailgate.

As I had to re-upholster the roof lining I fed the very thin camera cable along the top of the car roof, tie-wrapped to existing cables along the passenger side of the roof panel but above the panel. The cable comes back down in the passenger side "A" pillar [beside the windscreen] and behind the glove box.

I have a Pioneer AVH-Z7100DAB radio fitted which folds down into a standard radio-sized slot. I could get a double DIN sized display fitted as there would be lots a cutting of the centre column panel, which I didn't want.

Looking at the photograph reminds me that I have to do a small bit of paint repair as there are two black marks either side of the camera.

Pierre3.

That looks virtually identical to my Garmin camera except mine is wireless. If that is at the correct angle it answers my thinking on options 1 and 2, it will be pointing downwards too much.

My camera looks down at the tow-bar, and the camera red line is about two feet behind the tow bar. It's very good when you get used to the distances.

The display unit is is 7 inches wide by about 5 inches inches high, and gives good camera resolution.

Pierre3.

The problem appears to be that it is angled outwards and if I installed it in the locations I'm thinking of, it would be pointing straight down. I don't want it visible. Where it is at the moment it is behind the towball between the trailer socket and LPG filler so isn't noticed. It works fine for lining up with a trailer hitch, it's just very difficult to judge distances so I'll either stop a few inches short or hit the hitch against the bumper.