Most of our toweds are not as wide as our coaches and visually get lost back there. Has anybody come up with a side mirror combination/setup that lets you see the towed behind the rig as you are driving down the road?
Chris
I use our rear camera and it works quite well!
Leave your backup camera on. You would have to have 6 foot mirror arms to make it work.
I have tow mirrors on my Yukon, I can extend them and see the edge of the mirrors from the driver's seat.
Alternately, I wait until going around a curve and can sometimes see the toad is the curve is tight enough.
There have been a few times I wondered if it was still back there.
Thanks for the quick replies! Nice to hear how people work with it.
I had read somewhere that leaving a backup camera on was not recommended because they weren't designed for it. I was surprised to read this because, well, it doesn't make sense. Has anyone else come across this idea?
Chris
I left mine on any time I drove the coach even when not towing. About 16 years on the '81, 3 years on the Monaco and it always on, on the current coach. Haven't had a problem yet. I think it might have been about the old CRT tubes getting burned in, not a problem with current monitors.
I leave my back up camera on any time I'm driving the coach, five years and counting.
The crt is still in my 97.
I work in the audio video field. Leaving the camera on is fine. No problem.
I use my rear camera all the time.
I leave my backup camera on whenever we are moving. Not only do I monitor the towed with it, but use it to determine when I have completed a pass. That way I know when to safely reenter the lane.
Len
I would suspect the concern about leaving the backup camera on all the time came from the old CRT monitors, which did eventually suffer from burn-in.
I would run the camera were we to tow. Remember the story about a Coach with a toad, think it was up in Montana, where the toad blew a tire and sparks from the rim set fire to the roadside forest. People would pull by and point and gesture, but they never got the signals until too late. National Forest folk were not happy and charged them for putting out the fires!
Thanks for the replies!
The "don't leave the camera on all the time" thing didn't make sense to me with today's technology. I appreciate both the professional and collective experience.
BTW, we have tire pressure sensors on the towed linked to a monitoring device in the coach.
Chris
LOVE my gorgeous color back up camera, no it's not original, & frankly never really realized it was for actual backing up, (!!!) ....just love to see that toad back there....great peace of mind & always on....hardly ever think to use it backing up though, just mirrors (which I still have a hard time trusting for maneuvering into a spot!) + the old fashioned "get in and out of the coach & eyeball stuff" since I travel solo... 8)
That's what we do too. I put two lines on the monitor, one at 3' for backing up to something like a pole or wall and one at the point at which the toad is beyond a car just passed.
jor
I always have my rear view monitor on. I want to know the toad is still there and I use it to help determine when I can pull back over the left lane.
After I get the leveling system correct,the AquaHot to stop leaking diesel,figure out where I'm losing coolant, and why did it get hot on a small hill....and why does it seem that it hasn't the gitty-up it used to have..... then mebbe I can take a deep breath and address the rear camera ... If it ain't one thing it's three or four....but DW says she will trust this coach to go see a dark spot in the sky later this month. At least I have a gas oven for the biskits........
You should be able to make a profit on your reservations to pay for some of the problems.