How to Choose a Vehicle Backup Camera

Start With the Mounting Position Not the Specification

The first question is not resolution or lens angle. It is where the camera physically goes on this vehicle. A flat rear face on a box body takes a shielded bracket camera. A moulded plastic bumper takes a flush barrel camera pushed through a drilled hole. A boot lid lip with no flat area takes a small bullet camera on a lip bracket. A headliner or a cargo bay ceiling takes a dome. Choose the wrong housing family and no amount of specification will make the installation work.

Decide Whether You Need Infrared or Assist Lamps

Infrared LEDs give a monochrome image in complete darkness and are the right answer for cargo bays, interiors and unlit yards. White assist lamps put visible light on the ground and keep the image in colour, which is easier for a driver to read when judging distance to a kerb. Some positions need neither, because the vehicle only ever reverses under yard lighting, and a smooth faced housing with no LED recess is easier to keep clean.

Fix the Connector Before You Fix Anything Else

A 4 pin aviation connector screw locks and is the standard on commercial vehicles because it will not shake apart on a rough road. RCA is the standard on aftermarket monitors and recorders. Cameras and monitors from different suppliers regularly arrive with different terminations, and the installer then has to make an adapter on the vehicle. Fix the connector standard across the whole order and this stops happening.

Let the View Count Choose the Screen

One rear view on a car is comfortable on a 4.3 inch screen. A truck with a rear camera plus a near side camera needs 7 inches, because a switched or split view on a small panel cannot be read at speed. If there is no free dash space at all, a mirror monitor removes the problem entirely by using the existing rear view mirror position.

Check the Environment the Camera Will Live In

A camera on the rear of a distribution truck goes through a pressure wash line several times a week and spends winter in road salt. A camera inside a coach saloon does not. Sealing rating, housing material and cable gland quality only matter as much as the environment demands, but under specifying them on an exterior position is the most common reason a cheap camera fails inside a year.