Intermittent fault reversing camera

Re 13 Amp plugs. They have strain relief clamps and so suffer very little from breaking of the conductor when soldered. The subject has been debated for years, I personally have seen dozens of loose wires and burned plugs during the era of soldered ends.

From the IET Setting Standards for Electrical Installation where it gets debated :-

"I was taught this is bad practice for two reasons. One, because solder is soft, it is too easy to over-tighten the connection and sever the conductor. Two, although tight when first done, over time the solder displaces away from the screw by a cold-flow process. Both these problems can lead to an intermittent connection, possibly on the earth connection, leading to a safety hazard."

I couldn't agree more.

Back on topic.

There are several comments about the recent plastic Cameras giving poor quality Video. When my intermittent problem first started it went into very poor quality for a time even splitting across the screen and displaying complementary colours. I have not seen this since.

Personally I find the quality quite good.

So I wonder if the poor quality was related to Voltage starvation at the start of the bad joint going open circuit.

I would add that the fault despite being very touch sensitive didn't ever appear to be effected by vibration either from bumpy roads or thumping, (technical vibration testing).
Not knowing that there were any joints in the headlining in the cab but knowing that the cable must run that way I gave it a good thumping on several occasions (not in anger) to try and either make the Camera go off or come back on.

Incidentally there is no anger in my posts, I merely post my findings with truth backed by evidence, beware, occasionally there may be some irony.

NI decided to remove the headlining in the Cab. I don't know what I am doing but I do know that I want the Willersey botchers in as few places as possible.
There above the headlining were the Power Connectors, an Inline Fuse, (so that is where it is, I knew there should be one somewhere) (its bound to be in the instruction book though isn't it) Video Connectors and a Filter and Fuse unit about the size of a matchbox.
Up came the Video, the Rear View on the Monitor. The whole area was touch sensitive. I narrowed it down to the bit of work that AS have to do, join the Power Out wires from the Filer box to the Red and Black leads from the Camera.


Enlarge this image Click to see fullsize


Two red in line Crimp connectors. The one on the Positive Supply badly crimped. The camera side on the right, only the wire crimped, the supply side coming from the left, only the insulation crimped. I carefully dissected the section holding the insulation the wire dropped out, a tiny, solder tinned wire laying dead center in a tube and sometimes not touching the sides. What a surprise, the bit that AS had to do, done without skill or care which had taken a year to find and generated two Warranty visits and a frustrated customer.


Hi Marconi, how complicated was it to remove the headlining to check this connection, it sounds like this could be the problem with my 2014 Nuevo, thanks

following this thread with interest as on our new, purchased in september - a 2019 broadway EB - the reversing camera has a mind of its own - it comes on every time at the start but part way through a journey, irrespective of the weather and normally after around an hour - it loses signal and cuts out. If you stop and restart the engine - it starts up again - no rhyme or reason. I have to say being new to motorhomes completely - I'm not sure I'd go with A/S again - our snagging list has included - three warranty visits back to the dealers for - faulty central locking, peeling trim, collapsed draws, broken oven door, sticking draws, broken catch on external toilet cassette locker, leak through aerial socket into bathroom wardrobe, flattening batteries, wrong tow bar fitting, wardrobe coming away from side walls, no sealant around toilet bowl where it joins walls of bathroom, a flooding wet locker, a EC700 unit with solar panel incapable of keeping batteries topped up over winter, an electric step that has refused to extend and/or retract, mud flaps on the front wheels so small they are incapable of stopping road dirt from spraying across the doors and moho sides, an exhaust hanging so low it bangs on shallow speed humps,  - i dont know how many snags you should expect on a new moho - but this feels excessive - and a reversing camera with a complete mind of its own.........    other than that we love the design layout, the light airy interior, ........ ho hum...... 

Tip - whatever brand you might buy, don't use that dealer again. I won't be. Their PDI of your van was a failure and they waited for you to find the faults.

Problem is unless the CEO has changed or changed his attitude he won't read the letter, my first one was handed down to a minion who blamed me for not being beware aware of the design faults.

In my second letter on a different subject I demanded that the CEO answer himself. This time he stated that they have no intention of changing the way they do things.

After several months of working and during a long run round the block in lockdown the Rear View/Reversing Camera didn't work until the last minute as I was reversing onto the drive.
After finding a definite fault, the badly crimped positive lead, I couldn't believe it. It was cold and wet and using the van was out of the question so I decided to check it later when the weather was better.

I decided to check the cab connections first when I tried again, and found the monitor blank.

I checked the Negative crimp that A-S did when I replaced the Positive one with push connectors, the first thing I checked again was this, I replaced the crimp with male female push connectors. The monitor was still blank. (Users report a blue Screen with loss of signal, my monitor was blank not even indicating AV2 in the top right corner) I am pretty sure it indicated AV2 when the Camera positive lead was problematical, never a blue screen.

So was this an indication of no power to the monitor.



I pulled out the Filter box and the other connectors and Fuse from under the headlining.



I checked the the Fuse connections and inside the Filter Box for anything problematical and the +ve and -ve push connectors, this time the ones that feed the power to the filter box. Suddenly the monitor jumped into life when I wriggled them, I couldn't make it go off again. These connectors again look like they were fitted by A-S. The wire is typical thin Chinese wire that is copper or copper plated and corrodes rapidly (it goes black).
The wires were doubled over in the connector and poking out of the far end of the crimp, the crimping tool was used toward the insulation end, it is possible that the sleeve was not crushed onto the wire. I re crimped them all and left them for a week or two.

Today all worked OK and I couldn't make it go off so the head banger is back on. If it goes off again I know where to look I want to know exactly what else is causing problems.

Maybe these connections are causing some of the other intermittent problems experienced by owners of these Cameras and Monitors fitted by A-S.