VEBA AV70mm reversing camera

Recently bought a 2010 Broadway EK TB LP motorhome. While the reversding camera works, kind of, the picture quality I can only describe as being like a negative photo, not very clear. There is a small remote control which appears to be part of it. I have changed the remote battery and nothing lights up on the camera and I can't seen any way to connect the camera to a laptop. Anyone got any ideas, in very simple language please as I am not very technically minded. TIA

I wouldn't have thought you could connect a reversing camera to a laptop, and I can't think why you would want to - there is no compatibility between a laptop and a reversing camera. You should have a screen on the dashboard, or a display like a large rear view mirror or sat nav which shows the picture from the reversing camera.

Like I said the reversing camera kind of works, but the quality of it makes it little better than useless. I suppose what I am hoping to acheive is how to get the remote to work with a view to hopefully sorting the settings.

Thank you for that

I have the same/similar issue with this unit and suspect that there is some water ingress into the camera housing. Would be interested to know if this is a common fault. Installed on 2015 Nuevo ES.

Miket

Yes I don’t think you are alone in having moisture ingress problems on the Veba camera. Five or six years seems to about average.

My Worcester is coming up to 10 years old and the Veba has been slowly becoming more and more misty. 

Therefore I decided that due to more inactivity this year I would finally bite the bullet and get around to changing it.

I am fairly well into the job as of now and intended to write up my trials and tribulations (of which there have been many) in the near future for the benefit of other folk attempting the same.

Regards Graham

THIS ASSUMES YOU HAVE A REAR KITCHEN LAYOUT AND YOU WANT TO FIT DUAL REVERSING CAMERAS:

I found the single camera fitted to the Nuevo wasn't much good, certainly not in quality nor in quantity. You need two cameras, one to see the following traffic and another pointing down at the bollard you are about to collide with. I wrote an article on how to do this and it was published in MMM. In fact I thought I had written it up on this forum somewhere.
You need the whole kit, I got mine from http://drwelectronics.com/. I have had about half a dozen kits from them. Dave there is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. There are a few tricky moments for which you have to summon all your confidence. One is to drill a big hole immediately in front of the standard fitted camera in order to undo the nut that holds it in, and the other is to feed a new cable from there across the top of the kitchen cabinets in the void between the outer fibreglass skin and the inner rear cabinetry. You need a new cable (DRW supplies this in the right length for your van) because you can't get two camera signals down the one-signal cable that is fitted as standard. Then you have to get the cable down to chassis level and from there it is easy peasy. I wouldn't run the cable above the side entrance door and through the cupboards, that route poses a lot of difficulties. Here are some photos which might help:
The first is the dimensions of where to drill the hole to access the rear of the original camera. You will need a hole at least 2 1/2 inches dia in order to get most of your hand into, and in order to undo the nut and feed a cable across inside the void. Then you need some stiff-but-not-rigid wire as a draw string to attach the new cable to. I found the best solution to hand was to use satellite TV aerial cable, it is just rigid enough to be able to push through a void and yet bendable enough to make a hook to attach the new camera cable to.
The process is this:
Measure where to drill the hole and cut a 2 1/2" - 3" hole in the top cupboard.
Cut the original cable where it enters the nut, and undo the nut. Remove the old camera.
Take the satellite cable and form a U bend in it. This will be needed to hook the electrical rod on to, to pull it down through the vertical void. Feed it through the hole horizontally across through the void towards the nearside, above the top of the Nuevo indented fibreglass back.
From underneath post an electrical rod set (cheap, eg from screwfix / plumbfix) and hook the satellite cable round the rod hook, and pull it down to below the floor level. There is another void running vertically from roof to floor at the corner. Removing the rear lights will probably help.
You now have the 'stiff-but-flexible' satellite cable running from the rear of the camera to under the floor, and that is the difficult bit over. Join the new dual camera cable to the satellite cable and pull it through.
Run the camera cable along under the chassis to the n/s door footwell, remove the plastic foot-tread and drill / grommet a hole for the new cable to pass through.
Run the cable up the door frame, undo the side windscreen plastic trim, put the cable inside it, and feed it under the front of the cab roof lining to the mirror position. Coil up the surplus cable and tuck it inside the roof lining.
Find 12v-when-the-ignition-is-on from the general wiring you will find above the interior light and feed this to the new rear view monitor.
Back at the camera end drill a slightly bigger hole than the existing one for the camera cable, mount the dual cameras and the rest is easy so I don't need to elaborate.
To fill the big hole in front of the camera inside the roof cupboard I took the circular disk I cut out, and pushed it back holding it in place with silicone. I then got a 4 inch square ceramic tile which matched the wallpaper inside the cupboard and stuck it on to hide the circular access point. Once you have crockery etc in the cupboard you will never notice it.
I have a lot more photos but this web site will only allow me to post three so I hope I have chosen the most useful ones.

Thanks Gassy

Our camera has never been much good, but until it packs in completely I'll probably live with it.

Have saved your instructions for later, in case I need them.

Cheers

Gromit - I haven't looked just now, but I think I may have posted the whole instruction set elsewhere on the forum.

If you check the existing wiring you may find as I did that it is 4 core cable, if it is you will find a spare core which can be used for a second camera. The existing camera requires 3 cores, live, neutral and a signal wire. I was lucky and found I had access to the rear of the camera, but if you do have to cut a 3" (75mm) hole as Gassy suggests then you can obtain an overlapping cover plate from any electrical wholesaler which is 85mm in diameter for approx £1.

When my camera wiring was replaced (under warranty) they cut out and replaced the whole back of the cupboard rather than cutting a circular hole.  Neater.

Sparks wrote:If you check the existing wiring you may find as I did that it is 4 core cable, if it is you will find a spare core which can be used for a second camera. The existing camera requires 3 cores, live, neutral and a signal wire. I was lucky and found I had access to the rear of the camera, but if you do have to cut a 3" (75mm) hole as Gassy suggests then you can obtain an overlapping cover plate from any electrical wholesaler which is 85mm in diameter for approx £1.

You were lucky, Sparks. I couldn't do that with mine, it was only 3 core. I suppose in theory you might be able to find a local +12v to feed the camera but then it would be on all the time. And it might be in for example the cooker extractor fan so you would still have to cut the big hole and rummage around to run a wire. It could be easier though. I think if you did that you would find at least the LEDs would be lit when the engine is off and the habitation 12v is turned on. I did give it serious consideration, I assure you!

I have now finished the replacement of my Veba camera and thought that I would bore you all with some ramblings concerning the work.


First of all my compliments to all those that have written up their previous experience - it was only this that gave me the confidence/knowledge to attack the task.


As stated in an earlier post, my Worcester is now in its 10th year and the Veba camera has been getting slowly more misted up, almost certainly due to water ingress.


Although other members have replaced with the popular dual cameras giving rear view as well as "downward" view, personally I wanted to stick to just the "downward" variety. Motorhomes are never going to be the fastest vehicles on the road and although I always try to help other drivers to come past safely, there is nothing more annoying than being tailgated. The great advantage of the door mirrors is that although you know that a vehicle is present, it doesn't bother you in the slightest! Anyway each to their own.


I took previous advice and purchased a Sony CCD camera from DRW Electronics.


The Worcester is an end bathroom layout. Removing the mirror board with the dreaded blue leds was straightforward - two covered over screws at the top and amazingly eight screws under the two cupholders. (The AS fitter had even had two goes at some of the screws so that it was positively riddled - all hidden under the cupholders).
You are then left with a 2" dia hole as hopefully is shown in the photo.



There is very little to reference external to internal positions on this layout, so after a myriad of measurements I decided on the position to drill. I had obtained a 6" cutter on the grounds that the mirror board would cover it and the bigger the better for working room. (This proved to be true as most of the wiring had no slack in at all). I had determined that there was wiring behind this spot but there was no alternative but to be careful! The inner wall is 30mm thick, about 2 to 3mm of surfaced plywood and the rest being some form of polystyrene foam with a membrane backing. Well, I was not quite careful enough at the end and just nicked a couple of these wires. As luck had it they were both to do with the "dreaded blue leds" and I had half intended completing some mods on them anyway.



The picture shows the back of the Veba camera with the sealant removed. Undoing the nut was quite easy (with a 6" hole!) and gave me access to the rear.

In fairness to Veba, their camera is physically well thought out with just that one easy to seal 6mm dia mount point. They even have a phenomenally small 4 way connector (power plus video). Pity the camera itself is not up to much.

Mounting the Sony camera required enlarging the entry hole to 13mm and adding two further 4mm holes for fixing. I did have this idea that I would use 4mm stainless woodscrews and stick a piece of tapped oak on the inside such that if I ever needed to remove it in future then it could be all done from the outside. Well it was a good thought but after things were sealed up with external silicone both inside and out, I am not at all sure removing it this way would be possible. At least the oak gave it good strength. It is possibly one of the weak points of the Sony camera in the size and number of entry holes required - lots of sealant necessary.

As reported by others, the Veba camera feed incorporates a moulded in line regulator situated near to the camera. Being moulded it was impossible to see the actual connections, so it was cut off and found to consist of an obvious 12V and 0V lead together with a screened twin. Don't be fooled into thinking (as I did) that this was a balanced video input. The yellow wire was the actual video in (wrt the screen). The pink wire was a 12V source - for what use I know not, but it needs insulating at least. Interesting that Sparky found he could possibly use it as a second video feed - I don't see why not if you can re-route it at the monitor end.

As regards modifying the mirror lights, I purchased a couple of Aten 50cm slim LED fittings (£19.58 incl postage). If you remove the clips and stick them to the board then they are nicely flush with the mirror. Quite pleased with those. I bought the brighter option, and it is quite bright. In retrospect maybe the lower output versions would have been enough - still there is no excuse to cut myself shaving now! They were obviously wired up in place of the dreaded blues.

I wrapped the disc cut out from the wall with many turns of masking tape until it was a good push fit. A stick of wood was put on the back and a thinnish nylon cord brought through to the inside of the wall so that it could be pulled out if necessary.

I was very surprised that all of the fixings of the mirror board (which is solid 12mm plywood) were made purely into the (mainly polystyrene) inner wall. (Not even deep threaded screws Gromit). There is a large 40mm thick plywood crossmember going horizontally across the van just a couple of inches below their chosen upper fixing position. It would really have seemed to be the obvious choice to screw into, but no, it was disregarded. A careful note was made as to where this was in case I ran into problems later in re-fixing the mirror board.

Remounting the board was ten times more difficult than removing it - especially doing it single handed in the confines of the bathroom. Lots of clamps and wood props had to be contrived to hold it in position while the wiring was threaded back through the entry holes and the screws hopefully lined up in their original position. Surprisingly it all went back OK and seems very solid.









If there is anyone still living that is still reading this then I hope you found it of some use.

Was it an easy job? Well it might be if I ever had to do it a second time! I am sure younger and abler people would waltz through it. The years make the physical side a tad more difficult. Still it is done and I am pleased with it.

What's the betting that I hit that post at the back on our next trip out...……

Regards Graham

Hi Graham, I am having trouble with my Veba reversing camers. You referred to the “moulded reguator” on the camera line. Mine gets warm-hot and was wondering if this is the cause. What is the role of the regulator? You said you cut it out. Is it not necessary? Brian.

Thanks Tim. I have since found your other post and am finding it most helpful.
To recap, your description of the problem “ The failure mode was a blank screen, initially intermittent but then becoming more permanent over several weeks.  I checked all connections and found them OK” matches mine. Now, it hardly ever works. But yesterday completely unexpectedly it did. But only for a short period!

What shows on the screen when the fault is occurring is: when in reverse (or turned on using the remote) is a screen flicker every 3 or so seconds, on both AV1 and AV2 even though AV2 (switched using the remote) has nothing connected. (Does this question the screen rather than the camera?) 

When it “comes right” AV1 shows the image from the camera and AV2 shows a blue screen with “AV2” top left I recall (I cant verify exactly what shows unless it is working which isn't very often).

I have good access with spare cable length at the camera end. There, what I now believe to be the voltage regulator thanks to your photos, heats up (a property of a voltage regulator) which tells me there is voltage there when the system is “on” (ie in reverse etc). It gets quite hot and I initially suspected that. But dropping voltage 12v to 3.3v could do that. (If it is actually a 3.3v camera).

But from here, I am uncertain what to do because I have to cut or expose wires to test further. Point of no return. Suggestions on determining if it is the screen or camera that is at fault welcome. If only I had a spare working 3.3v camera with a male 3-way connector!

BTW The posting I made was a photo of the “Installation Instructions” that came with the vehicle when new, which in fact are of no use really. It does not even show the voltage regulator in the wiring diagram.  As a newbie, I failed to upload it correctly.

Hi Kiwi,

Intermittent faults can be the very devil to fault find - at least yours is at least more off than on.

When it was working, did your display only switch on when reverse was selected? (Some like mine come on with the ignition).

My initial feeling is that it could be a fault on the display as you are surmising, or possibly it is not receiving the 12v feed or ground? That could be worth chasing up though having never played with the display I can’t offer any advice on the connections at that end. Others may be able to assist. The blue screen on AV2 that you found when it was briefly working would seem to be correct and again would point to a fault or connection at the display end.

Good luck, sorry I can’t help you more.

Regards
Graham

Thanks Graham. 
The monitor connection seems to be “always on” but asleep even when the ignition is off. Just like the TV at home, it can come “on” with the remote irrespective of the the ignition being on or off. But to come on with reverse, the ignition must be on.
Normally the display comes “on” when I put the gear lever into reverse with the ignition on and the motor may be running or not. OR it comes on with the remote which normally I rarely use. This has led to the display being “on” without me knowing (because with this fault the screen is not lit!) after pressing the remote on/off a few times - like over the last few days as I do diagnostics eg. This peculiarity in itself I can handle so long as I KNOW if the unit is ON. So power may well have been ON for long periods without me knowing. Which led me to trying to locate and fix this problem 🤪.
I just went out and tried it. Wouldn’t you know it, it is working fine. That is until I actually need it!
I suspected the voltage regulator particularly after feeling how hot it got. (Not too hot to touch but unexpectedly warm to hot) . I made sure it was OFF yesterday so when I tried it just now, the system would have fully rested and cooled. 
Maybe the heat is affecting the video signal which passes through the same moulded casing. But why would that affect unused AV2?
Perhaps being accidentally ON for an extended period something in the display heated up and/or consequentially malfunctioned.

Update - AV1 feed is intended as a continuous feed (like use as a rear view mirror which in NZ apparently is illegal or as a security camera to see out the back without going outside when parked up) and AV2 is for a reversing camera (only use when engine is running and gear is in reverse). Mine seems to be the former. Now I need to find the front wiring mess.

If true, I would think both AV1 and AV2 would need be isolated from power supply by the ignition switch?!? Mine isnt.
New investigation underway.

gassygassy wrote:THIS ASSUMES YOU HAVE A REAR KITCHEN LAYOUT AND YOU WANT TO FIT DUAL REVERSING CAMERAS:

I found the single camera fitted to the Nuevo wasn't much good, certainly not in quality nor in quantity. You need two cameras, one to see the following traffic and another pointing down at the bollard you are about to collide with. I wrote an article on how to do this and it was published in MMM. In fact I thought I had written it up on this forum somewhere.
You need the whole kit, I got mine from http://drwelectronics.com/. I have had about half a dozen kits from them. Dave there is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. There are a few tricky moments for which you have to summon all your confidence. One is to drill a big hole immediately in front of the standard fitted camera in order to undo the nut that holds it in, and the other is to feed a new cable from there across the top of the kitchen cabinets in the void between the outer fibreglass skin and the inner rear cabinetry. You need a new cable (DRW supplies this in the right length for your van) because you can't get two camera signals down the one-signal cable that is fitted as standard. Then you have to get the cable down to chassis level and from there it is easy peasy. I wouldn't run the cable above the side entrance door and through the cupboards, that route poses a lot of difficulties. Here are some photos which might help:
The first is the dimensions of where to drill the hole to access the rear of the original camera. You will need a hole at least 2 1/2 inches dia in order to get most of your hand into, and in order to undo the nut and feed a cable across inside the void. Then you need some stiff-but-not-rigid wire as a draw string to attach the new cable to. I found the best solution to hand was to use satellite TV aerial cable, it is just rigid enough to be able to push through a void and yet bendable enough to make a hook to attach the new camera cable to.
The process is this:
Measure where to drill the hole and cut a 2 1/2" - 3" hole in the top cupboard.
Cut the original cable where it enters the nut, and undo the nut. Remove the old camera.
Take the satellite cable and form a U bend in it. This will be needed to hook the electrical rod on to, to pull it down through the vertical void. Feed it through the hole horizontally across through the void towards the nearside, above the top of the Nuevo indented fibreglass back.
From underneath post an electrical rod set (cheap, eg from screwfix / plumbfix) and hook the satellite cable round the rod hook, and pull it down to below the floor level. There is another void running vertically from roof to floor at the corner. Removing the rear lights will probably help.
You now have the 'stiff-but-flexible' satellite cable running from the rear of the camera to under the floor, and that is the difficult bit over. Join the new dual camera cable to the satellite cable and pull it through.
Run the camera cable along under the chassis to the n/s door footwell, remove the plastic foot-tread and drill / grommet a hole for the new cable to pass through.
Run the cable up the door frame, undo the side windscreen plastic trim, put the cable inside it, and feed it under the front of the cab roof lining to the mirror position. Coil up the surplus cable and tuck it inside the roof lining.
Find 12v-when-the-ignition-is-on from the general wiring you will find above the interior light and feed this to the new rear view monitor.
Back at the camera end drill a slightly bigger hole than the existing one for the camera cable, mount the dual cameras and the rest is easy so I don't need to elaborate.
To fill the big hole in front of the camera inside the roof cupboard I took the circular disk I cut out, and pushed it back holding it in place with silicone. I then got a 4 inch square ceramic tile which matched the wallpaper inside the cupboard and stuck it on to hide the circular access point. Once you have crockery etc in the cupboard you will never notice it.
I have a lot more photos but this web site will only allow me to post three so I hope I have chosen the most useful ones.

How did you determine the position of the hole?

Forget my last note about the purpose of AV1 and AV2.
Re Reversing Camera

I have located and gained access to what I believe to be the main electrical junction with surprising good access. There are 4 wires coming from the roof (“TOP” on my diagram) and 4 leaving just above the front door (“Bottom”). The 4 are labelled AV, 12v/24v, GND, Reversing Wire. I did not test/trace the AV Cable other than to view it at the camera, Monitor and at this junction as being of similar external appearance.
I tested the other 3 wires using a Fluke 7-600 tester. I know enough to be dangerous but not enough to be really useful about this process. I tested across each of the 3 spade connectors and a solid seat bolt as earth (3 tests). I then separated each Spade and tested across the terminal and earth (6 tests). For the “Reversing Wire” I tested with the gear lever in neutral then again in reverse gear. Picture of the results attached.
I also tested the vehicle battery across the terminals 12.17v. Then the house battery at 13.7v. Why? Because I could. But it showed 3 interesting things: 
[list=ol1]
[*]my vehicle battery was down to 12.17v (because I had left the ignition and headlights on all morning while I tested etc so thats now on charge).  I already knew that to use the camera I needed the ignition and reverse gear “ON” but didnt need the engine running.
[*]the reversing camera seems to be powered by the house system! House is on solar and always charged hence the 13.7v. Is that the normal source for a camera?
[*]The power is “always on” as I suspected hence the regulator being hot at the beginning of all this.
[/list]

Murphy stayed away - the camera and monitor behaved well all through this. I don’t understand why the voltage is down on the Reversing Wire. Maybe it is powered by the vehicle battery? My understanding or lack thereof with 2 batteries participating  is zero.

Since it is currently working OK, I think I will now put it all back together again but install an accessible switch on the main 12v line so I can prevent this being “always on”. It means I will have to turn this switch on each time I want to use the reversing camera.
Any help or questions welcome.






Brian 

Can I paste a photo here?

Addendum photo to my posting 14/1/22 6:34pm (Ignore the Vehicle and House battery note position - these are notes for me not entirely in context of this schematic)