Blind spot cameras

Alright y'all this my first post ever. For a school project I installed blind spot cameras on my 15 Taco. Thought y'all might appreciate. Also I'm aware blind spots can be terminated by adjusting mirrors a certain type of way, but this helps when I have stuff in the my bed or back seats that block rearview mirror or my back windows.

 

I couldn't make it past 15 secs watching the video. Repost it with pics because it sounds like a neat idea. Welcome to TW.

 

I think this is a cool idea. I've been toying around with something like this, but hooked to the blinkers, so I can quickly check the blind spots with my cap on.

I'd end up placing the cameras under the mirrors like most modern cars are doing.

 

Interesting but the video is a nice try but... You should not need to flip switches to look, needs to be like beside the mirror, icons not pictures.

 

I'll post pics, we were required to make an 8-10 minute YouTube video so that's why that exists

Yeah soon as finals week is over I'll wire to blinkers. Oh and there's gotta be a million better ways to do this, that's what you folk are for

Ya there's gotta be some souls here that'll do something better

 

Definitely a cool project! I didn't watch the whole video, but it's a cool idea (I agree with the other guys, more pics!). Are you EE?

I'll be the devil's advocate, what's the benefit of having a dedicated camera over sensors that simply tell you when something is in your blind spot or not? I could see this being useful if it were tied to a security system (ala Tesla), but I'm not seeing the benefit over a sensor that gives you a binary "is something there or not" response--maybe you had some off-road type ideas in mind for this application?

Not downplaying your project at all, just curious!

 

You're good! Yeah I'm EE, hopefully I'll be better at this one day. Honestly the sensors are just as good and simpler to use, hehe I just kinda needed to do something real quick for my intro to engineering class. To argue your point though, I'll say it does allow a larger scan of behind and around than my mirrors will do. Could be useful for predicting what other cars can do multiple lanes away, before they'd even activate those sensors. But yeah, it's really more of a neat feature than anything.

 

I think with the blinkers, you'd have to tie power to the camera through the battery another 12v source and have it triggered by the stalk.

I'm not really sure how it'd work. I know you can't tap into the reverse wire like you would with a backup camera, because it's not a steady signal.

I'm terrible with wiring and electrical, so that's what's prevented me from doing this

 

Gotcha, makes sense. It's been a few years since I was in school (I studied AE), but from my personal experience, the more side projects you can do in college (both for classes and outside of class), the better! I always found the engineering projects to be way more rewarding than the classes (I'm general), so do as much as you can!

 

Alright I've neglected this for a while now. Successfully have cameras working with turn signals here's what I have for yaThis is the plus into the flasher model. Army green and yellow wire are for turn signals so that's where I connected to. Used those plastic splices from autozone and they worked alright.

 

Here's a pic of my trash soldering lol.Looks messy I know, definitely could be organized better.
This the schematic of what I have installed. Only thing I never thought about was that the switch i bought has little LED position indicators, but they flash because it's connected straight from the turn signal wires. Probably could have worked it after the capacitor but eh I don't really care if a little light on the switch ain't working

 

As an electrician since 1962, USAF Air Craft and then on to a Master as I retired, plus loads of wiring as commercial HVAC/R, no comment except you really need to learn how to solder and think out the circuit better, especially if your a EE. My wife has a 2018 RAV4 with the icons in the mirror which are ready to indicate all the time and light up and flash when someone is in her blind spot--- Regardless if the Turn Signals are On or Not. I may copy that idea IF I decide to put them on my truck.

 

Yeah first time soldering so hopefully it's only up from here. Will be looking into practicing and YouTube videos to try to improve since I doubt online school will teach me anything useful

 

Make sure you are using Rosin core solder 60/40 made for electronics, not for plumbing. I only have two soldering irons one 20 watt that I used to build lots of Heathkits and other DIY projects and a 40 watt one for larger wiring. Make sure the wires are clean and twist together first then use the iron to heat the wires so they melt the solder. Keep testing with solder to see when it flows.

Always keep a damp cotton / denim no polyesters or use paper towel to wipe off the tip when it gets crud and immediately after melt or tin the tip with fresh solder. Always keep the tip clean and with solder applied as that helps transfer the heat. Unplug when not using so for 20 minutes or so.
FYI when wiring , use more than one color. For car/truck wiring black is always ground. Not so for other wiring.

 

Looks like someone ate a bunch of wire and relays etc then threw up.

And you are an EE Student?

 

Toyota uses White with Black Stripe for Ground.