Great Backup Plan: Furrion Vision S RV Observation System
By
Rick A. Diaz
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Installing Furrion’s Vision S four-camera vehicle-observation system is like having eyes in the back of your head
Backing up a trailer can be a nerve-racking activity for those without much experience. Among seasoned RVers, there are some wild tales, from backing over unseen campground equipment to spouses threatening divorce (there’s even a T-shirt and coffee cup of apologies). A campground full of onlookers waiting for you to add yet another crazy story to the annals of RV lore doesn’t help.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Furrion’s Vision S four-camera vehicle-observation systemgoes beyond the traditional backup camera to give a near-190-degree view of your trailer or fifth-wheel on the road and, more importantly, when backing into a site and while parked.
The Vision S system is modular, meaning you can start with a basic backup camera and touch-screen-monitor package available with 4.3-, 5- or 7-inch displays. Then you add the side marker-light cameras or the over-the-door camera separately, or you can do what we did and go for the complete system with four cameras and the 7-inch monitor. Also included are a windshield suction-cup mount and a tabletop stand for the monitor, and a 12-volt DC lighter-style plug to power it. An optional wall mount is also available.
Above, from left: The installed Vision S system included a monitor, left and right marker-light cameras (amber lenses), a rear camera with an antenna (red lens) and an optional over-the-door batwing-style camera. The kit also comes with a freestanding monitor holder and windshield suction-cup monitor bracket (not shown).
The rear marker-light and over-the-door cameras feature microphones so voices and other sounds within immediate range can be heard. This is one-way-only sound (camera to monitor), but it can be helpful in hearing commands from a helper while backing the RV or when people are outside the entry door. There’s even menu-selectable motion detection that wakes the monitor display to alert you of something outside.
Right out of the box, we could see the quality Furrion put into this product. The side marker-light cameras feature an infrared LED array for night vision, a 65-degree field of view and a two-piece design protected by an automotive-style rubber O-ring at the mating joint. The rear and over-the-door cameras also have night-vision capability and a 120-degree field of view.
The cameras come with silicone gaskets, eliminating the need for additional sealant when mounted on a flat surface. They communicate wirelessly on the 2.4-GHz band, making them potentially susceptible to interference from other devices, but we saw no such interference exhibited in the test unit that was parked in a residential neighborhood when installed, and on the road the connection was flawless.
Vision S Four-Camera RV Observation System. Photos: Rick A. Diaz
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Shown is a close-up of the right marker-light camera lens and infrared LED array for night vision.
The installation started by removing the stock marker-light assemblies from the front of the trailer, being careful not to scratch the exterior surface. It might be necessary to pry them off to break the seal and clean off any residual sealant.
On the Winnebago Minnie Plus, the marker- light wiring is hidden by an access panel screwed into the upper corner of the forward storage compartment on each side. Use a meter to determine positive and negative wires. On the test trailer, green was power and white was ground. The two black wires go to the stock marker light.
The right marker light is shown separated into two pieces for installation. The connections are well marked, with black being ground, red being positive 12-volt DC for the camera, and brown being positive 12-volt DC for the marker light. The stub that the camera slides onto will now be the marker- light mounting.
Electrical connections were made outside the trailer, and the Vision S system marker light was attached to the trailer using the provided gasket and the self-tapping screws from the original light in the two mounting holes opposite the camera- mount stub. Use the included screws for the two holes on the camera-mount stub. The new assembly will completely cover the old screw holes but they should be filled with sealant.
Slide the camera onto the camera-mount stub, making sure not to damage the O-ring, and fasten with two of the small included screws.
With the right marker-light camera in place almost at eye level, it will give a wide view of the curb side of the trailer.
The left marker-light camera had just enough space to clear the factory Zamp Solar connector. Fortunately, it did not interfere with the street-side view.
The rear camera is offset from the actual marker light. Because of the placement of the Minnie’s rear ladder, the camera had to be mounted to the left-of-center marker-light location to prevent the ladder rail from blocking the view. This did not affect operation.
With the batwing-style multiposition camera in place over the entry door, the antenna clears the awning, which protects the camera from the sun.
With the interior door arch removed, the wiring is exposed for the over-the-door camera as it comes into the cabin. The wiring will be routed down the doorframe, concealed and protected by the wood and metal trim.
A switch was mounted in the doorframe to turn the
over-the-door camera off when not needed. When using the Vision S system for backing up or monitoring while driving, all you need active are the side and rear marker-
light cameras. For surveillance usage, the over-the-door camera needs to be powered independently.
Continuing down the doorframe to the floor with the wiring for the over-the-door camera, the wire was hidden in a gap in the wall paneling and fished into the under-cabinet space where the circuit breaker/fuse box resides.
Once a length of wire was fished inside the under-
cabinet space, a claw device was used to grab it and pull it through.
The wires are pulled tight for a clean installation that’s concealed and protected from damage.
All power first must be disconnected from the RV. With the circuit breaker/fuse box pulled out from its mounting, the wires were routed through the back of it.
An empty slot on the 12-volt DC bus was used to create a separate circuit for the camera. A 10-amp fuse is placed in the empty circuit (bottom) after connecting the power and ground wires (bus block with white wires). There are five empty slots available for future devices.
The doorway arch and trim are back in place with only a slight hint of the switch visible on the side. The switch placement makes it easy to turn the over-the-door camera off and on when leaving or entering the trailer.
An easy way to power up the side marker lights while disconnected from the tow vehicle is to jumper the two terminals on each side of the indexing rib on the seven-way power plug. This puts 12-volt DC power from the trailer’s battery to the running-light circuit. Be sure the battery disconnect is not in the off position.
For the surveillance feature, it was decided to set up the system to turn the marker-light cameras on independent of the tow-vehicle running lights, so a switch was mounted into the panel inside the storage compartment that covers the wiring shown earlier. Constant 12-volt DC power nearby both switches was tapped into for this purpose. The lighted switch is a good reminder when power is on.
All four camera views can be seen on the monitor that’s mounted to the tow-vehicle windshield using the suction-cup bracket. This is invaluable when backing up.
The suction-cup bracket gives excellent mounting versatility.
Installation
Before starting the installation, in addition to some standard hand tools, you will need a good electrical terminal crimper, a supply of solderless connectors, 18- to 22-gauge hookup wire, a roll of electrical tape, a screw gun and basic 12-volt DC electrical knowledge. Add in some single-pole, single-throw (SPST) switches if you want to wire the Vision S system for surveillance. You may also need a ladder to mount the rear and over-the-door cameras.
Remember, safety first whenever working on ladders.
Installation is fairly simple as the Furrion cameras easily replace the existing marker lights on the trailer and use the same wiring. Each camera has two 12-volt DC power wires and a ground. One power wire is for the marker light, and the other is for the camera. Both power wires can be connected so the marker light and camera power up simultaneously when the vehicle running lights are on. This is probably the most common installation and the simplest for the do-it-yourselfer.
Minnie Plus Modifications
For use in the test trailer, 12-volt DC receptacles were added in the entertainment center and bedside nightstands for viewing versatility.
The nightstands were factory equipped with simple 12-volt DC-powered USB receptacles.The stock USB receptacles were replaced with combo USB/12-volt DC counterparts. The included harness (with inline fuse) and spade terminals were used to connect the existing 12-volt DC wiring to the combo panel that was mounted on a piece of matching interior plywood. The existing hole in the nightstand was enlarged just a bit.With the monitor plugged into the combo panel, it’s possible to keep an eye on the trailer’s doorway from the nightstand.A 12-volt DC receptacle was also installed in the cubby of the entertainment center.With the monitor in the freestanding holder plugged into the entertainment center and placed on the shelf below, all views from the cameras can be seen, whether sitting on the sofa or at the dinette.
Where it gets a little more complicated is when you want to also use all the cameras in the Vision S system for security surveillance. This requires the cameras to be powered independently of the running lights. To do this, we installed the aforementioned switches in our forward storage compartment. This allowed us to turn each side marker-light camera on individually, with or without the tow vehicle connected and running on the trailer’s battery. We did the same for the rear marker-light camera and the over-the-door camera. Most people will be satisfied with having only the over-the-door camera active, in which case only that camera needs to be independently wired.
There is also the option to connect the rear camera to the reverse light circuit, but since not all trailers have reverse lights, that would require more effort for our application. The specific wiring scenario will depend on the RV, how much of the Vision S system’s features are accessed and the degree of wiring you are comfortable with doing.
Once we finished hooking up all the cameras in our desired configuration, the monitor is powered up, and the touch screen is used to access the Setup menu and start the camera-pairing process. We followed the pairing sequence in the manual by entering the pairing menu on the monitor, then pressing the Pair button on the camera housing. This process went smoothly, and within minutes there was a picture on the monitor. The same process is followed for the remaining cameras.
Using the Setup menu on the monitor again, the camera mirroring was set to the correct reverse views, speaker volume adjusted for the rear and over-the-door cameras, and other functions were set up. The touch-screen menu is intuitive and simple to navigate. Once set, there’s really not much reason to change anything during use. The monitor will remember all the cameras and find them every time when powered up so long as they are within range. Picture quality on all four of the cameras on the high-resolution monitor was as good as the backup camera in our 2019 Suburban tow vehicle, although there is some distortion due to the wide-angle lens’ field of view.
Testing
Once the system was set up, we enjoyed the ability to hear someone guiding us while backing up the trailer. No more screaming from my wife! I could see her waving her arms wildly every time I got too close to something, even though I could see it on the monitor. Still, the use of a pair of walkie- talkies or cellular phones helps immeasurably with the communication part of this process. Force of habit, I guess. Having the quad-view option to see each camera on the screen simultaneously gave us extra confidence when backing into tight spaces. With the ability to have the cameras live at all times, we were also able to see the camera views while running down the road.
Security surveillance is another great feature of the Vision S system, depending on what camera configuration you go with. Once parked and set up, we took the monitor inside the trailer and plugged it into a 12-volt DC receptacle we purposely mounted in the entertainment center so we could set the monitor on a shelf just below the TV. This lets us keep an eye on what’s going on outside the camper while relaxing inside. Being able to watch the kids or see people coming up to the door or animals wandering within the perimeter of view gives us peace of mind at the campsite.
At nighttime the monitor is plugged into one of the 12-volt DC receptacles that were added at the nightstands on either side of the bed so we can be alerted by the motion sensor of anyone approaching the door or lurking outside in the wee hours. The night-vision capability of all four cameras allows us to see in the dark up to 20 feet.
While there are less expensive alternatives for a simple backup camera, the Furrion Vision S system provides much more in terms of functionality, design and value, making it an excellent choice for the owner who wants the flexibility to not only park their RV with ease, but to keep an eye on what’s going on outside while in a site and have peace of mind when going down the road.
Residing in West Palm Beach, Florida, Rick A. Diaz is an avid mountain biker, woodworker and former Hollywood, California, custom Harley-Davidson shop owner, as well as a motorcycle and truck journalist. Rick will be taking his fiancée, their two retired racing greyhounds and an Italian greyhound puppy on adventures in their Winnebago Minnie Plus while contributing to Trailer Life.
I have the Furrion backup camera, which looks identical, and really enjoy it. It does have connection issues inside of my F-250 while it is on the end of our 41-foot trailer. I have tried adjusting the antenna, with no change. I use it while driving down the road also, but it lags a few seconds at times.
Backing up a trailer can be a nerve-racking activity for those without much experience. Among seasoned RVers, there are some wild tales, from backing over unseen campground equipment to spouses threatening divorce (there’s even a T-shirt and coffee cup of apologies). A campground full of onlookers waiting for you to add yet another crazy story to the annals of RV lore doesn’t help.
Right out of the box, we could see the quality Furrion put into this product. The side marker-light cameras feature an infrared LED array for night vision, a 65-degree field of view and a two-piece design protected by an automotive-style rubber O-ring at the mating joint. The rear and over-the-door cameras also have night-vision capability and a 120-degree field of view.
Residing in West Palm Beach, Florida, Rick A. Diaz is an avid mountain biker, woodworker and former Hollywood, California, custom Harley-Davidson shop owner, as well as a motorcycle and truck journalist. Rick will be taking his fiancée, their two retired racing greyhounds and an Italian greyhound puppy on adventures in their Winnebago Minnie Plus while contributing to Trailer Life.
I have the Furrion backup camera, which looks identical, and really enjoy it. It does have connection issues inside of my F-250 while it is on the end of our 41-foot trailer. I have tried adjusting the antenna, with no change. I use it while driving down the road also, but it lags a few seconds at times.