Possible Terrible Idea - Rear view camera

[paramonkreel]

This regards a Gen 2 instrument console:

So I'm a techie / embedded guy. I was riding in this morning this car in the left lane nicely pulled over for me (possibly due to some bright glint off of my lights from the sun or somthign). And in front of him was a sport bike going about the same. Sporty noticed somthing amis but wiggled back and forth and looked at the dental mirrors attached that mostly looked at his shoulders and after a while sorted out that I was behind him and moved over. Anyway... I was looking at my old school LCD screen which I'm always annoywed with because it doesn't tell me everything all the time and I was thinking... you know that's not bigger than his mirrors and I could fit a 3" OLED in there....

So I've got some questions:

- Since it's the odometer... what's the rules on swapping it out with a homebrew computer. I can see that there is a type of "milage unknown" classification. I'm hopiing I can hang the original odo down low and keep the real reading. Thoughts?

- Given that that lcd is now a screen always showing the rear view.... what would you want to see on there? For me the majors are Temp, Time, Fuel, instant MPG, and current trip since fill. Overall MPG and whatnot are minor but should definitely be available.

 

[JamesK]

I've installed an el-cheapo car reverse camera and screen on my Gen2 FJR, but not in place of the LCD panel. I mounted my screen just to the left of the tach meter, which did require drilling a hole in the upper fairing. I don't have any pics on me now but will take some and post when I get home. Obviously the screen is not waterproof, but I pulled it apart and used some RTV silicon to cover any seems and holes to make it more water resistant. If/when I find myself in a total frog strangler downpour I simply slide a plastic bag over it just in case. The wide angle camera these units come with is already waterproof. I've been running this setup for some 20k miles so far and no issues. One thing I've not got around to adding yet is a little sunshade to reduce "washout" when the sun is at certain angles at my back.

My primary reasons for doing this were to keep be able to keep a better look out for any cops trying to sneak up behind me and to help watch out for inattentive cagers to hopefully have a better chance to get out of the way before the slammed up my ass.

 

[HYCLE]

just go for HUD and leave the stock dash in place.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Get FZ1 mirrors and leave the LCD screen alone.

 

[Fred W]

^^^ AJ beat me to it.

 

[JamesK]

As promised here are some pics of my rear view camera setup, yes I fully admit to being a geek, but it works great for me

This was originally just an idea, so I bought a cheap unit, I've been very happy with this and am planning on upgrading it to a better quality unit in the future, just got sidetracked with the engine swap and other high-mileage maintenance stuff.

Even with this $32 set I can see well enough at night, keep in mind that when the camera resolution is no longer good and/or cars are too far away, I can still tell if there is traffic behind me based on the headlights. And during the day obviously the range is greater. I've not done measurements but I'd say it easily gives me 3-4 car lengths of good visibility behind me and more general "what's back there" of other traffic.

Also, being mounted directly in the center of the rear of the bike, in my case to the edge of the Givi E52 topbox plate the usual blind spot directly behind me is eliminated. And surprisingly car headlights don't completely wash out the picture or blind you via the screen display.

The dimensions of my display are: H:8 x L:9 x D:2 (cm), the screen itself is a standard 3.5"/9cm diagonally.

I ended up going with a separate/different rear camera (still a cheap one at around $14), as the one which came with this screen didn't have the blue lines or the lines were multicolored which bothered me. These are pretty standard in terms of the viewing angle (mine is 170 degrees).

The cool thing I find about the lines is (as intended for the car reversing) they help to quickly judge the distance of objects behind you, without having to divert much if any attention. Another benefit is when backing up the bike you don't need to worry about missing some small obstacle which might not show up in your rear view mirrors, e.g. a rock/brick, etc. which could easily lead to a tip over...

Camera: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CTKYB4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Screen + camera set: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052YOHLM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For reference in terms of placement, size, etc.

iPhone camera pointed slightly down to remove/reduce washout effects of all the overhead lights in my garage. The actual picture is much clearer than this looks since it's taken with an iPhone 5 in semi dark conditions of an LCD screen...

For better perspective (mind you it's night time here now and there is just one small street light affecting this pic...)

Camera location.

 

[paramonkreel]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="HYCLE" data-cid="1224461" data-time="1429614964"><p>

just go for HUD and leave the stock dash in place.<img src='https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif' alt='Posted Image' class='bbc_emoticon' /></p></blockquote>

Not enough room between my face and my helmet to put one. I've tried.

 

[stealth1]

Get FZ1 mirrors and leave the LCD screen alone.

I think it's all about the toys.

If this is what you like, go for it.

 

[mcatrophy]

Just don't forget the massive blind spots to the sides, you still need to use your mirrors and the life-saver shoulder-glance.

Having said that, it would have been very useful when I took a passenger who was wider than my mirrors, I had a lot of trouble seeing behind!

 

[08FJR4ME]

I have to do this mod just for the fun of it. If it doesn't work out I can just toss in one of the cages.

Dave

 

[paramonkreel]

@jamesk pretty good setup. I'm tempted to pick that up and play with it.

Also what's that language on the road signs?

Personally I look at all that gauge real estate and think... I could get a shit ton of stuff data in there like GPS, rear view, etc if I just removed all the dials and the lcd and replaced it with screens. Fit a whole android gps in there with offline GPS in the center dial. Speed really just needs to be a number somewhere or a color. Rpms just need to be a color.

I mean how else am I going to watch netflix on a long ride? Google Glass? Lol. jk.

Anyway I picked up a cheap used 08 cluster off of ebay and I'll cut it up and do what I feel with it. Or I'll play video games and ride and do nothing with it.

I'm still thinking of doing the turn signals, high beam, and maybe gear/redline along bottom rim of my helmet view area as small LEDs.

-gaffo

 

[SacramentoMike]

. . . Also what's that language on the road signs?

Probably whatever language they put on the signs in Tokyo, Japan.

I like reverse-facing cameras in cars. That you can actually back up. Motorcycle? Don't think so, IMO.

 

[Bounce]

Just mount the screen to your dash/shelf.

 

[supertankerm60a3]

I was thinking that this might be a cool idea. The issue is deleting the stock mirrors, or what good is the what good is the camera if it doesn't take the place of the mirrors.

The issue then becomes one of blind spots. Well I figured out a possible solution. Tiny 'vestigial' mirrors that actually mount just inside the cowl on the 'humps' that cover the upper windscreen hinges. They would be either the 3" round or the 2X4" rectangular convex type that would look under your hands and give a good view of the blind spot left by the camera. Other issues would be the long distance view, a camera with a 170 deg. field of view will have a hard time seeing and showing an object that is 300 yards behind you. Same as a convex mirror with the same field of view.

The other issue this fixes is the legal one. The law says you must have a rear view mirror, it does not specify size, field of view or much else.

 

[FredandJeannesRacer]

Just mount the screen to your dash/shelf.
[img=[URL="https://www.fjr-tips.org/misc/shelf02.jpg%5D"]https://www.fjr-tips.org/misc/shelf02.jpg][/URL]

Where's the important stuff, like tach and speedo?

 

[wfooshee]

I have never in my life had the thought while riding, sitting at a light, chatting with friends, or any other situation, "Damn! I wish this thing had a rear-view camera!" Not even while reading this thread did I have such a thought.

I have absolutely no idea how it could possibly prove even the least bit useful.

Rear-view cameras are useful on vehicles with poor rearward visibility. My son's Raptor has one, and it's handy because the thing sits so damn high that you could have a Miata sitting behind you and never see it until you drove most of the way over it.

A motorcycle does NOT qualify as a vehicle with limited rearward visibility. You're sitting OUTDOORS, for crying out loud!!! If something sneaks up on you from the rear, it's because you aren't watching for it.

Isn't that what we complain about from cage drivers all the time???? "If you didn't see me, that simply means you weren't looking!"

(But it's all right for us to say we didn't see them??!?!?!)

 

[pista]

My primary reasons for doing this were to keep be able to keep a better look out for any cops trying to sneak up behind me and to help watch out for inattentive cagers to hopefully have a better chance to get out of the way before the slammed up my ass.

^^^^ I think he has a valid argument for this reason, safety.

FZ-1 mirrors are a proven, inexpensive, plug-n-play option that accomplishes the same thing.

However I do admire the ingenuity of the rear camera as another inexpensive alternative for gathering information about what may or may not be behind me.

 

[dcarver]

I like the rear view camera idea! You could carefully position the fjr so that the ass end is looking right at the boobies of some hot chick and then you could look and look and look and look and the hot chick would like, never even know you're like staring at her big boobies and what not. Bet you didn't think of that possibility did yah, well, huh? huh?

 

[08FJR4ME]

Well shoot, I wished I would have had one last week when my wife left her car outside in front of her garage bay. Luckily for me this time my brain cells kicked in and realized the car wasn't in the garage as I was backing out on my bike. I grabbed a handful of front brake and looked behind me. Sum bitch if I wasn't less than an inch from the side of my wife's car. If I had the camera on when backing up I would have noticed it much sooner and it would have been a non issue.

Still want to try it,

Dave