Digital Rear View Mirror & 5th Wheel Trailer Camera

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JKLines

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Got my 2022 3500 delivered last Tuesday ... hooray!! I plan to use it to tow a Cedar Creek 5th Wheel trailer ... so I ordered the truck with two new options ... trailer surround cameras and digital rear view mirror with trailer rear view mirror. I was sick of the stupid wireless rear view camera appendages the trailer folks provide. The instructions for the surround camera is pretty complete and everything makes sense ... but the trailer rear view camera appears to be designed for rear tow trailers ... not 5th wheel or gooseneck. Unlike the the power and surround camera connectors that are on the bumper with alternate connector in the bed for 5th wheel or gooseneck, the rear view camera connector is on the bumper only. When I brought this up to the dealer, the salesman said "just take it to your camper dealer and they know what to do" ... well they sort of laughed and I've got some good guys that have done some really great mods on my 5th wheel. I believe there may have been this same deal with some aux trailer connectors in the past. Is anyone aware of a pigtail kit or something that will allow me to add the bumper connector to the bed for 5th Wheel/Gooseneck use? Or has anyone simply tried moving the connector from the bumper to the truck bed?
 

dashbarron

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Can you explain? Why wouldn't they work with 5th wheel trailers? I thougth that was the point of trailer cameras?
 
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JKLines

JKLines

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Can you explain? Why wouldn't they work with 5th wheel trailers? I thougth that was the point of trailer cameras?
Yes. Currently, there are two separate types of camera connections on the back of the truck. There is 12 pin that works with surround view cameras and I believe will also support an auxiliary trailer camera input from the trailer if you buy that kit for your trailer. But the current configuration does not support both with a single umbilical cord ... it is a one or the other solution. The second connection to the left of the rear license plate is for the digital rear view mirror option. If you order the 5th wheel/gooseneck prep package with your truck, they add add additional 7 pin electrical plus the 12 pin camera connectors in the bed of the truck. They are not currently doing that for the digital rear view mirror camera connector.

Most people seem to only be concerned about adding the rear view mirror camera to their trailer are primarily either interested in either bumper tow or 5th/wheel gooseneck tow ... so for the latter group, what appears to be the most common solution is to simply move the connector to the bed and buy a dummy plug to fill the hole left in the bumper. That's what I did.

So as I see it, there are two design issues with the current setup. So one possible use might be you want to tow a large enclosed horse or livestock trailer and you want both the surround view for the trailer and also want to be able to use an auxiliary camera to check on your animals. Currently, that isn't supported out of the box to my knowledge. The second issue is if you also want the digital rear view mirror camera option, you have a third umbilical cord to mess with. The Surround View trailer camera kit comes with four cameras, a fairly large black box that has connections for each of the 4 cameras and another connector for the umbilical cord to the truck. The suggestion I made to the Ram Truck folks was to make better use of the 12 pin umbilical cord connector and fill more of those empty connections to support additional trailer features on the black box ... like add one or two connectors to the black box that support auxiliary cameras. And to fix another problem they have with trailer TPMS ... add one more connection to plug in a remote receiver that can be centrally mounted on the trailer axle. It could actually be marketed as four kits ... one for the black box with umbilical cord and then separate options for surround camera, rear view camera and TPMS remote receiver options. That way you buy want you want for a trailer. I got a very strange response to the suggestion. The option is provided by a separate company as is the case with a lot of things ... and the response was like thanks for the idea, but we're not allowed to give ideas to our third parties. I'm not done yet, I'm going to try some additional avenues to get the idea moved forward. Overall, I feel it is a HUGE and great step forward ... just needs a minor tweak to make it perfect.
 

dashbarron

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Ah! Thank you, I would have NEVER known this.

So I just posted in general about this very thing. I don't have an interest in surround so that would remove that connection.

But I was interested in the digital rear view mirror. I wanted to know how well people liked it, and how prevalent cameras for this s system were out there in the wild (rather it was just a Dodge propriety thing and you needed to add your own camera to new trailers or what not). Any thoughts here?

I was adding 5th wheel prep, so VERY informative there's a connector there, which sounds like it's tied to the digital rear view. Which leads me back to: do you like that view, and do you know how widely accepted those cameras are?
 
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JKLines

JKLines

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The connector that is there for the factory 5th wheel prep is ONLY your standard 7 pin electrical and an additional 12 pin connector that is for trailer surround view or auxiliary cameras ... it does not currently support the digital rear view mirror. That connector is only on the bumper at this time. Several posts talk about how to move it to bed, but I would not say it is easy to do. The hole for the connector has a very odd shape and it takes patience and the proper tools to cut it out properly.

The digital rear view mirror option has the ability to adjust the view of the camera up and down as well as left or right. I'm not sure if any of that has to do with the camera or not and I'm not aware of any option. The coax connector is definitely different. The below image is the adapter that the coax from the camera screws into and then gets plugged into the connector on the bumper.
IMG_0495.jpeg
Quite frankly, this is one of my favorite options. It is so nice to have a clear reliable picture of what is behind you ... or hiding behind the trailer out of sight of the mirrors. The wireless stuff is simply not reliable and on the system I had would freeze the last frame received and continue to display it whenever it lost signal ... so it wasn't always an accurate display of the condition behind your trailer.

Just like the 7 pin electrical connector was an evolutionary process, I believe the same will happen with the 12 pin where the connections are standardized and I believe trailers will come at least prewired with the umbilical cord and possibly the black box. An industry standard could get to the point where 5th wheels could be pre-equiped with the surround video cameras and rear view cameras where the cameras blend better into the overall look of the 5th wheel like they do with cars and trucks. So I do believe it will evolve. It's simply a direction that would be beneficial to truck and trailer vendors ... as well as customers.
 

GTyankee

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In the 2021 & 2022 & possibly a year or to more the Heavy Duty Rams have an 3rd Brake Light with both a Cargo camera & optional Digital Camera, the digital camera is controlled by the 9" digital rear view mirror.
The digital camera within the 3 brake light, has the same part number as the cameras that you mount on OR in your trailer

That digital camera with the exact same part number is installed in some fancy foreign cars, Rams & even Hyundai.
The ones sold by Hyundai are way cheaper than the same unit that is sold by Dodge.
 

GTyankee

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5th wheel camera connection, Bumper to Bed


just have to steal answers where ever possible
 

Ganny

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Does anyone have a link to where I can get a reasonably price rear view tow camera. I want to put this on a boat trailer. Do you know if they are waterproof. Being on the back of a boat trailer I will be submerging the camera while loading and launching the boat.

Also. I have the 12 pin camera plug in my 2022 Ram 3500 and would like to get the surround view for my trailer but I do not have surround view on my truck. I read somewhere that trailer surround is only compatible with trucks that already have surround view. Is that correct.
 

Vapors56

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I have a 2022 3500 with the Digital Rear View Camera with tow mode. I already tore up a cable because I didn't leave enough slack between where the cable was tethered to where it attaches to the bumper. Now that I have a new cable ($200) I'm struggling with how much slack I need to leave for the cable so I don't tear it out again. I have to run the cable underneath the trailer due to cable maximum length issue (42 foot 5th wheel). It's not like a regular hitch trailer where there is very little play from where the cable leaves the trailer. The point where the cable leaves the trailer will swing quite widely with turns - requiring more length with the tighter the turn. I can't have so much slack that the cable drags on the ground. I'm toying with the idea of attaching a slinky from the overhang of the trailer to the cable so it doesn't drag on the ground. Anyone else have this problem and find a good solution?
 

GTyankee

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one possible answer is called a pogo stick
you fasten the base to something on your truck bed OR ?

it is a pole that has a spring just over the base & it has a pole rising out of the spring, at the top there is a type of clamp that holds semi truck air lines.
It holds the slack out of the way, until the truck makes a turn & more hose is needed & the spring allows the hoses to straighten out until the excess hose is no longer needed

ba61-271397b3893f.309bb47dcf6d16f1438ef452d1b593a4.jpg

imagehandler.jpg

basically, you have seen Off Road Vehicles that have long CB antennas.
I would think you could use that cb antenna spring to do the same thing
 

Vapors56

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Thanks for your response, GTyankee. The problem with those type of spring devices is that the springs would be too heavy duty for the video cable. It's wrapped to be "weather proof" but it's not very substantial like an air hose on a semi would be. I'm actually going to try heavy duty rubber bands in series. Haven't gotten to it yet as it's been so frigid outside. Supposed to warm up in the near future so I'll give you a report.
 

BobM2

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The connector that is there for the factory 5th wheel prep is ONLY your standard 7 pin electrical and an additional 12 pin connector that is for trailer surround view or auxiliary cameras ... it does not currently support the digital rear view mirror. That connector is only on the bumper at this time. Several posts talk about how to move it to bed, but I would not say it is easy to do. The hole for the connector has a very odd shape and it takes patience and the proper tools to cut it out properly.

The digital rear view mirror option has the ability to adjust the view of the camera up and down as well as left or right. I'm not sure if any of that has to do with the camera or not and I'm not aware of any option. The coax connector is definitely different. The below image is the adapter that the coax from the camera screws into and then gets plugged into the connector on the bumper.
View attachment 489341
Quite frankly, this is one of my favorite options. It is so nice to have a clear reliable picture of what is behind you ... or hiding behind the trailer out of sight of the mirrors. The wireless stuff is simply not reliable and on the system I had would freeze the last frame received and continue to display it whenever it lost signal ... so it wasn't always an accurate display of the condition behind your trailer.

Just like the 7 pin electrical connector was an evolutionary process, I believe the same will happen with the 12 pin where the connections are standardized and I believe trailers will come at least prewired with the umbilical cord and possibly the black box. An industry standard could get to the point where 5th wheels could be pre-equiped with the surround video cameras and rear view cameras where the cameras blend better into the overall look of the 5th wheel like they do with cars and trucks. So I do believe it will evolve. It's simply a direction that would be beneficial to truck and trailer vendors ... as well as customers.
Anyone know how the rear mounted camera gets power?
Are 2 connections required to get a view in the digital camera? (one for the coax/video and one to the 7 pin connector for power?)
Part number for this setup?
Thanks!
 

stevenP

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Dont forget the truck has to have the option enabled as well as the external hardware connection. My truck has it, but I doubt I will waste the money for the cable and camera set up. I do just fine backing up my fifth wheel, with my wife back there on a walki talky keeping me from doing something dumb.
 

BobM2

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The connector that is there for the factory 5th wheel prep is ONLY your standard 7 pin electrical and an additional 12 pin connector that is for trailer surround view or auxiliary cameras ... it does not currently support the digital rear view mirror. That connector is only on the bumper at this time. Several posts talk about how to move it to bed, but I would not say it is easy to do. The hole for the connector has a very odd shape and it takes patience and the proper tools to cut it out properly.

The digital rear view mirror option has the ability to adjust the view of the camera up and down as well as left or right. I'm not sure if any of that has to do with the camera or not and I'm not aware of any option. The coax connector is definitely different. The below image is the adapter that the coax from the camera screws into and then gets plugged into the connector on the bumper.
View attachment 489341
Quite frankly, this is one of my favorite options. It is so nice to have a clear reliable picture of what is behind you ... or hiding behind the trailer out of sight of the mirrors. The wireless stuff is simply not reliable and on the system I had would freeze the last frame received and continue to display it whenever it lost signal ... so it wasn't always an accurate display of the condition behind your trailer.

Just like the 7 pin electrical connector was an evolutionary process, I believe the same will happen with the 12 pin where the connections are standardized and I believe trailers will come at least prewired with the umbilical cord and possibly the black box. An industry standard could get to the point where 5th wheels could be pre-equiped with the surround video cameras and rear view cameras where the cameras blend better into the overall look of the 5th wheel like they do with cars and trucks. So I do believe it will evolve. It's simply a direction that would be beneficial to truck and trailer vendors ... as well as customers.
Hi, great post. Can you advise if that connector has a threaded screw on or twist-lock type video connection?
 

GTyankee

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over on hdrams, they are discussing this same topic
aux-camera.1493/
 
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