Voyager Camera disconnecting

[lsbrodsky]

As a note for others, when I had a garmin camera on the rear, I ran the cable UNDER the trailer, zip tied it to anything handy, and ran it up to the A-frame. The only place the cable was visible was the short run down the back.

Larry

[DAVSCH]

Originally Posted by nryn

My big issue with the Voyager camera is moisture inside the camera body. I’ve had it replaced and the same thing happened with the replacement.

I do get dropouts as well. Maybe one a day on a long day of driving. But it doesn’t bug me—with the moisture in the lens most of the time I can barely see anything with it anyway

I figured out where the camera is leaking in water.....the glass to camera body. Water flows right past the glass into the body, then gets trapped inside. I disconnected the camera from it’s bracket, gently opened it, dried it out, replaced back onto the camper, then ran a thin bead of silicone sealant around the glass/body interface. No more water leaking in. Pic is clear again.

[turk123]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

I use those zip-tie pads in my business. you may want to put a sealant around the edges because the weather/sun will degrade the edges of the foam and they will eventually release leaving icky glue residue. The glue is good, but the foam is not.

Good point. I found a medium-sized syringe I will use as an applicator to do the sealing. Should make it go faster and neater!

[NoResults]

Why not just move the antenna higher by attaching it to the air conditioner using just enough cord to do the job. Has anyone tried this approach?

[Ephraim]

Originally Posted by NoResults

Why not just move the antenna higher by attaching it to the air conditioner using just enough cord to do the job. Has anyone tried this approach?

2.4GHz is "line-of-sight". The system works because of reflections off of surrounding terrain/buildings/trees/etc... If you don't get a "line-of-sight" to your head, you still depend on the reflections and have gained nothing for your effort and expense.

Note that the signal will go through some things like fiberglass/glass/plastic pretty well, but not water/metal/conductive plastics. If the height gives you a line-of-sight to your head, your good, if not, you wasted your effort.

[turk123]

I used the syringe to seal all around the pad with sikaflex and covered each corner with a dab. They are not coming off.

My antenna is now 3 feet from the front of the trailer on the roof. 20 feet from the monitor instead of 50 feet. We will test later today when I take "Airdreamer" back to storage.

[Ephraim]

Originally Posted by turk123

I used the syringe to seal all around the pad with sikaflex and covered each corner with a dab. They are not coming off.

My antenna is now 3 feet from the front of the trailer on the roof. 20 feet from the monitor instead of 50 feet. We will test later today when I take "Airdreamer" back to storage.

As part of your test, stand to the side of your TV/AS with a straight edge (ruler?). Hold the line between the dash of your truck (where your monitor is) and the antenna. If the edge does not have any metal sheeting between the two points, you should be good. You might still be OK if there is just a little of the front edge of the trailer between the two. If you don't have clear line-of-sight between the two and you still have choppy video, you may need to move the antenna to the front curve of the AS so it can see through the back window of your TV.

[turk123]

Just finished the trip back to storage and not one bit of loss in the signal. This is good news as without the extension I would get lots of drops with the same trip. I'm guessing the line of sight is not as important as previously said when the antenna is this close. My antenna does not have a line of sight in its new position but who knows, it could be bouncing off the mirrors now!

Works great is all I care. Can you tell it was really bugging me! I got a feeling it will also update faster and not "jump" to catch up. That makes this a safer camera.

[turk123]

Just an update.

The rear camera has never missed a beat now that the antenna has been moved upfront. Problem solved. I would recommend to anyone experiencing the "dropout" issue to correct it this way. I also would recommend that Airstream solve this issue on their longer trailers so we don't have to! Alas, they look at it as Voyager's problem.