Front mount camera?

A

AKmoney

New member
Has anyone installed a wide-angle front mount camera? This would be similar to a backup/reverse camera but forward facing, obviously.. I recently got back from Moab and while the truck performed great offroad, the 4th gen's forward visibility is lacking when it comes to cresting steep hills or trying to pick the right line over technical terrain. I was thinking of mounting one in the grille and maybe wiring it in such a way (with a compatible head unit) that whenever I put the truck in 4Lo, the camera turns on automatically.

Lots of talk recently about that Land Rover concept with the "transparent hood" but the Ford Raptor pickup comes with a front facing camera like this already.
 
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Great idea, sub'd. Only I'd like to find a nice recessed spot underneath a custom bumper or back by the transfer case area so I could see obstacles as I am clearing them, same thing looking in reverse. Have it up on a split screen in the cab, drop-down in front of the rv mirror?
 
Interesting idea but I suspect it wouldn't help an awful lot. I was in Moab last week and am familiar with the visibility issues and think a camera would be of little help since it would be pointing up in the air just like your truck does. I'm not trying to discourage you but unless it was mounted on a pivot I don't see how it can help in those situations as well as whether or not you'd be comfortable watching a screen instead of where you're headed.
 
CXS said:
Interesting idea but I suspect it wouldn't help an awful lot. I was in Moab last week and am familiar with the visibility issues and think a camera would be of little help since it would be pointing up in the air just like your truck does. I'm not trying to discourage you but unless it was mounted on a pivot I don't see how it can help in those situations as well as whether or not you'd be comfortable watching a screen instead of where you're headed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you'd either have to have it on an actuator that you control the angle of, or a gyroscope/level system so it bobs to a pre-determined angle when the vehicle is cresting.

The Land Rover unit doesn't seem to be more than a forward facing camera coupled with sensors and a projector.
 
CXS said:
Interesting idea but I suspect it wouldn't help an awful lot. I was in Moab last week and am familiar with the visibility issues and think a camera would be of little help since it would be pointing up in the air just like your truck does. I'm not trying to discourage you but unless it was mounted on a pivot I don't see how it can help in those situations as well as whether or not you'd be comfortable watching a screen instead of where you're headed.
Click to expand...

My goal would be to mount it in a location similar to that of the Ford Raptor, pointing downward:

camerax-large.jpg


The cameras themselves have fairly wide-angle lenses, or at least I'd want one with a wide angle lens. From this vantage point I'm certain the camera would have visibility of obstacles that you wouldn't be able to see from behind the wheel.
 
I'm always happy to encourage folks to try something new and see if it works as long as it's not my money being spent. Give it a shot!
 
That invisible hood is awesome, but the front camera with markings as to the track of your front tires, similar to the markings on the rear camera would be a lot of win!

It should be extremely doable, I don't know if [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] does any crawling, but he'd be the one to figure out the wiring for us :D
 
AKmoney said:
Has anyone installed a wide-angle front mount camera? This would be similar to a backup/reverse camera but forward facing, obviously.. I recently got back from Moab and while the truck performed great offroad, the 4th gen's forward visibility is lacking when it comes to cresting steep hills or trying to pick the right line over technical terrain. I was thinking of mounting one in the grille and maybe wiring it in such a way (with a compatible head unit) that whenever I put the truck in 4Lo, the camera turns on automatically.

Lots of talk recently about that Land Rover concept with the "transparent hood" but the Ford Raptor pickup comes with a front facing camera like this already.
Click to expand...

i am going to do this just for you. after i finish my right turn camera.
 
Btw, next week I will have one installed. Going to go into my dash once. Going to install a front camera, wire up the right turn side camera and new Pac audio control pro steering wheel unit. This steering wheel control unit shows me to remap my buttons from my phone!
 
gshadow325 said:
You need to buy a Kenwood dnx891hd from me so you have this option lol
ryjuhe3e.jpg
Click to expand...

Question, can you buy a head unit that does the same features as some of our Toyota's rearview camera.

i.e. When turning the wheels one direction it super imposes a path on the screen to show you where the vehicle corners will be as you drive backwards? That would be epic if you could get that!
 
BlackWorksInc said:
Question, can you buy a head unit that does the same features as some of our Toyota's rearview camera.

i.e. When turning the wheels one direction it super imposes a path on the screen to show you where the vehicle corners will be as you drive backwards? That would be epic if you could get that!
Click to expand...

no yet, they will eventually. dynamic guide lines. wonder how much that will cost? the birds eye view camera system was developed by alpine and now implemented across many platforms in the nissan/infiniti line up.
 
ok front camera done. posting pics as promised. Just got the new Kenwood DNN991HD, yes i just installed the new DNX891HD a few weeks ago...ima radio WHORE..i admit it LOL....should check out my right turn camera mod if this front camera interests you!



 
Very cool. How do you turn the camera on? do you need to wade through menus on the Kenwood head unit? I was thinking it'd be cool to wire it up in such a way that it's automatically selected whenever you put the transmission in 4Lo.

I was also thinking about using something like this mounted to the front plate... for $15, if it gets stolen or destroyed I won't feel too badly..

Amazon.com : HDE® High-Definition 170° Rear-View License Plate Back Up and Parallel Parking Camera Universal Waterproof Color and Night Vision : Vehicle Backup Cameras : Car Electronics
 
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/95061159" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/95061159">20140512_084906.mp4</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user21976357">Ste Ve Zee</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
 
Installed same front camera following this helpful thread

I dedicated most of Saturday to the installation of a Kenwood DMX-7704S HU, which I chose because it is mechless (NO moving parts), Android Auto/Apple CarPlay-capable, has two USB inputs and two camera inputs, good UX, and is relatively affordable.

Today, Monday, I installed the same wired front camera shown in this post. As expected, this took several hours because it required drilling a hole in the grill for mounting the cam, running the combined video + power cable through a grommet in the firewall, and routing the cable behind the hood mat (I used Techflex F6 braided sleeving to protect the cable).

The way I mounted the camera resulted in the coverage shown on the last image below. The camera shows almost exactly what the hood hides (70cm to about 3m on the ground). The first 70cm are a blind spot covered by the upper edge of the bumper. We'll see how well this works out in practice on the trail.

To turn on the camera, I push the CH4x4 switch to the left of the steering column and hit the CAM button on the HU.

Thanks for the great info in this thread!

IMG_20180521_103030
IMG_20180521_134246
IMG_20180519_184429
IMG_20180521_125813
 
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