Intermittent fault reversing camera

This is another one to add to ever growing problems Auto Sleeper find them selves in with the 2019 Mercedes. The signal to the camera is lost intermittently. This has happened several times and the camera as been replaced once in our vehicle. Also the remote fob supplied works when it wants to.
Auto-Sleeper are looking into this I am told by our dealer, it could be inference between the camera and the radio aerial cables, the cables have moved during travel, and lastly the camera cable is damaged.
Hopefully others are not experiencing the same problems as we are, but if so you may now have an explanation.

Interesting, my reversing camera is intermittent on my 2019 Nuevo, although it first happened after heavy rain when the video had typical water ingress symptoms. It now fails to come on around 10% of the time. I will report on the progress after a warranty visit.

Which camera do you have?

RogerThat wrote:Which camera do you have?

Me? I don't know any types that are used by AS, its the one fitted by them to 2019 Nuevo. Best to show a photo for identification.


I do know it looks like a plastic body, I had two plastic body cameras on previous vans, both let in water in the rain available free of charge in France. I discarded those in favour of a metal body one which was 100% reliable and had a heater built in to eliminate condensation.

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marconi wrote:Interesting, my reversing camera is intermittent on my 2019 Nuevo, although it first happened after heavy rain when the video had typical water ingress symptoms. It now fails to come on around 10% of the time. I will report on the progress after a warranty visit.

Great let me know how you get on and I will do the same. Do you have a fob to switch it on manually?

RogerThat wrote:Which camera do you have?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Not sure if this helps [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Snowy wrote:

marconi wrote:Interesting, my reversing camera is intermittent on my 2019 Nuevo, although it first happened after heavy rain when the video had typical water ingress symptoms. It now fails to come on around 10% of the time. I will report on the progress after a warranty visit.

Great let me know how you get on and I will do the same. Do you have a fob to switch it on manually?

Will do, yes I have the remote control, the only time I have used it was to change input channel the first time it played up as it was showing AV2 I wondered if it should be AV1, but it is on AV2. You can't actually enable the Camera with the remote can you.

When it decides not to work you can select reverse as many times as you wish and there is no Video. When it works, again selecting reverse works every time which rules out the reverse light switch that I assume it uses. I must admit I haven't made sure that the reversing light is on when the Camera fails.

Kemerton-bath wrote:I have exactly the same camera as pictured above and in the past week it has failed and operates intermittently at best.  I have yet to investigate but suspect water ingress or a connection problem as the Veba monitor (rear-view mirror type) displays a grey screen and the video channel identifier.

Tim

Same monitor here too, when faulty it shows a blank screen except for AV2 in the top RH corner of the screen, indicating that there is no Video Input.

Just fitted new camera on our van (kemerton 2015 ) after contacting a
Veba distributor was told no longer make my model. Contacted A/S 
Sent me new model with short lead to change connection from 6pin to
4pin . Don’t have to renew all wiring.hope this helps.

marconi wrote:

Kemerton-bath wrote:I have exactly the same camera as pictured above and in the past week it has failed and operates intermittently at best.  I have yet to investigate but suspect water ingress or a connection problem as the Veba monitor (rear-view mirror type) displays a grey screen and the video channel identifier.

Tim

Same monitor here too, when faulty it shows a blank screen except for AV2 in the top RH corner of the screen, indicating that there is no Video Input.

Same here AV2 and no signal, it could be the camera cable is picking up interference from the radio cable if they have been run close to one another.

Have sent you pm kemerton bath should you have
To fit new camera.

Snowy


Same here AV2 and no signal, it could be the camera cable is picking up interference from the radio cable if they have been run close to one another.

As a Radio Engineer that sounds very pie in the sky to me, a dealer clutching at straws for an excuse. Particularly in my case where the problem  didn't occur until at the end of a trip with torrential rain which also got into the Wet Locker.
Logically if it is interference from the radio then why is it only present intermittently. Both the Radio an Camera cables should be screened, of course there could be some very poor engineering practices involved.

Sunbeampizza wrote:i have the Viba clip on monitor model on my Broadway 2012. It is fuzzy and next to useless. I can’t see how to remove the high level camera from the rear to clean it out. Any ideas .

This https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t25856-replacing-veba-camera-and-monitor from the Members Fact Sheet section has me a little concerned.

I would use a can of foam rather than mess with bubble wrap. But take care with that because it carries on expanding for 5 to 10 minutes after being applied. The big problem that I foresee is how to break the Sikaflex bond between old useless camera and gel coat of body. I am reasonably sure that I can bond a new camera (double Sony CCD type) without needing screws or bolts.

marconi wrote:Snowy


Same here AV2 and no signal, it could be the camera cable is picking up interference from the radio cable if they have been run close to one another.

As a Radio Engineer that sounds very pie in the sky to me, a dealer clutching at straws for an excuse. Particularly in my case where the problem  didn't occur until at the end of a trip with torrential rain which also got into the Wet Locker.
Logically if it is interference from the radio then why is it only present intermittently. Both the Radio an Camera cables should be screened, of course there could be some very poor engineering practices involved.

Very good point not totally a agreement with the logic (theirs not yours). However my camera as been replaced and the cable rerouted (and it Works) for how long I am not sure. I cannot pin it down to any particular weather situation, but cannot rule that out. Will see how long it lasts (again)

Mine failed yesterday and message on rear view mirror screen 'no signal' started working again after about 2 hours, I am assuming it could have been a water problem or loose connection, I didn't have the radio switched on at any time, does anyone know if it is possible to fit a camera with two lenses or do I need to change the wiring, I don't find the existing camera very good at the best of times, the one in my previous van (2010 Devon) was much better.
 

Lucyc1937 wrote:Mine failed yesterday and message on rear view mirror screen 'no signal' started working again after about 2 hours, I am assuming it could have been a water problem or loose connection, I didn't have the radio switched on at any time, does anyone know if it is possible to fit a camera with two lenses or do I need to change the wiring, I don't find the existing camera very good at the best of times, the one in my previous van (2010 Devon) was much better.
 

I was only thinking of updating this thread yesterday.

I have been using the remote to turn on the monitor for continuous rear view use. My signal still fails randomly, not off for as long as 2 hours though. I can say that there is never a journey where it doesn't fail at some time, it does appear to be a bad connection problem, sometimes it displays a bad video signal not completely failed. I thought it may be water as the first time it happened on a very wet journey. Now it does it when dry or wet, hot or cold, I don't see any relationship to vibration on bumpy roads etc.
A/S say that on 2019 models the cable has been trapped between the GRP skins and the connections get 'strained'. Repair involves rewiring via a different path.

I am pretty sure that for a dual camera you would need to rewire on all models, a dual system requires two video leads they will only have fitted one, but the monitor is capable of two inputs. If the fault is in the wiring and that needs replacing because you can't get at it to repair or replace then that would be an ideal time to fit a Dual Camera.

marconi wrote:

RogerThat wrote:Which camera do you have?

Me? I don't know any types that are used by AS, its the one fitted by them to 2019 Nuevo. Best to show a photo for identification.


I do know it looks like a plastic body, I had two plastic body cameras on previous vans, both let in water in the rain available free of charge in France. I discarded those in favour of a metal body one which was 100% reliable and had a heater built in to eliminate condensation.

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We’ve got this camera on our new Nuevo and find it’s pointing too far ‘up’ (ie can’t see the back/bottom of the van to park close up etc)....is there any way of adjusting the view?  It’s an awful picture though, very ‘yellowy’ and grainy. Can’t seem to adjust the quality at all.  Compared to the reversing camera on my VW caddy, this is dreadful.

Mark'n'Jo

Mine doesn't show the bottom, bumper area of the van, it is adjusted so it just shows one corner on the rear high up where it starts to bulge out. This is useful for rear view camera purposes but not so good for parking as you say.

The picture is generally good quality. However I do recognise the very 'yellowy' description, not so much grainy though as distorted and with horizontal lines, as one of the failure modes that happens less often than the blank screen. The appearance on screen is typical of a poor video connection, part of the trapped connections inside the body / roof skins problem.

I am going to clean my Nuevo rear end today I will look at the camera to see if it adjusts, I am always very careful when cleaning around it so as not to move it normally.

The photo(s) of my camera above appear to show the bottom with a larger gap than the top, that may be an illusion, I tried with as much force as I dare to make it move and it won't. How and when they are set for the required view remains a mystery.

Mark’n’Jo wrote:

marconi wrote:

RogerThat wrote:Which camera do you have?

Me? I don't know any types that are used by AS, its the one fitted by them to 2019 Nuevo. Best to show a photo for identification.


I do know it looks like a plastic body, I had two plastic body cameras on previous vans, both let in water in the rain available free of charge in France. I discarded those in favour of a metal body one which was 100% reliable and had a heater built in to eliminate condensation.

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We’ve got this camera on our new Nuevo and find it’s pointing too far ‘up’ (ie can’t see the back/bottom of the van to park close up etc)....is there any way of adjusting the view?  It’s an awful picture though, very ‘yellowy’ and grainy. Can’t seem to adjust the quality at all.  Compared to the reversing camera on my VW caddy, this is dreadful.

It's a cheap and nasty camera, that's why. I didn't see a concrete bollard so my rear end suffered as a consequence. As another consequence I have bought the twin Sony camera system from DRW electronics and when I have finished the repairs I will fit the twin cameras. I have had two of those systems before from DRW and they are excellent.

It is possible to fit a twin lens camera in place of the VEBA unit using the existing wiring. The wiring on my Bourton is 4 core, two video wires, one neutral and one positive, on the VEBA unit only one video wire is used. You will need to access the back of the existing camera to remove the retaining nut and disconnect the wiring, you will also need to remove the internal light at the front to access the wiring to the monitor and remove a connection box and modify the wiring. Incidentally the VEBA camera is only fixed to the fibre glass, I bonded in a short piece of wood to secure the twin lens cameras which are much heavier that the existing camera. Good luck