My friend and I both use one of these, though our cameras are not hard-wired in, we just charge them the night before we use them. So far, it’s a simple, cheap, and reliable way to watch the horses. Bonus is because they are not hard-wired, we can use the same camera as a back-up camera, and just move it to whatever you want to view.
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Many newer vehicles, even without lighters, come with a 12V power socket or receptacle. I use the iBall monitor in the cigarette lighter receptacle on my 2013 Toyita truck, and in the non-lighter 12V receptacle on my 2017 GMC 2500 truck. Though I’m sure that you will find and report examples like Ford pickups that have neither.
You must excuse me as I am old man. I still call the the lighterless 12V receptacles “cigarette lighter sockets.” It’s hard to keep up with you hep cats these days. Time for my afternoon nap.
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Yep, they were awful for me too. I was faster to return the system and am in the US, but can not recommend their stuff. Whoever said it’s more durable… ehhhhh no. It’s all made in China, and felt really flimsy in my hands. The screen arrived broken.
They are chargeable now? I have a much older version that required a 9 volt battery, only option, and would only last 2 hours, so switching batteries at the show or in a rest area parking lot sucked. But it was otherwise good and easy to use. Tell me it’s chargeable and the charge lasts and I’ll happily buy again!
The product description says it lasts ~ 3 hours, and I can say it definitely works for at least 1 hour! (I haven’t used it much beyond that).
My iBall camera has a built in rechargeable lithium ion battery. It uses a standard mini-USB cable for charging. I have a standard female USB socket wired into my trailer’s power to run the camera indefinitely for longer trips. iBall says the battery lasts for 5 hours of run time, but I have never run mine unplugged from the 12 volt trailer power, so I don’t know if the 5 hours is fact or wishful thinking.
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Ohhhh fantastic idea!
Brilliant! Maybe I’ll have my trailer guy put one of these in when I add fans next year. I just joined the 20th century by having USB ports in my house - would not have occured to me to put on in my trailer!
A picture may be useful. My trailer is aluminum, so I installed a steel plate for the camera magnets to attach to. The left side of the picture shows the USB plug, with cable attached to the camera. The right side with the zip tie is a tether, just in case vibration breaks the magnetic attachment, but that hasn’t happened yet. The camera is over the ramp in my 2 horse, aimed forward so I can watch both horses’ heads on the monitor. The camera is hanging upside-down, but the monitor flips the picture to the correct orientation.
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Do you have some type of gasket between the steel and aluminum? You do not have to have a dissimilar metal issue where you attached them.
No I don’t. I can’t really come up with a way to separate the metals. Even with a rubber or nylon gasket, the fasteners (screws or rivets, even aluminum rivets, would still contact both steel and aluminum. And even stainless steel screws have a reaction with aluminum.
the fasteners (screws or rivets, even aluminum rivets, would still contact both steel and aluminum
not all fasteners are metallic, we used a lot of plastic/nylon fasteners in manufacturing
there are plastic Chicago screws …
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