Furrion wireless review camera - no signal when engine running.

[Shiny]

Just FYI... Furrion told me my 2018 Silverado needed their adapter that will soon be sold for $139.95.

Online info suggested the pulsed power was not introduced until the 2019 model year so I am skeptical. stever71's experience also suggests my 2018 should be fine.

I now think my issue was a poor 12V connection for the monitor. The Furrion connector that fits in the round (cigarette lighter) socket seems to shake loose or have an intermittent wire. On our recent trip I was able to maintain function for at least an hour just by wiggling and re-connecting. I plan to replace the power cord and hope my issue is resolved.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I would hardwire that monitor, possibly using the wires that go to the cigar plug, or finding another source of switch 12 volts fused appropriately

[BobG]

I purchased this item, misplaced it and could not find it 4 days after it was delivered.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088H4Y9H2/


I did finally receive a reply from Furrion stating they were working on the problem and for me to hard wire to the trailer 12v.


Escape called me and emailed me pictures of the camera wiring locations and walked me through hard wiring to the trailer 12v and adding a switch.


I ordered a second gizmo since I couldn't locate the one I previously received. When it arrived I used the information Escape provided and wired this gizmo into the camera leads. That keeps it from interfering with any other circuits on the trailer. The cost was $9 each. The monitor no longer cycles on and off with "signal lost message." Camera works fine now just like others have found.



The gizmo says it is good for Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Ford. Maybe there are some other vehicles listed.


My only concern with the gizmo is that the 3 wires are mighty fine, maybe 22 AWG. It took just a few minutes to wire this into the camera circuit and about 15 minutes to re-secure the wiring.


I don't know if it will help others but for $9 it might be worth taking a chance instead of forking out $25 to $125 for a Furrion solution.


I believe the problem I was having is related to car and trailer having LED lights and the car having a function to check for lights out on the trailer and car. Others on this thread and other places have expressed similar thoughts.



The fix should be included in the Furrion camera circuitry. Cost would be less than a $1. Other gizmos such as brake controllers incorporated a fix years ago. It could be that Furrion has more than one problem they are trying to address.

[Shearwater]

Thanks for the lengthy discussion here regarding the issue of connecting to the backup camera with the lights are on in some vehicles. I'm having this issue with our new 5.0 and our 2018 F150. I've ordered the little circuit modifier referenced above and I reached out to Escape this morning to inquire about a wiring diagram for the 5.0. Justin was kind enough to send me a pdf file with these three photos and accompanying explanation. It looks like I can attach my device under the seat as shown in the third photo.

[Shearwater]

Well I installed the $10 Amazon gizmo today, no luck. I still have the situation where my display will come to life briefly after shutting down my 2018 F150. Doesn't seem to matter if the headlights are on auto or manual on setting. When the truck is running, I just get the No Signal message on the display, again no matter which headlight setting I use.

Since everyone seems to be out of stock on the Furrion 7 pin power adapter, I might just spend this winter reading the RV forums to see what folks are doing to make it work.

[glsails]

We have a Furrion on our 2021 Escape 21C. Initially, it worked well. Then, out of the blue, the monitor would intermittently lose power. This got worse and worse until it wouldn't work at all. Jiggling the power cord connection to the monitor would sometimes help.

I finally contacted Furrion directly for a warranty claim. Their service was pretty great, and after dealing with (or attempting to deal with) Dometic on a fridge issue, it was nice to have a company that actually is responsive to customer issues. I was sent a new monitor and power cord within a few days and asked to return the original. They sent a shipping label so the return was super easy. The replacement monitor has worked perfectly for a month now. I am very careful with how I store the new unit so that another problem will hopefully never happen.

[Centex]

Originally Posted by glsails

.... I finally contacted Furrion directly for a warranty claim. Their service was pretty great, and after dealing with <snip>, it was nice to have a company that actually is responsive to customer issues. I was sent a new monitor and power cord within a few days and asked to return the original. They sent a shipping label so the return was super easy. ....

Always nice to read about a positive customer support experience, thanks for sharing!

[BobG]

Shearwater, if I understand your situation with the camera and monitor correctly, they do work fine until the tow vehicle engine starts. That indicates to me that either the camera or the monitor does not like the electricity coming from alternator or a circuit in the car that activates when the car is turned on.


I don't know how easy it is for you to access the camera wiring but if you can connected the camera directly to a temporary source of power such as directly to the trailer 12 volt system and then start the car to see if the system works, you could determine whether the problem is with the camera or the monitor.



If the system works when camera is directly connected to the trailer wiring and the car is running, then the problem is with the camera circuitry so you can then consider making it a permanent connection to the trailer wiring instead of the 7-pin car wiring. Add a switch so you can easily activate the camera when you are in the trailer. This has an added advantage in that you can use the camera as a security camera. You could also add additional cameras for security if you wanted. I am considering doing this if I ever get bored and am looking for something to do.



I would run a separate trailer circuit for the camera and the TPM system that I can switch on when towing and also use when ever I want to see what the tire pressures are or view what is outside in the camera's field of view. I might add an additional camera too. I think the monitor can accommodate 4 cameras.

[Shearwater]

Originally Posted by BobG

I don't know how easy it is for you to access the camera wiring but if you can connected the camera directly to a temporary source of power such as directly to the trailer 12 volt system and then start the car to see if the system works, you could determine whether the problem is with the camera or the monitor.

Great suggestion Bob. I have ready access to the camera wiring so I'll give that a try.

[BobG]

Shearwater, Let me know what happens. It will probably be a help to me in the future. Bob

[Shearwater]

Originally Posted by BobG

Shearwater, Let me know what happens. It will probably be a help to me in the future. Bob

Success. I put in a new circuit just for the camera with a 1pole toggle switch, feeding the new line to the camera's hot lead. The camera works with the truck plugged into the 7 pin harness, no problems at all. And of course I can now run it inside the camper for nighttime security if I want to know what's going on out the back. I just need to label my switch and remove the old wiring and I'm all set.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by BobG

Shearwater, if I understand your situation with the camera and monitor correctly, they do work fine until the tow vehicle engine starts. That indicates to me that either the camera or the monitor does not like the electricity coming from alternator or a circuit in the car that activates when the car is turned on.

indeed. Cars today are rolling data networks.

Last night, I was poking around the logs from my home wifi access points and found that they have been tracking vehicles driving by the road I live off of. I highlighted the obvious cars. Getting like 100 of these a day and my house is over 200 feet back from the road.

[oldwave]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

indeed. Cars today are rolling data networks.

Last night, I was poking around the logs from my home wifi access points and found that they have been tracking vehicles driving by the road I live off of. I highlighted the obvious cars. Getting like 100 of these a day and my house is over 200 feet back from the road.

I’ve got the same Ubiquity equipment

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by oldwave

I’ve got the same Ubiquity equipment

so this is the 'good' stuff that doesn't announce all that to the companies cloud servers, you manage it locally. think about all that consumer cloud / app stuff, those companies can correlate the databases of 1000s of addresses and build a realtime map of which wifi vehicle was where when.

[oldwave]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

so this is the 'good' stuff that doesn't announce all that to the companies cloud servers, you manage it locally. think about all that consumer cloud / app stuff, those companies can correlate the databases of 1000s of addresses and build a realtime map of which wifi vehicle was where when.

Yep including my cameras, all local storage

[Shiny]

Just an FYI... I replaced the 12V plug on my monitor and my system worked well on our last outing. It cut out once and when I cycled the power to the monitor it recovered.

My conclusions:

- 2018 Silverado power to the camera is fine.. at least was not my issue
- Interrupted power to the monitor was a likely cause

Seems Furrion could add a 50-cent capacitor to both the camera and receiver power inputs and improve customer satisfaction.

I do like the camera.

[brroberts]

I know trucks with lots of electronics and LED lights have had wireless camera issues. I have a 2021 Ford Ranger XLT and 2021 E19. For me, the camera was plug and play. It works well once I turned the volume down. I hope that info is useful to someone in the future.

[Fender]

Hey folks, a newbie here with a long wait ahead for our new Escape trailer. I followed this thread with interest. Some pretty high-level problem solving here!
A question though. The wireless camera was on our list of options. Given the issues that some people have had would you still order the factory unit or perhaps look at something aftermarket. I see some people do a bumper mount.
Good news (and bad news) is I've got lots of time to think it over!

[BobG]

If I had it to do over again I would ask Escape to wire a separate DC circuit that has only the outside lights and the Camera on it. I would ask that the camera be hard wired with an on/off switch and if I thought I might want to add more outside cameras in the future, I would ask Escape to deadhead wiring at the locations I might want to add cameras. The monitor that comes with the camera can monitor 4 cameras.



This way I could turn on this circuit when towing and have the camera monitor in the tow vehicle without any of the problems people including me have had. When not towing I could have the monitor inside the trailer and use it as a security monitor.



The cameras and outside lights being on their own circuit means that I could turn them all on in a flash if I had a separate circuit (security) for them without turning on anything else.


I wish I could redo the circuit for my exterior lights and camera to have this functionality but it is too difficult.

[jediwhale]

I've had no problems with the camera and it's a must-have option for me.