Rear Camera, Can it be kept clean?

[TurboFroggy]

The Chevy Bolt, which has surround cameras and a trick rearview mirror/camera combo, has a little squerter/washer on their rear camera.

 

[Vancouver ClearBra]

The vw system has the camera in the body behind the rear logo, when selecting reverse the logo flips up and the camera is exposed.

Now that's an excellent idea, and seems like a simple fix.

 

[Dborn]

Now that's an excellent idea, and seems like a simple fix.

Except if you want/ need the camera while driving forward. I use it, for instance when determining when to stop while parking in my garage. I reference a grout line in a specific tile.

 

[Todd Burch]

Now that's an excellent idea, and seems like a simple fix.

I have the camera up anytime I'm on a multi-lane road with fairly heavy traffic so I can better see my blind spots. If the camera were covered most of the time we'd lose a big benefit of being able to use it while driving forward.

 

[deonb]

The technology below should be pretty simple to make work on a small scale. Keep the driving motor inside the trunk lid, with one half of the glass coming out and covering the camera.

Note in the video the spinning window gets turned off and back on again around the 1:00 minute mark - which is the important scenario for a car:

 

[sledhead36]

The Rustoleum products claims to be crystal clear.

I used it on a bathroom shower door, it was horrible. Thankfully paint remover took it right off.

 

[Ibrido]

Nope. This is a problem with 100% of Teslas.

I'm very much interested in a contraption that cleans it, however I think it's quite diffucult to make something that's both functional, reliable and looks ok. At least in climates where snow is your biggest RV-cam issue.

In principle, there are several places to draw power to this contraption, and plenty of space inside the liftgate to hide harnesses, motors etc

Range Rover Velar has rear camera washer jet. Just like some cars have headlights washer.

Just seen the vehicle yesterday, missed taking that photo. Will take one if I visit the car again. With Teslas (EVs), all comes down to saving all possible drops of energy. And this might be one reason it is not provided otherwise I am sure if they (Tesla) can make cars drive it self, keeping camera clean should not be a problem

 

[Drone Flyer]

On most days, I can clean the camera with a cloth as I depart from home, and on the outset of my journey I have a crystal clear rear camera image. When I get to my destination 20 minutes later, it is dirty enough I can't use it again. If I have to drive in reverse when I get there, I often wind up having to get out and clean it, or rely on my mirrors and turning my head.

Is this problem common? Surely there is a way to minimize this. It seems like a design flaw, but the only reliable fix I have thought of would be camera wipers, and that just seems more hilarious than practical. Maybe blinking camera eyelids. Or some tear ducts.

More practically, I'm imagining aero- and hydro-dynamic aids that steer dirt and water runoff away from the camera. How do they get so dirty so quickly?

Just don't use it at all!
Problem solved!
Like the old days.

 

[UberEV1]

Minor aside . . . if the rear camera is so hard to keep clean for clear images, how do the AP cameras stay clean enough for reasonable system level reliability? (Pardon the naive question, but I am one of those early pioneers with an old fashion classic S85)

 

[soccerMX]

i just used rainX on the lens and it worked on my trip to tahoe over the weekend...

 

[Julie's MS]

Surprised the Japanese car manufacturers don't have a solution in place. Given they where one of the first companies to offer rear cameras for parking etc.

How about a self-cleaning function cleans the entire rear camera before and after each time the car is put in park?

Washer jet aimed over the area would do the trick.

Maybe a couple washer jet nozzles over headlights too （：

 

[Dborn]

My problem is water droplets from rain, so a washer would compound that. A spinning glass cover like they used to fit to ships would work.

 

[f-stop]

I have the camera up anytime I'm on a multi-lane road with fairly heavy traffic so I can better see my blind spots. If the camera were covered most of the time we'd lose a big benefit of being able to use it while driving forward.

+1 yes, this. My rear camera is on most of the time.

And also heavy rain easily blurs the view even with Rain-X, although as others noted a thumb-wipe of the lens before you get in the car helps.... for a few minutes, if it's rainy out (it rains a lot here!)

Perhaps a washer jet might help if the lens is dirty not just wet, but in my experience just driving around on a very wet day the rear camera becomes pretty useless quickly, Rain-X or not, until the skies and roads dry up.

 

[JohnnyG]

Minor aside . . . if the rear camera is so hard to keep clean for clear images, how do the AP cameras stay clean enough for reasonable system level reliability? (Pardon the naive question, but I am one of those early pioneers with an old fashion classic S85)

The rear of most all cars will always get quite dirty, quite fast. Due to aerodynamics, and the shape of your car, your car will create a massive low pressure pocket at the rear. When the roads are wet, the liquid grabs hold of the grime on the road, and your tires throw that up into the air. Then aerodynamics kick-in and forces that grime riddled water to wrap around the rear of your car is it gets sucked in by the low pressure. The water (with grime, don't forget about the grime) finds a nice new smooth surface to adhere to... your camera lens.
The 3 front cameras are safe behind the windshield which is being kept clean by the wiper blades. We honestly don't have much data yet to go on the cleanliness of the side cameras. The B-pillar cameras, I would imagine, would do well as air rushes across them. The fender mounted rear facing cameras could potentially be stricken with low pressure vacuum as well, but I don't know. I haven't seen them in person yet to really know the angle they are at.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

How about a self-cleaning function cleans the entire rear camera before and after each time the car is put in park?

That would be great. Until it breaks, and Tesla charges $1800 to fix it....

 

[PaulS]

Doh!! Next best thing must be the emergency exit button in the trunk itself, then.

Just realized I need to build some kind of ladder that the kids can extend from the seats and crawl out after buckling off their seat belts.

Or maybe there's a way to build a mechanism that slides the seats automatically all the way out, turn (180) and lay back so they get easy access to the camera with my micofiber

I realize this is an old post, but thanks for the chuckle!... most entertaining post I've read on the Tesla Forums yet!!! Cheers.

 

[Don TLR]

I was wondering what everyone was talking about, then I remembered it has only rained once in the 7K miles since I got the car.. I guess you could consider moving to AZ if it really bothers you ;-)

 

[arcus]

Nope. This is a problem with 100% of Teslas.

Any of the cars I've owned so far that was equipped with rear view camera had this problem.

When you drive in an inclement weather conditions the back of the car is bound to be covered in dirt. The camera is no exception.

 

[Lloyd]

You could have a rotating clear disk that moves to a clean spot every time you put it in reverse that protects the camera lens.

 

[berkeley_ecar]

[...]
The 3 front cameras are safe behind the windshield which is being kept clean by the wiper blades. [...]

Although the blades are cleaning the windshield, their arced paths are such that they
are not cleaning the part of the window directly over the front-facing cameras, which
are in the housing to which the rear-view mirror is attached (other owners, please
feel free to confirm/contradict this observation based on what you find in your own vehicles). Indeed, it would be surprising if the blades were allowed to obstruct the cameras being used for AutoPilot.