Wireless front parking camera with monitor for front bumper protection

[markb1]

I think that homelink recognizes "home" and offers up, but is not disabled when away from that location. Simple test would be to program the car off site and then press the button when it is returned to the receiver location. I bet it would work.

Yeah, now that I think about it, that's probably right.

 

[SteveW25561]

The home link buttons work regardless of location -- it makes they little animation or transmission when you press on the label in white. It just highlights in green when you approach the geofence. I regularly trigger my front gate well before the car highlights it in green.
Using the home link interface to trigger the switch is a very creative use! Kudos!

 

[cybrown]

Home link is a great idea!

 

[artsci]

If you want me to try and order them thru my company let me know...PM me...

Thanks for the offer. Everything is ok, just waiting for an invoice.

- - - Updated - - -

Could you order cables from Tesla?

As a backup I already have.

- - - Updated - - -

If the solution requires a switch it could be placed in the screen though the Homelink buttons.One (labeled) button switch for front camera and the next one for rear.

There are many companies that make remotes that switch lights on and off.

This one is for cars.
http://www.oraclelights.com/automot...ollers/Dual-Channel-Multi-function-Controller

Unfortunately I don't think that switch won't work. It uses a common power source and based on the simple wiring diagram provided on the web site probably won't enable switching of the front and rear camera signals. Nonetheless I've ordered one and will fool around with it to see if I can make it switch the signals. The idea of using Homelink to control the camera switching is very attractive. If that doesn't work it certainly can be used to turn on and off via Homelink the lighted Tesla T on the nose cone.

 

[artsci]

I think I've found a decent switching solution for the front and rear camera. I'll use this device, Panasonic (MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC) DS4E-M-DC12V PCB relay

to switch the front and rear camera power and signals. Amphenol also makes PCB connectors that will mate with the Amphenol camera connectors in the Model S. So I'll make up a custom PCB with the Amphenol connectors and the Panasonic 4PDT PCB relay, with the signal for switching the relay trigged through a HomeLink option set up using this.

I'm hoping this will also reduce the risk of noise induced to the camera signals.

No reason it shouldn't work and it all can be done through the touchscreen with no mechanical switch. The PCB with the relay can be hidden in the driver's side kick panel.

- - - Updated - - -

If the solution requires a switch it could be placed in the screen though the Homelink buttons.One (labeled) button switch for front camera and the next one for rear.

There are many companies that make remotes that switch lights on and off.

This one is for cars.
http://www.oraclelights.com/automot...ollers/Dual-Channel-Multi-function-Controller

I think I've found a way to make this work. See my post above.

 

[aaron.s]

I think I've found a decent switching solution for the front and rear camera. I'll use this device, Panasonic (MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC) DS4E-M-DC12V PCB relay View attachment 29696 to switch the front and rear camera power and signals. Amphenol also makes PCB connectors that will mate with the Amphenol camera connectors in the Model S. So I'll make up a custom PCB with the Amphenol connectors and the Panasonic 4PDT PCB relay, with the signal for switching the relay trigged through a HomeLink option set up using this.

I'm hoping this will also reduce the risk of noise induced to the camera signals.

No reason it shouldn't work and it all can be done through the touchscreen with no mechanical switch. The PCB with the relay can be hidden in the driver's side kick panel.

- - - Updated - - -



I think I've found a way to make this work. See my post above.

Rick,

You continue to blow my socks off with your ability and expertise!

Aaron

 

[JerryNycom]

Rick how you getting along? You can hear the "electrons" its so quiet!

 

[artsci]

Rick how you getting along? You can hear the "electrons" its so quiet!

Still waiting for the invoice from Amphenol so I can pay for and have the parts shipped. I think this is a small potato order for them.

I've designed the PCB, so once I have the parts and the front camera mounted final assembly should be a breeze. Below is an image of the PCB design (I make my own so it's a quick turn around). The pins are numbered and the traces color coded consistent with the wire colors for the camera connections -- this makes it easier to be sure all of the traces and pin connections are accurate. The large black dots are holes in the PCB for the Amphenol receptacle mounting posts.

The 4PDT relay is non-latching and any 12 volt power triggers the relay. The circuit is set up so a de-energized relay condition connects the rear camera to the touch screen. When 12 volts is supplied to the relay, it's energized, which switches off the rear camera connections and switches on the front.

BTW, I do plan to shield the PCB.

 

[rlang59]

I noticed that the relay you have chosen is obsolete, so make sure you can actually get it or at least have a drop in replacement. Also just a routing tip, for speeds like this try to avoid 90 degree (use 2 45s) direction changes. With 90s you can get reflections. I'm assuming that you are going with a two sided board where the secondary side is just a shield plane and connecting the shields of the Amphenol connectors together that way?

 

[artsci]

I noticed that the relay you have chosen is obsolete, so make sure you can actually get it or at least have a drop in replacement. Also just a routing tip, for speeds like this try to avoid 90 degree (use 2 45s) direction changes. With 90s you can get reflections. I'm assuming that you are going with a two sided board where the secondary side is just a shield plane and connecting the shields of the Amphenol connectors together that way?

If obsolete, the site where I bought it had it or a drop in replacement. Yes to the two-sided board and thanks for the tip on 90 degree bends. I can easily get rid of those.

Also, I found a source in China that sells the Amphenol connectors and will make up cable assemblies, so I won't need Tesla or Amphenol to provide these parts. And they're available from the source in China at much lower cost. As the Amphenol connectors and cable assemblies are made in China anyway I thought why not go straight to the source?

The parts and cable assemblies are on the way to me from China and I should have them in about a week.

 

[wycolo]

> Yes to the two-sided board and thanks for the tip on 90 degree bends. I can easily get rid of those. [artsci]

Point to point hardwiring would also eliminate these and work just as well, no?
--

 

[JerryNycom]

If obsolete, the site where I bought it had it or a drop in replacement. Yes to the two-sided board and thanks for the tip on 90 degree bends. I can easily get rid of those.

Also, I found a source in China that sells the Amphenol connectors and will make up cable assemblies, so I won't need Tesla or Amphenol to provide these parts. And they're available from the source in China at much lower cost. As the Amphenol connectors and cable assemblies are made in China anyway I thought why not go straight to the source?

The parts and cable assemblies are on the way to me from China and I should have them in about a week.

You think we can outsource the camera with the correct "forward" view as well, rather than using the rear from Tesla?

 

[artsci]

You think we can outsource the camera with the correct "forward" view as well, rather than using the rear from Tesla?

Don't know if a different camera would work and my experiment in relay-switching is with the Tesla camera. We have to establish first if that will work. The touchscreen electronics might not work with signals from a different camera.

- - - Updated - - -

> Yes to the two-sided board and thanks for the tip on 90 degree bends. I can easily get rid of those. [artsci]

Point to point hardwiring would also eliminate these and work just as well, no?
--

Perhaps, but that would be much more work that a PCB. I'm very confident the PCB design will work with no or very few screen artifacts. We'll see soon.

 

[lloyds]

Look forward to the results. My significant other tapped the wall in the garage the other day. Luckily no marks, but we definitely need something to gauge the front

 

[aronth5]

Look forward to the results. My significant other tapped the wall in the garage the other day. Luckily no marks, but we definitely need something to gauge the front

Well there is always the old fashion way to solve your problem:wink: Hang a rope from the ceiling with a ball tied at the end. Then determine the correct length and location of the hanging rope where you should stop the car without hitting the ball. I've Seen this solution several times and it works well. And NO it wasn't in my garage:smile:

 

[JerryNycom]

Not embarrassed to have that!

 

[4sevens.com]

I did some googling of LVDS to bring myself up-to-speed on this. There is a good wikipedia entry on LVDS. I would assume that Tesla has used point-to-point flavor of LVDS since they probably did not consider adding anything else to the current bus. It is interesting that there is a multipoint LVDS option, but I doubt Tesla would have implemented this since it appears to be more complicated and therefore most expensive.

So in looking at this I think zax123's suggestion of some type of LVDS switcher/mux is the way to go. Ideally this would be a plug and play board with 2 input amphenol connectors and 1 output amphenol connector. There may have to be some sort of 12V DC to DC converter required to generate a 5V or 3.3V supply because I don't think the onboard supply for the camera is going to be able to drive the switcher/mux board. The switcher/mux board would then have to drive the power for the 2 cameras (which should be reasonable).

Then the next issue will be getting a proper cable from the switcher/mux board out to the nosecone. This has to be a proper cable. It seems that if Tesla has the cable from the dash to the rear camera, another of these same cables can be used to connect the front camera.

The last thing is how to switch from one camera to the other. Ideally there would be something on the touch screen to swap back and forth. But I don't know if we'll ever get a hardware output from the touchscreen for this. So we'll just have to see what people come up with for this.

Anybody have experience building LVDS systems?

How easy would it be to convert an hdmi signal (appletv or chromecast) to LVDS?

- - - Updated - - -

Don't know if a different camera would work and my experiment in relay-switching is with the Tesla camera. We have to establish first if that will work. The touchscreen electronics might not work with signals from a different camera.

- - - Updated - - -



Perhaps, but that would be much more work that a PCB. I'm very confident the PCB design will work with no or very few screen artifacts. We'll see soon.

I'm willing to pay for a pcb solution If this works I'd probably get a more cameras and switches. It'd be nice to see the kids in the second and third row seats

 

[gctseng]

Also, I found a source in China that sells the Amphenol connectors and will make up cable assemblies, so I won't need Tesla or Amphenol to provide these parts. And they're available from the source in China at much lower cost. As the Amphenol connectors and cable assemblies are made in China anyway I thought why not go straight to the source?

Would you mind sharing the contact info for the Chinese manufacturer? I'm trying to match one in the glovebox area.

I've been ordering miscellaneous electronic parts (e.g., LED light strips. quick connectors, small relays, etc.) from http://www.aliexpress.com, which is a business (all Chinese factories and companies) to consumer site where you can find almost anything if you look hard enough. It's a pain to search as there are a countless number of companies on the site, and the listings are somewhat misleading. It is good for stuff like power modules (complete DC-to-DC circuit boards if you need 12v converted to 5v or 3.3v) as so you just pretty much pick the one with the lowest price and best ratings. Shipping can also take a few weeks, but I've never had a problem ordering from them.

Anyway, tried searching for the Amphenol connectors there and have not been able to find it--at least not the right ones...

 

[artsci]

Would you mind sharing the contact info for the Chinese manufacturer? I'm trying to match one in the glovebox area.

I've been ordering miscellaneous electronic parts (e.g., LED light strips. quick connectors, small relays, etc.) from http://www.aliexpress.com, which is a business (all Chinese factories and companies) to consumer site where you can find almost anything if you look hard enough. It's a pain to search as there are a countless number of companies on the site, and the listings are somewhat misleading. It is good for stuff like power modules (complete DC-to-DC circuit boards if you need 12v converted to 5v or 3.3v) as so you just pretty much pick the one with the lowest price and best ratings. Shipping can also take a few weeks, but I've never had a problem ordering from them.

Anyway, tried searching for the Amphenol connectors there and have not been able to find it--at least not the right ones...

Yes, it's Shenzhen Superbat Electronics Co., Ltd. These are Fakra connectors. For the camera connections you need these: http://www.rfsupplier.com/pigtail-cable-fakra-male-male-dacar-4pin-1meter-p-2523.html; HSD Fakra Jack PCB mount ST Connectorfor Blue GPS

Their customer service is outstanding.

 

[gctseng]

Yes, it's Shenzhen Superbat Electronics Co., Ltd. These are Fakra connectors.

Thanks. Looks like it's different than the connectors I need. I'll contact them and see if they can supply what I need though.

BTW, it says it's $18 for the cable from China. I hate to think how much would Amp have charged you?