Can anyone recommend a good camera for the horse area?  How is the electrical connection made for the video display between the truck and the trailer?

Thanks,

Mike

What are you going to do if they are being bad? Slam on the brakes?

There are a lot of options out there. On an existing trailer, I would recommend that you consider a wireless set up.

You might check this site out - or similar sites.

http://www.rvcams.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RBCARVS&Category_Code=1

Hi Reg, since you asked, here are some details.

Audio/video section of walmart. the homeland security black/white camera with 60' of rca cable. You may also be able to find this same camera on ebay for less. there are lots of cameras out there that I'm sure will work, this is just the only one I've personally used.

Mounted it near the ceiling at the back, right hand corner of the trailer (hip side). This camera has a little stand and you can flip it upside down and screw it in to a support on the roof. Had to relocate it after not taking into account that horses heads come up very high when loading and unloading. Ran the cable out the back door, along the awning, down along the gooseneck frame and into the back door of the truck. Attached temporarily where necessary with zip ties. Have someone stand near with the laptop hooked up and tell you how to position for best view.

Now, for display. The easiest option would be a "rv type" TV designed to run off DC power. However since I already have a laptop that I use for GPS navigation I wanted to use that. I found a device at circuit city that lets you send signal from coax or rca cables into your laptop. It's called a Hauppauge **edited to say** no my misake, that's the software. The name on the box is WIN TV USB2** and was around $100. I already had this device to use for my foal cam so it wasn't an additional expense. This device will also let you view and record TV on your computer. It's a USB connection. Comes with software to view and manipulate the video feed as well. It needs no additional power source.

OK, power. The camera is in the trailer. It needs no power at the camera end. At the truck end it has a regular house plug. I simply plug that into a converter/adapter. I never get that name right...the thing that lets you plug a normal "house" plug into your cigarette lighter...rectangular box with an internal fan. (hint, these are much cheaper and more reliable at Lowes than the ones you find advertised specifically for laptops) I already had one for my laptop. Mine has 2 recpt. but the camera plug was too big to put side by side with my laptop plug. So I ended up buying a second one.

You end up with a lot of cables and such and it's probably not any cheaper than a wireless system unless you already have some of the equipment. In my case it worked perfectly. My only complaint was that the sun coming in the windows could sometimes make the image too bright to see really well. It was worse as we were passing from shade to bright sun. Most of the time, though, I had a really clear image. I left the lights on in the trailer at night and the image was the best then. Hope this helps!