Hi all,

This is my first post here, but I thought I'd add something I haven't seen before: I just bought an 06 Daytona Blue w/everything, and since I own a car stereo company and will use this as a demo vehicle, I'm throwing everything at it, starting with a Pioneer AVICD3-X (modded for vehicle in motion options... :- ) and backup camera. The deck was pretty standard (used the right adaptor and steering wheel controller and put iPod in the upper glove box), but I wanted to do something different for the backup camera to make it a little stealthier. So, after dissassembling the third brake light and doing some measuring, I drilled out the brake light lens to accomodate the camera and kept it mounted INSIDE the tailgate rather than outside to accumulate road dirt. This way the camera can be cleared with one swipe of the wiper and it still provides a decent rear view (especially while driving).

Coming soon: Since I'm a Rosen dealer (among many other brands) and 32 year experienced installer, I'm building a set of custom video headrests to accomodate the HHR. I'll post pix of the install soon...

Walt Ottenad

 

welcome to the site and may I say that mod is awesome!. All Panel owners should take notice of this! I might want this when I get the SS panel next year.

 

Yes, very nicely done indeed. But I thought the idea of the rear view camera was to see a little bit lower, at about bumper lever, to give you a view of what you can't see in the rear view mirror.

Don't the panels come w/ rear view mirror and rear window?? Now maybe if there were cameras mounted in the side mirrors, that might help.

 

I agree that the best use is to see the bumper (for instance if you were towing to see the hitch), but for my purposes, the stealth look that I could only accomplish with a tubular style camera was what I was after. It does, however, give a great rear view to back down my driveway and give a 130-140+ degree view of traffic while driving, which honestly does quite a bit to alleviate the blind spot view from inside the HHR :- )

 

As a panel driver I think any rear vision is an improvement. This would be a nice addition.


Are you coming down to SoCal any time soon?

 

I like the idea that the camera is inside of the glass. I wonder if it can be angled down more?

 

Looks like a nice install. Very clean.

But I still don't understand the issues with backing an HHR up.

 

Ok, let's say you have a 4x4 suburban parked on either side of you. All you can see is what is straight back outside the rear window and it is a busy parking lot with squirrel drivers zooming past as you slowly back out of your space. This would be typical of what a panel driver deals with daily. Like I said any rear view would be an improvement. I try and avoid this situation but it still happens from time to time, I have had many close calls myself.

 

Does the screen come on when you put the gear in reverse, or do you have to turn the radio on each time & push another button to see the cam???

 

This would be a function of the camera you use - the one I used was about 4" long, 1" or so diameter. Remember you have to fit it all in the depth of the third brakelight, so the max angle you could get would be determined by the length of the camera and how it could be packaged. I'll try to upload a photo or two showing how this was done to illustrate the point.

Walt