Engine room cameras?

Gentlemen:

As most of my trips will be made with 2 people on board, my wife and I, I am thinking about putting a camera in the engine room to monitor the engine fro abnormal smoke or dark stains sliding down the white from the engine.

Do you have them? Is it a good idea? Or I could be allocating the $200 in something else more useful?

Thanks for your help

Portuguese

I installed a basic black and white system with an infra red camera in my engine bay viewable from both helms. I beleive the monitor was sold for a vehicle rear camera setup.

It definitelty is good value and especially from the flybridge to see whats going on in the engine bay. The camera cord plugged directly into my new Raymarine E7 which was surprising.

My total cost was about $135 from Amazon a year ago. A boat neighbor just ordered a color setup for $250 yesterday after seeing mine in action.

good idea if affordable and you link it to a system where you are scanning it every few minutes.

good idea if affordable and you link it to a system where you are scanning it every few minutes.

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That's the issue for me. I installed a camera in the engine room and connected it to the chartplotter. I thought it would be a good thing. But it is a bit of an effort to switch between the chart and the video and back so I never check it. Seems it would be prudent to have a dedicated monitor for the camera.

... at least in my case.

Rusty said:

That's the issue for me. I installed a camera in the engine room and connected it to the chartplotter. I thought it would be a good thing. But it is a bit of an effort to switch between the chart and the video and back so I never check it. Seems it would be prudent to have a dedicated monitor for the camera.

... at least in my case.

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I tend to agree...I think ultimately I will have a dedicated screen for about 5 cameras and be able to flick between then without being distracted from my charplotter.

psneeld said:

I tend to agree...I think ultimately I will have a dedicated screen for about 5 cameras and be able to flick between then without being distracted from my charplotter.

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Coastal Explorer has a screen display option that keeps the current chart displayed, but includes up to six video inputs off to the side. Very handy.

I'm for the dedicated monitor. I want at least two cameras in my engine room, one watching the prop shaft, seal and bilge area, another at the front of the engine to watch for belts, water leaks and filters, and then a camera facing genie gauges and a vacuum gauge for my fuel filters.

I plan on buying a new chartplotter and it seems most now come with at least one video input. I plan on monitoring vacuum and fuel pressure since I've had some issues with low power on my engines. Much better than having the admiral take the wheel while I go and check the gauges.

Portuguese said:

I am thinking about putting a camera in the engine room to monitor the engine for abnormal smoke or dark stains sliding down the white from the engine.

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I did this years ago and I love it! So does everyone else who helms my boat.

This is a color video camera so you can see (as Portuguese eluded to ) the red of the fuel, oil in the oil pan, etc. As far as switching from the chart or any other component of the NorthStar 6000i to the ER, just push a smart button on the bottom of the display. I use it more than any other feature on my plotter.

timjet said:

I plan on buying a new chartplotter and it seems most now come with at least one video input. I plan on monitoring vacuum and fuel pressure since I've had some issues with low power on my engines. Much better than having the admiral take the wheel while I go and check the gauges.

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You might price out Coastal Explorer run on a pc and a remote monitor. I also have a Simrad chartplotter as part of a combination radar unit but wouldn't bother to use that function since the Coastal Explorer works so well. As I said, it supports multiple video inputs on a split screen.

Portuguese said:

Gentlemen:

As most of my trips will be made with 2 people on board, my wife and I, I am thinking about putting a camera in the engine room to monitor the engine fro abnormal smoke or dark stains sliding down the white from the engine.

Do you have them? Is it a good idea? Or I could be allocating the $200 in something else more useful?

Thanks for your help

Portuguese

Click to expand...

A few years ago I posted about our engine room cameras, I used a 12vdc monitor that is typically used for headrest video monitors in cars... they accept two video inputs and came with a flush mount bezel...cost was about $ 75 for the monitor, cameras are as low as $ 30.00 these days. The monitor was about 5" X 8". you can see the monitor on the stbd. side of the panel.

HOLLYWOOD

I used a 12vdc monitor that is typically used for headrest video monitors in cars

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That's a good idea. I just bought one on ebay so I can move my video to a dedicated monitor too.

Just like the instruments on the dash , the camera must be monitored.

Scan , Scan , Scan is not my idea of a fun trip.

Murphy Gauges , at least oil pressure and coolant temp would cost less than $200 and can be mounted at the engine.

An alarm easily wired to tell you to Scan the panel.

The Gauges are easy to set , so can show a small change (5psi drop from normal) rather than just 0 oil pressure or 210 F temp.

Fun cruising should be a light work load ,,,,

Guys

Thank you very much for your input. I have just been on the phone with Garmin and they claim that the camera plugs directly in the chartplotter and I can split the monitor in 2 as easy as 1, 2, 3....
I liked Walt's idea. Yet, the Admiral liked it even more.

Thank you again

Portuguese said:

....... I have just been on the phone with Garmin and they claim that the camera plugs directly in the chartplotter and I can split the monitor in 2 as easy as 1, 2, 3....

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Yes you can, but that makes the chart smaller. If you're in the open ocean that probably doesn't matter, but for my normal cruising, I like the chart to be as large as possible.

If I were to install cameras, I would use a dedicated display.

The idea that the necessity to look at the monitor to do a quick visual scan is a inconvenience is pretty lame, I usually scanned the engine room about every third time I scanned the radar and the depth... thats why I set the camera on the same plane.

Murphy gauges are another tool to help in engine room management. Murphy wouldn't of told me squat the time .. due to me not getting the hose clamp tight on the genset. Yes the exhaust hose came off after the waterlift and the engine room took on a wet foggy look on the monitor. It took way too long to get rid of the diesel stink out of the engine room.

The color cameras with a dedicated monitor is a cheap, easy tool to see what's happening down below.
HOLLYWOOD

click and zoom in on the picture I posted of my dash and see how good the view of the front of the motor was.

Portuguese said:

I have just been on the phone with Garmin and they claim that the camera plugs directly in the chartplotter and I can split the monitor in 2 as easy as 1, 2, 3....

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It's even easier than that! A lot (most?) of the newer MFDs have at least two (2) video inputs. MY system (6000i) is discontinued (I don't know why!) but it is the easiest MFD to use that I've ever seen. (Including the new MFDs)

For the camera to really see things in the ER, do you find you need either IR cameras, or do you need to leave the ER lights on?

twistedtree said:

For the camera to really see things in the ER, do you find you need either IR cameras, or do you need to leave the ER lights on?

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Excellent question! In my case, even though my camera has a ring of LEDs around the lense, I turn on my ER lights (fluorescent) for a much better resolution. I can see the engine without them but the resolution is not nearly as good.

SeaHorse II said:

Excellent question! In my case, even though my camera has a ring of LEDs around the lense, I turn on my ER lights (fluorescent) for a much better resolution. I can see the engine without them but the resolution is not nearly as good.

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I like to have an ER camera, especially when running at WOT as in the clip below. Sometimes I lose power suddenly, and the camera helps me keep on top of why.

Fast Robo Hamster on Wheel - YouTube

Twisted:

Most of the cheap cameras will see in the darkness but in B&W.

By the way, if you are motoring you can leave a ER light on. Correct?

Portuguese said:

By the way, if you are motoring you can leave a ER light on. Correct?

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I do, all the time.

hollywood8118 said:

The idea that the necessity to look at the monitor to do a quick visual scan is a inconvenience is pretty lame, I usually scanned the engine room about every third time I scanned the radar and the depth...

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I agree! It only takes 2 seconds to switch from the chart to the ER & back.

Delfin. That's really funny!