Adding in Baby Monitor & Camera?

[bossku69]

Awaiting our son here in the new couple weeks, I've spent countless nights figuring out ways to not get things done around my house that I need to, and recently stumbled upon a pretty cool tech toy; a wireless camera and monitor so you can watch your baby in the back seat without having to use mirrors -- GENIUS! Well, at least I think so.

I spent about two hours fumbling around with these mirrors we got from Babies R' Us only to come out the next morning and see the one had fallen off, so I said screw it, I'll figure out something else, and this seems like a great idea... however instead of spending $200 on this unit, I can buy the same equipment online for about $30

I've spent the last few hours pondering on this idea and stuck between two thoughts -- one is to have a "flip up" type monitor (http://smile.amazon.com/Foldable-Rearvi ... uctDetails) that I would mount right above the nav screen on the dash, or two, a custom rig that connects the monitor to my rear view mirror and I can pull it down when needed.

The "flip down" monitor would be a little less noticeable, but require some custom work that may be out of my scope of abilities, considering I'd have to create some type of bracket to connect it to the monitor, then a wiring harness to only turn the monitor on once it is in a certain position.

So, therefore my question...

Has anyone ever done this before? I figure why I'm at it, I'll add a front view camera for parking and just add in a switch to flip between the two of them.

I'd rather not have an ugly monitor hanging out in my car and would prefer to have something "hidden" and only open while in use. The nav screen hack was always a thought, but I've been quoted about $500 all said and done, which is a bit more than I'm looking to pay.

[SmoovC]

Numerous companies offer rear view mirror monitors. You would want to look for one that offers multiple inputs, and has HomeLink and auto-dim features.

[bossku69]

Numerous companies offer rear view mirror monitors. You would want to look for one that offers multiple inputs, and has HomeLink and auto-dim features.

I've checked out this route, but I didn't want it to be something that would be an interference with the mirror itself. I have a friend who has one in his BMW, uses it for front and rear view cameras, but can have it running while driving, and I can see it being a bothersome issue while driving.

[SmoovC]

I can see where that would be a concern, possibly. I am not entirely sure what you are after, so I just threw it out there.

In re-reading your post, it seems like $500 is out of the question, $200 is too much, and $30 is about right? And you desire something custom and hidden from view when not in use, with 2 cameras and switching?

I am going to assume you already have a phone, so you could possibly integrate a wireless IP camera with that for baby duty? The camera would be cheap, and the app to run it free; at least on Android. Not sure about Apple.

[bossku69]

I can see where that would be a concern, possibly. I am not entirely sure what you are after, so I just threw it out there.

In re-reading your post, it seems like $500 is out of the question, $200 is too much, and $30 is about right? And you desire something custom and hidden from view when not in use, with 2 cameras and switching?

I am going to assume you already have a phone, so you could possibly integrate a wireless IP camera with that for baby duty? The camera would be cheap, and the app to run it free; at least on Android. Not sure about Apple.

$500 is definitely to much to do this at this point, the front facing cam and baby camera are more a novelty, but still wiling to spend some money for the convenience -- around $200ish would work.

I was referring to the wireless baby camera costing $200, but you can replicate that for $30 (actually $45 if you go wireless) on Amazon.

I'd love to tap into the factory nav, but even speaking with the dealer they said there has been a number of issues with it, since you have to tie into things like the parking break and disable the vehicle movement sensors. I'm not sure what is all tied to those components, but I don't want to take a risk of an airbag or safety service not working when needed.

[SwissCheeseHead]

What I do is just turn my rear view mirror down whenever I want to look at my daughter. She loves that she can see me in the mirror too so it's a win/win. To me, aftermarket systems like this are pretty clunky and they take away from the exceptional interior design elements of the car.

[szh]

What I do is just turn my rear view mirror down whenever I want to look at my daughter. She loves that she can see me in the mirror too so it's a win/win. To me, aftermarket systems like this are pretty clunky and they take away from the exceptional interior design elements of the car.

This is what I was able to do in my M45 ... it was not an automatic dimmer system, so it has a manual flip switch that is designed to "rotate" the mirror to "dim" bright lights from the back.

It was easy to adjust this so that I could flip the stock mirror down, check on my son in the infant seat (and later in the car seat) and then flip it back up. In some lighting conditions, I could also see a faint image of my son and still be able to see out the back.

Z