Crazy Rear View Monitor Issue

[VanFan]

We have a Pruveeo rear view camera with the monitor clipped to our interior rear view mirror. I don't have the owner's manual (was lost by the upfitter) and it appears this model is no longer in Pruveeo's lineup so there is no manual available online that I can find. The most similar model on their website is this one:

https://pruveeo.us/product/pruveeo-d...nel-fhd-1080p/

Our issue is that sometimes the monitor rapidly flickers. It's almost a strobe-like effect. Strangely, this happens like clockwork when the engine's RPM reach 2500 or above. Even more strangely, it stops happening after we've been driving for a while (usually after fifteen or twenty minutes). And to add to the strangeness, this usually happens the first time we drive the van each day, but after that episode is over it doesn't repeat throughout the day when we stop and then resume driving. Crazy, huh?

It may be a coincidence, but the problem started about two days after we had a solenoid installed and wiring changes made in order to combine our primary and secondary alternators' output to charge the house battery. The shop that did that work is extremely professional and competent, and they have no idea how their work might cause this effect on the rear view camera / monitor system.

Because of the RPM aspect, at first I wondered if the current from the primary alternator is causing interference. It could happen if the alternator's cable and the video wire from the back camera are routed together. But if so, wouldn't this be happening all the time instead of only for the first few minutes after we start rolling? Also, there is a switch that disconnects the new primary alternator circuit to the house battery, and I have tried flipping that switch while the RPM's are above 2500 but the monitor continues to flicker even through no current is flowing through the primary alternator's cable to the house battery. (And yes, the primary alternator does continue to charge the starter battery when I flip that switch, so no, there is no danger of frying the diodes. I verified that with the installer before I tried switching off that circuit while the engine is running.)

We're camping this week so I may be slow to respond, but if anyone has any theories I'd appreciate it.

[booster]

I think the first question has to be which battery circuit is the camera wired to and what vehicle is it on so we can get an idea of what is getting powered when.


First impression would be that it would be vehicle system related as many newer vehicles will hit the starting battery hard for a while after starting to recover the starting charge and then back off a lot. If you have two alternators in parallel, they need to have very similar voltage regulation in many cases and the computer controlled ones especially can do all kinds of rapid changes that wouldn't work if there is another alternator in the circuit, so computer would see wrong feedback.

[henknoordermeer]

If your analysis is correct it may very well be interference in the electrical system that leads to interference in the camera displays internals. If so, probably a power supply noise suppressor like this may solve the symptom.

It could be though that in the long run the cause of the interference may be causing other wear and tear on other electrical components also.. May indeed be worth some further investigation following Booster's lead.

[JohnnyFry]

Aside from the alternator issues suggested by Booster I would suggest putting a filter on the power lead to the camera system. The best would be a ferrite core inductor followed by a substantial capacitor on the output end of the inductor. You can probably obtain a suitable inductor and capacitor from an auto stereo installer.

[VanFan]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. As always, I'm impressed by the amount of knowledge available in this forum. I'll give that Ventev alternator noise suppressor a try.