something like this? http://www.rearviewsystems.com/ Would be good at height in a telehander when you can't see high picking up on a scaffold with fork in a pallet. In a Lull it is hard to see the back right corner. Easier to back up truck on a trailer?
looks like another thing to get stolen off a machine sitting at a jobsite.
Would like to make is so it can be removed and used on different machines
My Komatsu PC200-8 has one on the counterweight, with a color LCD monitor. It works great. It is a wide enough angle camera that you can see if you are going to clear trees when you swing, which is a big plus in a lot of the places we work. We have one developer in particual that thinks you ought to be able to lay an 8" water line in a 10' ROW. He's the reason my counterweight has scratches on it, but he's steadily kept us busy for over 2 years solid, so I can't really complain about a few scratches.
They're great if you take the time to USE it. On large face shovels/diggers, where there can be as many as 4 camera's on the machine, they're only good for checking what you just ran into. Not the operators fault, I mean how can the operator keep an eye on 4 screens and load trucks at the same time? Not so easy to use on different machines unless you have permanent mounting brackets and wiring installed on each machine. Then it's a matter of swapping camera and monitor.
On this side of the pond they are mandatory on most machines, especially on larger sites and quarries! They are a great job especially on larger machines, give very little trobble and are easy to fit! Most are wire so that when you engage reverse they come on even if on standby, or stay on all thet time! some even have speakers so that if some one shouts a the rear of the machine you can here them! Tipper trucks also have to have them, and you can also get wireless cameras for them! thought you guys in the USA would be using them more!
Same here, used everywhere and anywhere, bigger machines are required to have them mounted to the rear to give the operator a better view when reversing. Most telehandlers have them to give a better view up front. Some wheeled excavators put them on the stick looking down on the bucket to give a good view when digging deep or behind an obstacle like pipes and stuff. Get a wireless system and put the camera on a magnet base, that way it's easy to remove when not needed and can also be pointed in different angles with ease.
Sadly we have really gotten behind on a lot. The cell phone situation in the U.S. is pathetic.
I met a farmer in southern WI last week who had rigged up one of these rear-view cameras on the bucket of his wheel loader to help with fork work. The box can be dismounted easily to prevent theft/damage. I didn't see it. Sounded all home-built, except for the electronics, of course. I couldn't resist stopping and talking to the guy because he was pulling up onto the road in a mid-40s-era (I think) Allis Chalmers track loader.
I've seen them a lot on big cranes and some on big excavators. Some of the gray market Hitachi units have them hard wired. With the advent of the new air pollution regulations I'm sure they are going to be required. The diesel particulate filters are going to be mounted somewhere above and behind the engines on excavators. The only issues I've heard with them is that you are moving opposite the way your mind thinks you should be. I've spoken to a couple of operators that said it wasn't at all like looking in a mirror and they would get dizzy at times. I've seen lots of articulated haul trucks with them and thought that might be a good idea. That is until the drivers kept knocking them off by backing into the berms. The cameras generally didn't survive or get replaced.
Heres a picture from the Hitachi website Also a standard cam kit.