If you have a light colored Volt, here's a neat little trick, that does wonders to the image of the backup camera:
Mask the bottom of the camera so it can't see the bumper anymore.
It's the bright bumper that dims the image!
I put black electrical tape on it, and am amazed at the resulting picture quality!
I'll probably try some black nail polish or some such next.
I've also upgraded the backup light, which was surprisingly easy, even though I generally suck at this kind of work, and some posts here made it sound like a major pain.
Leave the two torx screws under the light alone, but take the 5 hex ones out, then you can just reach in and unplug the socket, which has long wires, so you can easily swap the bulb for a brighter LED version. Test before you put everything back together.
Getting ready for the dark and rainy season in Seattle, I also did the hack to make the DRL stay on all the time and replaced the front blinker bulbs with LEDs, that are bright white when not blinking.
Also replaced the trunk light with a bright LED.
All thanks to posts here, so thank you everybody, I would've never dared to do anything like this on my own without your help!
And I was about to have some professionals install a new camera, because it was useless at night, and in all kinds of other situations (bright sun and what not.)
Now it's like it's supposed to be!
Mask the bottom of the camera so it can't see the bumper anymore.
It's the bright bumper that dims the image!
I put black electrical tape on it, and am amazed at the resulting picture quality!
I'll probably try some black nail polish or some such next.
I've also upgraded the backup light, which was surprisingly easy, even though I generally suck at this kind of work, and some posts here made it sound like a major pain.
Leave the two torx screws under the light alone, but take the 5 hex ones out, then you can just reach in and unplug the socket, which has long wires, so you can easily swap the bulb for a brighter LED version. Test before you put everything back together.
Getting ready for the dark and rainy season in Seattle, I also did the hack to make the DRL stay on all the time and replaced the front blinker bulbs with LEDs, that are bright white when not blinking.
Also replaced the trunk light with a bright LED.
All thanks to posts here, so thank you everybody, I would've never dared to do anything like this on my own without your help!
And I was about to have some professionals install a new camera, because it was useless at night, and in all kinds of other situations (bright sun and what not.)
Now it's like it's supposed to be!
