New Cat Excavators

[Scag48]

The cameras mounted are a bit of a novelty for a lot of situations, IMO. They are worthwhile if you can put one to use. I was loading trucks in a closed shoulder between a barrier lineup and the guardrail. It was nice to know where the tracks and ass of the machine were without getting out the of the machine. The blind side of the hoe was closest to the barrier, had to travel in reverse totally blind as I wasn't able to swing around to see where I was headed. Had multiple trucks coming in and had to walk the hoe 150 feet down the shoulder to let another truck into the lane, a real hassle to say the least. I was working alone with no spotter and live freeway traffic outside the barrier, the camera helped quite a bit with that little gig.

[curtisfarmer]

Skag, Get that camera web based so we can call your shots

I guess the down side is all the hecklers telling you how to do it better.....but you could give them the finger real time

[Tigerotor77W]

Originally Posted by Ozz

Haha. What about when your camera's CCD/CMOS fails when you go Dirtman style in a pond?

Well duh you don't use your machine if there's a possibility of dust or water getting in the camera.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by Tigerotor77W

Well duh you don't use your machine if there's a possibility of dust or water getting in the camera.

I get that you're joking,but seriously. What will people do?

[Boss Exc.]

Here are acouple of full pics...

[bobcat_ron]

Holy mother of Jebus that engine shroud is high, there is NO visibilty over that.
I'd stick to Vovlo, Hitachi, LBX/Case and Kobelco.

[milleam]

Originally Posted by bobcat_ron

Holy mother of Jebus that engine shroud is high, there is NO visibilty over that.
I'd stick to Vovlo, Hitachi, LBX/Case and Kobelco.

Keep in mind that this new engine shroud is most likely due to added emissions control hardware. ALL manufacturers have to meet Tier 4 emissions, not just CAT. Most likely, all machines by all manufactures are going to have drastic design changes to engine enclosures to house all this extra hardware.

[Tigerotor77W]

Originally Posted by Ozz

I get that you're joking,but seriously. What will people do?

Sorry -- I thought you were joking as well. My bad.

Erm, well, there's two avenues. The first is to seal the camera well enough so that the elements don't affect its components. While I don't think there's a "solid-state" camera out there yet, Canon and Olympus (and others; I just know of these two off the top of my head) build a weatherproof model that's somewhat ruggedized. So to counter the question of "what would happen if," engineers would simply have to build it so no issue ever arises. If something failed (knocked off a cover or something, for instance), nothing immediate comes to mind. Seeing behind even today's excavators is tough, so the general problem wouldn't be new. Given, however, that space on jobsites seems to be perpetually decreasing, the biggest thing that can be done is to engineer the correct solution.

Originally Posted by milleam

Keep in mind that this new engine shroud is most likely due to added emissions control hardware. ALL manufacturers have to meet Tier 4 emissions, not just CAT. Most likely, all machines by all manufactures are going to have drastic design changes to engine enclosures to house all this extra hardware.

Yeah, I was going to say this, too. I'm curious to see how exactly other manufacturers will address this.

[alco]

Originally Posted by Tigerotor77W

engineers would simply have to build it so no issue ever arises.

the biggest thing that can be done is to engineer the correct solution.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..........you crack me up!

[Tigerotor77W]

Originally Posted by alco

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..........you crack me up!

Aw, come on -- give me some credit here. I realize that something will always break, but what're you gonna do if a rear-view camera fails on the job site? The best you can try is some preventative medicine and hope it works most of the time.