Road chemical on camera lenses

[ajdelange]

Only 'real' camera lenses are exposed to the elements.

Not the ones owned by smart photographers. When they buy the lens they buy the matching 1A (skylight, UV) filter and that goes on to absorb fingerprints, dust, water, sharp corners...

On the Tesla's the camera that sees the lane markings (on which everything auto seems to rely) are mounted high and where the windshield washer will clean it. The side cameras can be easily cleaned with a squirt of water as can the rear. I try to avoid wiping anything optical as if there is dust on the surface you will grind it into the coating.

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[CyberGus]

Not the ones owned by smart photographers. When they buy the lens they buy the matching 1A (skylight, UV) filter and that goes on to absorb fingerprints, dust, water, sharp corners...

On the Tesla's the camera that sees the lane markings (on which everything auto seems to rely) are mounted high and where the windshield washer will clean it. The side cameras can be easily cleaned with a squirt of water as can the rear. I try to avoid wiping anything optical as if there is dust on the surface you will grind it into the coating.

https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/...4C1F-86F2-44E8-A8BC-8A12E7E00A40.html#D1E9186

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Not the ones owned by smart photographers. When they buy the lens they buy the matching 1A (skylight, UV) filter and that goes on to absorb fingerprints, dust, water, sharp corners...

On the Tesla's the camera that sees the lane markings (on which everything auto seems to rely) are mounted high and where the windshield washer will clean it. The side cameras can be easily cleaned with a squirt of water as can the rear. I try to avoid wiping anything optical as if there is dust on the surface you will grind it into the coating.

They don’t come with the filters but yes, one would be ill advised to leave them that way.

 

[android04]

So here in the PNW we recently have been getting snow about 1-3 times a year. Right now I'm on day 3 of snow where the temperatures have been below freezing even at the high. Plus this is an area with lots of hills (some rather steep) and we have a lot of drivers who either came from areas that never had snow or are native and have tended to just hole up at home for each snow storm so they don't really know how to drive in snow effectively.

In order to cope with these conditions, most of the cities in the area have both snow plows and sand/chemical trucks to try and increase the traction on main streets and steeper hills.

So, I've been driving around these last couple of days and getting lots of chemical residue on my windows. For my front windshield, I just use the wipers and windshield fluid periodically to keep things relatively clean and visible. But I also have a rear camera for backing up. And that is completely unusable unless I get out to wipe off the lense each time I want to back up.

Which gets me wondering. With all the cameras that Tesla has on its vehicles, how do we keep them clean enough to be able to use FSD in these kinds of conditions? If the wipers clean off the front-facing camera windshield area that is a start. But what about all the side/rearview cameras? Is there some automatic cleaning mechanism for those?

Ceramic coatings or other treatments like Rain-X won't work (I've tried both). I've been planning on making a Homelink- activated washer device that sprays windshield washer fluid into the rear camera lens. My plan is to use an old oral irrigator to spray, run a hose to the trunk lid, and have some sort of spray nozzle installed to one side of the lens. I would activate it by tapping on the programmed Homelink device on the center screen. I've seen a few examples of similar DIY cleaners that others have made for their Model Ses.

For people that want an easy solution, there's this https://clean-itwcc.com/. But it's not available for sale yet, and might not ever be.

Here are the two custom systems I've come across that were put in Model S:

#1



#2
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/rear-camera-can-it-be-kept-clean.87019/page-5

 

[SwampNut]

With all the cameras that Tesla has on its vehicles, how do we keep them clean enough to be able to use FSD in these kinds of conditions?

Ceramic coating, same as you should be putting on the rest of the car. Coat it all.

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

I wipe my vehicle daily. People who don’t wash their vehicle often makes me wonder how often they take a personal bath.

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

Getting them clean by hand is not the issue. They need to stay clean while driving.

Something like lasers or wipers are more like what is needed.

Elon says that it doesn’t rain on the planet Mars. It’s nice and dry up there.

 

[flamaest]

HummerEV has a little washer nozzle on it's under-body camera, just sayin'.

 

[Crissa]

I wipe my vehicle daily. People who don’t wash their vehicle often makes me wonder how often they take a personal bath.

I have a warm water tap in my shower. I do not have a shower and warm water for my car.

...maybe I should. Hmm. I'd have to build a line down to the car in the first place...

-Crissa

 

[Klaxon]

The natural solution is simple. Let the moose to lick the camera glass.

For those who don't know a good moose it is better to have the cameras inside the transparent balls that can turn around 180 degrees and let the glass be licked by internal "moose tongue"

 

[Dusty]

I wipe my vehicle daily. People who don’t wash their vehicle often makes me wonder how often they take a personal bath.

80% of Jeep owners bathe daily but are like...

I still have some a spurt of mud on my passenger window and mirror from September.

 

[John K]

The natural solution is simple. Let the moose to lick the camera glass.

For those who don't know a good moose it is better to have the cameras inside the transparent balls that can turn around 180 degrees and let the glass be licked by internal "moose tongue"

Canadian sobriety checkpoint?

 

[charliemagpie]

In Australia, we tie sponges to kangaroos, our cars never stay dirty.

 

[FutureBoy]

In Australia, we tie sponges to kangaroos, our cars never stay dirty.

I figured you would just grab a koala, dip it in soapy water and wipe down your car.

 

[Cyberman]

I wipe my vehicle daily. People who don’t wash their vehicle often makes me wonder how often they take a personal bath.

Personal bath, as apposed to what? Communal, bird, sponge, sand? JS
I bathe every day, but I don't think I've wiped my truck more than dozen times in 20 years.

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