keeping factory camera with aftermarket head unit

[duhitsrandy]

I was wondering if anyone had any success using the factory camera with an aftermarket head unit? i got a pioneer avh4800bs which works/sounds great. and the Metra 70-1731 Wiring Harness i got with it worked fine, however i couldnt get the backup camera to show up. at first try i had the red 12v wire connected to the same as the head unit and the black grounded with the male video cable going to the headunit which should have left me with an always on camera, however i cant get any picture through.

Anyone else set one of these up with any success?

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[inv4zn]

The headunit should have another cable labelled "camera" - looking at the manual for your pioneer it's the purple/white cable.

You need to connect this to your reverse lights - this way when you put your car into reverse, the HU knows you're in reverse and will change video feeds.

I'm assuming you connected the camera correctly.


Edit for clarity - If I'm understanding what you wrote correctly, the camera is sending feed to the head unit properly - it's just that the head unit doesn't know when to show it since it doesn't know when you're reversing. Connect that wire I mentioned and you should be good.

If you want to test it out before running a wire all the way to the back of the car, connect the purple/white to any constant power wire. The camera should always be on.

 

[duhitsrandy]

you know what, i thought that purple wire was just for the head unit knowing the car was in reverse and if i had just the 12v and ground set up that the camera would just always be on instead.. i realize now while typing this that i didnt make much sense with that thought.

will give the wire a shot on the constant before running a wire to the back to test. there isnt anywhere up front to connect to? i know older civics had a spot on the foot panel fuse box

 

[inv4zn]

If you want factory spots there's a small harness connector with 6 pins directly under the fusebox. I think pin 1 or 2 is constant 12v.

 

[duhitsrandy]

If you want factory spots there's a small harness connector with 6 pins directly under the fusebox. I think pin 1 or 2 is constant 12v.

oh the constant isnt a problem just wondering about the reverse wire having a spot up front, if not then to the reverse lights it is

 

[inv4zn]

Oh - I misunderstood then haha.

You could trace back the wire through the harness as it's surely plugged into the fusebox somehow, but I just found it easier to run a cable when I did the same thing on my old car.

 

[VarmintCong]

Will the aftermarket units enable dynamic guidelines on the LX?

 

[inv4zn]

Will the aftermarket units enable dynamic guidelines on the LX?

No.

 

[lugnut]

The solution is to get the 12 volt reverse light signal from the 22 pin connector behind the drivers side kick panel. It's a light green wire. With the metra kit, for the LX, the 12 volt ignition wire on the camera portion of the harness goes to your purple reverse wire to the radio, and those two connect from the wire coming from the reverse light wire you'll run up.

 

[Shinjari]

Was about to dig into my stereo install since my metra harness came in and was going to solder my harnesses.

The only confusing thing to me was on the camera harness, the red wire has a label that says 6v camera power, but crutchfield instructions says "12V Switching power".

https://pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20160906144200/Manuals/120/120701731.PDF

After reading lugnut's suggestion, it makes sense that this is camera power (which I've read is actually 8V...so now theres 3 #'s being thrown around, 6, 8 and 12V) and should connect to the "reverse" wire tap and to the HU.

I'm going to contact crutchfield and metra tomorrow about it, but likely will proceed with just connecting it to reverse power. Dont want the camera to have power 100% of the time even when I'm not using it. Granted that would mean I could just look at it whenever I wanted, just concerned about the camera running 100% of the time and wearing out.

 

[Axatax]

I think the reverse signal @ the HU is through CAN.

Usually, you can get an R signal at shift lever if you have an auto which might be cleaner than the fuse box.

 

[Shinjari]

Did the install today. The fisheye view isn't ideal...but what can ya do. ALso need to read up on my pioneer headunit. It wants to turn the camera on at random times while driving, but it will just show a blank screen since the camera only gets voltage when the car is in reverse.

 

[lugnut]

I think the reverse signal @ the HU is through CAN.

Usually, you can get an R signal at shift lever if you have an auto which might be cleaner than the fuse box.

If my car was an automatic, I maybe would've, but the wire for the reverse signal is right there when i ran the mic.

 

[lugnut]

Did the install today. The fisheye view isn't ideal...but what can ya do. ALso need to read up on my pioneer headunit. It wants to turn the camera on at random times while driving, but it will just show a blank screen since the camera only gets voltage when the car is in reverse.

Youmay need to change the polarity of your camera in your settings on your radio.

 

[Shinjari]

Youmay need to change the polarity of your camera in your settings on your radio.

yeah it was a setting and not having it "on". Basically with the way I had it wired up, the camera only gets power when the reverse lights are on. So when driving, if I try to turn the camera "on" it will only show black on the screen because the camera doesn't have power. But when I put the shifter in "R", the camera gets power and turns on as it should. I suppose I could have wired it so the camera was ALWAYS on...but felt that would mess with the longevity so I opted not to have it on all the time.

I will still admit that fisheye isn't ideal. Hope someone figures out how to change views.

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