Back up camera help

homebrew · Jan 2, 2017

Just put a new head unit in and am trying to hook up a backup camera. The instructions that came with it are very vague. What I have for connnections on the head unit side are the yellow video cable and a red wire that connects to the reverse wire on the head unit. In the rear is that same video connection and red wire in addition to a red plug with a red and black wire that is supposed to hook up to the reverse lights. With all these connections made minus the red wire connected to the video cable all I get is a completely scrambled picture. Am I missing something??

DannyMK2 · Jan 3, 2017

so the radio switches to the camera screen when put into reverse? and your getting a scrambled picture, not just a black or blue screen? if thats the case, it sounds almost like a bad camera or video cable.

homebrew · Jan 3, 2017

It doesn't switch automatically I have to manually switch it. I was watching some you tube videos to see if I can find out how these things are wired. One video I saw showed the red wire that is attached to the video wire being connected to the reverse light as well. This just seems weird, why would you need two 12v connections.

DannyMK2 · Jan 3, 2017

the last time i did this i connected the reverse trigger wire on the back of the head unit to the can-bus adapter. the red and back wires can either be connected to the reverse light at the tail light (black wire is ground) or you can connect it to a constant 12v wire. you could even tie it into the can bus adapter as well, if you dont feel like splicing any factory wires. the extra wire you have coming off the video cable most likely needs to be connected to a 12v source as well for the camera to 'wake up'.

depending on your camera and radio, there may be a setting to reverse the camera polarity on the head unit for the radio to properly switch to the camera mode in when you put the truck in reverse.

homebrew · Jan 3, 2017

Hooked directly to the battery the camera works. Hooked up to the reverse light wiring the radio will switch to the reverse screen when out in reverse but all I get is the scrambled picture.

crash68 · Jan 3, 2017

Try hooking the wire your hooking to the reverse light(s) to the reverse wire in the 7 pin trailer harness.
If I'm not mistaken, the reverse bulbs are CANbus monitored, that could be causing the scrambled picture.

UrbanKnight · Jan 3, 2017

As everyone else said, only one end needs power, so if you want to power the camera through your long cable run, you can, or you can tap power back by the camera and ignore that red wire.

homebrew · Jan 3, 2017

I ended up taking it into the stereo shop to have them deal with it. 4 hours of waiting and $150 later I get in and the ****** fn thing and it still doesn't work. Apparently there is a problem with the interface that they sold me. Went back in and gave them the WTF. They were like oh the installer said there was a problem with the interface. I was like were you just going to keep that to yourself and hope I didn't notice? They are ordering a new interface and re doing the install once it comes in. This is a chain car audio store. I wonder if they know about the canbus??

adrianp89 · Jan 4, 2017

Which harness did they use? If it was a Metra piece I could see it being messed up. If it was Pac or Maestro, I would venture to say it was installed incorrectly. Either way you can still grab reverse the old school way, which would of been doing right by the customer. Sounds like bad installers. Is it a Best Buy? If so I can find you a quality installer in your area.

Where did you tag power for reverse? You cannot tag reverse light on these trucks, they like to give you issues. Reverse at the trailer plug works fine.

homebrew · Jan 4, 2017

I believe it was a PAC audio interface. Originally I tapped the reverse light for power. I had previously used the reverse light to power a stand alone peak back up camera that worked without issue. I installed the radio, car toys is who I had attempt the camera.

homebrew · Jan 4, 2017

New discovery....... whatever they did last night screwed up my evic controls on the steering wheel. Now the up arrow turns the volume down and the down arrow mutes.

adrianp89 · Jan 4, 2017

Sounds like they tried a new harness and didn't program the controls, or they did a hard reset on your harness. A competent installer could have had the issue fixed easily lol. Bad harnesses do happen, and like I said before, at that point it is easier to just tag reverse somewhere else in the car.

homebrew · Jan 4, 2017

I called another location to have them put eyes on it. It's ****** that I 1. paid for a service that they didn't do and 2. My truck is worse off than it was when I took it in. Now I'm getting well we didn't install the radio so there may have been issues with the install. No f-)$s the issue is I let you touch my ****. I should have just kept my $80 peak camera.

adrianp89 · Jan 5, 2017

Ask for a refund, and if they do not comply, bring it to the corporate level.

baum · Jan 5, 2017

adrianp89 said:
Ask for a refund, and if they do not comply, bring it to the corporate level.

i agree isnt car toys part of a franchise if so escalate it to a corporate level.

what kind of radio are you using?

If you end up using the signal at the 7pin harness i would recommend to relay it and only use the reverse light wire as a trigger so you are not putting any current draw on the vehicle circuit.

homebrew · Jan 5, 2017

I'm using a JVC 6.8. If I get the run around when I take it in I am for sure going to raise the bs flag and ask for a refund and or get a hold of their corp office

Back up camera help

homebrew

Senior Member

DannyMK2

Senior Member

homebrew

Senior Member

DannyMK2

Senior Member

homebrew

Senior Member

crash68

ACME product engineer

UrbanKnight

Member

homebrew

Senior Member

adrianp89

Senior Member

homebrew

Senior Member

homebrew

Senior Member

adrianp89

Senior Member

homebrew

Senior Member

adrianp89

Senior Member

baum

Senior Member

homebrew

Senior Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Share this page