Backup Camera Questions

Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
Folks,

I've searched a lot on this forum about backup cameras and read quite a bit, so forgive yet another thread.

I'm looking to install a system myself, and am very keen on the Rear View Safety system with the camera as a part of the rear brake light. Even though I have rear windows, I rarely use my rearview mirror. But being I live in NYC, I'm afraid a clip-on mirror monitor will just attract unwanted attention.

So my questions:

Would folks recommend one of those Mirror Monitors that actually replace the rearview mirror and do dual duty as a mirror and screen? They are fairly unobtrusive and might be just fine if they really do work. Any comments on these units would be appreciated. Consider I have nothing now, so anything is an upgrade.

Or...

Perhaps find a used Sound 20 (or Sound 15?) and install it in the dash and connect a camera to this so it's in dash? I like this idea a lot, but I'm not sure if this is a DIY job (I currently have a sound 5). Anyone who's done this, please let me know.

-Kenny C.
NYC
 

avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
I had one of those mirror/displays on our previous van. It was a mediocre display and a crappy mirror. Note, however, that this was a cheap eBay unit. More expensive ones may well be better. I think I would be more inclined to use a dedicated display and find someplace lower to mount it.

Our current van has an Audio 15 with the factory camera. It's great. Beware, though, that if you find a used one, it isn't going to be easy to get it working in your van. It will have to be married to your VIN (they participate in the CAN bus). Also, they need to have the backup camera input enabled before it will work.
 

Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
I have been doing quite a bit of research and thinking. It seems one relatively easy solution would be to add a video head unit in lieu of the factory Sound 5 I have. Through other posts on this forum I've seen folks talk about different units but Pioneer seems to have the best reviews, and its integration with my iPhone 5s would be important. I can get a new DVD head unit for about 350.00 (no GPS - Google Maps does me fine), and the cost of the brake light camera is about 175.00, so 525 for the whole lot with a much better stereo head.

If I were to buy a Pioneer head unit (double din) I presume I would remove my sound 5 and cubby hole plastic and this *should* drop right in, right??? Any tips would be appreciated. Does this require any programming by a dealer or factory? I would expect not, but not sure.

The third brake light camera I'm interested in provides cabling to run to the front of the van, and this forum has previous threads with a lot of good recommendations on where to tie in power, etc, but I haven't seen any info on the best way to run the cable. Do I run it under the van (exposed to the elements) or is there a way to run it through an interior panel without dismantling too much (Crew Van 144 with ineterior panels and sound deadening in the ceiling).

Thanks again.

-Kenny C.
 

avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
If I were to buy a Pioneer head unit (double din) I presume I would remove my sound 5 and cubby hole plastic and this *should* drop right in, right??? Any tips would be appreciated. Does this require any programming by a dealer or factory? I would expect not, but not sure.
Physically, it should just drop in, courtesy of the miracle of DIN. Electrically, you will need an appropriate harness adaptor. Easiest way is to buy the whole thing from Crutchfield or equivalent. They have excellent tech support, but of course there are much cheaper places to buy.

Another question is whether you have steering-wheel controls and if so, whether you aspire to having them work with your head unit. That is a bit more complex.

I am unaware of any dealer programming needed with a third-party head unit.
 

K-9 SPRINTER

Well-known member
I replaced my sound 5 with a pioneer double din unit
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23350 it shows all parts needed. No dealer reprograming involved. All steering wheel button's function

I already had a back up camera https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16044 but since the new head unit had an imput , I installed another one on the license plate, ran the wires under the sprinter to the front. Theres already a hole for wiring by the driver front wall ,to the left of the pedal
 
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Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
Hi Folks,


I received a Pioneer AVH-X3700BHS from Crutchfiled - what appeared to be a recent model without GPS, but compatible with iPhone 6, which was important to me. They also provided an install kit which has an antenna adapter, as well as the Metra XSVI-1784-NAV.

I also ordered a Rear View Safety Systems Sprinter-specific 3rd Brake Light camera setup, which came with all connections and an extension coax cable to run to the head unit.

I spent a lot of time today on this forum researching what others have done with their installs. And the latter part of today was spent butt-splicing the Metra to the Pioneer harness. All is good and fairly straight forward - color coding made a lot of sense. But I still have a few questions:

-- On the Pioneer harness there was a blue/white wire that had a tag on the end that said "remote power" or something like this. According to the Axxess Metra instructions this should be attached to the antenna power (solid blue) wire, which is what I did. Sound correct? It was the one wire whose partner on the metra unit didn't exactly color-correspond and the instructions on the pioneer side were vague.

I've read about a lot of folks powering their rearview cameras by tapping into the power of their rear backup light (because the rear tail light wiring would be near to the camera). My camera came with a long coax that can run up to the head unit. At the front end there's a pigtail that breaks out into a yellow RCA (plugs into Rear Camera Video Input on Head unit), White RCA (audio, but I don't know if this is necessary), and a power lead consisting of small gauge red and black bare end wires.

-- Those who tapped their backup camera power to the backup tail lights have cameras that are only powered on when the van is put into reverse, right? If I wanted to do this, where could I tie camera power into a line such as a backup tail light lead that would be located up near the center console/head unit, where this long coax/pigtail will ultimately terminate?

-- Or I could wire this end of the camera lead to a switched power supply somewhere near the head unit so the camera is always on when the key is turned on. Would this be bad for the van or camera? This may be simpler, and allow me switch the monitor on the head unit while driving and see the camera view of what's behind. And if so, is there any reason no to simply splice it into the switched radio power lead (I believe it's red on the metra harness)?

Here are some pics of the tail light camera and wiring I'm speaking of:






Any help is appreciated as always.

-Kenny C
NYC
 
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avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
You can use a couple of diodes to let you power the camera whenever you either are in reverse (from the backup lights) or manually turn it on via a switch. It is nice to be able to turn the camera on sometimes while you are driving.
 

Karl2014

New member
I don't remember many of the details, but I bought a 3rd brakelight camera from ebay, ran the video cable to the back of the standard audio of a 2014 van, power wire to a fuse box from the aux. battery, plugged in the "programmer", and done... about 600 bucks, but I paid a couple hundred more than I needed to.
 

pfflyer

Well-known member
You can use a couple of diodes to let you power the camera whenever you either are in reverse (from the backup lights) or manually turn it on via a switch. It is nice to be able to turn the camera on sometimes while you are driving.
My Pioneer head unit allows for full time back view as an option but I have GPS with mine not that makes any difference except maybe price and options. Homeslice may have that option as well.
 

avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
My Pioneer head unit allows for full time back view as an option but I have GPS with mine not that makes any difference except maybe price and options. Homeslice may have that option as well.
My only point was that if you are going to power your camera from the backup circuit only, any "full time view" feature won't work unless you provide an additional camera power source.

Probably easiest to just power the camera from the ignition circuit.
 

Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
Because the Pioneer head unit receives power (actually 2 legs of power - one constant to retain memory settings, and one switched) from the van radio harness via metra connector, is there any reason I can't just tie the camera power into this switched power lead going into the head unit?

Or is there a reason to break out its own power source from, say, the cigarette lighter?
 

K-9 SPRINTER

Well-known member
Tapping into the rear reverse light itself, is not a good idea, the best way to power the rear camera, it is thru the rear light trigger connection under the drivers seat ,.My Pioneer was able to connect to the rear trigger thru the radio harness/ steering wheel harness itself :thumbup:(and I can set it for full time or rear trigger
 
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pfflyer

Well-known member
My only point was that if you are going to power your camera from the backup circuit only, any "full time view" feature won't work unless you provide an additional camera power source.

Probably easiest to just power the camera from the ignition circuit.
My point was it may already be a feature of the head unit without having to add anything. I didn't install my unit but assume the power source for full time view is in the wire harness. I didn't ask for full time view I just stumbled onto it when learning all the features. Might be wise to check to see if the head unit has this feature and if anything extra needed to activate this feature before doing any special wire runs and adding switches.
 
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Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
This Pioneer I have (AVH-3700BHS) apparently does have a feature that allows the monitor to be on at any time (especially since I'm going to use a handbrake delete), which is why I'm keen on wiring up the camera to have power all the time. It also has a connection to the backup system through the harness, so ostensibly it will flip to monitor mode automatically when I put the van in reverse (assuming I don't have the head unit in monitor mode already). So it seems that wiring the camera to have power all the time is the hot setup here. I was concerned as to whether there were any down sides to having the camera be on all the time, even though it won't always be used all the time.

I'm learning by all your replies (thank you) but haven't actually done any wiring on the van yet. But from what I can glean, wiring the camera power to be switched on with the key is much easier that trying to tie it into the backup system, particularly because the power leads are up near the head unit (close to switched power), and nowhere near any backup circuit.

But again I ask, is there any reason not to splice the camera power into the same wire as the head unit's power, which will be switched? Or does it need its own discreet switched power connection?
 

K-9 SPRINTER

Well-known member
This Pioneer I have (AVH-3700BHS) apparently does have a feature that allows the monitor to be on at any time (especially since I'm going to use a handbrake delete), which is why I'm keen on wiring up the camera to have power all the time.
parking brake override....... is for watching video (DVDs or 2nd AV input)while driving , nothing to do with fulltime rear camera viewing. I got mine from (great customer support)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/node/index...6ZLPAXH1&merchant=A9UC26ZLPAXH1&redirect=true

(great customer support) they didn't have one for my Pioneer unit when I bought it, I contacted them with my model and they made one up for that unit
 
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Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
I have already ordered the override and it's on its way.

I realize it is intended to allow watching DVDs, etc, while driving (not something I'm really interested in), but I assumed that without it I wouldn't be able to manually switch on the monitor and view the rearview camera while in motion. :idunno:
 

K-9 SPRINTER

Well-known member
I have already ordered the override and it's on its way.

I realize it is intended to allow watching DVDs, etc, while driving (not something I'm really interested in), but I assumed that without it I wouldn't be able to manually switch on the monitor and view the rearview camera while in motion. :idunno:
As long as you use the Rear-View Camera Input for the rear camera, you don't need the override to view full time (while driving). The override , overrides the Composite A/V Input and DVDs etc
 

Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
As long as you use the Rear-View Camera Input for the rear camera, you don't need the override to view full time (while driving). The override , overrides the Composite A/V Input and DVDs etc
Cool. Makes sense now. Thank you.

So, what about tying the camera power into the head unit switched power? Or is it recommended to find it's own switched power source?
 

Holmeslice

2020 VS30 144" High Crew
A bit of a follow up on this- today I installed a brake light camera lens, and when I removed the oem lens and looked in the cavity I found a 4-pin connector in there unhooked and doing nothing. I'm wishfully hoping it's a factory camera connector just waiting for an install! Would be nice as then I wouldn't have to run a coax cable all the way through the van. I took some pics of the wire colours. Does anyone know what this connector would be for?

 

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