GigaFish

Hey everyone,
This weekend I undertook the process of installing a backup camera on my '05 in order to aid backing up to my trailers. It has a Pioneer AVH-X1500 DVD touchscreen receiver, and so far all of my wiring has gone without a hitch. I wired the camera power to the parking light circuit in my 4 pin trailer wiring, and the camera works fine. My question is regarding the reverse trigger in the head unit. I know the "right" way to do it is to tap into the reverse wire in the kick panel. My question is how would I go about wiring this into a switch so I could "trick" the unit into thinking it is in reverse? Would it be as simple as wiring up a simple on-off switch with one pin coming from the battery, one to ground, and one to the head unit's trigger wire, so that activating the switch would send power to the HU trigger? Or would this send too much current into the wire? The head unit allows me to select it as an input to view when driving, so if the switch idea isn't feasible then that's no big deal. I guess I'm just curious as to other options. Thanks!

Azzurri

You got it, it's just a matter of tapping another 12v power source and adding a switch in.

GigaFish

Awesome! I've got an unused switch that operated some lights which got removed for my LED bar, so it's already got hot from the battery and ground, so i just need to connect the trigger to it! Thanks!

ls67nova

If you're trying to view the camera while driving forward, that won't work because the camera won't fire up unless it's in reverse. You need to use a single pole double throw switch. That's what I used and its working perfect for me. I can choose to view the camera whenever I want while driving, only in reverse, or not at all regardless if I'm in reverse or not.

I'll try to find the thread where I explained how I wired it.

GigaFish

I wired power for the camera into my parking lights instead of reverse lights, so as long as my park lights are on it has power.

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

I think if you were going to do that then you might as well have used a switched power source so you didn't have to have any lights on at all

GigaFish

I've been thinking about it and you're probably right that that would have been a better option. I considered wiring it onto the 12v trailer battery charge pin on the 7 pin, but figured being hot all the time probably wouldn't be good for a China cam's life expectancy, so i guess i thought parking lights would be a good "in between". Heck who knows, maybe this weekend I'll run a wire and hook it up switched.

TexasTaxi

The only way it would make sense, to put it on a switch, is to put the camera on the same switch, instead of being triggered by the reverse lights.

ls67nova

I found my post from a while back that explains what I did, and it works great:

You just need install a single pole double throw (spdt) switch. Basically it's switch that has three positions.....on off on.

http://www.delcity.net/catalogdetails?item=7500022
or
http://www.delcity.net/catalogdetails?item=7900071


Here's a drawing of the switch....note the smaller diagram with 1, 2, and 3 on it:

http://www.delcity.net/images/linedrawings/7900071.pdf


NOTE: Do NOT get the (ON) OFF (ON) switch...the () indicates that the switch is momentary....meaning as soon as you take your finger off the switch it goes back to the middle/off position.



For the ease of explaining, I'll just name the terminal posts like they are labeled in the drawing as 1, 2 and 3:

Post #1 gets connected to the truck's reverse light wire.

Post #2 (Center) gets wired to your radio screen reverse wire input and also to the camera's reverse wire input

Post #3 gets connected to a +12V acc source.



It operates as follows:

When the switch is pushed to Post #1 AND the truck is in reverse, the power comes into Post #1, out of Post #2 (Center), and to the radio and camera.

Leaving the switch on Post #2 (Center) will not allow the camera system to turn on, even when the truck is in reverse. I like this because I don't need it on EVERY time I'm backing up.

When the switch is pushed to Post #3, the power comes in from the +12v source, into Post #3, out of Post #2 (Center), and into the radio and camera regardless if you are in reverse or not.

GigaFish

Thanks for such a detailed response! This sounds like a really good way to hook it up. I am beginning to think I'll rewire it this weekend!