Reverse camera wiring issues

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rcvxl14

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Hey guys I just bought a Boyo VTL375HD for my 2001 Lincoln LS with a Pioneer double DIN stereo and installed it yesterday. I hooked up yellow RCA plug into the radio as directed in Pioneers instructions, wired the red power wire from the camera into the red 12V ACC wire from the head unit, and grounded the black wire. I tested the setup the way it was just to make sure that the camera worked and everything worked fine when I manually selected the rear camera source on my radio. Now I just had to wire it so the camera would automatically come on when I put the car in reverse. Pioneers directions say that the violet wire coming from the HU's harness must be wired to a reverse signal wire that changes voltage when the car is put into reverse. I tried to find a wire up in the front of the car by the gearshift, but I had no luck. So I decided to wire another separate wire from the violet HU wire all the way back to the reverse light that comes on when the car is put in to reverse. I wired this separate wire to the yellow wire that comes out of the lamp in the trunk and tested the voltage and sure enough I got voltage when I put the car into reverse. So, I soldered everything up and put it all back together and the camera still doesn't turn on when I put the car in reverse. I tested the separate wire I installed (I started at the trunk and worked my way to the center console) to make sure it was getting voltage and it was.

To the experienced wiring guys out there, am I missing something? I feel like I did everything correctly but the head unit obviously cannot tell when the car is being put into reverse. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
 
You picked the wrong wire on the reverse blub. That wire is hot (+12V) all the time that the car is awake. The other wire going to the reverse bulb is the switched one. It will be 12V when the car is awake and not in reverse. It will be ground (0V) when the car is in reverse (or when it is sleeping, but that doesn't matter). I assume that you can set your headunit for negative reverse trigger.

Alternately, you could get the positive (+12V when in reverse) reverse signal at the front of the car. It is at the rear view mirror. Sorry, I don't remember the gen I wire color off hand, but you could find the correct wire with a voltmeter. The same positive signal is also at the REM. Since you have already run a wire all the way back there, that might be a better place to connect.
 
joegr said:
You picked the wrong wire on the reverse blub. That wire is hot (+12V) all the time that the car is awake. The other wire going to the reverse bulb is the switched one. It will be 12V when the car is awake and not in reverse. It will be ground (0V) when the car is in reverse (or when it is sleeping, but that doesn't matter). I assume that you can set your headunit for negative reverse trigger.

Alternately, you could get the positive (+12V when in reverse) reverse signal at the front of the car. It is at the rear view mirror. Sorry, I don't remember the gen I wire color off hand, but you could find the correct wire with a voltmeter. The same positive signal is also at the REM. Since you have already run a wire all the way back there, that might be a better place to connect.
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Thanks for the quick reply. I tried what you said in the first paragraph and wired the reverse signal wire to the black wire out of the tail lamp. I set the camera polarity on "ground" and put it into reverse and the camera turned on, and then it turned off when i took it out of reverse like it should. However, if you let the radio sit for about 6 seconds when the car is on, the camera turns on by itself. Do i have to mess with some settings on the radio?
 
rcvxl14 said:
if you let the radio sit for about 6 seconds when the car is on, the camera turns on by itself. Do i have to mess with some settings on the radio?
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no, the only setting that pioneers need is to turn the trigger wire to ground, that is all. if you tapped into the right wire, it only gets a ground signal when the car is in reverse (not counting sleeping as joe mentioned)

if the radio switches over to the camera when you are not in reverse, you either have the wrong wire tapped, there is a problem with you radio, or you still have the camera selected as a source. some of pioneers radios need to have this turned off if you manually turned on the rear view, otherwise it will just keep switching back after a few seconds. I experienced this when putting a AVH series radio into a guy from here's LS at the shop, we kept thinking that there was a problem with the wire that I tapped into (neg trigger at the bulb) but it was something they changed in that years model and it just had to be switched off.

if you are sure that you got the right wire at the tail light, next time it switches back to the camera with the car in park, make sure that the reverse lights are not on, if they are off, then it probably is the camera source is just still manually selected.
 
1LoudLS said:
no, the only setting that pioneers need is to turn the trigger wire to ground, that is all. if you tapped into the right wire, it only gets a ground signal when the car is in reverse (not counting sleeping as joe mentioned)

if the radio switches over to the camera when you are not in reverse, you either have the wrong wire tapped, there is a problem with you radio, or you still have the camera selected as a source. some of pioneers radios need to have this turned off if you manually turned on the rear view, otherwise it will just keep switching back after a few seconds. I experienced this when putting a AVH series radio into a guy from here's LS at the shop, we kept thinking that there was a problem with the wire that I tapped into (neg trigger at the bulb) but it was something they changed in that years model and it just had to be switched off.

if you are sure that you got the right wire at the tail light, next time it switches back to the camera with the car in park, make sure that the reverse lights are not on, if they are off, then it probably is the camera source is just still manually selected.
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Thanks for the advice. I manually turned the camera source off on the radio and when the key is in the run position without the car running everything works as it should (camera turns on in reverse) and the camera doesn't turn on by itself. However when the car is running the camera does not turn on at all when i put it in reverse. I double checked that the reverse lights were coming on properly when in reverse and they are. I am sure that I tapped into the right wire at the reverse light, so I'm pretty lost as to what the problem is.
 
I just got a new jvc radio for xmas and im installing a reverse camera I will check to see what wire you need to tap to also the pioneer can use the negative and positive to turn on the camera feed you have to go into options and change it to the right polarity.
 
Well I've had it for about a month and haven't messed with it. Now, the camera comes on whenever it wants to (about 50% of the time) running or not running. Any ideas??
 
ok I had the same issue and this is how I fixed it. first with the camera connect the positive wire to the "allways on" 12 volt wire that connects to the reverse light bulb. then ground the negative to one of the bolts that holds the rear license place surround. bat thing is while the car is on the camera is powered. now for the backup camera sense wire. remove the back seat you can do that by moving the latch on each corner of the seat and that's where the REM is located. I have a gen 2 so the wire I tapped is the white with blue line I don't know if gen1 is the same.
 
now use tap clamps and one way I fired it out what wires that I should use is I removed the connector on the back of my rear view mirror look at the 3 wires that are going to it at least you can eliminate most of the wires in the REM then do the process of elimination by using a volt meter. you should only get 12 volts when the car is in reverse so have someone help you.
 
I dont think my 12v power wire from my radio is the problem, but you may be right about hooking up my reverse signal to a different source. I'm still a little puzzled about which wire near the back seat youre talking about though.
 
when you remove the back seat there is a module there it controls all the rear lights on the car but it also sends a signal to your rear view mirror aswell. when the snow clears up I will remove it and take a picture.
 
rcvxl14 said:
Alright thanks a bunch. Is it near the fuel pump or is it on the drivers side?
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I'm not sure what he is talking about. The REM is the module that generates the reverse signals (both positive for the mirror and negative for the backup lights). There's no need or help in removing the seat to get to it. It's on the passenger side wall of the trunk, right behind the trunk light.
 
joegr said:
I'm not sure what he is talking about. The REM is the module that generates the reverse signals (both positive for the mirror and negative for the backup lights). There's no need or help in removing the seat to get to it. It's on the passenger side wall of the trunk, right behind the trunk light.
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I thought he meant it was under the back seat. So i can fold down the back seats and access it in the trunk?
 
rcvxl14 said:
I thought he meant it was under the back seat. So i can fold down the back seats and access it in the trunk?
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Or, you could get much better access to it by opening the trunk instead.
 
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