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Aftermarket backup camera connect to OEM navigation unit Video positive(+) / Video negative (-)?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by olyprius, Jul 18, 2011.

  1. olyprius

    olyprius Member

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    Folks here who have skills in electronics (I know there are many of you :)),

    I have an aftermarket backup camera with 3 wires, RED (power), BLACK (ground) and YELLOW (video). The red and black are regular wires and the yellow is an RCA connector. Most of the cheap aftermarket cameras come this way, easy enough.

    So looking at the wire diagram coming out of my OEM navigation I have 4 wires that need to hook up to the backup camera. I have Power, Ground, Video +, and Video -.

    I'm scratching my head here :confused:? What is video (+) and video (-)? Do I need to modify the yellow RCA video connector from the aftermarket camera to get it all connected properly? Thanks for any help you can offer. :)
     
  2. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    The OEM nav does not have an RCA camera input?
     
  3. olyprius

    olyprius Member

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    Unfortunately it does not. :(
     
  4. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    Well rather than cut the camera wire I would use an old RCA female plug from something (old stereo) or go to radioshack and pick up one, wire it in with the neg (-) on the outside and pos (+) on the inside of the plug.
     
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  5. cproaudio

    cproaudio Speedlock Overrider

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    Toyota uses their own color code for everything. For example black wire in a Toyota is not ground. It's white/black stripe or brown or brown with silver dots. For reverse camera is not as simple as plugging in a yellow RCA jack because there isn't any. There are no standard plugs when it comes to OEM electronics. The video wire is among other wires in one of many plugs that made up the radio harness. OP is looking for the 2 wires that're buried in the radio harness.
     
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  6. olyprius

    olyprius Member

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    I was planning on doing spiderman's idea of just tapping into a female RCA jack, center being video positive, outer shield being video negative. Based on your knowledge, do you know off hand if the Yellow RCA cable has both positive and negative video? If so, do you think spiderman's idea will work?

    Here is a diagram of the 4 wires that I am talking about. They are 4 wires located at pin hole 24, 23, 22, and 21 next the the 5 mic wires in the 24 pin rectangular connector near the bottom of the nav unit. The wires would normally connect to the OEM camera, but the OEM camera is $500+, I prefer the aftermarket cameras that are around $30 :D
     

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  7. PaJa

    PaJa Senior member

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    Follow Spiderman's recommendation. GND and Video (-) are common.
     
  8. cproaudio

    cproaudio Speedlock Overrider

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    Maybe if you can take a picture of the plug in question and post it here.
     
  9. olyprius

    olyprius Member

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    PICTURE 1 is the custom harness that holds the backup camera/microphone/OBD-II-BUS wires. From the wire side from left to right, the white/black stripe is POWER, solid black is VIDEO NEGATIVE, solid red is VIDEO POSITIVE, solid gray is GROUND.

    Trying out spiderman's idea was a no go after connecting video negative (RCA shield contact) and video positive (RCA center contact) to the yellow RCA cable of the aftermarket camera however I still think it's the right way to do it after reading this thread on a different forum.

    Another thing I noticed using a multimeter was that I was not getting any power coming out of the white/black stripe POWER cable from the wire harness when I was in reverse or even in park. I think I am missing something else that triggers the camera to activate.

    PICTURE 2 from the nav diagnostics has always shown the "Camera Setting" grayed out.

    PICTURE 3 shows the location where this cam/mic/bus wire harness plugs into (lowest part of the pic).

    PICTURE 4 is verification from the nav diagnostics that I connected the reverse wire correctly as it shows change from off to on when I switch the car in reverse.

    If anyone has the wire schematics for the 2010 Prius Navigation unit that they could share with me (my nav has a black metal casing if there is a difference) or can offer some tips or help please post or PM me please.

    PICTURE 1:
    [​IMG]

    PICTURE 2:
    [​IMG]

    PICTURE 3:
    [​IMG]

    PICTURE 4:
    [​IMG]
     
  10. mgb4tim

    mgb4tim Noob

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    If you have the III with Nav, don't you already have a backup camera?
     
  11. cproaudio

    cproaudio Speedlock Overrider

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    Camera setting is grayed out because it's only avaliable to cars with Advance Technology Package.

    The reverse signal wire is the pink wire on pin 5 of the gray plug.

    If the white/black wire is OEM wire then those are ground wire.

    I still don't quite understand why you're doing this. You got an 2011 Prius three with no package, just standard JBL head unit? You got a hold of an Gen III factory hav head unit and now you're trying to install an aftermarket camera to it?

    After years of trying to integrating aftermarket components to factory head units form my privous job, I've learned that If for any slight chance that I want a factory nav unit, I'd spend the money up front and buy a car with factory nav unit already built in. The additional functionality of the the nav package is well worth the additional cost up front.

    Maybe this will help
     

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  12. olyprius

    olyprius Member

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    Yes, call me crazy but I acquired a used factory nav HU for cheap and very happy with my decision. I originally wanted to go aftermarket, but after fiddling with needed aftermarket adapters for the factory amp and steering wheel buttons, non matching aftermarket bezels, I was in the "meh" moment. Then realizing I would be also bypassing/wasting the factory integrated microphone over an aftermarket one, I was no longer interested. I tried installing a good priced Sony HU but it was DOA out of the box. I then looked into the high end kenwood but it was $$$ and the user interface had a bit of a lag with no signs of firmware update fix after reading a few reviews on the kenwood support forums. I then looked at the Rosen but for some reason it had a "cheap" feeling about it to me so didn't go that route.

    So back to the used factory nav that I fitted, the existing microphone with voice command works great. I'm actually quite happy with the factory nav unit. I also like how it recognizes the JBL amp, DSP and all, how most of the major harnesses are plug-in-play, and of course the factory finish. Everything pretty much works except for the backup camera, hence the reason I created this thread.

    Many people here on PC regret paying the money up front for the Prius nav package. Map disc upgrades, driving lockouts, and a plain navigation (lack of eye candy) and all, it's just not worth the retail price to many. Then you have the lazy extremist, the "just buy a freakin garmin and call it a day" crowd :p who hate factory nav or aftermarket period. I'm sure you have seen the dedicated thread of members bashing the factory nav. It's not the greatest unit but it's also not the worse. Bluetooth music streaming/calling, voice command are great, with a decent navigation and a clean factory look. I didn't purchase this at the retail price and the installation was free, I did it all myself. :D

    Thanks for digging this up. But quickly looking over the pictorials, the wire harness does not look the same as the one I am talking about unless I am missing something.

    I've already tapped into the reverse signal from the drivers side and verified that it works.

    The white/black wire is a custom wire, not OEM, I only have partial diagrams and it is definitely the power wire.

    Does anyone know where I can obtain the wire schematics for the factory nav? Any other tips to get the backup camera to recognize? I've tried resetting and reinitializing the nav via diagnostics menu, still a no go.

    Thanks for the help!
     
  13. bzyrice

    bzyrice Active Member

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    I remember when putting in my aftermarket camera in my oem navi on my TL that it was not possible just to simply splice into the wires of the navi to get the video to play when reversing. Something about the way the navi reads the information from the wires. Factory cameras are wired much differently then aftermarket (I think it was something to so with the hrtz or something.. cant remember exactly, but it will NOT work unless you are able to convert the aftermarket signal to the same as the factory signal). I ended up getting a Doms Navtool. That piece of electronics cost me 300.00 at the time, but allowed me to add an aftermarket camera AND an extra video input.. I also tapped the power for the aftermarket reverse camera from the reverse light power wire on the trunk, so that I did not have to have another wire go from the back to the front of the car again.

    A very helpful site is MP3Car.com ..if you post your question there, they are much more knowledgeable about these sort of things on there.
     
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  14. cproaudio

    cproaudio Speedlock Overrider

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    mp3car.com haha that's my old forum
     
  15. olyprius

    olyprius Member

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    Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll check that site out. I threw up in my mouth a little when I saw the $450 price tag for the navtool :eek:. Does anyone know where I can find this setup cheaper and has anyone actually installed one of these in their Gen3?