New camera install (Cheap Ebay cameras)

This rear camera early operation is essential. Usually we need rear visibility almost immediately. On my HU the camera starts just after initial logo display - something between 3-5 sec after start button pressed.

 

@skylarii,
To follow up your enquiry, the wireless backup camera is working fine. Video quality is as good as a wired solution and I don't suffer from any interference. The camera itself is the same camera you get with the wired option. In fact, the wireless kit comes with a length of cable so you can do a wired install if the wireless doesn't work (not sure if it is long enough to go all the way). For me wireless was a good way to install because I wanted to remove as little of the trim as possible and I didn't want to have to feed a cable from the rear door into the car (sounded like a PITA). Day time use, the camera is great, nice clear picture and guide lines on the display. At night it is OK too although in the dark with just the reversing light, it is nowhere near as good as daytime but you can see more on the camera than you can in the rear view mirror.

With regards to the metra kit, I didn't need one because the chinese head unit I have is a factory fit (like Flyaudio and Rosen). Also, the steering wheel controls worked first time with the head unit. The aircon and trip meters are not part of the head unit so they still work if you remove the stock head unit. If you have any queries, the best thing to do is to post on the forum.

 

Valuable information and those are the exact reasons I prefer to install the system wirelessly. One added concern for me is that when you remove a lot of trim, if not replaced properly, it has the potential for additional rattles and squeeks. For me, the less the better.

I am installing an AVH-3200BT into a GenIII Prius and will use the AXXESS swc. Trim for the HU will be the Toyota factory part(s) and eBay 09 Camry cam from KISS. I don't want to lose function of the AUX input from the armrest console so I will try using the Metra kit 70-8114 since from what I am told, it retains that feature. One last thing I will do is add an extra front "wired" license plate cam for pulling up to high curbs or for xtra tight parking spots. Once this is all done, I will post pix and report on the install.

Thanks esp. to Johalareewi (+ rrolff+ Paja) for the insight given to us new owners to avoid the pitfalls and frustration of this installation.

 

Please do post pics and info when you do that. What do you need to switch the video between cameras?

 

If you are looking to do this with a OEM type HU to switch video inputs (F/R), I think you would need to locate a switching device or build a switching circuit. I am using an aftermarket HU so there are additional Aux In video inputs which I will use for that purpose and will have to push buttons to activate that view. Course, there could be more to it than that but hopefully it is a simple affair in my case. Will definitely let people know what is required.

 

I did NOT drill a ny hole just ran the cable through the rear rubber handle opener.The backup camera works fine with the aftermarket HU with backup camera input.

 

Thank you PaJa!! I just installed my backup camera install today and this probably saved me from anguish and throwing a huge fit!! You can check out my install pictures from this post by Mr. Pete

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...el-ii-sony-xnv-660bt-install-adventure-3.html

 

Johalareewi -

My parts are starting to arrive and I wanted to ask about this mod.

Where did you mount your spdt and if I chose to set it up like Pruisito, was the only difference between the two methods the common line on the spdt (Reverse Signal vs Gnd)?

Also, when you tapped the rear wiper power lead for the wireless cam, is that lead accessible from the lower inside hatch cover area or did you have to pull the wiper plastic cover to get to it? If you did pull the wiper cover, where did you route that line to the wireless camera power lead?

Thank you.

 

Addendum:

Forgot to ask when you mounted the camera transmitter in the hatch, where did you affix it to? I planned to just cover it with thin foam and tie wrap it to an adjacent harness.

BTW, just tested the Kiss wireless camera with the avh-p3200bt and the image quality is very good. I was worried about the IQ but it it better than I expected.

 

For the SPDT, I popped out the blanking plug near the head unit / Start button (where we would have the IPA switch). With the head unit removed, it is easy to get behind the blank and push it out. If you prise it out from the front you have to be careful you don't damage the plastic dash. I managed to source an SPDT that would fit the hole left by the blank but others have mounted switches in the blank itself. See http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ations/83382-switch-fit-blank-dash-holes.html

Not sure what Pruisito did. Do you have a link? For my solution, no GND is needed. For my head unit, it just needs +12V on the 'reverse' wire to turn on the backup cam display. This would normally come from the Prius reverse wire at pin 29 (goes to +12V when in reverse), but using the SPDT, I can switch it to come from an always on +12V source.

The rear wiper connector is at the bottom left of the window so you have to pop a couple of panels, but there is no need to do anything to the wiper motor. The connector is easily accessable with the hatch door panels off. I removed all the panels from the hatch when I did mine but you could leave the top and right hand side panels alone.

That's pretty much what I did. There was a nice bit of trunking on the way from the wiper motor connector to the camera so I just used a couple of cable ties to strap the transmitter to it. I was aiming to have the transmitter as high up as possible so it had a fairly clear radio path to the front of the car. You are limited a bit by the length of the camera coax.

It is pretty good

 

Thank you for reply. So it sounds like I have to remove the hatch panel that sits adjacent/nearest the wiper motor, as well as of course, the largest hatch panel ; plus maybe one more left side panel? As far as you know, is there any other hot connections to tap into that sits only in that large hatch panel area so no other trim needs to be removed?

Here is what Priusito said:

"My connections were:

wire 1) 0 V: to rear chasis.

wire 2) + 12 V: to + 12 V head unit ignition. So the camera only works when HU is on. It is logic...who needs the camera on when the hu is off?

wire 3) from +12 backlight to head unit. This one brings the rear view on to the HU display when backwards."
__________________

If you had to do it again and did not want to worry about a manual switch to activate the "anytime" camera view, would you have done anything different? Is pin 29 the only hot reverse option to connect with from the HU or are the any other options closer to the head unit that you are now aware of?

Thank you.

 

I think the only 'hot' connections on the hatch are the wiper motor or the washer pump. The wiper motor is easiest to get to. When you remove the rear hatch panels, you should start with the middle panel. It has a slot on each side. The slot is where you can insert your panel removal tool to pull the panel away. this will unclip the middle panel from the top panel. Do both sides, you can then pop the panel out. The panels overlap so once you have the middle panel out, the others are easier (you just pop them off). The big bottom panel is the worst - lots of studs to pop. One of the Toyota PDFs has some pictures of the panel removal process. For a suitable tool, see this thread. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...int-how-remove-back-door-hatch-main-trim.html

To start, I didn't have the anytime camera, only a backup camera. It was only after some time that I decided an anytime camera could be useful and thought about how to do it. Lucky for me I had an always on camera

The only place I know at the front of the car is pin 29 on that connector. It is also the one referenced by other documents for after market backup camera.

The other place is the reversing light at the back of the car. This is what others have used with a wired installation. They can run a 'reverse' wire with the camera coax down to the head unit.

 

Thanks for these golden nuggets. I sat and thought about where to install the back end transmit/cam equipment and once the outer plastic trim panel came off, it was clear that not getting fancy with the camera mounting was the simplest and wisest thing to do. That mounting area is not waterproof behind the trim piece so I did what you and others suggested and just removed the cover plate for the camera location, widened the plastic clips on the camera and it securely locked into place. It is not going anywhere.

The one thing about the Kiss transmitter pwr/gnd wires is that they are such a tiny gauge wire, it can break if you are not careful assembling everything as you work the cabling. So it is wise to seat some of its own rubber insulation under the grounding nut as a strain relief so it will not shear off the fine copper wire from mishandling or even over time due to fatigue. There are other techniques but I chose to roll with this plan since there was a major gnd point where I secured the transmitter that used a large hex head screw and locknut. Probably a major grounding terminal.

On my 2011, I always leave my parking lights on since they shut off automatically as soon as I turn off the car. Since I was so bent on not removing more trim, I just tapped into the license plate lighting 12vdc wires for the camera power. You can follow it up to one of the main harnesses and I VOM'd the wire so I knew where I could conveniently tap into it. Those switched hot wires (since there are two of them) are yellow and brown (+12vdc) for each license plate light. I also noticed that there are two plastic access panels on the large inside hatch cover so I made sure I mounted the camera transmitter and the RCA connections near one of those panels (the right side) so that if I needed to check or service the transmitter, I could do that from the access port and not have to pull everything back a part.

BTW, the back panel just popped right off starting at the top left corner and pulling down on it with sufficient force to remove the tabs. I only had one that did not come out and I used an old Crutchfield tool used to remove panels to yank that one out and it was unscathed. Everything popped right back in. Also one pain is that rubber drip edge that fits over the top of the outside trim piece; what the cam is mounted to. I just grabbed some duct tape and taped the lip of the rubber up from behind and just secured it to the glass window above it. The trim slipped back in under it and I just peeled the tape off as it fell back onto the trim piece and viola.

So now it is onto the HU installation next weekend. Will let you know how that goes. For those folks wondering about pictures, I felt like there are so many resources out there on this site with pictures galore, it would be a bit redundant. I will say that the posts that really helped were this post, "rear view camera using wireless install", "Prius License LED", "My Ottonavi experience", and Toyota Publications - rear view camera found at http://tinyurl.com/7shf7tl

Will be back soon...

 

That is true.

A good option if you have always on licence plate lights. I don't have them on my gen3.

Good idea. Those access panels are so you can change the licence plate bulb without taking the whole panel off.

Hope it goes well.

 

Well, I could not wait so I started working on this this afternoon. Everything seemed to work functionally except I could not figure out why I was only getting the cam image and no other inputs would respond. I moved the BU cam to an aux input and finally it behaved properly. Looks like even though I should have proper function w/o using the reverse line, it goofs up the Pioneer since it want to see a plus or minus 12vdc signal from what I can tell. I just have to decide how I want to operate this BU cam although I like it on as I am driving down the street and can see things go by or feel like a secret agent tracking "bad guys" lol.

Well, I posted this question elsewhere but my problem is that I mounted the HU with the original radio parts and adapters and the Pioneer sets way too low in the dash so that I cannot get the Toyota trim to fit around it. Not sure how some of the other people did this other than spacers or used the Metra adapter instead? I have the Metra stuff too so that is an option but I am just not sure what I should do to get the proper fittiment. I am kinda ruminating on this now and leaving my mess standing there for now. Anyone have any thoughts or know from experience what works in this case, I'd be grateful to hear from you. I know Aleman did this install with the 4100DVD and it looked great. Wondered how he did it?

Thank you

 

For head unit issues you are best asking on head unit threads. I know there can be a problem with brackets. I have factory look plug and play chinese unit so I don't have mounting problems and no SWC kit. So unable to help with this.

 

Thanks for the support regardless. I think I got the install going in the right direction with the adapter mods suggested by Spiderman.

One thing I wanted to ask was about the switch you added later. I have been driving around with the deck just hanging so I could get a feel for the way the BU system worked. I seemed to get inconsistent operation but I think I have figured out how to operate it to my taste. I tried using pin29 but with my "always on" condition, (which is somewhat unique in its wiring) it did not seem to always activate when specifically placed into reverse; really it is just always on. This deck gives you the option of GND, BATTERY, or Off for the signal type it expects from the reverse wire. At first, I ran it on GND and it would lock up and I had to figure out that this was the wrong setting since I had to do a hard reset of the system to recover it. BATTERY is the right setting. One thing I noticed is that the cam stays on and on and on since it is wired that way. I see the advantage of your switch to turn it off but then I discovered that there is an easy option on the HU that allows me to turn it off from the gui when I don't want it to be active. The other good thing, even if it is on, is that it allows you to continue to listen to music even when viewing the world going by behind you. Anyhow, I will not worry about a manual switch for the time being in my case with this HU.

I will do more experimenting and fiddling with it and see how it really works but I really like this deck. I also really like having the movies play even while traveling so the passengers can enjoy a long ride.

Thanks again for all your advice and I think I am on my way to finish out this project. Will post some pixs when I am done.

 

I have been trying to understand why the camera video does not come up at times and I just get static. If I turn off the ignition (accessory) and back on or maybe have to toggle two or three times, when there is initially just static on the screen the video image will come on. I am not sure if this is a problem with interference, placement of the antennae, or a faulty receiver? Maybe it has a bad gnd connection? Many possibilities but wondered if anyone with the wireless setup has had this problem. Will contact seller to see if they have any input as well.

 

Could be many reasons. Faulty transmitter, faulty receiver, radio signal blocked, head unit fault, etc. You can check the transmitter and receiver for the red power LED and if you have a portable monitor, you can connect the receiver to it to see if there is a video signal.

 

LEDs are always on when powered so I know xmittr/rcvr are showing that they are getting power when ever the car turns on.

Sent a message to Kiss if they will do anything but I plan to do some testing with another camera I was planning to install on the front bumper to see if it works properly. It is a wired connection but I will just run power and the wires to the head unit from outside the car just to see what is up. Figure it is the easiest way to see if it is the HU, Xmitter/receiver, ..., or not.

One thing I wanted to ask is if the transmitter or receiver was pretty warm to touch once turned on? Mine gets very very warm to almost hot when turned on for about 10 minutes. Is this what others are seeing too?

Thanks