Backup camera (MooJohn, gimme a hand here!)

[jrdnhsnbrg]

I have a double DIN head unit with backup camera capabilities and I want to install one but am not sure the best way to go about it. I want to mount it near the license plate so I can hide the wires and hole behind the plate. MooJohn, how did you go about this? Also, what camera did you get or would suggest?

 

[MooJohn]

I used a cheapo $20 backup camera from ebay with infrared -- it's great. It is mounted just right of center, to the right of the license plate light. The hole for the wiring is directly behind it and is not visible from any angle. I'll try to grab a pic tomorrow.

I removed the whole license plate / reverse light assembly to get better access to everything. The head unit requires a +12v signal to switch camera views so I connected that wire and the camera's power wire to one of the reverse lights. Camera ground also shares the light harness.

I drilled a secondary hole into the trunk lid for the signal wires to pass through. It is 1/2 inch and a single RCA wire barely fits through. It's ok to drill this though because your trunk lid is a composite material that cannot rust. The wiring stays behind the trunk liner panel and it fits easily into the factory wire cover along the right trunk post.

The biggest PITA of the whole job is simply getting the retainer clips off that hold the trunk lid liner in place. After that it's easy going!

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

I used a cheapo $20 backup camera from ebay with infrared -- it's great. It is mounted just right of center, to the right of the license plate light. The hole for the wiring is directly behind it and is not visible from any angle. I'll try to grab a pic tomorrow.

I removed the whole license plate / reverse light assembly to get better access to everything. The head unit requires a +12v signal to switch camera views so I connected that wire and the camera's power wire to one of the reverse lights. Camera ground also shares the light harness.

I drilled a secondary hole into the trunk lid for the signal wires to pass through. It is 1/2 inch and a single RCA wire barely fits through. It's ok to drill this though because your trunk lid is a composite material that cannot rust. The wiring stays behind the trunk liner panel and it fits easily into the factory wire cover along the right trunk post.

The biggest PITA of the whole job is simply getting the retainer clips off that hold the trunk lid liner in place. After that it's easy going!

Ah, yes, I actually removed the retainer clips last weekend to apply some sound deadener to the trunk lid. Thanks for the info!

 

[MooJohn]

Here we go --

Backup camera:

and the resulting picture:

The camera adds the distance marker lines, not the unit. Through testing I found that for my install, the last line = 2 feet from the obstacle, meaning that if an object reaches the bottom of the picture, it'll be touching my bumper.

The camera's night vision works great. Combined with the reverse lights there is illumination as far as I wish to see. The camera has a flat mounting base that provides the 45 degree downward view, and I used 3M trim adhesive tape to hold it in place rather than trust fasteners that can rust later on.