OEM Camera Connection below Dash

Details on how to connect to the OEM backup camera on a 2009 Tacoma without running wire to the rear view mirror. This method retains the video feed and functionality into the OEM rear view mirror integrated screen.


Intro & Notes (Skip to instructions for just the facts)

I am stubborn and always want to keep it simple. Knowing the OEM wires have got to run closer to the radio than the mirror I refused to run more wire than needed. I pulled most of the headliner, a-pillar, and lower kick panel, and set out to trace the wires down.

Once looking at the wires in the connector at the mirror, it is easy to determine what cable was the video ground because it has exposed wire showing at the connector and looks like electrical tape shielding. Next I followed those wires down the driver a-pillar. From the pillar to the dash they join one of the main wire bundles that going down the firewall. Looking at that I sighed and though about giving up and running my wires up to the mirror. I looked around some more and felt like I stuck gold. With the lower kick panel removed looking left of the fuse box, to see the wire bundle attached to the firewall. The strike of gold was right in front of me attached to the driver side junction box. The same wire that was obviously the video ground due to the exposed wire and tape insulation is attached to the front of the fuse box. Good thing the camera was an obvious an add-on to the wiring system. So I haphazardly set off to test without verifying based just on visuals and it worked. I know my connections are not the best. I am sure pushing the pins in is not the best way to connect it. I wanted something easy and that would keep the factory systems intact as much as possible.


Instructions


Parts

1. Shielded video cable
2. D-SUB connector pins can be substituted with other pin types.
3. Heat Shrink 1” approximately, can be substituted with other insulation.
   

Tools

1. Crimp tool with wire cutter/stripper
2. Heat source for heat shrink
   

*All Parts and tools available at radio shack.


Steps

1. Replace one end of your shielded cable with connector pins. Insulate the pins you crimped onto the end of the cable.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Remove the driver side “coin box” required to access the interior fuse box
   
   
   
3. Run your cable from the radio to the driver side fuse box (junction box).
   
   
   
4. Locate the OEM 4 wire/pin connector attached to the upper left of the driver side junction box (fuse box). Optional, unplug the connector for access.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Insert the pins from the shielded cable you ran into the factory connector. If you unplugged the connector reconnect it once complete.
   1. Connect the center of the shielded cable (V+) into the pin hole with the RED wire on the OEM connector.
   2. Connect the shield or jacket of the shielded cable (V-) into the pin hole with the RED wire on the OEM connector.
      
      
      
      

• All factory connectors for the OEM camera must remain connected. This method uses the factory power source for the camera. Disconnecting the OEM connectors will cut the power feed to the camera.
• The OEM electrical system sends the power to the camera for 2 min after the vehicle has been shift into reverse. If you want to control the camera power for viewing with out shifting into reverse, additional wiring is required to power the camera with the two additional wires in the connector.
• Splicing into the video signal will degrades the video quality. If video quality in a concern a video distribution block is required.
  
  • This is noticeable on my system on the difference between viewing the signal from ONLY one source. Once I have shifted out of reverse and view the signal on my head unit the picture is slightly better but not worth the hassle or cost of a video distribution block.
    * This is an advantage in my vehicle because my HU is slow. I have a Pioneer AVIC F series and it is slow, especially during boot. If I jump in start the engine and start backing up it can take >10 sec. for the HU to display the video.

 

Nice dude!

 

Great write up instruction. Thanks for the sharing.

 

i think i may attach there just to eliminate some length of cable, slight possibility there will be a little less signal loss.

 

Cool, hated the thought of having to mess with the headliner.

I know in the other thread they mention a tap at the review mirror for the reverse signal. Has anyone found that by the fuse box too?

 

Messing around with the volt meter I think I found it! Its the Red Wire in the connector above the camera connector.
Sorry for the hacked picture, no time have to get back to work

 

N/p thanks for the find. I'll add it. Is that just the trigger or is that to also power the camera?

 

Not 100% but I think its same wire the review mirror uses, my radio switches with it now.

 

"Splicing into the video signal will degrades the video quality"

I will be replacing my HU shortly. The new one is capable of displaying the backup camera view. I do not have the backup camera mirror. If I splice as shown above will I also have a degraded picture or does this only apply to two video monitors being used at the same time?

 

along with this guy, if i disconnect the factory mirror will it be better on the head unit? i also have f700BT... might leave mirror hooked up since it is slow as sh!t

 

I soldered mine in and used a heavily shielded RCA cable and honestly can not see any degration on the review mirror.
You can though tell the camera was not designed for a screen with high resolution as you can see it pixelates some on my headunit. If the sun is out its not bad but at night you can really tell but still is very useable.

I have mine attached to a Pioneer f90bt.

 

let's get some pix of the video quality!

 

I just hooked up my Pioneer Z110 today. I used the video connections that Dnahas pointed out in the first post. I also used the Reverse Signal trigger point kmartshopper located and it seems to work fine.

The back-up camera displays on both the rear view mirror and the Z110. Although someone posted that the picture degraded, I think it looks really good on both.

One issue I have, and I don't know if anyone found this too is that I see a faint black horizontal line that scrolls down through the picture. This only occurs when viewing the back-up camera. Not sure what is causing it but it seems like there were a million wires in the install so it may be getting feedback from something. It's only for backing-up so it's not crucial.

 

I'm not sure, but the interference could be caused by a ground loop between the Avic and the camera. Did you use a good quality composite video cable (that originally had yellow RCA plugs on it) rather than an audio cable?

If so, you could try seperating the video cable from the other cables as you suggested. Make sure that the ground/shield connection is good. You could also try running a 16 gage or so wire between the Avic chassis and a good ground point inside the truck. I would think that the Avic should already be well grounded for proper operation & good sound, though, so you might want to look at the quality of the video cable & connections first

The only other thing I can think that might cause this is a vertical sync/frame rate issue between the camera and the Avic. I guess it's possible that the small display in the rearview mirror uses a non-standard vertical sync frequency because of it's size. If that's the case, then I don't think the problem is correctable w/o spending way more than it's worth to fix it.

 

Now that you mention it, the cable came from my neighbor and may not have been a video cable. I can change it out since I have to pull the HU out anyway to change the wiring for the antenna. That's easy enough to do, but if it is the cable, would it affect both the HU and the rearview mirror display?

Could it be just because I'm splitting the signal?

My wife checked it yesterday and said she couldn't see the line (She doesn't care). If it gets to be too much of a headache to isolate, I'll just leave it since it is only for backing-up. Thanks

 

The 2010 looks slightly differendt. Those two harnesses witht he arrows appear to be conntected. Is that a yellow wire next to that red wire that the red arrow is pointing to?

 

Will this work the same way for a 2010 Tacoma with JBL? I just ordered a pioneer z120bt and would like to wire my OEM backup camera into it so it works in both the rear view mirror and on the pioneer display.

Any help is appreciated.

 

It should. I have the z110 and it works fine. Though I didn't have JBL but I don't think it should matter

 

Thanks, did you also tap into the reverse gear signal input or did you just do the mod above and it worked? I am wondering if I need to use this reverse gear signal input wire for anything if I do the above mod.

 

I tried this and for some reason it did not work. Are there different size D Sub pins that I would need? I connected the D subs as noted in the directions above and heat shrunk the ends then just pushed them into the connectors and it did not work. I went into my z120bt and made sure backup camera was set to on.

Any ideas?