Well I installed my rear view camera conversion today. My initial idea was to install it where I removed the rear wiper but this was not going to work as the angle of the rear window is to the sky so the camera would be useless. I then had a look at doing it the through the rear roundel but the problem I found with this method was, the need for drilling the vehicles bodywork behind the roundel is require. This can also be complicated as you have to drill out the roundel support which is screwed to the body, so a new method of reattaching the support would be needed. Not only that but behind the bodywork is the mechanism for opening the rear hatch so again depending on the camera you choose the roundel method is not straight forward and may not work as the depth on the camera you choose plays a big part!
I then decided that I wanted to attach the camera in such a way that nothing would be damaged that can’t be replaced easily. So I choose to attach the camera to the tow hitch cover! The cover is easy to access, not expensive and easy to replace. Wiring the camera was also very easy to do at this point as when you remove the tow hitch cover there is a rubber grommet attached to the main bodywork up behind the bumper. One the grommet is removed it allows you to feed the wires into the spare wheel well so finding a power source and plugging the camera in is quite simple form there. I wired the camera in to the power source for my DVD player, I also plugged the camera video cable into the auxiliary “IN” video feed, on the DVD player. So once I turn the X5 on I can access the camera quite simply by pressing a button on my DVD remote control and I can switch back to DVD also at any point.
Here are some pics, there will be more to follow!!
REAR TOW HITCH COVER WITH CAMERA INSTALLED
TOW HITCH SECTION WITH WIRES FROM CAMERA RUNNING INSIDE
UP INSIDE TOW HITCH AREA RUBBER GROMMET REMOVED WIRES RUNNING INTO SPARE WHEEL WELL
PIC OF REMOVED GROMMET
PIC OF GROMMET REMOVED AND WIRES RUNNING THROUGH IT
INSIDE VIEW OF GROMMET FITTED AGAIN AND WIRES COMING INTO SPARE WHEEL WELL
