Rearview Camera for E53 with OEM Navigation

[Maruzo]

Hi all, does anyone know what this looped white cable is used for from the product photo?

[Crowz]

Originally Posted by Maruzo

Hi all, does anyone know what this looped white cable is used for from the product photo?

On the ones I have bought like that it disables the grid that shows on the screen aka distance lines when you cut it.

It should say what it does in the instructions.

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by Crowz

On the ones I have bought like that it disables the grid that shows on the screen aka distance lines when you cut it.

It should say what it does in the instructions.

Thanks Crowz, that helps a lot!

I'm trying to troubleshoot and figure out where i've gone wrong, or if I simply purchased a defective unit.

The camera is flickering images when i'm on reverse. The nav screen flickers and the backup image can barely be seen through the flickers.

I connected the camera using the following items:

[mr_robot]

Where did you find this? Is this plug and play for the oem mk4 navi?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by mr_robot

Where did you find this? Is this plug and play for the oem mk4 navi?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Here's the ebay link for the camera: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Reverse-Bac...72.m2749.l2649

It should work since it looks almost identical to my first camera, which is also sourced on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Camera-...72.m2749.l2649

The problem is, after connecting it, the screen just flickers like it has received a bad signal. The camera's image can barely be seen through the flickering images, so I know it's connected, but i don't know where i've done wrong!

[wpoll]

I cannot see any power return for the camera power anywhere. The red and black wires (+12v and gnd) for the camera appear to only connect to the camera decoder (whatever that is - a switch?) but there is only a single wire feeding the decoder...

If you get any signal from the camera the power return must be coming from the video cable and this could make for a very unstable picture.

Did the decoder come with the camera or did you buy it separately?

Try connecting the black wire from the camera to a ground screw somewhere and see if the image improves.

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by wpoll

I cannot see any power return for the camera power anywhere. The red and black wires (+12v and gnd) for the camera appear to only connect to the camera decoder (whatever that is - a switch?) but there is only a single wire feeding the decoder...

If you get any signal from the camera the power return must be coming from the video cable and this could make for a very unstable picture.

Did the decoder come with the camera or did you buy it separately?

Try connecting the black wire from the camera to a ground screw somewhere and see if the image improves.

Hi Wpoll,

Camera has a video cable and a power cable. The video cable has an additional wire besides the video feed. The power cable has + and - wire.

The way I wired the first camera was this:

video cable connects between the camera's video out to the cam video in on the av harness I purchased (see picture I posted earlier)

For the power cable, the positive wire is connected to the 12v wires from both sides of the backup light, as well as to the 12v on the switch box. The negative is connected to the negative from the switch box.

That's pretty much it. The camera works but due to a defect on the lens (mostly my doing), the image aren't sharp. So I purchased another thinking the wiring should be the same.

Anyway, that's where I'm at. I'll report back once I re-wire everything one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Maruzo

Hi Wpoll,

Camera has a video cable and a power cable. The video cable has an additional wire besides the video feed. The power cable has + and - wire.

The way I wired the first camera was this:

video cable connects between the camera's video out to the cam video in on the av harness I purchased (see picture I posted earlier)

For the power cable, the positive wire is connected to the 12v wires from both sides of the backup light, as well as to the 12v on the switch box. The negative is connected to the negative from the switch box.

That's pretty much it. The camera works but due to a defect on the lens (mostly my doing), the image aren't sharp. So I purchased another thinking the wiring should be the same.

Anyway, that's where I'm at. I'll report back once I re-wire everything one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything.

The polarity of the wires on the reversing lights matters...

If you have connected to the left reversing light, then the red wire from the camera AND the red wire from the decoder need to connect to the White/Yellow wire on the reversing lamp. The black wire from the camera AND the black wire from the decoder need to connect to the Brown wire on the reversing lamp.

If you have connected to the right reversing light, then the red wire from the camera AND the red wire from the decoder need to connect to the Blue/Yellow wire on the reversing lamp. The black wire from the camera AND the black wire from the decoder need to connect tot the Brown wire on the reversing lamp.

Should work fine with a connection the either reversing lamp - just pick one. Or you could power the camera off one lamp and the decoder off the other, just to split the electrical load up.

[Maruzo]

Originally Posted by wpoll

The polarity of the wires on the reversing lights matters...

If you have connected to the left reversing light, then the red wire from the camera AND the red wire from the decoder need to connect to the White/Yellow wire on the reversing lamp. The black wire from the camera AND the black wire from the decoder need to connect to the Brown wire on the reversing lamp.

If you have connected to the right reversing light, then the red wire from the camera AND the red wire from the decoder need to connect to the Blue/Yellow wire on the reversing lamp. The black wire from the camera AND the black wire from the decoder need to connect tot the Brown wire on the reversing lamp.

Should work fine with a connection the either reversing lamp - just pick one. Or you could power the camera off one lamp and the decoder off the other, just to split the electrical load up.

Hi wpoll,

Thank you for your instructions. I finally got it wired correctly. Or correctly in my case.

I have to wire both left and right backup light + to the 12v wire from the camera and also from the switch box.

What I did wrong was connecting the - wire from the switch box directly to the - wire from the camera power cable.

I sourced a fresh - from an exposed bolt on the bottom of the trunk and wired it to the - from the switch box and - from the power cable.

Once I did this the image came on instantly.

The only thing now is I do not have the parking lines. Do I need to cut the looped white wire built in on the camera cable?

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Maruzo

...

The only thing now is I do not have the parking lines. Do I need to cut the looped white wire built in on the camera cable?

Not sure on your camera - cut it and see! You can always twist it back together if it does something else.

Glad it's going, btw...