How do I access the X5's reverse light circuit and ground wire?
 

I'm looking to install a VR3 Wireless Rear View Camera on my X5, but it requires me to connect the camera to the car’s reverse light circuit and ground wire.

Can anyone guide me on how to access these wires?

It has been a while since I've looked in that area but as I recall, you need to remove the inner panel on the lower tailgate. Pop out the middle piece carefully and unscrew the other piece. You should be able to locate a brown wire, which I think is the reverse light wire. (As I said, it's been a while.)

I'm guessing that you want to tap into the reverse lights so that your reverse camera will know when to be activated. That brown wire, or whatever color it actually is, should do it.

Good luck!

hmm...
i always the reverse light was part of the side lamps, not on the tailgate one...

try this post - http://www.xoutpost.com/38007-post4.html

Thx UcrewX5, but this assumes that he has a TV module or Nav, but what if he doesn't ? or in my case, I don't, so which wire do you tap into? what is the purpose of the relay in the referenced article? Thx much

wow, that's a lot of wires...

all i need to know is where the ground wire and the reverse wires are

I tried to install a VR3 camera in my x5 about a month ago. I had it completely installed and when I went to try it I found that the transmitter and receiver where to weak and the image was unusable. The wireless system also affected my vehicles Bluetooth system. I would recommend a hardwire backup camera since the VR3 was a disappointment. I eventual discovered pin 17 on the video module and tapped a hardwire backup camera into the RCA camera input. I also did the camera on demand trick by running a wire and installing a switch up front to ground out pin 17. If you don't have the nav or the video module. Your best bet is a hardwired camera and monitor system off eBay. Just trying to save you some time. If you get the VR3 to work then I would love to see pictures.

Good luck

i have the same camera installed on a ford expedition, which is quite a bit larger than a x5, and it works flawlessly... image is actually quite clear
i also do not use bluetooth...

WRONG connections
 

I had already informed admin amd King a while ago that King's article was misleading and could create a short circuit on the X5s electrics.Although he changed it ,its still wrong!

Both the Yellow/ white and the purple/ white connections are positive(+) going into pins 85 and 86 on the relay!There is no GROUND(-) GOING to the relay ,so how does the camera work?

He should have a brown wire(-) going to pin 85 and the Yellow/white (+) to
pin 86 .The purple/white wire should not be used at all!!!!
Both the brown wire and the yellow/white wire are on the plug connecting to your reversing light.

Forget the article here!I have installed dozens of rear cams on my own X5 and customers cars and its straight forward!Well,its simple because of the cummulative advice I was kindly given here by Drex,Jeff,Kevin and a few others...

I Assume you dont have a Video module!The wires you need are the BROWN(-) and the YELLOW/WHITE(+) and you will find these on the wiring harness going to the liftgate and the reversing lights .

wait, so i will be able to find these wires (brown, and white/yellow) in the tailgate?

and just to make sure - http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9250/reversebf9.jpg

The reverse light is 3?


edit: i think thats what PersonaNonGrata said too, so I take it that this is correct?

The reversing light is 3.

You dont need to remove the rear lights to access the wires,

PNG referred to a Brown wire but this is NOT the reversing light wire!This is Common ground wire(Negative -12v).Its the Yellow/white that is the reversing lght +12v wire.

Check out my picture of where to more conveniently find these wires

hey, i was wondering if there is someway to connect it to the parking sensor wire, so that way i would have complete control over it (i would be able to turn it on/off with the button), while still automatically turning on when backing up

2 Questions
 

I'm in the same boat - I want to install the same wireless rearview camera but I still have 2 questions after reading this thread:

1) Can someone explain step by step how to remove the panels in the tailgate to get to the wires.

2) How do I get the wires to the outside of the car where the camera will sit on top of the license plate - are there existing holes I can thread through or do I have to run the wire over the tailgate (which would look bad) - I don't want to drill a hole.

Thanks.

Correct. Powers1 is giving you good info. Pins 85+87 connect to reverse-light-ground (brown) and cam ground. I just crimped two wires together for this and connected them to the 2 grounds. Pin 86 connects to reverse-light positive (yellow/white) and cam positive.

Here's more that may help cam install 1 cam install 2

You can do it ;)

Try the second link in my above post for details on a license plate install.

Thanks ncx

I installed the VR-3 rearview camera today and quickly returned it.

Installation was fine thanks to instructions provided in this thread.

Putting the car in reverse with the engine OFF (key in position II), the picture screen was perfect.

As soon as I started the engine, the signal had so much interference. There was so many lines running through the screen that it became unusable. I don't have bluetooth or anything obvious in the car to interfere with it. I tried moving the screen to the rear power outlet closer to the camera and it made no difference. I even tried connecting the screen in a second car parked beside the x5 but once the x5 engine was started, the picture went bad. The connections were solid so that wasn't the issue.

Sherali

What relay are you using? Check with Powers1, Wuzin, or SeattleYates who ran into that issue. Here was one of the threads about it. LINK

Very sorry to hear this did not work out for you. If you decide to give it another try later, maybe you can find someone on X5world that lives near you to lend a helping hand with the wiring.

2004 X5 4.8is
Don't know how anyone got it to work this way. When I hooked it up (OEM TV module) the screen flickered between 1 and 2 seconds when in reverse. The image was there and you could see it, but it was very very annoying. The problem was the PWM coming from the reverse lights. I figured out a way to hook it up using 2 relays as follows:

Relay 1:

86: Tail light +
Relay 2

85: Join to pos. 87 and Tail light ground

30: Pin 17 at the TV module blue connector

Relay 2:

86: Cam ground
ground (used radio conenctor brown wire pin 12)

87: 12v acc. (used radio connector violet/white pin 16)

85: -> to relay 1 86

30: Cam +

That seems to have eliminated the flicker. Hope this helps others in the same predicament.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...51d6ddd0_b.jpg61836247919__99AF22E3-D59A-4AA6-A2FA-C14E466DC417 by Al, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e59b0789_b.jpgqClBLDN7Rwym2OgpaKUHig by Al, on Flickr

Is it not possible to connect the camera positive to reverse light positive and the camera ground to a ground? If so, which wires are they and where are they located??

It is not possible because the light control module uses pulse width modulation for the reverse lights. You have a few options, use a relay in combination with the camera positive, use a canbus interface with a new head unit, or grab a signal off the PDC module using a micro relay.

amancuso covered it in his post.

I can do that. I installed my stereo following your exact directions btw. I have two questions, where and what color are the tail light positive and ground wires amancuso refers to in his post?

They run in the lift gate so you'll have to trace them where they enter the truck and make their way to the light control module or grab them inside the lift gate. Left side reverse light + = white/yellow and Right side reverse light + = blue/yellow.

Forgive me for my ignorance but I’m not finding said wires. Are we talking inside the truck under the headliner or under the plastic covering on the lift gate itself?

Nevermind I found them!

Next question. I don’t have a tv module. I’m trying to hook the camera up to my Avin Avant 4. The instructions in amancuso’s post mention wiring it to the tv module. Where should I wire the relay if I don’t have a tv module?

If you have an Avin 4 it will take care of powering the reverse camera AND doing the switching for you on the canbus. No need to access the reverse light wiring. Wires should be labeled. Cam+ or rev +, I forget which.

I swear I’m not an idiot but if it weren’t for you Crystalworks, I would probably hate this x5 by now. Thanks for always being such an impossibility huge help. If you’re ever in Atlanta the beers on me!

Hey in my '05 E53, a previous owner wired in a reverse camera to one of the reverse lights. It works, but every 3rd or 4th back-up, I get a warning that says "Check back up lights".

If I did it, I would get the signal from the CAN BUS or reverse switch or other..These cars don't like wiring things into the lights for the reasons mentioned above.