backup camera

[johnnydarko]

Hi I am looking to hard wire a back up camera and the instructions are very scarce.
Instructions are:
Monitor: connect the black wire to 12v negative....is this the earth?
Connect red to 12v positive. ....is this the cigarette lighter, or any fuse?
Blue to reversing wire....not sure of location, guessing near the gear stick?

For camera: connect to the reversing light 12v+/- .......do I splice the red wire from camera to reversing light?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
Johnny

[Black Lotus]

12V- is the ground of the system (earth).
12V positive could be any 12 volt powered circuit, but I'd make it a 12V that is switched on when the ignition or key is turned to the "on" position.
Reversing light, find any 12V wire that is powered up when your backup lights are on.
A shop manual for your car, with a wiring schematic will speed things up a bit.
A cheap volt meter would be helpful too.

[shorod]

The instructions are probably written the way they are because it's not 100% guaranteed that all installations will be on a car with a common ground. Typically though, the car will use a common ground so the black wire would be connected to a grounded metal point near the device (monitor). The positive wire would connect to a fused power source such as the hot wire to the accessory socket (aka cigarette lighter) or fused side of a fuse at the fuse block. The blue wire would connect to a wire that is active (aka hot) when the gear selector is in Reverse. This may be available at the gear selector (depends on the vehicle), it may be available at the Engine Control Module, or you may need to find the circuit that powers the reverse lights in the rear of the vehicle. I trust there is also a Video In connector that will mate with the video out of the camera, probably a yellow RCA style connection.

At the camera there are probably 3 connections required - power, ground, and Video Out. The ground would go to a common ground near the camera and the power wire would connect to a circuit that is hot when the gear selector is in Reverse. At the rear of the car, the closest place to find this wire might be at the taillights or the wiring to the taillights.

And, to be quite honest, based on your questions, you may want to seek out a professional that can confirm the wires are correct and make secure connections appropriate to the environment they may be exposed to (soldered and protected with adhesive-lined shrink sleeving or self-fusing silicone tape). If done wrong the results could be as simple as a backup camera that does not work to as severe as a fire.

-Rod

[johnnydarko]

Originally Posted by Black Lotus

12V- is the ground of the system (earth).
12V positive could be any 12 volt powered circuit, but I'd make it a 12V that is switched on when the ignition or key is turned to the "on" position.
Reversing light, find any 12V wire that is powered up when your backup lights are on.
A shop manual for your car, with a wiring schematic will speed things up a bit.
A cheap volt meter would be helpful too.

Many thanks to you two has been helpful!
J