Thanks: 
Likes: 
Updated: Mod No.2: CD70 with Reversing Camera
Ok, after I posted this thread last year...
Mod No.2: CD70 with Reversing Camera
...I've been planning for a long time to do a more permanent install with a better camera. Everyone who's seen it knows the camera I had was mounted on the inside of the car at the top of the rear window, where it was fine during the day but at night the infra-red LED's just reflected off the windscreen. I sort of knew this would happen when i first fitted it, but I was more interested in getting the whole thing working and proving to myself it could actually be done.
I had managed to wire the camera into the factory fit parkign sensors so that I could manually operate the camera jsut by pressing the Park Pilot switch, as shown in the video. I was quite pleased with this, as it worked well and meant I didn't have to put it in to reverse every time someone wanted to see it work...
With a couple of weeks off work, my dad's garage, a load of electrical tooks, heatshrink and numerous cups of tea curtesy of my mumI set to work.
First things first, I ripped the rear bumper off, along with the left side of the interior to get at the wiring which had been simply hidden and put together with terminal blocks.
This is what a Signum looks like with it's ass in bits:
And I also found these on the right hand side. Haven't the foggiest idea what they're for.
The bumper is unbelievably easy to take off, and I set about it with a holesaw. The new camera I had was a round bullet type the same as Danboy has, and mounting it outside would make the camera useful at night instead of just the day. As anyone who's fitted parking sensors to the rear of a Signum will know, you also have to drill in to the crash bar as it sits directly behind the bumper. I didn't see this as a major problem as it comes with 4 massive holes from the factory if you have parking sensors fitted anyway, so one more hole wasn't going to hurt...
I soon came across a problem when getting the camera to work. After much experimentation, it transpired that it needs a full 12V to work, whereas the old one could get away with 8V. The problem this presented was that the parking sensors which I'd taken the feed off for the first camera operate on 8V, which wasn't enough to work the camera. I could hook it in to the reverse light circuit, which is what I eventually did, but it meant I wouldn't be able to operate the camera via the park pilot switch.
My dad, being the way he is, built a small relay which I could have used to operate the camera from any 12V source via the sensor 8V line, but as I'd already sorted out most of the wiring down the back end with heatshrink, proper connections and tie-wraps I decided to leave it as it was. It now only works off the reverse gear, but that's all it needs really.
The result:
The other option I wanted to explore was using the other 2 inputs the interface board comes with. there are 3 in total including the dedicated reverse camera AV input, but the other two are selectable with a lit-up switch. Up till now this has all been hidden behind the dash, but I wanted to add it in somewhere and make it useable tbut still keep it out of sight.
My car came with bluetooth from the factory, but everyone knows the kit that sits between the front seats is pointless and I got a coin tray with slidy cover to replace it. After lots of faffing with wiring, 12V supplies and a huge number of scratches on my hand, this was the result:
It lights up when the ignition is on and you can plug any NTSC AV feed into it, press the button and the screen will switch over to it. There's another AV cable tucked behind the dash which I'm saving for future plans...
Reply With Quote
great write up mate
Originally Posted by lofty
Bookmarks