Backup camera install question

dustxking

New member
Just installed my new pioneer avh4201nex. Now I am doing the backup camera with it, question I have is which wire should I tap it into to? I am looking for constant power. Which wire would be the best? Anyone out there done a backup camera? I just want to select the correct wire.

I understand doing the reverse tailight is probably the easiest but I want constant power so it can be turned on whenever.
 
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Just installed my new pioneer avh4201nex. Now I am doing the backup camera with it, question I have is which wire should I tap it into to? I am looking for constant power. Which wire would be the best? Anyone out there done a backup camera? I just want to select the correct wire.

I understand doing the reverse tailight is probably the easiest but I want constant power so it can be turned on whenever.

Run a T tap into your deck power wire and hook it up through that. Then run a purple wire from what I believe is a purple wire from the deck and T tap it into your reverse light wire. I did this and ran all the wires for my camera down the drivers side
 
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Instead of hooking up to back up light. Run that wire to a fused switch on dash. Tap into acc. Fuse for power. Switch on. ..cam on switch off cam off. Good luck.
 
Instead of hooking up to back up light. Run that wire to a fused switch on dash. Tap into acc. Fuse for power. Switch on. ..cam on switch off cam off. Good luck.

I'm about to hook up my backup camera soon as well but if I only want the camera to turn on in reserve where do I find the wire that activates the reserve lights?
 
Instead of hooking up to back up light. Run that wire to a fused switch on dash. Tap into acc. Fuse for power. Switch on. ..cam on switch off cam off. Good luck.

If you want your back up camera to turn on when you back up..... you would tap into your back up light wire like I stated above. The Pioneer deck has an option to press the camera icon in the drop down menu for camera on whenever.
 
If you want your back up camera to turn on when you back up..... you would tap into your back up light wire like I stated above. The Pioneer deck has an option to press the camera icon in the drop down menu for camera on whenever.

I don't know anything about the pioneer deck. The last part of his question, asks for constant power. I tried to answer. Why are you busting my lug nuts?
 
I don't know anything about the pioneer deck. The last part of his question, asks for constant power. I tried to answer. Why are you busting my lug nuts?

Constant power would be when your vehicle is on. Which T tapping into you power from the deck would do. I wasn't trying to bust your balls. I just did this exact same installation a few weeks ago on a pioneer AVH-4100nex which is the deck right before his deck. It was surprisingly simple to hook up. The biggest pain in the ass was running the wires
 
Backup camera

I got a $20 rear license plate mount camera from Amazon. Pretty sure it is a Pyle brand one. It works decent, was able to aim in properly and the guidelines aren’t awful. I cut the reverse wire on the driver’s side, and soldered in a patch cable. Connected the patch cable to the positive lead on the backup cam, the jumper wire for changing the input on the NEX, and another jumper wire to hook back in to the factory reverse wire for the light. Heat shrink wrapped everything, and it has been working great. Just my two cents.
 
For the reverse wire that goes to the deck, I used the red/yellow stripe wire that runs from the junction block to the reverse lamp. When you pull up the kick pa el by the drivers left foot there is a large cam lock connector and the wire is easily accessible on the top of it.

I just used my volt meter to verify it switched power when shifting to reverse.
 
I believe that's the same one I used, you can always crimp the wire back together if its the wrong one.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
OP mentioned constant power to the camera. Not all cameras are 100% duty cycle. Meaning not designed to run all the time.
 
Couple of things. As 503 mentions Pioneer decks have the option of turning the camera on while in drive or whenever. It comes in handy, especially if you are moving stuff and can't see your trailer very well.

It's a PITA, but you can run the wires up to the top of the rear hatch and out through the factory grommet/sleeve. The RCA connectors can be shaved smooth with an exacto and some dish soap really helps get them through. Be very careful tugging on the middle prong of these cheap chinese RCA connectors, they fall apart easily.

One of the best spots is in the tag trim piece opposite of the key slot. Looks symmetrical and OEM.

When you go to replace the camera, it should be as easy as removing the back trim and quickly swapping out just the camera.
 
I have a pioneer and I have the camera to install it and unless I'm missing something, why can't the 12V power be wired into something that's just always on like the car's main power wire? I want the ability to use it without reverse also and my deck has a camera button. I like the idea of the fused switch idea listed above but why a switch? Is it bad to just have it always being on?
 
I have a pioneer and I have the camera to install it and unless I'm missing something, why can't the 12V power be wired into something that's just always on like the car's main power wire? I want the ability to use it without reverse also and my deck has a camera button. I like the idea of the fused switch idea listed above but why a switch? Is it bad to just have it always being on?
You can do that no problem. You will still want to hook up the reverse light power to the reverse camera trigger (which is then separate from camera power which should be any switched power). That's how I have mine setup - both front and rear cameras are available anytime the radio is on.

-Charlie
 
you lost me on that. the camera has an RCA for the head unit and a black/white power wire plug/wire pair. I was thinking that since I have to run the RCA all the way to the head unit, and it's powered by the ignition, why not run that power cable (red i assume) to the head unit's power cable? it would be on whenever the head units on. Black i assume would be to the cars negative or ground.

i don't know what you mean by trigger wire
 
I don't know what the typical life of the camera is, but having it on all the time will certainly make it shorter.

Use a diode so that you can have two inputs (reverse signal or brake lights, power from head unit whenever you want your rear camera on) to keep the input signals separated from each other. Otherwise, when you're driving along and you decide to view your camera to see what's behind you, you'll activate your reverse lights as your moving forward. Will confuse other drivers on the road.

Diode: Amazon.com

Attached is a wiring diagram I made up when I wired my backup camera. My particular head unit didn't have the option to turn on rear camera on demand, but did have a front camera on demand option. I used a splitter so that my rear camera fed both the front and rear camera ports on my head unit.

Backup Camera Diagram.jpg
 

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you lost me on that. the camera has an RCA for the head unit and a black/white power wire plug/wire pair. I was thinking that since I have to run the RCA all the way to the head unit, and it's powered by the ignition, why not run that power cable (red i assume) to the head unit's power cable? it would be on whenever the head units on. Black i assume would be to the cars negative or ground.

i don't know what you mean by trigger wire
The head unit will have a trigger wire that lets it know the vehicle is in reverse. Camera has power/ground/RCA. Head unit has RCA and trigger wire. Connect the camera to switched power (that is on with the vehicle) and connect the head unit trigger wire to reverse lights to automatically switch to the rear camera signal when in reverse.

-Charlie
 
i think i understand. the trigger will kick on when in reverse. but when driving forward, i can manually tough the Pioneer's camera button to view as well. No need a special thing like a diode for that?
 

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