nybody know the backup light pin out for an 03?

[mklttdv]

anybody know the backup light pin out for an 03?

Hi everybody, I am trying to tap directly into the wire harness that runs into the tail light provide power for my backup camera. It has 5 wire.

So I turned on my car and put it in reverse... and check it with a multimeter... So I figure out that the red wire is the pos for the backup light. Now... the interesting thing is that the rest of the wire seem to be grounded when the other light are off and seem to be switched on depend on what light is on. So now my concern is that which wire is really the ground for the back up light.

I don't know if I am making any sense but it seem like the whole vehicle is grounded together when it's turn off... and depend on whatever got switch on then that wire become "live" but as soon as it's off the wire seem to be grounded. If anybody can shed any light into this I would really appreciate it.

 

[tarheeltp17]

The reverse light wire is red/yellow to the left of the fuses in a 16 pin plug.

 

[mklttdv]

tarheel, Thanks for the quick reply. I did a search prior on posting this and I saw your answer to the previous post before...

I think my question wasn't very clear... I was talking about the wire harness that going directly to the tail light this harness support the backup/break/signal ... and after I found some interesting reading (that everything is ground together when it's off and become "live" when that component is on) on my multimeter I just want to really understand which wire is really which and how everything is wire together...

Any thought?

 

[tarheeltp17]

you are probably going to have a common ground between all the wires. That is generally how all lights are set up.

To determine this you'll have to engage all your lights 1 at a time and see which one remains ground during all stages.

Also some cars "rest at ground", and when the light is turned on the circuit becomes open...ie neither ground nor positive. This is more common with BMWs and what not more so than a Toyota.

Anyway, the best is to start by finding the common ground or even possibly a common voltage source, and going from there.

 

[mklttdv]

That's what I am thinking too... when everything is off I found that the 5 wire is connected to ground...

Here is how I got my meter set up...

With the wire harness disconnected and everything off.

First I set my meter to check for voltage. I checked the 5 pin against a good ground (the car body) and got 0 voltage across the 5 wire.
I then set the meter to check for continuity... interesting thing I found that the 5 pin and the ground is connected...

Now with the key on and the car in reverse.

I found the meter report 12 v for one of the pin (the red wire) and the car body. Now the interesting thing is that I also got 12 v on the meter when I checked this pin against all the other pin.

Now I turn on the light... and one of the other pin (let call it pin 2) become hot and this pin 2 also report 12 v against the body of the car or against the other pin...