Fitting a reversing camera

[mitchelln]

Hi.

I'm looking to fit a reversing camera as the rock and roll bed obliterates my rearward view. My tin top is fitted with a rear wiper motor, but a previous owner had the wiper arm removed and an odd resin golf ball bonded over the shaft (I assume for safety or MOT reasons).

So my idea is to remove the wiper motor completely (just dead weight!) and use the hole to mount a reversing camera hooked up to my Pioneer head unit.

Is it easy to remove the rear door card so I can get at the motor? Any tips appreciated!

Also, is there any "always on" power available in the rear door? I could power the camera from the reversing light circuit as is generally normal, but it might be useful to use the camera as a rear view as well, not just when reversing.

Planning to use one of the wireless systems to get the signal back to my head unit. Anyone had experience with these?

Here's the kit I'm planning to fit:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01NCRWBJK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M2Z9MIH

Thanks!

[g8dhe]

The feed to the rear wiper motor is always on with the Ignition switch White/Violet wire;

[mitchelln]

Brilliant. Thanks for that Geoff. Very helpful.

[mitchelln]

Okay, phase 1 complete!

Rear door card gingerly removed. Wiper motor unit removed. Bye bye ugly epoxy golf balled wiper spindle (I had to Dremel off the epoxy ball).
Camera mounted in spindle hole. Wireless transmitter wired to camera and powered off wiper motor white/violet. All sitting inside nicely hidden away in the door panel. No dodgy threading of wires out of the door required I must confess I cut the weather sheet and have taped it with Gorilla tape. Didn't want to deal with that notoriously gunky black sealant

Hooked up wireless receiver to a battery and portable monitor to check. Switch on ignition - nothing. Hmmm. Relieved I hadn't been super confident and re-fitted door card and taped up the sheet yet!

Think about wiring receiver properly using piggy back fuse holder (thanks for the tip Geoff!). Open fuse box and scan which fuse to use. Notice rear wiper holder has no fuse. Aha! Obviously removed when wiper arm taken off! So transmitter and camera getting no power. Fit piggy back fuse holder and 2 fuses, connect receiver - rear view display in glorious technicolor with pretty good FOV. Feeling chuffed

So phase 2 next to plumb it into the Pioneer head unit. I'm going to fit a DPST switch to allow me to either power the wireless receiver on reverse (I think there is a pin on the radio harness for this?, or I'll hook into the beeper) or "on when desired" via fuse piggyback. I believe the Pioneer will auto switch to the rear view input upon detection of signal.

I'll post some pics when I've got it all finished off.

Also fitted the Nasa BM1 Compact Battery Monitor today. TM4 and coolant alarm planned for the weekend!

[mitchelln]

It occurred to me that as I'm using a wireless system the camera and transmitter are always on if just wired to the ignition power. Not only is it a potential source of interference, I'm also broadcasting a rear view from the vehicle at all times. Probably not a good idea these days!

So I've done a rather obvious mod seeing as I'm using the rear wiper power. The camera and transmitter are now wired via the rear wiper stalk switch, so I can now turn them off easily. Good re-use of the redundant stalk switch as well!

Just got to plumb in the head unit now.

[mitchelln]

All finished off

I had to swap to a different camera. The first one I chose had no way to change the angle, so was not pointing down enough. It was also had an 18mm barrel, which meant I had to shim it to fit the 28mm wiper hole. Was not very pretty!

The new camera has a 28mm barrel and some clever collars that allow you to introduce an angle. So I've got it pointing down slightly. Less sky, more road!
Came with absolutely no instructions mind you and why can't these people put an up arrow on these things?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01CSB9VDA

The trickiest bit has been weather proofing it. These cameras all seem to come with scary drill bits to cut big holes, but no gaskets to seal them off. Finding suitable items has proven to be a challenge. Ended up with a round washer on the outside and a nice big rubber gasket designed for a domestic waste pipe on the inside. Combined they manage to block off the key cut-out at the top of the wiper spindle hole. It all survived the heavens opening yesterday with no leaks.

So, all working now. Display comes on when in reverse and I can override by using the stalk rear wiper switch. Here are some pics!

Horrible old rear wiper botch:


New camera:


Head unit display: