Rear view camera trigger wire?

[same_me]

I'm about to install a rear view camera and Clarion in dash I received for Christmas and was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction to find a wire to trigger the radio to switch to camera. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Ironhead]

I always thought that when you shifted into reverse, the voltage in the back up light circuit powered the camera up, and that automatically switches the display to camera. I understand that some of them are wireless, but I've never seen for myself.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Do you have trailer wiring? It's the purple wire on a 7 pin terminal, otherwise you can get it at the neutral safety switch.

 

[poncho62]

I connected mine to the backup light at rear of truck. Comes on when you put it in reverse

 

[same_me]

Getting the camera itself to come on won't be a problem. The head unit has a wire on the back of it that needs power to it when in reverse so that it knows to switch the display over to camera. I've been told it's a green wire in the steering column but I don't know that for sure.

 

[RichLo]

you could just wire up a relay to the taillight circuit like others have already said. There probably is something in the dash that you can wire to but the the reverse lights are probably going to be easier then finding a wire in the dash or steering column

 

[BoxerPitMix]

Getting the camera itself to come on won't be a problem. The head unit has a wire on the back of it that needs power to it when in reverse so that it knows to switch the display over to camera. I've been told it's a green wire in the steering column but I don't know that for sure.

I may be completely wrong about this, but I believe the reverse switch is at the bottom of the column with 3 wires coming out. The green one should show 12v+ when the truck is in reverse.
Or, you could tap into a power inside the cab and just put a toggle switch on it so you can turn your reverse camera on whenever you want.

 

[dannymcd]

The 2 backup cameras that I've installed had a signal wire built into the A/V cable, I spliced it into the positive line on the rear backup light on the one side and the head unit on the other side. works like a charm and less intrusive than trying to find the right wire up on the steering column. the head unit and backup cam are pretty high on my list of things for next year, and I might look at patching into the towing wiring harness because of the camera design i'll have to use, the 2 that i did replaced the license plate light and all the wiring was neatly tucked away inside the trunk of the cars ('12 WRX/'14 elantra)

 

[same_me]

The 2 backup cameras that I've installed had a signal wire built into the A/V cable, I spliced it into the positive line on the rear backup light on the one side and the head unit on the other side. works like a charm and less intrusive than trying to find the right wire up on the steering column. the head unit and backup cam are pretty high on my list of things for next year, and I might look at patching into the towing wiring harness because of the camera design i'll have to use, the 2 that i did replaced the license plate light and all the wiring was neatly tucked away inside the trunk of the cars ('12 WRX/'14 elantra)

I just checked mine. The video cable does not have an extra wire to give a trigger to the head unit. That would have been nice. I guess I could run one with the video cable but was wanting to get my trigger wire from the dash somewhere. May end up easier to just run a wire with the video cable.

 

[mattillac]

The auto dimming inside rear view mirror feature required a reverse light wire.

Maybe check the convenience center(under driver side dash)for the mirror wiring/connecton.

That may be a flat 7 pin connector(ACDELCO PT1242), should start off with Yellow(or pink), Black, Light Green etc(The Light Green could just be a B/U light wire).