Aftermarket Nav - Where to tap reverse light signal? And my installation experience.
02-14-10, 09:59 PM
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Aftermarket Nav - Where to tap reverse light signal? And my installation experience.
I have installed an Eclispe AVN726E in dash navigation system in my 2004 RX 300 and am very happy with it. The only thing I have left to do is tap a wire to trigger the back-up camera function. Eclipse says to get it at the taillight but I suspect there has to be an easier way than pulling up all the carpeting and floors in the cargo area to get at it.
I did not see any obvious wires when I pulled the shift gate off. What looks to be easiest is to tap the signal wire that tells the side mirrors to tilt down when in reverse. Accordingly, I need to know what color the wire is. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I did the whole installation myself. It took about 7 hours but well worth it. The components I used were:
Eclipse AVN726E (full screen and very easy to use, fast to start, fast to recalculate route, cool 3D rendering of buildings)
Facia and integration module from Beatsonicusa.com
PAC SWI-ECL2 steering wheel control interface
Eclipse BEC108 camera
Eclipse iPC-709 iPod A/V connector
I ran the wire for the camera through the license plate lamp opening, carving a notch with a knife, and ran the satellite antenna out the hole in the roof where the regular antenna comes out, cutting a notch in the gasket underneath the stock antenna body.
To get enough room to run the camera wires it was necessary to loosen (but not remove) the exterior plastic trim piece above the license plate. There are four 10 mm nuts that can be accessed through holes for that purpose once the trunk panels have all been yanked off. If I had a dremmel tool I would have cut a square out of the the exterior plastic trim piece to mount the camera to the metal body of the car rather than simply sticking it to the plastic (this is how Lexus did it).
As for the antenna, I believe the proper wrench to pull the base off the roof from below is either 23 or 24 mm. Because the wire runs through the nut, it must be open-ended. Having the correct wrench (rather than an adjustable wrench) made it much easier given the small space in there.
I was able to use a coat hanger to fish the camera and antenna wires forward along the passenger side headliner (behind all the airbags). The headliner proved to be more flexible than I expected. An extra person with a flashlight was essential to effectively fish through up there. Once I got to the A-Column, I pulled the cover off as far as it would go and snipped the single plastic retainer with wire cutters to remove it completely and then zip-tied the wire behind the airbag. Unfortunately if that airbag detonates the cover will probably fly off now but it was impossible to fish back there without snipping. Once to the bottom of the A pillar I released the glove box (just the rotating pegs, one on each side) and was able to drop the wires down into sight by taping a weight to them and looking with a flashlight. I pulled those wires across to the stereo area and hooked them up.
I ran the iPod connector from the back of the stereo into the glove box, just hanging the wire over the back edge of the compartment. I gives a little resistance when closing and it should probably be sent through a drilled hole instead of what I did.
The stereo is a pain to pull because the bolts are hard to find but beatsonicusa had good instructions for how to do this. Pulling the panels was a little nerve wracking but I only broke 2 clips in the process, on the trim surrounding the rear hatch window, and that was on reinstallation. It is important to make sure they are all lined up with their receiving holes before smacking the panel back into place.
The one problem I had with the fascia was the spacers that are supposed to go left and right of the screen. The tabs on the spacers didn't bolt where they were supposed to and didn't fit right. I cut the tabs off and superglued them to the inside of the silver fascia instead.
Finally, the steering wheel integration was a pain because of the resistors which you need to calculate by color (they come in the kit and the instructions are decent, minus the color coding) and all the wires were a little overwhelming, but the controls are now fully functional and I definitely appreciate having them. The whole thing looks and feels pretty stock. I did not get satellite radio module because it would have required an additional antenna in my set up (and I was sick of running wires).
I did not see any obvious wires when I pulled the shift gate off. What looks to be easiest is to tap the signal wire that tells the side mirrors to tilt down when in reverse. Accordingly, I need to know what color the wire is. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I did the whole installation myself. It took about 7 hours but well worth it. The components I used were:
Eclipse AVN726E (full screen and very easy to use, fast to start, fast to recalculate route, cool 3D rendering of buildings)
Facia and integration module from Beatsonicusa.com
PAC SWI-ECL2 steering wheel control interface
Eclipse BEC108 camera
Eclipse iPC-709 iPod A/V connector
I ran the wire for the camera through the license plate lamp opening, carving a notch with a knife, and ran the satellite antenna out the hole in the roof where the regular antenna comes out, cutting a notch in the gasket underneath the stock antenna body.
To get enough room to run the camera wires it was necessary to loosen (but not remove) the exterior plastic trim piece above the license plate. There are four 10 mm nuts that can be accessed through holes for that purpose once the trunk panels have all been yanked off. If I had a dremmel tool I would have cut a square out of the the exterior plastic trim piece to mount the camera to the metal body of the car rather than simply sticking it to the plastic (this is how Lexus did it).
As for the antenna, I believe the proper wrench to pull the base off the roof from below is either 23 or 24 mm. Because the wire runs through the nut, it must be open-ended. Having the correct wrench (rather than an adjustable wrench) made it much easier given the small space in there.
I was able to use a coat hanger to fish the camera and antenna wires forward along the passenger side headliner (behind all the airbags). The headliner proved to be more flexible than I expected. An extra person with a flashlight was essential to effectively fish through up there. Once I got to the A-Column, I pulled the cover off as far as it would go and snipped the single plastic retainer with wire cutters to remove it completely and then zip-tied the wire behind the airbag. Unfortunately if that airbag detonates the cover will probably fly off now but it was impossible to fish back there without snipping. Once to the bottom of the A pillar I released the glove box (just the rotating pegs, one on each side) and was able to drop the wires down into sight by taping a weight to them and looking with a flashlight. I pulled those wires across to the stereo area and hooked them up.
I ran the iPod connector from the back of the stereo into the glove box, just hanging the wire over the back edge of the compartment. I gives a little resistance when closing and it should probably be sent through a drilled hole instead of what I did.
The stereo is a pain to pull because the bolts are hard to find but beatsonicusa had good instructions for how to do this. Pulling the panels was a little nerve wracking but I only broke 2 clips in the process, on the trim surrounding the rear hatch window, and that was on reinstallation. It is important to make sure they are all lined up with their receiving holes before smacking the panel back into place.
The one problem I had with the fascia was the spacers that are supposed to go left and right of the screen. The tabs on the spacers didn't bolt where they were supposed to and didn't fit right. I cut the tabs off and superglued them to the inside of the silver fascia instead.
Finally, the steering wheel integration was a pain because of the resistors which you need to calculate by color (they come in the kit and the instructions are decent, minus the color coding) and all the wires were a little overwhelming, but the controls are now fully functional and I definitely appreciate having them. The whole thing looks and feels pretty stock. I did not get satellite radio module because it would have required an additional antenna in my set up (and I was sick of running wires).
02-14-10, 11:00 PM
#2
Lexus Test Driver
Left side kick panel:
20 pin Gray connector---Red wire is for your reverse lights.
There a 2 Gray connectors there. One is a 20 pin and one is a 16 pin.
*Note* Green wire on other side of connector then Red wire going towards the reverse lights.
Good job by the way.
20 pin Gray connector---Red wire is for your reverse lights.
There a 2 Gray connectors there. One is a 20 pin and one is a 16 pin.
*Note* Green wire on other side of connector then Red wire going towards the reverse lights.
Good job by the way.
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02-22-10, 03:53 PM
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I'm guessing it would have taken a pro about half the time it took me, if that's any help.
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