Originally Posted by t2d2

The new head unit arrived yesterday. It's one of those that has a +12V wire for the backup camera, in addition to the RCA video input. The manual doesn't specify anything about that, but looking at info on other such setups, it must require the reverse signal to tell it to switch over to camera display, rather than doing it purely by the presence of a video signal.

Do SCs have anything up front that can be tapped into easily for a reverse signal, or will I need to run a wire up from the tails? I imagine there's something under the steering column, and possibly the A/T shifter indicators, although that seems to be a fairly sealed display unit.

I haven't found any cameras with longer wire leads yet. Esky confirmed that they don't have anything that fits the bill, and most of the other brands look identical in the pictures (probably just rebranded stuff). Gee44, did you use the same grommets up by the tail light harnesses, and were your leads long enough to reach?

Originally Posted by Gee44

Yes, I used the same grommets by the tail light harness but I had to extend the leads since they were too short. I have a similar camera by that company.

Originally Posted by t2d2

Bingo! Glad it's not just me. It's crazy how, in so many categories, companies will make a great product and then limit its application with silly little oversights like that. You know you've got to route a wire through a bumper and into a trunk, which probably won't be a straight shot in many cases. Wouldn't you want 3' of wire lead to cover your bases?

Did you cut and splice them or just add patch cables and weatherize the junctions? RCA cables are tough to splice, if I'm not mistaken, because of the inner/outer signal paths.

Originally Posted by t2d2

That's always smart to separate power and signal lines, especially with something like a cheap RCA cable with little shielding. Of course, with all the wiring throughout the car, it's probably exposed to a ton of interference no matter what.

If you happen to remember what grommet you used for the video cable, let us know. I searched the back of the trunk and couldn't find anything else. Did you go under the trunk to one of the drain holes, maybe?