Reverse Backup camera wiring

Did you recently buy a reverse camera and not sure what red power wire to use? Did you get an RCA cable with a little red wire on both ends? Not quite sure what to make of the terrible instructions? (read more below)

The red and black wire that are together are supposed to be connected to the white rear reverse light bulb (I accidentally said "camera" in the video). If you connect the red and black wire to the reverse bulb, it will give the camera power (turn it on) only when you are in reverse. (Ahhh Haaa moment). If they were connected anywhere else, they would either be on all of the time, or not when you need them to be. You could connect them to say a cigarette lighter that is only on when the car is on, but then you run into the next issue.

About the red wire on the RCA cable...Most headunits don't have a button to click when you're in reverse. If yours has video inputs, then stop. You could use an input as the reverse camera, but keep in mind that you have select this input..kind of annoying. For everyone else, yours has a special 12v turn on wire. When this one particular wire gets 12 volts, it tells the headunit to now switch to the yellow rca video. It is the small wire connected to that yellow rca that is to be used for that 12 v turn on. You can use the reverse lights for this power signal.

[ben]

On typical head unit like the Pioneer or kenwood with rear view camera input, one end of the long yellow RCA goes into the rear cam input, the short red wire coming out of it is to be connected to the reverse signal (usually purple color) from the head unit, at the end of this long RCA cable it's going to your rear view cam, the short red wire is to be tapped onto your reverse white light positive. At the camera end, other than the RCA there should be a longer red and black wires to power the camera, red will also get tapped onto reverse white light positive, black goes to ground. Wiring this way ensure your camera will only power on and trigger the head unit to display the rear view camera when you're in reverse gear, once you shift out of reverse the camera will be off.

[waqassiddique]

Thanks man! 1 hour and countless vidoes and none of them explaining exactly about wiring and make people more confused

[Patrick-plwv]

Thank you! I've been studying the instructions for days wondering what the hell the little red wires are for or if I even need to use them. The manufacturer totally dropped the ball in the directions on them.

[mikeramos]

C'mon guys! This dude only shows how the camera works. Well he did say that we should connect the power cables on the reverse light wires at the back of the car.... Focus guys.

He just connected the cam directly to the battery at tried it to his video cam to see if it will work... WOW, whats happening to our world. Active listening ang paying attention is the key here.

He is just telling us how it works, the rest is up to us. You know now how it works, then do your part. Starting to say thank you!

Thnanks Mate, I also normally test may lights and modifications before installing them in my car. Cheers Buddy.

[Thunderbyrd.]

Good Video, I do a fair amount of vehicle and mobile electronics but I still enjoying watching others video's. One of your poster's is right in that some guys who have video's on this subject are too technical and I imagine a lot of not-so-tecnical-DIY's have a tough time understanding them. However your video is good, you explain it very well without leaving off critical info and without bogging them down with worthless info.

[jboogieyc]

Easiest technique on here, thanks alot. Tapping into the fuse box and all is way too much. Got it hooked up in less than 15 mins 👍👍👍👍

[davidcrook]

You have a "cam in" RCA and "cam power" 16awg pinkish wire on your head unit harness. Connect the long cord that came with the cameras yellow RCA male to the "cam in" RCA. Then crimp connect or solder the red wire from long cord to the "cam power" wire. Now you will go to the back of the car to connect the short camera cord to the long cord. The short cord is the same as the long but has a little black wire added. Connect the yellow RCA with the short cords yellow RCA and the little red wire to the identical little red wire on the short cord. You will have a black cord left unconnected from the short cord. Just connect that to any ground wire or harness point. After you plug in the camera to the short cord you are all wired up... :)

[OnlyICanBeLeila]

THANK YOU this video made my life so much easier...i could NOT figure out what all those wires were.

[joncooper]

Almost never comment on anything, but this explains things so clearly I wanted to say thanks.

[bill]

That wire gets hooked to the reverse light on one end and the radio on the other end. It tells the stereo when the car is in reverse so it switches to the camera automatically.

[BobduhSnob]

Was looking at the little RED wire hanging out of the RCA connector and thought WTF. Your video is appropo, thanks

[walterstanfield]

Thanks the red wires on the rca is what was throwing me off

[thurm]

Thank you. I have watched a lot of videos. Still not understanding. I think those guys in the other videos are "over explaining it" making everybody more confused. Maybe they just have big egos, thinking I can do something that you can't. But with your video I just need to find a way to hide wires after the simple installation. I have a older car and I got a real good deal on a monitor and camera so I will just install it.

[Pandemoniumx]

Dude that camera you used to make this video is incredible quality

[TallStarlite]

Holy cow dude you just saved me 1 hour to return this radio! Thnx

[itsMrBRoc]

I hooked my power cable up to my amp remote line.. works perfect!

[SteveBlues]

You do need the end red wires on certain head units. The Xtrons in particular has a "Reverse" wire, which allows the display to switch automatically to the camera view. This is just a positive feed from the reverse light.

[josesantiago]

Thank you very much. I was about to ignore one of the cables but I had my doubts. You clear my mind.

[jaysoncolbert]

great ingenuity. I was just thinking I should test the camera first and now I have a way

[BKTX]

TravelingDirector: THANK YOU VERY MUCH for this video. I bought a camera w/ identical wiring and with the worst instructions which didn't bother to explain what to do with those little red positive wires that are connected to the yellow RCA plugs. Thanks for laying out the wires vs. just talking about it. Now I'm in business. Much appreciated and thanks for filming in high def too!