Backup camera wiring through tailgate

It’s a light gray (dirty white) plug with a cap plugged into it. The cap has jumpers that tie all the wires in the plug to receive a reverse signal. Looking into the hole where the radio was, mine was towards the right side, completely taped to the large harness that’s attached to the metal bar.

Its not part of the radio harnesses at all. Totally separate.

 

Thank you! I see two white harness bundles; one to the left and one to the right. There's a light gray looking one in the middle. How do I pop the cap off the end? Do I just choose any of the wires to connect to the reverse signal pin on the aftermarket harness?

 

Here are pictures of the harnesses I have: https://www.tundras.com/threads/reverse-signal-wire.77441/

 

Mine had a small flap you can pry it open like disconnecting a normal harness plug. I used a test light on the exposed metal in the plug and put it in reverse while touching the test light to the metal. I didn’t have three plugs tapped to the harness like yours but the one in the middle looks similar. I’d start there. All of the wires in the harness put out 12v in reverse. Easy to tap into any of them.

 

Got the reverse signal done! Thank you for the suggestion of checking that terminal bundle behind the radio. Getting the flap open was a pain but like you said, the reverse signal is bundled there. There’s a row of 5 and a row of 3. The reverse signal was on the row of 3. I have a wire taped directly on the row of 3 and have the flap closed. Screen automatically comes on when putting the gear shifter in reverse now.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the help!

 

Mine does. I have this Boss rear license plate camera. The yellow video plug runs out of the head unit all the way to the back. I did take the red lead that’s with the yellow video plug and connected to the power out of the head unit. Now the other end video goes into the camera connection fine but what do I do with that red lead? The directions say to plug it into the reverse 12v so when I put truck in reverse, the camera display is activated but when I look under the truck in the back, it doesn’t look like there is an easy option to splice that wire into the 12v wire. It’s weird how the camera directions show this. Because, they also have a black and red wire that they say connect to the 12v tail light. It looks like I have to take wires out if these corrugated lines. I’m just confused about this

 

There's nothing magic about the red wire. It's literally just a wire that runs from one end of the video harness to the other. How you use it is up to you. A lot of times in aftermarket use, it is tapped into the reverse light 12V to provide a reverse "trigger" signal to the head unit at the other end.

EDIT: Some camera harnesses actually have 3 red wire pigtails. one at the HU end and two at the cam end. These are all internally connected usually. You can verify by ohming out the connectivity between them. Not sure what your cam harness looks like.

I haven't read all through this thread, but i think I remember seeing that you already had the reverse tap taken care of at the HU. Since you have the HU end of the red wire connected to the HU power, simply connect the tailgate end of the red wire to the camera power lead. Then connect the camera ground lead to a good chassis ground. There is no need to switch the power to the camera on and off as long as the HU power you are using is ignition switched and not constant 12V from the battery. The cameras are designed to stay powered on. Toyota wires them that way and I designed the FRAC Cam power line to power the front cam the same way.

Sounds like you're almost there!

 

Thank you. I am almost there but just to be sure I understand. I don’t need to hook the other red end wire to the reverse 12V? Just connect to the camera red and then the black wire to ground?

 

Correct. You already have the HU end of the red connected to power from the HU. The red wire is now 12 volts and it will power the camera when connected to the camera power line. Makes sense if you think about it. What would be the purpose in connecting the other end to another 12 volt source? It can get confusing but just keep in mind what each signal is doing and it’ll work out! Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks. Yes, that’s the power I was curious about the reverse light connection. I read in many forums that even though I can use the power from the tail light, the reason I was supposed to wire the red lead ( attached to the yellow video ) to the 12v reverse light is so when I put the truck in reverse, the HU will automatically switch to the camera view. Make any sense? You can see why it’s confusing and trust me BOSS support didn’t really explain the whole set up.

 

it can be done that way, but you already have the reverse trigger tapped at the head unit. So you don’t need to use the reverse light power as the trigger. All you need after that is power for the camera which you are sending down the red wire.

 

I didn't take the time to do any drawings but maybe this verbal description will help.

Whenever you want to install a rear camera you need just a couple basic signals. First let's talk about the reverse trigger. The Head Unit is designed to do its thing with a normal HU display (Radio controls, Nav, etc...). So it's sitting there all happy in normal display mode and then the driver decides to shift into reverse. If the HU is set up for a reverse cam function it needs a signal to know when the reverse gear is selected. When it gets the reverse trigger it switches the HU display from normal display mode to "Camera display Mode" and will then display whatever signal is present at the rear cam RCA port on the HU. When the reverse signal goes away, the HU switches back to normal view and turns off the camera display mode. This reverse trigger can come from a couple different places. If the vehicle has a Reverse signal line already incorporated in the HU connectors ( like your set up apparently) then you can just tap your reverse trigger from that line to your HU reverse mode input pin.

The second trigger method is used for older vehicles that don't have a reverse trigger signal available in the factory harness; you can tap into the reverse light 12v signal. That way when you select reverse, the white reverse light gets power and turns on, that power can be tapped and sent to the HU reverse trigger input pin to let the HU know it's time to switch to the camera display mode. In these situations a lot of people will go ahead and double tap the reverse light power to also provide power to the camera. So the one signal (reverse light power) does both the trigger function and the camera power function and the camera is powered on at the time reverse is selected and powered off once reverse is deselected.

Back to your installation. You have the reverse line tapped at the head unit so it will know when you are in reverse. All you need beyond that is power and ground for the rear camera and you are providing that power over the red wire in the video cable. Attach the cam ground line to the chassis and you are good to go.

Hope this helps.

 

Well. I have the camera installed and it works BUT doesn’t come on when I put the truck in reverse. I have to go to the camera icon on the home screen and then I can see. When I take it out of reverse I then have to touch the Home Screen to get out of the camera view. I have the

$216 BOSS BE7ACP-C Car Multimedia Player with Apple CarPlay Android Auto - 7" Capacitive Touchscreen, Double Din, Bluetooth, No CD/DVD, USB, SD, AV In, AM/FM, Backup Camera Included

BOSS BE7ACP-C camera. The attached is what they sent me.

 

OK this means your camera is getting proper power from the HU, but your reverse trigger is not connected properly. (i.e. the HU does not know when you are shifting into reverse). I looked back in the thread and I thought you had already connected your reverse tigger, but that was apparently the OP. You kinda jumped into the middle of the conversation and I didn't realize that because I hadn't read every post.

So, let's start at the top with these questions.

1. What head unit are you using?
2. What vehicle wire is your Head Unit Reverse Trigger connected to?

 

Head unit is the

$216 BOSS BE7ACP-C Car Multimedia Player with Apple CarPlay Android Auto - 7" Capacitive Touchscreen, Double Din, Bluetooth, No CD/DVD, USB, SD, AV In, AM/FM, Backup Camera Included

BOSS BE7ACP-C package. The HCU wire I connected the red lead to was the purple/violet -white wire.

 

Tundra Tex, I found a section of directions from Crutchfield. Apparently I am supposed to connect 2 wires. One to emergency brake panel switch and another to the passenger side kick panel. This is very frustrating because they don’t give me any wires to run these plus I have to figure out if I pull the wire from the pin connectors or somehow splice them in.

 

According to your sig block, you have a 2013 Tundra. According to the Toyota Tech Data, the Reverse pin is Pin 5 of Head Unit connector K6 (Should be gray connector). It should be a green wire. See pics below. To test if this is correct, tap into the green wire with a meter and you should see 12 volts on the wire when you shift into reverse. If that happens then all you need to do is tap into this wire and connect it to the Purple/White wire on your HU connector and everything should work.

You should not need the parking brake signal for the camera function to work. However, other HU function like Car Play or others may require it. if so, it is Pin 1 of the same connector K6 and should be a red wire.

DISCLAIMER: CHECK ALL THESE SIGNALS BEFORE CONNECTING THEM. I have not verified this info other than getting it directly from Toyota. (Historically 100% accurate) The Crutchfield info was probably referencing the pins and wires at the reverse lights, like in their hookup drawing. The pins i gave you are for the Head Unit but always check first before connecting.

Hope this helps...

 

Great information. I’ll let you know, thanks again.

 

So I finally got to this work. There is no K6 block. There is a white connector with 6 wires. See pic. I tried to test voltage on the green wire of that connector with truck in reverse and there wasn’t any voltage. I don’t know why there wasn’t a grey connector. I don’t know what the white connector does with the 6 wires. It’s not labeled either.

 

Hello All,

having a hard time finding a way into the cab. I am trying to wire a reverse camera. I have a 2010 DC so the popular grommet (see pic) on the rear driver side leads to right on top of the frame so no room to fit a cable through. Can’t think of another way. Any other ways to access the cab? The Natika camera cable is 26ft.

I have a RW if that helps.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/help-getting-wiring-into-cab-from-rear-of-truck.114996/#post-2977800

 

Amazing. Thank you!

 

I just did this on my 2012 DC in the last month and used the grommet in the floorboard on the front passenger side. There is a grommet behind the passenger seat but the carpet is held down pretty tight by all the surrounding things and I didn't feel like messing with taking more things apart, so I just went forward a bit more. I took the kick panel and A pillar molding off and it was pretty easy to fish the cable up to the A pillar from the kick panel area, and then over to the radio compartment. I also mounted the GPS antenna block right where the A-pillar and dash meet the windshield. Worked out well. I can post some pics if you need them.