I got one of those cheap $25 backup cameras, it was a free gift for buying a head unit off a guy on ebay. About a year later I decided to try installing it... FAIL. Here is what the camera looks like:


I know some of you have these backup cams as well so hopefully you can help. They want you to run the red wire to your reverse brake light so it only gets 12v when you are backing up. But just to test it, I tried putting the red wire on the + terminal on my battery and the black wire on the - battery post. The camera is not working and the LEDs on it don't light up. Either 12v makes it power on or it doesn't, right?

 

you may have a bad back up camera

 

right. also the "leds" should be IR so you wouldnt be able to see them ever turn on

 

C'mon Emp, don't you have a go-go-gadget IR detector in your car? If you can afford that much dynamat and audio gear you should definitely have something IR on your ride! ;-)

Thanks for the reminder though, totally missed the fact that it would be IR.

 

Was the camera plugged into the HU tho?

 

Yes it was, pulled the dash apart again and traced the wires. It's definitely plugged in. I guess the HU rca port could have a problem. I know the antenna port doesn't work very well. About 6 months ago I lost reception for the radio for 90% of the stations.

 

well in all technicality i dont have any dynamat in my car....

did you make sure the reverse camera setting is on in the HU?

 

Hmm I don't remember ever disabling that input in the system settings but if I am that dumb... well we'll all have a good laugh. Will check that again after work. Thanks for the ideas sir!

 

I did have it disabled on the HU. But it still didn't work with it enabled. I gave the red wire 12v+ right from the battery and the black wire GRD. When you touch the wires on the battery they spark and the HU screen flickers horizontal white bars for a second and then back to "no signal". Seems like the camera is toast.

The fact that it sparks at all tells me the wires are getting good + and -, so maybe buy another cheap camera in hopes that it works. I guess you get what you pay for. Can anyone recommend a respectable backup cam that isn't $$$$?

 

ya in most cases they are disabled from the factory and have to be enabled. regarding a good rear view camera... idk man good luck

 

Some cars don't have the reverse signal wire hooked up to the radio, on my 05 ss, I had to run a wire from the reverse + wire to the headunit's reverse signal detection otherwise the headunit wont know you are in reverse.

 

I thought it would be cool to have the backup camera on whenever I wanted to turn it on. On my HU it has a separate input and button to view the camera. So I may just keep it powered on all the time, or put a switch in the dash somewhere.

I ended up finding a direct replacement for $13 on egay. I figured that was the cheapest way to find out if the camera was dead. Unfortunately it's been raining non stop so I haven't been able to try it out yet. I'm keeping my nipples crossed that it was just a bad camera. Otherwise I have a $13 rifle target for my next trip to the range.

 

Those leds are ir, turn out the lights and they will go red. Some of those cheap eBay cameras have fake ir LEDs though so just cause they don't turn on doesn't mean it don't work, plug it into video to be sure

 

you need to install a inline fuse between the battery and the cam, so your not sending hundreds of AMPS to the cam, ive installed 2 cams and monitors in 2 separate vehicles and working on my 3rd for my cobolt, i installed a 2AMP inline fuse with no issues. i hope that helps.