cost of rearview camera kit

Found a custom made kit specific for a 2013 tacoma to install the backup camera with a wiring harness to display the camera on the radio screen instead of the mirror. The seller wants about 300 for it, he claims that it is plug and play with a oem camera. Just wanted to know if it was worth the cash, seems legit but I am asking to see if this may be something I should stay clear of. Any advice helps!

 

I really don't know what the true capability of the OEM tailgate Tacoma camera is... (weak at best, I'm sure.)
But trust me, I have a stock OEM camera in my 2011 Taco's tailgate and it is a little postage stamp in my RVM.
If you've got a sick HU, then it aught to be able to display a rear view signal.
I bought a TaoTronics unit for my Taco from Amazon. It is an HD camera and with an RCA cable, it plugs right into my HU.
When I hit reverse, my HU fires up with a wide-angle, HD view of behind me. 10x better than the OEM rear view mirror...

 

EDIT:.............. can you say...... twenty United States dollars?

 

However, would the HU if not equipped with NAV capability, can it still be plug and play?

 

Don't quote me on this, but I think that all after-market backup cameras use
a simple RCA cable to transmit the video to the HU. Your HU aught to have
a female RCA connector to receive the male connector that comes stock
with your camera. NAV capability at the HU is completely unrelated to back-
up cameras.

When I put my rig in reverse, the mirror camera comes on with the tail-gate camera's signal, and
also my HU comes on with the signal from my after-market HD camera.

Hope this help!

 

I bought this camera from camera-source that came with the popNlock, which I wanted anyway. My 2013 Base model did not come with a camera installed, but it did come with the visual display radio. It also came with the preinstalled wiring for the camera that ran all the way into the tailgate. At first, I thought about trying to use this wiring since it was already there, but then decided to just use the wiring that comes with the kit.

https://www.camera-source.com/produ...acoma-backup-camera-2013-display-audio-system

The instructions were decent, so the install was pretty easy. The hardest part was probably locating and tapping into the reverse power source and then fitting it into the plug on the back of the radio. I had to rig the connection there because I couldn't get the wire to fit in the pin connector.

One other tricky part was that there is a switch on the wire harness(don't know for what purpose), but I had to use a multimeter to find out which position it should be in. I'm not sure if this kit would work with any year other than 2013, it doesn't look like it would. It worked good for me though. The camera quality is good.

 

Alerting your HU that your rig is in reverse it totally easy. Simply vampire tap into
your Taco's "Back Up Light" power circuit (which can be done right up in yer rig's cab, driver side).

 

Honesty, I really want to be wrong of my statement.

I'm checking out Dan77's link on the camera, that isn't cheap, wondering if any one else try it, perhaps some tutorial on the installation?

 

Dan77, that is very helpful link you got! Do you mind posting some picture of that installation? My 2013 base model should be the same like yours, could we also have the same HU?

How did you take off the head unit? What tools I would need to get to get the HU out?

Could you also take a picture of that pre-install wiring? I can't recognized which is which for the camera, that's if we have the same base car from the get go.

Anyhow, any more info or comments for installation is much appreciated.

 

I was looking at the same ebay seller as well.

Did you have any problem taking the HU out? Any Light you can shed on HU removal would be great.

 

Unfortunately, I did not think to take any pictures during the install. But I did watch this video on how to remove the radio, and found it very helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx8I92KGlGo

My radio is different than the one in the video, but it was removed in the exact same way. Mine has a display and is the same one that is pictured on the camera-source website. I did think that the kit was a little expensive, but it came with the lock and instructions/wire harness specifically for a 2013 Tacoma.
https://www.camera-source.com/produ...acoma-backup-camera-2013-display-audio-system

 

Thank you !! it looks much easier than I had guessed...

 

cool...

ordered on ebay seller, rather the Camera Source, from your other link, people are seems to having problem with their stuff.

plus, Camera Source have two pricing, kinda confused... ($209, and $299)

 

thanks Dan77, that helps...

i think i saw this video while i was browsing yesterday, and contemplating which kit i should get...

good stuff...!!

 

i found this link for 2013 HU removal...

i will try to make a video and load it up to youtube when i get my kit

http://freecarsupport.com/diy-write...dio-in-a-2005-2013-toyota-tacoma#.Uky-DSSmiSo

i think there will be many people want to do this...

 

i have managed the take off the radio, just for reference, the radio has three "yellow" taps on the top, here is a picture for reference. which helps people manage to use the tool to pop them off