Adding a front camera

For everyone thats done this please give your oppinion on my idea.

I am going to do the always on rear camera mod with a diode and 12v switch into the reverse input wire on the head unit. i will have it on a switch so i can always turn it on.

Then im going to install a front camera, place a diode on its output and a diode on the rear cameras output and run their signals together into the radio input. then I am going to put a front camera switch to power the front camera.

So to use the front camera , i would switch on my always on rear camera switch. the turn on my front camera power. which would it display, nothing/interupted signal right?.

OR i run both signal wire into a dpdt switch and have its output going into the radio... i think thats the better solution. is thisbhow everyone else is doing it?

 

Subd

 

The only problem that I can see with this is cutting into the signal wires. Those might end up looking scrambled very bad if this ends up working.

 

Can you post links of the products used to get this done? AWESOME!

 

This is the interface module I bought from camera source for my 14'.

https://camera-source.com/2010-toyota-tacoma-multi-camera-video-interface-for-display-radio.html

The camera I finally went with is the CNGATE camera from Amazon listed below.

 

I've considered this a idea for a bit, but do not know if on a 2013 tacoma where the monitor is in the rear view mirror if one could have a front camera on the radio screen? It is not the JBL unit, just the standard touch screen.

Has anyone gotten video on the standard touch screen?

 

That's a good question. I don't feel confident it would work that way though. Maybe if it's just routed through the headunit it could still be displayed in the mirror?

 

Is that module plug n play? or is there splicing involved? easy install?

 

Mostly plug and play. You have to splice in for power and ground if I remember right. Sorry its been a few months since install. The hardest part for me was just mounting the camera in a nice spot and stuffin all the stuff back behind the radio. It'll probably take you about 2-3 hours if you do it slow.

 

La county lifeguards have this mod. Was checking it out on one of my lifeguard buddies rigs yesterday. The non oem front camera sits right up on the front grill.

 

Anyone know if there's the harness setup for 3rd gen OEM Nav display?

 

Bumping in hopes someone with a 3rd gen has done this!

 

http://www.anytimebackupcamera.com/product-page/c87f4348-caa8-86bc-9072-bdf4cc96627a

The add an additional camera kit is out of stock for Tacoma, any idea when you will get this back in?

And all other systems I've seen utilize a switch box, this one does not have one pictured but says it utilizes a switch, do you have a picture? And does it retain automatically switching to the rear cam when put into reverse?

Edit: Didn't see the switch box on mobile, but I see it now looking at it on a desktop.

I also should read more closely, seeing that it will be back in end of Feb.

 

Suba a dub dub.

 

If anybody makes a kit, I'll buy it immediately.

 

DIY : all the info is here

 

Just installed this kit. Came with everything except front camera and switch. For the switch, I installed a basic DPDT switch (on/off/on) under the dash - center is normal operation, one way toggles the camera feed and rear camera, other way toggles camera feed and front camera.

 

Great thread! My 2012 has the rear camera video go to the navigation hub and the rear view mirror screen is not used. Has anyone wired the front camera to the rear view mirror?

 

So I'm guessing you only did the adding a camera and not the 4 way switch?

Do you have any details or insight on installing? I'm not electrically smart, but the lack of instructions and labeling are pretty crappy. I've put off installing it for a while since it was so poor. Figured I would be able to sit down and figure it out, but I'm at a loss.



This is what I received. as well as two male/female RCA extensions that are about a foot long.

The instructions seem to tell me that I need a switch for the dongle on the left, and one for the relay on the right in the two separate diagrams but I thought I only needed one.

 

I can't speak to the 4-way relay but can get you oriented on the rest of it. Also know that the guy who makes the kit was pretty responsive to my questions; if I don't resolve your questions with my reply you may want to try reaching out to him.

Generally there are two switched circuits but you can tackle it with one switch. The kit allows you to 1)operate the camera as Toyota intended or whenever you want, and 2)view the factory camera versus an alternative camera. I'll get back to switch specifics in a sec.

The dongle on the left intercepts the camera power-on signal. Two wires come out of that dongle - a power wire (for your convenience) and the circuit which must be energized to trick the head unit into viewing the camera when you're not in reverse. Let's call the power wire 1a and the circuit 1b.

The dongle in the middle intercepts the factory camera feed, allowing you to either pass-through the factory camera signal or use an alternative camera signal. The relay (far right) is the traffic cop that decides which camera signal to send to the screen. When the relay is not energized, the factory camera is displayed. When the relay is energized, it switches to the alternative camera feed (in my case, front camera, and in your case, multi-camera relay). Let's call the relay's red wire 2a. Separately you'll need to ground the black wire of the relay.

Ok, back to the switch wiring. You have a power feed (1a) and two circuits that need power sometimes (1b and 2a). You can accomplish this with a DPDT switch (aka on-off-on). The back of the DPDT switch has six connectors and looks something like this:

A1 B1
A2 B2
A3 B3

A and B are their own circuits, independent of each other. That, combined with on-off-on means the following:
- when the switch is in the center position, both A and B are 'off'.
- when the switch is in the upper position, A2 is connected to A3 and B2 is connected to B3.
- when the switch is in the lower position, A2 is connected to A1 and B2 is connected to B1.
If you're paying attention, you noticed that 'down' connected the top circuits. That's just how those switches work. Let's call A the camera-anytime power circuit and B the factory-alternative selector circuit.

So now knowing how the switch should work, let's review the scenarios:
- normal operation - seems easy enough, that means no change in camera and no power to the camera circuit. That's your 'off' or center position on the switch
- factory camera anytime - for this one you'll need to energize the camera circuit but you don't want to power the relay
- alternative camera anytime - now you need to energize the camera circuit and energize the relay

With all that in mind, you'll run 1a to A2 and B2 as you have two separate circuits that may need power. You'll run 1b to both A1 and A3 so that anytime you use that switch it energizes the camera-anytime circuit. Lastly, you'll run 2a to B1 so the alternative camera is selected when the switch is in the lower position.

I hope my lengthy explanation has eased your confusion and not made it worse. As I mentioned at the beginning, I can't speak to how the multi-camera switch works so I don't know what changes you may need to make from my explanation of the single camera solution. Good luck! Let me know if you need further clarification on anything above.