2012+ Camera connection for aftermarket HU

For factory camera display's in dash only, not on the mirror!

It appears there has been a pretty substantial amount of confusion amongst the later 2nd gen owners on the OE camera connection under the dash. I was having a real bitch of a time figuring out how to get the OE camera connection to display on my head unit until it finally dawned on me one night. I tested the theory and it worked much to my surprise. As for the connector location. As far as I am concerned, it may be in a different location on 2012-2015's WITHOUT the JBL system. My truck came with the stock JBL audio package (I hate myself for buying it now, but I digress). I doubt it, however. As for me, my connection was just exactly as connector views and locations described.

My aftermarket head unit uses a coaxial plug connection for the backup cam just as yours should as well. OEM uses a standard Molex style plug. Don't even bother attempting to use a voltmeter to try and see what voltage outputs are, as you will get nothing on them. Hell you may even negative voltage readings as I did.

Now, onto the good stuff. 09's and below (possibly even until 2011) had their OE 4 pin camera connection directly behind the coin tray sitting on the fuse block with a dual connector style setup. 2012-2015 location has the OE camera connection directly behind the drivers side kick panel. It is black in color, no longer white. Picture provided below of what the connector looks like as well as it's location.





This connector should be in plain sight upon removal of the kick panel and SHOULD be the ONLY black connector down there which has 4 wires running to it.

Next up, you will want to determine which pin is which. There will be as previously mentioned 4 wires running to it, Black, White, Red, and bare wire. Not only has connector location changed, but so has the colors required in order to obtain the video feed from the camera to your new Coaxial plug which goes into the back of your aftermarket HU. Schematic of wiring colors below:



For those having issues deciphering what those acronym's stand for:

Camera +: Black
Video +: Red
Video -: White
Camera Ground: Bare wire in color

Now, here is where this got confusing to me. Previous mentions on earlier models had no issues using aftermarket head units to my knowledge. It was simply just reliant upon one's ability to tap into the video feed portion of it. Our backup cam appears to be the only electronic in the vehicle requiring 6 volts to run it. This meant the high possibility of having to run a 12v to 6v DC/DC step down converter. In order to power mine, all I simply did was disconnect the plug at the kick panel, depinned the molex plug of its connector pins and using my stripped down coaxial plug tied into the video feed portions of the pins, at the camera power and ground portions, all I simply did was apply a clean 12 volts of power and a ground using a power probe I have which was hooked up to the battery and the camera switched right on at my command. Looking at the wiring diagram schematic, It never dawned on me that at some point, the camera itself uses battery voltage to power it. You will see that at the bottom of the schematic labeled "Television Camera T19", there is a mention to CB+, this stands for Camera BATTERY +.

You have no idea how gratifying it was to see this image finally pop up on my screen at last.



If you require information on how to strip down and add pins to your coaxial connection, information can be found on this thread here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oem-camera-connection-below-dash.30889/

Connecting the video feeds, and applying power to them:

I ran mine a bit differently. After pulling the female pins from their respective connector location, I stored the plug in my toolbox and ran them bare. I ran male mating pins to each connection to make it a solid connection without having to cut anything on the OE wiring so I could always reuse the plug if necessary, shrink tubed and electrical taped those connection points to avoid shorting at those points and stripped the insulation at the ends of the wiring on the male pins I connected then soldered from there. I grounded the camera using an eyelet terminal which then hooks up to a bolt connection to the body which is right at the kick panel itself (10mm bolt). For the camera video feeds, I soldered the video + connection then shrink tubed that. For the video -, that one was tricky, since there is no way to solder that without ruining it. I simply wrapped it around the wiring tightly ensuring a mechanical connection, then used heat shrink to hold it in place so there is continuity to the video connection. Finally I heat shrinked both the video connections together in order to keep a tight hold on them and keep them from any unwanted movement or slippage. For the power, you can either run a wire directly to your reverse wire all the way to the passenger side at the ECM (red wire for factory reverse wire in color), or you can tap into switched ignition power on the drivers side at one of the junction plugs as I did. Camera works flawlessly, without issues. Using my current "camera on anytime mod" run to an Air On Board camera switch below the head unit, this things turns on at the press of a button whenever and wherever I please.

Conclusion:

After a week plus without having the ability to see my distances when backing up on my long bed, it is AWESOME to be back in business. Schematics and wiring harness connector views and locations can be uploaded at request. Feel free to give any input, ask any questions, BS, whatever. As always, happy modding, and enjoy your trouble free OE backup cam!

 

Just read this and I was wondering if you can help me out I have a 2011 DC. I bought a kenwood HU and I am stuck. I got the reverse power going to the head unit but I cant figure out the video feed. Is the bare wire going to a ground? what color wire goes to the positive video and what goes to the negative video and then of coarse there is the black wire, where does that connect to? Any help would be much appreciated, I have had this apart for 2 days now