License plate light Disable while In Reverse (DIR)

I did find one by “Master Tailgaters” and it has no reviews on their site but one on Amazon. The reviewer said it was an upgrade over their stock 2016 camera. Not sure how that plays out with lighting but definitely interested. That one is $160. It is rated at the same 600 tv lines as stock though. Although resolution isn’t what I need, really only color contrast and night illumination are what I need improvement on.

Any added light in my stock camera just lights up everything on the camera as white and then you can’t see what’s in the light.

DIR was not active in this pic but the lighting reflecting off the garage door shows exactly what I’m talking about. Pretty much impossible to tell when I’m going to hit the door.

 

For sure the OEM camera sucks.

This is what my purchase history shows. But I swear it came with a handle too and a 3rd gen handle not a 2nd gen handle.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184745032491

I will hunt for the box, I think I have it in a labeled bin.

They aren't cheap but I'd send to you for science if you have time. Time is what I lack.

 

I hear ya. I’ve got plenty of time for testing/science. That camera you linked looks very similar to the one by master tailgaters. They may be one and the same, although that one is considerably cheaper.

As for the handle part, doesn’t matter either way. I know bolting it into the stock handle will be super easy, just two screws.

 

Definitely a different shape than 2nd Gen (right)

 

Interesting - it has a much longer cord than the Master one. Wonder how they compare. I may buy the other one just to compare with this one.

But for sure, I’m interested to try it out for you and provide good pics and such. Hopefully I don’t need to supply 12V power to it though, I’ve still got the 6V power setup to mimic stock right now.

 

Let me test it on my bench psu w 6v.

 

13v test pass. Image isn’t overly exciting in terms of clarity though.

 

And looks like my cheap PSU floors at 9.5v. Bummer. Camera still works though.

 

Yeah for whatever reason stock they run a lot of these cameras at 6V when more voltage still works as well. Not sure why. I’m sure it’ll be fine on 6V being designed to bolt in place of the stock 6V cam.

Picture looks about same as stock but maybe the color is better?

 

What do you think for next steps? I try to crimp on the 4 pin connector which matches my truck? I don't have any of the 6 pin ones yet (that'd be for your truck I am guessing). I'm optimistic about 6v working but not overly optimistic about it being an upgrade given what it looked like. Then again, the TV I was using is like 15 years old and 720p max so maybe it can do 1080 and is meant for that?

@caribe makaira do we have the pinout for the 4 pin camera connector? I think you've given it to me like 20 times already? But I think all that is buried in conversations which can't be searched?

 

Been about 6 months since I tore into my tailgate when I was doing the radio swap. Did the pinout change I guess? I would have thought 2016+ would all be the same (other than the 360 camera trucks). I can crack my tailgate open tomorrow and take some pics of what I’ve got.

 

I think the 2020+ at the intercept have a 6 pin for camera? Mine is a 4, like the DIR uses, same exact connector.

 

I don’t recall. I’ll look at the connection under the bed and at the camera itself. I’m pretty sure the camera was a 6-pin connector with only 4 wires populated. And I don’t recall what it was at the bed connection. Having no experience with prior to 2020, definitely no clue what those have but you seem to have that info.

So I guess what you’re getting at is that camera won’t plug into your truck currently, or at least you don’t think so?

 

Well it's aftermarket so power is bare wire and signal is yellow RCA.

I could run it intact but since it's meant to mount in the tailgate handle, I'd definitely prefer to mod the harness so that it works with the stock 4 pin connector. I just can't do that for you and also have it work for me, different connectors, different terminals.

I could send to you to hack it for yours and test but you'd need to source those 6 pin connectors and terminals (I have some on order but they weren't in inventory so my source is hunting them down).

If I had the pinout I could hack the harness and do a quick test with the camera on the bumper and see what happens and get some comparison photos of stock vs this one. That seems doable without massive effort.

If it's better and it works with 6v then I could see doing the swap myself I guess. I always assumed I'd have to run a new harness for 12v into the cab, which is what takes a bit of time (no clean/dry space to work on trucks and this was lower priority than most of my languishing truck mods).

 

I see. I did not realize there is all that to it. I figured it’s already plug and play for one of the models.

since I’m aftermarket radio, I could probably test it to my kenwood just fine by running the RCA to my head unit. For power I can temporarily run a long power to under my hood. Not like I need to drive around with the camera. Mainly just need to get a feel for it in a few situations. You could also probably use an RCA-to-wire adapter and wire that to the pigtail that would plug into one of the year ranges. You could wire the ground and 6V supply into that same pigtail since the truck supplies it all in one. Would need to do that process twice if wanting to do it for my truck and yours, but I don’t really think I need plug and play for my testing.

The audio shop is hoping to have a camera for test fitting in mine in about 2 weeks so it may not be lucrative to send to me to begin with if it’s more hassle than it’s worth. But, I am willing to try it out if you think it’s worth ima shot and don’t have time yourself.

 

That’s probably the faster way. If I probe and figure out 6v and ground then hook those up and plug in the RCA and get some photos. No more than 30 minutes of messing around. I’ll see if I can scrounge some time.

 

Specifically the black 10 position connector next to the one which carries license plate and BSM. That was parking assist perhaps?

Also, for anyone who wants a waterproof cap, order one of these:
https://www.corsa-technic.com/item.php?item_id=1003

and you'll need 10 plugs:
https://www.corsa-technic.com/item.php?item_id=1055

 

Combines wires from two systems. BSMS & Parking IPA. (BE1)

 

Wanted to update this thread. The sequence of events is mostly that I tried the DIR harness with both a VLEDS LPR license plate bar, and a Meso hitchpod. I found 2 things:

1) crappy stock camera needed the plate lights on for edge of bumper visibility
2) the auxiliary lights (VLEDS LPR, Baja/Meso Hitchpod reflected off of walls or objects, blinding the camera, making it even harder to tell when I was about to hit things.

I added some Rigid SR-Q backup lights to my bumper (flush mount). I was concerned they were going to have the same problem with blinding the camera, but I went for them anyways. Turns out, the lights being installed in the bumper on left and right sides ends up not hurting the camera’s performance like those central mount plate lights and hitch lights did.

For a quick wiring job (didn’t feel like running the whole Rigid harness up the truck and into the cab and I don’t have a switch yet anyways), I reinstalled the DIR harness and wired the rigids to the lead that Dave installed on that DIR for my Hitchpod light. Cut off the weatherpack and spliced to two 2-wire outputs, crimped on some Deutsch DT males and plugged them into the Rigids. Much to my surprise, the Rigids lighting up either side behind me makes it to where I no longer need the plate lights on to see the edge of the bumper. As I get close to walls/doors/etc, the light reflecting off of the wall on either side gives me my bumper edge (since the lights are no longer centered and blinding the camera.

This means that the DIR harness + Rigids on either side is the perfect combo for me. Mainly because the glare of plate lights is now gone, but without losing the bumper edge visibility and I have added light that doesn’t negatively affect the camera. Win win win.

Still working with the car audio shop to fit a Kenwood HD Cam in place of my stock one, but it’s far less necessary now.

I actually like how the DIR power for the aux light is powered by the plate light circuit so that the aux light only works at night. Don’t need them needlessly on during the day, I have the tail light bulbs for that.

I’m going to add in a switch to my dash that can turn the Rigids on at will, and also a disabling switch so I can cut the power to them in reverse when I want to. I haven’t figured out exactly how I’m going to execute yet, probably will splice some diodes into the power wires so I can power them two ways without backfeeding the other.

Plate Light Glare (only in camera view, no reverse lighting is on)



DIR hooked up with Rigids in reverse



Backing up to a wall - bumper edge visibility

 

I can def do Deutsch for the aux output, maybe I should add an option for that?