In browsing through the Toyota Shop Manual for our 2007 I noticed that the back up camera appears to be activated by battery voltage on Pin 8 of the Engine Room Relay Block (same as Pin 21 on the Multi-Display end of the cable). The inference is that if voltage is applied to that pin, the multi-display will switch to the camera screen. If so, a switch could be built to turn the camera on any time you wished to see behind you (get the license number of that #%#% tailgater, for example?). Has anyone explored this mod?
There's a thread here that describes turning on the camera at will, using an MFD connector. I would presume that is the pin 21 you refer to.
Found it! Actually, what I found was a link to Darrell's Electric Vehicle page, where the mod is described in well illustrated detail. Thanks for the info.
I would like to post the URL, but I don't have high enough status on PriusChat to be allowed to do so. Here's the core of the link -- your browser should be able to complete it: evnut.com Click on "Prius Hybrid" on the left of the page, then on the next page click "mods" at the top of the page. This will give you a list of modifications. The "Anytime Camera View" is dated 04.02.06 and is almost half way down the page.
