Upgrade backup camera to add guidelines on factory display

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by Toodle, Feb 4, 2020.

  1. Toodle

    Toodle New Member

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    2011 Prius
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    I have a 2011 Prius 4 with the Nav system and backup camera. The camera is so dim compared to my wife’s newer car and the backup guides are great on her car. My Prius has over 200k mikes and is going strong so I’d love to keep on going in it for sure. I’d thought about swapping out the factory head unit for something with CarPlay and upgrading the camera too. But if there was a way to replace the camera and leverage the factory screen that would me much cheaper and easier.

    Does anyone know if there is such an option?
     
    #1 Toodle, Feb 4, 2020
  2. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The advanced parking guidance was available for your year, and that would have the guidelines.

    Your headunit has two video inputs at the back, a regular analog composite input and a GVIF digital one.

    Without the parking option, your backup camera plugs straight into the analog input at the headunit.

    With the parking option, the backup camera plugs into the parking computer, and the parking computer adds the guidelines and sends the resulting video over GVIF to the headunit.
     
    #2 ChapmanF, Feb 5, 2020
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  3. Toodle

    Toodle New Member

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    Thanks for the info. So sounds like I need to replace the head unit? No way to just replace the camera or get the parking computer?
     
    #3 Toodle, Feb 5, 2020
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  4. whitmanrf

    whitmanrf Junior Member

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    I have this question also. 2013 Prius Four Persona. Thanks!
     
    #4 whitmanrf, Feb 12, 2020
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The headunit has both video inputs. If you had the parking computer, and could obtain the right wire harness or mod the one you've got, you could unplug your camera from the headunit and plug it in to the parking computer, and run a GVIF cable from the parking computer to the headunit's GVIF input, and there you'd be.

    Of course the parking computer needs to be getting the steering angle information somehow (how else will it know to curve the lines the way you're steering?), and I don't know if that's a sensor that's present in the no-parking-computer trims, or would also have to be added. Plus I don't know if you'd ever get the parking computer to stop complaining about the missing sonar sensors, unless you also wanted to install those.

    There could be a certain amount of research involved in the project.
     
    #5 ChapmanF, Feb 12, 2020
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