BACK UP CAMERA FOR 2012 PRIUS two TOUCH SCREEN- NON NAV

Sang Kang,
Could you post a link to the camera that you purchased?

 

Just curious, how well did this camera fit & do u know if it will fit the same on a 2011 prius?

 

Fit was perfect on my 2012. I cannot tell you for sure but I would think 2011 and 2012 camera cut outs are the same. Best bet would be to take a good look at the opening for the camera and compare to the picture. Below link is for a 2011/2012 Prius however in the description it just says 2012.

Sony CCD Car Rear View Reverse Parking Mirror Camera for Toyota Prius 2011 2012 | eBay

 

Thanks for the link zebelkhan. A little confused in the ebay description it says to install in the license plate light but my blank (to install the backup camera) is slightly left of the license plate light. Would u be able to snap some pix. preferably, some close up to see the detail & fit & from a little distance where I can see the whole rear of the prius so I may see the vantage point of the backup camera location?

 

Instruction are not that good so ignore them. Camera installs in a location that is to the left of the license plate light. See attached pictures.

 

zebelkhan,
Did you get a chance to move your regulator closer to the camera ? Did it fix your intermittent operational problems ?

 

Not yet. Had a tooth extracted and did not feel like working on the car! It will be tomorrow morning's project...

 

No problem w/ the instructions as I already experience the install & have a sony backup camera in my car but not happy w/ the size as it is smaller than yours. Yes, your blank is located exactly where mine is, good to know. I just wanted to make sure that this would work since I already bought 1. Thanks again for the pix. & reply zebelkhan, I'm going to order mine 2night .

 

Looking at that link, it looks like chenwenjiaoeb09 has changed the camera he is selling. It is no longer the "bathtub" camera and looks more like what comes stock in the Gen III prius.

 

Haha, I have that "bathtub" like camera currently on my car & it fits ok but I want the perfect fit like the oem .

 

SoCalBPrius,
I'll have to check the two cameras again, but I think both fit the same in the D shaped cutout in the back hatch. I can
measure the size of the two tonight when I get home. I though the bathtub looked better and offered more protection for the camera. But I don't know how easy it is for the tub to start filling with water.

 

Here are some pics of my install to an aftermarket NAV unit (Myron & Davis):

 

Update to my camera install: The intermittent operation of the camera went away....but in the wrong direction. Camera stopped working all together.


Just to mention, I have wired the camera to the front kick panel. I use a 6.5v to 3.3v regulator, also installed in the kick panel, to power the camera. When I originally connected the camera, it did not want to work, so in disgust I put everything back together and went home. The next day, when I started the car. to my surprise the camera was working! Then intermittent problems started. Sometimes I could see display would go to reverse mode but there would be no image. Other times it would not switch at all, and then it quit all together...

To troubleshoot,

I pulled the back panel off, disconnected the camera wire, and checked continuity in the cable running to the front. It was good.

I then measured the voltage going into the camera. Since I have installed the regulator in the front, I thought voltage drop could be a factor and I was planning to move it closer to the camera. But voltage measured 3.2 volts at the camera and drop of 0.1 volt seemed to be insignificant. So I decided not to move the regulator.

I then checked the connectors to the wires in the kick panel area. I am using T-Connectors there for V+, V-, and power. Ground is connected to the car body, so the orange wire is not being used at all. All connectors seem to be good and there is continuity between the connectors and the thin wires in the car. So there appears to be no problem here either.

Next, I decided to test the camera. I fished out an old camera I had in the garage, connected it to the TV, and it worked. Then I cut its wires and connected it to the car at the kick panel. I gave it 12 volt power directly from the charge point under the hood. But when I tested it, nothing came up on the screen. I know this camera is good so there is probably nothing wrong with the camera that is already installed either.

So what is next? Display? I know back up camera functionality is there because it worked at some point but why would it stop working? Maybe it is not detecting that a camera is hooked up. How can I test if video signal is actually reaching the display?

I am thinking one of my connections has to be bad (they are all crimped and not soldered) so maybe I should redo all connectors next. What am I missing here?

Any input will be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

I'm not sure what backup camera you are using - I ordered one off of Amazon.com. I made a wiring mistake too that almost took out an ECU, but I got lucky as eventually it rebooted. My camera runs off of 12 volts supplied by the red wire from the backup lamp. That same 12 volt supply (only in reverse) also goes to a special wire on the back of my aftermarket NAV unit marked "back". Maybe your touchscreen system has a similar connection. The 12 volts triggers the system to bring up the display for the camera feed. It works fine complete with the red, yellow and green grid built into the feature so you know when you are getting too close to an object (not sure if that is part of the camera or my aftermarket NAV).

My mistake was this: the camera had 2 wires - red and black. Add to that, the kit came with NO instructions. Soooo - I assumed the black wire was a ground - big mistake! The only wire that needs 12 volts is the red wire and the black wire is abandoned. I think the camera gets "grounded" from the yellow-coded video cable with the RCA connector on it.

 

zebelkhan,
I think Dan4500 or Willco figured out that you need to use the orange wire for the camera ground/return. The HU looks at that wire to see if it has a camera attached (along with a video signal). I assume there are 3 wires (red, black and yellow) coming from the camera and you have removed the regulator that came with the camera. I think you should try the following connections.
*** car white wire - connect this to the 6V input to your regulator. The 3.3V output of the regulator gets connected to the red wire of your camera
*** car orange wire - connect this to the ground of the regulator and the black wire of your camera
*** car red wire - connect this to the yellow wire of your camera. This contains the video signal.
*** car black wire - not used. On a factory 6V camera, this would be the video signal ground.

 

I measured the base plate of the two cameras last night. They are identical. Both are 49mm wide, 38 mm deep. The
snap clips are 31 mm apart. So "fit" wise, they will look and fit the same.

SoCalBPrius,
Do you really have a "tub" camera ? Has it stayed water tight ?
Thanks

 

I was referring to a different camera from another seller. The fit is ok but it is smaller & does not take up all the space so there is some open space left that u have to close or else water will get in. How's the quality of your cameras & is it water tight as well without any special modification?

 

SoCalBPrius,
When I looked at a stock prius camera, the camera backing plate was a little smaller than the blank plate that comes with the car. Both cameras look ok but I haven't dunked them into any water. The tub camera has a seam where the
camera drops into the tub. I assume there is a gasket or some sealant used in the assemble, but I can't tell for sure.
The non-tub camera consists of two halves glued together. If I went with the bathtub camera, I was going to
spread a little silicone on the seam just for good measure.

 

zebelkhan,
Not sure if you have completed your re-wring, but I'm not sure how easy it is going to be for you to get the camera ground attached to the orange wire. I think you said you grounded that to the frame. I wonder if you could get away with just attaching the regulator ground to the car orange wire. Hopefully that would send enough of a signal to make the HU happy. But if you have the time and effort, it would be better if the regulator and the camera ground were both attached to the car orange wire.

 

Thank you so much for your help. I checked my wiring and sure enough it was wrong:

This is how I had it:

Yellow camera (+V) to Red wire on the car
Black camera wire (-V) to the Black wire on the car
Red power wire from camera to 3.2 volt out of regulator
Input of regulator to 6.5 Volt white wire on the car
Ground on the regulator to the car body
Orange wire on the car not used (actually early on I had the regulator's ground wire connected to the orange wire. That is I think when camera worked a little bit.)

I disconnected the Black wire from camera (-V) and connected it to the Orange wire on the car. So now my wiring is like this.

Yellow camera (+V) to Red wire on the car
Black camera wire (-V) to the Oramge wire on the car
Red power wire from camera to 3.2 volt out of regulator
Input of regulator to 6.5 Volt white wire on the car
Ground on the regulator to the car body
Black wire on the car is not used.

But the camera is still not working. I had originally ruled out the camera as being bad because when I connected a known working camera, it did not work either. But now I am thinking the bad wiring might have damaged the camera (and the reason my test camera did not work was because it was not connected correctly). I have ordered another camera and hopefully that will work once I receive it.

You have suggested connecting the regulator's ground to the orange wire as well. I have not tried that because I did not think it would matter. Do you think it would?

Again, thank you for your help.