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Subject: Backup camera install with pics - LONG & lot's of pics!!! Author: sealbeach740 : member since January, 2004 : 7584 posts Posted on: 2004-08-10 00:27:09

On Sunday, Erik, Allan, Manith & I installed backup cameras in Manith's & Allan's 7s. Despite the interesting things that happened & the silly things that went wrong, we ended up with both cameras installed & working great. Since I had already done this to my 7, I offered advice & a helping hand, Erik took the great photos & offered assistance, while Manith & Allan basically did all the dirty work themselves (just the way I like it!!).

Here's a quick how to, if you're thinking about doing this yourself:

Wiring the camera. We used the purple wire (power) and the brown wire (ground) bundled together by the red clip next to the drivers side rear taillight. These wires are hot at key postition 1 & above. We connected them to the camera's power and ground wires using quick disconnect spades (as we did for all the wires for ease of replacement/removal). All connections were soldered for better connections & strength. To get the camera to work when you put your 7 in reverse, a 12 volt, 4 post automotive relay was used. Power for the relay is the yellow/white wire that goes to the drivers side taillight for power, and the brown wire for the ground. This power only comes on when the car is put into reverse. The same ground (brown) wire was connected to one of the other relay posts, while the other relay post is connected to a wire from the TV tuner's blue connector, pin #17 (back up cam to ground switch). When power is supplied to the relay (going into reverse), the relay connects the other 2 posts to make a ground connection. We wired the camera to be on while the key is in postition 1 or above so the "on demand" feature would work.


You can see the small black box (relay) in this pic, along with the red plastic wrap where the purple & brown wires are for use for the camera's power. Also, the tap in connectors used to tap into existing wires.



With the camera wired up & working, our next step was to bite the bullet & mount the camera on the back bumper strip. This involves drilling a 1 inch hole in the bumper strip (centered), and a 1 inch hole thru the bumper itself. We also burred out the bumper hole a littel to allow the camera to fit in without touching anything. Our camera was a roughly 1 inch diameter & 1 inch long, 130 degree wide angle with 1/3 CCD.

The bumper strip pulls off by placing your fingers under the rubber part & pulling up:


use both hands & pull up with your fingers, the bumper strip comes off surprising easy!

A 1 inch hole was drilled thru the center of the black bumper strip (centered up/down & left/right). Next, we drilled a 1/4 inch pilot hole in the center of the bumper, just below an existing hole in the bumper. This if for the 1 inch drill to have an exiting hole to start from. Before you start drilling, some of the plastic has to be removed to allow for the 1 inch drill to do it's work.




Here's the pilot hole for the bumper, just below the existing hole.




Don't laugh. We used a wood planer tool to remove the plastic around the new pilot hole we drilled to allow the 1 inch drill bit to evenly drill the hole in the bumper! It worked....that's Allan enjoying the pounding and cutting to much!

we deburred the 1 inch hole, and then set out to drill a 1/2 inch hole on the inside of the trunk area to allow access to the camera wires to be fed from the 1 inch hole now in the bumper to the inside of the trunk.



This is the pilot hole for the 1/2 inch hole inside the trunk. It's just below the tail lights. We had to remove some electronics to get to this area. If you've got PDC, I believe your 7 already has a hole & a rubber grommlet ready for ya!


Now, fishing the camera's wires from inside the trunk thru to the 1 inch hole in the bumper was a treat! Allan laid on his back & guided, I pulled from the bumper, while Manith pushed from the inside of the trunk.


Allan on his back, me pulling the feeds out, and Manith pushing from the inside of the trunk! To much work...


We used a combo of a coat hanger, thick electrical wire & nylon twine to gain a feed from the inside hole to the bumper's hole. Not as easy as you would think.




We used the nylon twine & tape to help feed these wires thru the bumper. Lots of nooks & crannys to get this cable thru the bumper!



Success!!


The camera was mounted in the 1 inch hole in the black bumper strip and extra secured via a small tie down on the backside of the bumper strip.


Here's a little blurry pic of the camera mounted on the bumper strip.

Next just slide the extra wiring back into the bumper, re-attach the bumper strip (slide the top part in first, then press the bottom part down & into the bumper. You can now test the whole install by putting the key into position 2 or start the car & placing her into reverse. The camera takes over the nav screen, even if the nav screen is off!

As our last step, we wired Manith's 7 with an "on demand" switch, so he can use the camera whenever he wants (not just while in reverse). Tap a wire into the wire coming from the blue TV tuner connector at pin #17, and run it into the cabin area where you want your switch. We used an on/off switch with 2 prongs. On 1 prong, attach the wire you just tapped into the #17 pin wire, on the other prong, attach a ground. This will send the signal (a ground signal) to the TV tuner to switch to the backup camera input for the Nav screen.



Here's an inside my garage pic of the bakup camera working. We probably should have gone outside & got a better view, but we were tired.....

Thanks again to Erik for the great pictures, and to Allan & Manith for putting up with the bad jokes (well, Allan really kept us laughing with most of them...). We even found time to sneak in a lunch & enjoy the whole install day.


Steptronic Sam
2000 740iS, oxford green/tan 46k - widescreen Nav!
1995 525i, also oxford green/tan 126k (no nav)

• Backup camera install with pics - LONG & lot's of pics!!! (pic) - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 00:27:09 (31615 views)
  • Now you need is software that scan image for patrol cars - ChicagoE38 2004-08-10 17:55:32 (1041 views)
    • Is that any different than when I drive with my eyes closed? (grin) (nt) - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 19:31:12 (759 views)
  • Excellent post and great DIY project! Two Thumbs up to you guys! (nt) - JL 2004-08-10 11:20:15 (616 views)
    • Thanks, James. Like you & I have talked about, the projects are fun when - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 12:30:19 (540 views)
  • Great job! Where, what , and how much? Thanks! (nt) - silber98 2004-08-10 09:50:28 (817 views)
    • Well, we all had the TV tuner already. So, adding the backup - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 10:57:16 (1184 views)
      • backup camera - eddie 2004-08-13 09:18:10 (1011 views)
        • Sure. I bought the relay from a local Radio Shack, but (url) - sealbeach740 2004-08-14 03:26:28 (1026 views)
  • Wow! Outstanding job. When can you guys come to - hiltyga 2004-08-10 07:42:24 (513 views)
    • Well, that would be a bit of a commute!! But, we're only an email away!! - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 12:31:23 (579 views)
  • Excellent, great job guys! (nt) - islandbeef 2004-08-10 01:49:59 (424 views)
    • Thanks, Al. Catch up with you on the 28th. (nt) - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 03:17:59 (389 views)
  • Thks Keith for hosting & organizing! Wouldn't & couldn't have done it w/out you! - apwe38/Allan 2004-08-10 00:55:43 (476 views)
    • Thanks for the kind words, Allan. To me it was work, but - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 03:20:28 (470 views)
  • Sweet! Nice recap and pics, well done SoCal7ers!!! (nt) - CG 2004-08-10 00:43:30 (526 views)
    • Craig, it was a lot of fun. Next time, we want you there! (nt) - sealbeach740 2004-08-10 03:18:50 (512 views)