Adding front camera, forcing rear camera display: any way to pull this off?

[Droid]

I would love to add a front camera to my truck and then use the upfitter switches to force a camera view to be displayed on the Nav and select which camera is displayed.

Ideally I'd have the following:

Switch 3: On: force display camera image. Off: normal operation.
Switch 4: On: use front camera. Off: use rear camera. (No effect unless Switch 3 is on).

I wouldn't care if Switch 4 being on caused the issue of the front camera being shown in reverse.

This would be on a navigation-equipped truck, i.e., camera images would appear on nav screen. Truck has the factory backup camera.

I've yet to see anyone do this. I think it'd be *extremely* useful off road. I'd really like to do it via the switches if possible...this is what would make it practical and convenient to use. Having to hold buttons down or navigate through menus on the Nav wouldn't be worth it.

Someone somewhere (maybe this forum, maybe not) managed to wire up an additional reverse light to come on with his backup lights and also via an upfitter switch. It had the side effect of also turning on the rear camera (I'll have to figure out where I saw this).

Anyone know how the rear backup camera is wired and/or what would be required to wire an upfitter switch to change between two inputs?

 

[jjjaymmman]

Camera

'm a little confused on what you are asking.

I have a rear camera installed on my truck, but I added a on-off-on switch so that I can turn the rear camera on while driving forward. The screen on my display will automatically turn on when there is power to the camera. Here is how it works.

1) On one of the ON positions the camera works normal (comes on when the vehicle is in reverse.
2) Off position, camera is disabled
3) The other on switch is jumpered off my 12V outlet and applies power to the camera automatically turning it on (simulating like it was in reverse).

To do what I think your asking, I could add a second switch that will swap the video line (not power) over to another camera (possibily with an RCA video switch). I would just wire the front camera power wire to the same as the rear camera power wire. The send both video lines to a seperate switch to go back and forth to which ever I want to view (2, 3, ++ video-in w/ one video-out to the display).

Additionally, If you want a seperate light I would wire that seperate from the camera switch. If you have any question or want a diagram let me know.

 

[Droid]

First, welcome to the site!

This is almost exactly what I'm looking to do. I didn't realize supplying power to the camera was all that was needed to cause it to display in the truck. I probably wouldn't bother having a switch to disable the camera when in reverse though.

Do you have the camera in the mirror or do you have the navigation system? I read elsewhere that this mod is possible with the rearview mirror-based camera, but no one had had any luck with the nav-based one.

In any case, thanks for the info!

 

[BOJANGLES]

Welcome jjjaymmman... Tell us more. I'd like to get a similar setup and incorporate Nav-Tv's front cam and AllSync.

 

[jjjaymmman]

First I installed the camera system on a 2006 F150 with an aftermarket nav unit. This does not mean you will not be able to do the same, you just made need to do some additional work.
1) All cameras (front or rear) require a power input. Then they have a video out.
2) Units that have an AUTO camera view when in reverse get a power input as well letting the unit know they are in reverse.

With these two rules, I set the unit and camera up like this:
I installed a license plate reverse view *mirror view* camera. I prefer this type because I can turn the camera down to see the hitch in the nav unit hooking up my boat. Also I can turn in up to get a better view of what is right behind me (just like the option to adjust the camera with ease).
-Next I grounded the neg power from the camera to a screw on my hitch.
-I ran the pos power and video line to the cab (zip tied them to the harness running under the driver side of the truck.
-I found the reverse power (+) in the cab right behind the e-brake pedal. I jumpered a wire from here to one side of the on-off-on switch. Most of the time I leave the switch in this position.
-Then I jumped a wire fron the (+) side of my 12V outlet in the dash. This wire is connected to the other side of the on-off-on switch.
-Finally I spliced together the pos power from the camera to the Nav unit's power input for camera wire. (This is the tricky part, you need to figure out which wire gets this power input on you unit that turns the unit to AUTO view rear camera in reverse.) After I joined these two wires together, I jumped a wire off of thid to a 10 amp in-line fuse. I connected it to the middle contact on the on-off-on switch.
-Last was to hook the video line to the CDC input RCA connector for the video in.
Now I just ordered a Audiovox CMOS 2 front view camera from ebay $70. I do not want to see mirror view in my forward camera. I will connect the neg side tot he truck, and route the pos to the cab. Since these cameras draw very little power I'm going to splice the pos power wire to the already existing rear camera power wire. So yes, both will have power at the same time, but I will have a standard RCA A/V switch to display what ever camera I want.
I would still recommend installing the on-off-on switch. If you have a nav unit that will auto display you will need it if you want to see your camera while in forward gear. Hope this helps. I'll email you a diagram if you wish.

 

[jjjaymmman]

Two camera install was easy. What was hard was:
I installed a six camera system for a F-350 with a camper. On the truck, it has a front cam, rear cam, and a fifth wheel cam; the camper has a right corner, left corner, and rear center cam. I installed the same on-off-on switch for power for the truck, but I installed a second power switch for the power going to the camper. I had to make a power and video disconnect point in the truck bed for the camper cameras. In his center console I added a six-in and one-out rca video switch. Once he powers up his cameras, he can change video views on the rca switch. I'm tring to find a powered rca video switch that is 12V DC with a remote mode switch. This way I can put a singlre button on the steering wheel that when pressed, it will change the video to the next camera view. But it works great on the F-350 and the only hard part was the wires for the disconnect point so they didn't get pulled out in a sharp turn.

 

[whtrapta]

Why do you want all of these cameras? Range rover has them for rock crawling really slow. Why in a raptor?

 

[jjjaymmman]

Why do you want all of these cameras? Range rover has them for rock crawling really slow. Why in a raptor?

I didn't want all these cameras, I installed them for someone. He wanted them for his F-350 w/ a 28 foot camper. He liked it so he did not have problems backing his camper. It may have been overkill, I agree, But it did make backing it up very nice.

This was more for a practicle set-up. Now as far as extreme, I have a guy who wants multiple cameras set to record. For air as well as drifting. It just depends on what your looking for. Of course this would cost more and you would want better cameras with HD.

 

[jjjaymmman]

Welcome jjjaymmman... Tell us more. I'd like to get a similar setup and incorporate Nav-Tv's front cam and AllSync.

I'm not too crazy about allsync, but if you spend the money you might as well get the add on with 2 AV inputs. Use V1 and A1 for an entertainment device if you want. V2 Can be connected to a standard AV switch and now you can expand this to as many RCA inputs you want, to include as many cameras as you want. This would also be good if you want to put on multiple cameras with a recording device for an extreme setup. Like air, night driving, drafting, ect. There are limitless ways to do this. NAV-TV is nice, but you can still splice off the reverse signal to an on-off-on switch to engage camera view while in forward gear or park. And use an A/V switch to swap cameras.

 

[jjjaymmman]

Here is an example of a A/V system I unstalled. If you are using an AllSync then you would swap out the main unit connection in the example to the AllSynce A/V in and output. You can also do this to cameras, recording units, DVD, ect. If you can tell me exactly what you are looking for I can probably tell you how to do it. I'll draw one up for a two camera system that you can use in normal mode or while driving forward.