Reversing camera not working

[Black Beautie]

A while ago my video display on the revision mirror stopped working but the red power light indicator light is still on. But if I press the menu button still no sign of life. It's an after market one. No instructions came with the car as Australian fleet sales disposed of all the paper work prior delivery. Also it's not a wireless unit ether. Any suggestions?

 

[bods]

Can you turn the screen on manually with the vehicle in reverse and do you get an image on the screen then? You won't need to have the engine running, just the ignition in the "on" position to supply power to the reverse lights. While you're trying that, double check that the reverse lights are actually working...

I'd have a guess and say if it is an ex fleet vehicle, they would have used a "scotch lock" to tap into the reverse light wire to get the signal for the screen. If that is the case, the wire tap has probably come loose so the screen is no longer getting a signal when the vehicle is in reverse. Where they would have tapped into to get the signal is anyone's guess though... see how you go with being able to turn it on manually first and we will go from there...

 

[Old.Tony]

I've just installed a new head unit in my car (Pumpkin 1024x600) and in order to get my camera working, not only did my camera need power (which it gets from the reversing lights) but the head unit needed to get a specific reverse signal as well so that it would switch into the "replace everything on screen with camera" mode.

If yours is a pure reversing camera, check to see if it has more than 4 wires coming from it. If it has 5 wires, one of those is likely to be a reversing signal (the other wires will be positive, negative, camera signal and camera earth). Then make sure that the 5th wire is getting power when the car is in reverse (and ignition is on and reverse lights come on).

You might also check the wiring at the camera. When I installed a reversing camera in my wife's car, I had to remove one of the tail lights and attach a power feed wire to the reverse light globe power. Rather than use scotch locks or those clamp-on connectors (which have a nasty habit of cutting the wires you're attaching to) I shaved the insulation away, bent the inner conductor out and soldered the new wire to it, then gave it a good dose of insulation tape that I used the soldering iron to glue the ends down. You might want to check that yours has been done properly.

 

[Carchania]

Yeah those Scotch locks suck. Have noticed previous owner of mine used them for a lot of things. Another problem is that the factory wiring is so thin the scotch lock doesn't actually get the connection properly so it can be intermittent. Have been slowly but surely replacing scotch locks with crimp and shrinks to provide a more secure connection

 

[Black Beautie]

There's nothing like stripping the wire back& soldering it up..