correction of Wrex's notes on the installation of the Chinese head unit to OEM back up camera for posterity
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Hi everyone. Having just now hooked up the OEM reverse camera to the Carnaviplayer head unit, I would like to make a few corrections to Wrex's original post on the subject. All credit to Wrex for his original installation project but I think he made a few errors in the documentation and the installation so hopefully my notes help someone in the future.
Here goes:
1. The OEM camera module has two harnesses - it's the small brown one on the right with 4 wires that you tap into. There is no need to remove the camera module for the install. Just unhook the 4-pin connector and pull it out a bit and you will have reasonable working space.
2. The wires to tap into are WHITE/GREY for Positive RCA and BLACK for Negative RCA - Wrex's notes spoke of a solid White wire (there isn't one - he must have meant the white/grey) and solid Brown wire (there are two browns, neither solid, and neither are correct for use; he must have remembered wrong... we both have LP cars).
3. If you decide to repurpose a high quality RCA cable for this install, the outer copper wire bundle is negative, and the inner core wire is positive. But don't forget that the paper-thin aluminium shield is conductive and in contact with the negative, so you must peel it away a bit at the end to prevent contact with the centre wire when crimping.
4. The use of a 6V to 12V relay that caused much confusion and required much clarification in Wrex's article is NOT at all necessary to enable the centre console rear view camera button - the factory wiring provides a Pin 2 (being a white/yellow wire) on harness C (green harness with 12 pins) labelled RSFL and it outputs 12V whenever the camera is active. So simply bridge that wire to the Chinese head unit's reverse camera trigger and you are done! Camera button on centre console works, reverse auto trigger works. No relay needed.
Here goes:
1. The OEM camera module has two harnesses - it's the small brown one on the right with 4 wires that you tap into. There is no need to remove the camera module for the install. Just unhook the 4-pin connector and pull it out a bit and you will have reasonable working space.
2. The wires to tap into are WHITE/GREY for Positive RCA and BLACK for Negative RCA - Wrex's notes spoke of a solid White wire (there isn't one - he must have meant the white/grey) and solid Brown wire (there are two browns, neither solid, and neither are correct for use; he must have remembered wrong... we both have LP cars).
3. If you decide to repurpose a high quality RCA cable for this install, the outer copper wire bundle is negative, and the inner core wire is positive. But don't forget that the paper-thin aluminium shield is conductive and in contact with the negative, so you must peel it away a bit at the end to prevent contact with the centre wire when crimping.
4. The use of a 6V to 12V relay that caused much confusion and required much clarification in Wrex's article is NOT at all necessary to enable the centre console rear view camera button - the factory wiring provides a Pin 2 (being a white/yellow wire) on harness C (green harness with 12 pins) labelled RSFL and it outputs 12V whenever the camera is active. So simply bridge that wire to the Chinese head unit's reverse camera trigger and you are done! Camera button on centre console works, reverse auto trigger works. No relay needed.
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Hi there, @Jinster , thanks for this writeup!
I am thinking about probably getting the CarNavi for my LP Gallardo. I have a couple questions:
1) How do you like it so far? Is it glitchy or works flawlessly? Anything you don't like at all?
2) Does it come with a GPS/Map built-in app or it only relies on whatever navigation app you have on your phone? Such ass google maps, waze, etc. Meaning, if you don't have wifi or internet access you cannot get GPS navigation?
3) As far as the backup camera. On their website it mentions that the unit is NOT compatible with the backup camera and you need to purchase one. With the write up you have here, if I wire and RCA cable from the back of the CarNavi unit to that OEM connector, will it use the OEM camera or I have to, no matter what, still replace the OEM camera with the aftermarket one they sell for about $39, and if so, do I need a special bracket/housing to install it in my OEM spoiler?
Thank you!
1. This is an Android head unit, but I have an iPhone. So I have a Carplay for Android app installed along with the USB wireless Carplay module. The Carplay aspect, which is 95% of my use, is almost completely flawless. I would highly recommend that you use install a wireless Carplay module to go with this unit. If you have an Android phone, I cannot comment. The other 5% of the time I use the Android aspect of the head unit (TPMS and proper full fat Spotify). It is occasionally glitchy, but: that's as expected for most Android apps; and I am using a custom ROM (Malaysk).
2. You can easily install any Android app, including Waze and Google Maps to go with it. This makes offline GPS use easily doable, once all the map data is downloaded when you had the Internet connection. However, using the Android apps (including GPS) on the head unit is a much slower experience than using wireless Carplay with it. I would fire up Carplay every time. When you install the unit, be sure to get a GPS adapter to connect the head unit to the factory GPS module. You do not need the GPS module that comes with this head unit - less installation hassles.
3. I was able to hook up my OEM camera to this head unit. Indeed the bulk of Wrex/my write-up is about hooking up the OEM camera to this unit.
Good luck.
The location of the wiring is different. Wrex's thread has posts from another Pre-LP user who detailed where to find the camera wires in a Pre-LP.
Awesome! Thank you.. I will be using it for iPhone as well. Do I need to purchase a specific video cable to use the OEM cam or it comes with it?
You need to buy an RCA cable, 1.5m in length, and hack it up to hook up to the OEM camera and the new head unit.
Sorry. I don't know which/what Sony camera you are talking about. My OEM camera is adequate for me. I don't rely on it for anything to be honest. I personally find reverse parking sensors to be far more useful than a video feed. And no, I don't have reverse sensors on my LP. The camera is mainly used when parking. And I tend to just move on to a different parking spot, a different street, or a different suburb/change of restaurant altogether if there isn't a good parking space for my LP. So I must say I don't actually use the camera much. But when I do use it, quality really isn't an issue. It's just to judge distance between two bumpers. The OEM camera is perfectly adequate for that.
I meant the sony camera that can come with the carnavi when you order one.
Yeah I dont need the camera really - its more the fact that the car came with one when new & I want everything to work - even if its not with the factory head unit - the carnavi is a good looking unit.
.
Ive tried to get the factory headunit to work with the stock camera but Ive given up. I think I will just order the unit with the sony camera just in case my oem audi one doesnt work.
thanks
I am pretty sure the aftermarket camera is going to be 100 times more clear and high res than the OEM one , if that is what you wanted to know. I bought a $13 camera for my Wrangler and it is so crystal clear! The one that comes with the Lambo is so pixelated but it works for me.. if I ever get the Carnavi I probably will still use the OEM camera but not because I like the way it looks on the screen but instead because it would be one wire less that I would have to route....
Let us know how it goes and what mod you had to do in order to get the aftermarket camera working when putting the car in reverse and when activating it with the switch on the console. I am interested as well. Haven't bought the carnavi but when I do I may or may not get that sony camera, depending on how easy or difficult it is to get installed (especially when you put it in the spoiler and if the OEM bracket works, etc etc)
well Jinster has got his so the button still works - I'm not so worried about that but yeah I think I will order the unit now
This worked like a charm! Thanks for sharing
Question on this.. 1) do you now leave the module harness you tapped into unplugged or plug it back in? 2) can you not tap into wires at back of the head unit for a cleaner install?
You plug it back in after tapping into the two wires and you only tap into 1 wire in the back of the head unit and that’s ONLY if you want the console button to work to activate the backup camera manually. I tapped into it but I used one of these so I can disconnect it if I want to take the radio out
![Liquid Material property Magenta Glass Metal]()
But, if you don’t want to tap into any OEM wires at all. Run your camera cable from the back of the head unit all the way to the spoiler and don’t tap into the back of the radio (center console button disabled)
But, if you don’t want to tap into any OEM wires at all. Run your camera cable from the back of the head unit all the way to the spoiler and don’t tap into the back of the radio (center console button disabled)
Did anybody experience a little bit of "video interference noise" with their camera after installing the carnaviplayer? I tried different cameras, rca cables, grounding to chasing, different 12v power supply points and what not.. and I get this very light/see thru vertical rolling lines with the engine running and without it running. The camera looks great but the lines drive me crazy. When I try the camera not installed in the car (work bench) it looks 100% perfect, this only happens when hooking everything up in the car and makes me believe there has to be something that plugs in to the headunit that is causing interference but I have no clue what it could be or how to fix it
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