Got mine done today. Sits next to numberplate and runs to the headunit. Automatically comes on when in reverse.

Will psot some photos up later.

You thought about reverse sensors, as in the Ghias etc? would they be anygood, combined with camera?

Yes i have, and I have provision for Power to be supplied to possible reverse sensors via the Wiring Harness, but I haven't convinced myself on them yet.


Lukeyson

Cameras give mroe of an idication i feel. You can see rather then hear whats behind.

On a camera you can see a kid or a bike. Sensors beep at anything.

Thats y the new territorys have a camera and sensers, its good when i drive them i watch the camera and listen at the same time, its good cos the camera gives you a good view but it is weird, but if i had 2 pick either one or the other i would take the camera 4 sure.
Cheers
Griffo

OK, after a few weeks of no progress, I've got this to report thanks to a chore-free Anzac day:

(1) I made a small change to my harness layout - will upload when I get a chance. I decided to modularise the power-harness so I could run one harness from the fuse-box to the filter, and then another one from the filter to the converter. The (The CarPC and Audio Preamp I have shuffled too to make more modular).

(2) I put some self-adhesive strips of velcro on the bottom of the converter and placed the unit under the drivers chair.

(3) I assembled the switches in the centre console and wired up the harness, reversed the position of the 'Mobile Phone Presenter' 25mm hole that would have normally been drilled on the left-front side of the bottom of the console, and instead drilled it on the right. (The template for this is in the BA Factory Workshop Manual)

(4) I assembled the Fuse-Box-to-Filter Power Harness using the M/F standard connector at the Fuse Box end (allowing me to daisy-chain something else in the future) and 2 x d**k Smith standard 4-pin connecters at the filter end. The Filter is now strapped under the dash on the main brace that runs down the right side of the airbox.

I have tested the operation of the switches and the power with a mulimeter and all looks good.

The next two harnesses that will be made are the Converter-to-ICC and Filter-to-Converter-power - and do some general harness managed now under the drivers seat.

I should have taken a picture of the harnesses before going in, but I'll take a quick snapshot of each item in place.


Lukeyson

Alright, some progress made, and some pictures taken. I'll upload them shortly.

I completed the combined Power Line and Converter-to-Screen harness and connected it all up yesterday. And I have an interesting story to tell.

Let me say now that everything is working fine - although the Overlay function doesn't appear to work as I had anticipated - but there was a bit of heart-stopping in amidst it all.

As a bit of background, I've been having problems with the car Alarm of late - going off quite often when the car is first started. It's been getting worse over the last few months. I was on the cusp of having it disconnected at the next service. But on top of that, in the last few weeks she's been a bit odd on cranking over, and I was beginning to suspect the battery.

But what timing!

I hooked up the converter yesterday and did some initial testing with the car off. The tests I did were successful. So I went in side, got the camcorder, hooked it up via the last harness connector, and tried again.

Nothing. Zilcho. Couldn't get the screen on. Couldn't start the car. (No cranking, lot's of 'relay ticking'). In that instant, I figured I'd blown the BEM somehow and was looking at a tow-and-fix. I figured I'd have to get the wiring out to make sure it didn't cause any more problems.

After pulling everything out and letting the car sit for awhile, the ICC came back on. And at that point my Battery suspicions came back. A quick terminal test showed just 8V when things were dark.

So, one 450CCA battery later (which is what was in it from new, but interestingly in the Factory Workshop Manual it specifies a 520CCA battery. Hmm), car running again, I reinstalled the harness, and everything came up fine. Not only that, but the alarm hasn't misfired since then.

Things are now good. She shows just on 14V running, so it doesn't appear to have been an alternator issue. The original battery did get a deep-discharge early in it's life when a Fridge in a caravan was left on getting power from the tow-line with the car not running. So my guess is that the battery was daaged way back then.

With camcorder in hand I've seen my ugly mug on the screen, and i can manually turn the thing on and off, switch between inputs, and switch on the overlay, so everything is just about done for stage 1.

About the overlay - I could have sworn that I should be able to see the audio controls over the top of the video. But when i switch on overlay, it just shows the audio controls and no video. I'm not sure what that's all about. As far as i was aware I just needed to drag the overlay line to GND. Are we all sure that that's correct?

But who'd have believed such rotten timing.

The next stage is to get the reverse camera mounted and hooked up, and following that the CarPC.

Fun fun fun.


Lukeyson

Awesome work lukeyson!
Well Done mate!

OK, Time to dump some pictures.

Here goes:

 

 

Attachments:

File comment: This dual-harness takes power from filter to converter under-seat, and RGB video from Converter to ICC Screen. Note the spliced-on ICC connector with unused lines. Convert Power and Video Harness - SMALL.JPG [ 37.82 KiB | Viewed 234 times ]

File comment: This harness connects from the Power Socket behind Fuse Box (with onward socket for future power) to Filter strapped to the side of the airbox Power to Filter Harness SMALL.JPG [ 30.32 KiB | Viewed 186 times ]

File comment: Centre Console Switches - a batch of three switches allow me to power the unit on/off, allow me to MANUALLY select the two camera inputs (auto reverse still works) and select the Overlay - which doesn't work as i expected. Centre Console Switches SMALL.JPG [ 44.92 KiB | Viewed 241 times ]

Note that the switchbox has a cable that passes through a hole drilled into the bottom of the console compartment, and feeds to the converter under the drivers seat.

The Overlay doesn't function as I thought. By grounding the Overlay pin on the ICC i though it would show the video in the background, and the ICC controls over top. But when grounded, the video stops and the ICC controls appear as normal. Is that the way it should work?


Lukeyson

And finally, some images with the Reverse Camera powered by a temporary cigarette lighter in the car to show the display.

 

 

Attachments:

File comment: ICC Cluster with Video operational, showing Camera on the Dashboard. (Don't look too close at the mug with the camera, you might get blinded.) ICC Cluster + Reverse Camera SMALL.JPG [ 29.46 KiB | Viewed 272 times ]

File comment: Close up of ICC Screen with Video Input operational. ICC Screen SMALL.JPG [ 44.29 KiB | Viewed 225 times ]

Just some notes regarding the camera - I'm pretty damn happy with it, even if it is pretty big, but then that was one of my original goals.

The IR feature works great. Point it into a footwell and while everything goes grey, it is crystal clear. Point it back at the sky and it takes about 3 to 5 seconds to adjust and show the outside scene crystal clear as well.

The image is slightly fisheye - they don't advertise this bit. But I am thankfull it does.

And the reversing of the image is a MUST. It is very intuitive to reverse the car with the image reversed, and almost impossible to without it. So I'm very happy with that.

NEW APPLICATION!

One thing we tried was putting it up on the roof lining to look at the back seat. With the fisheye, I can see the whole back see very clearly. It's now suddenly worth me getting a cheap video switcher, because if I can look back there at my two kids both day AND night without having to turn around it would be an absolute godsend! We'll be looking very seriously into this now!


Lukeyson

wow - looks like a quality image .. well done so far!!

I thouht I might take a picture of the back seat to show you - but the camera conspired against me.

Firstly, this image is with the flash on - so while the edge of the image is bright, the image itself looks dark, and that's not the case (as you can see from a previous image). You also get all my wonderfull screen-dust showing up.

And secondly, that's when the camera batteries ran dry, thanks to my missus having turned on the picture-preview screen on the back of the camera, which sucks batteries better than Pamela sucks Tommy Lee. Well maybe not, she does suck pretty good....so I couldn't take a flash-off image.


After all this, you do get a reaosnable idea of the view you can get of the back seat, both night and day - which is the point.


Lukeyson

Hi there,
Could you please send info about the location of the ICC connector and the AUX input connector and a list of the component, wires and connectors used.

Cheers