Well this thread https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177155 had some poeple interested in being able to turn on the reverse camera whenever you wanted. Seems a few poeple with aftermarket cameras already did this, but haven't heard of anyone doing it with the OEM system. So I did

Let me start by saying that my car is an 07 TL-S 6 speed.

Well first off my main objective was of course to be able to turn on the rear camera whenever, but without all the other "in reverse" characteristics. i.e. no reverse lights, side mirror tilt down, etc.

So to the ETM I went, found my schematics, made a plan, and took a trip to Radio Shack. Bought a toggle switch, diode, and inline fuse. First we have to run power. As with any mod I do to the TL, no wiring is damaged, cut, spliced, etc. All mods I do are always reversible. So back to power. The only open fuse area in the box is #31 (I think it's that one, off the top of my head). But I already used that one for power for my rear heated seats https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173199 . #33 is also open, but that is hot at all times, so I decided against that.

So due to #31 being hot in on or start, and no other options in my book, I had to steal power from there, along with the wiring already there for the heated rear seats. So power goes from there directly to my 3 amp inline fuse, and then on over to my switch. The switch is not permanently mounted yet, as I'm not sure exactly where I want it...and I'm not sure I'm happy with the switch. I may decide on a smaller one. For the time being, it is gently wedged between the left drivers side center console trim and the carpeting. Up towards the top, where the plastic trim/ambient lighting piece is.

After that, wiring was run over to the passenger side, between the vent ducts for the vents in the rear of the center console, and then on over and underneath the passenger's side ambient lighting/plastic trim. I ziptied it to existing harnesses there, mainly the blower motor one.

Now here's where the "fun" begins. Acura was nice enough to put a connector right at the passenger's kick panel that goes directly back to the navi unit. This is the last connector before the navi unit, if I remember correctly. This is also good because all the other "junk" (MICU/reverse lights/etc) are before this connector. So I de-pinned the appropriate wire from both sides of the connectors. On the side going to back the navi, I connected the power wire from the switch. I used OEM pins for an OEM fit (using a Y-junction setup).

Then on the side that comes from the the reverse switch in the trans iteself, I installed the diode. Again, using the proper pins. This was installed in series. Then everything was reassembled.

For those who are wondering about the diode, a diode, simply put, allows voltage to flow in one direction, but not the other. The way the navi unit knows you're in reverse is because when you shift into reverse, the (reverse) switch in the trans closes. This allows battery voltage to flow on back through the rest of the circuit, letting other things know you're in reverse. The diode simply stops the voltage from going back up the circuit when the toggle switch manually applies power to the circuit.

So power only goes to the navi unit, and the navi unit thinks you're in reverse, so it displays the image from the camera. But when I actually shift into reverse for real, the diode still allows the flow of voltage through the circuit as normal, so everything powers up as you would expect.

If I had the schematic available to show you, this would be so much easier to explain. But for now, this writeup is about the best I can do.

So that's it. It works well, though I'll admit it doesn't serve much of a purpose. I just kind of like having the option of it, and since it sounded like no one had done the mod using the OEM system, and there was interest from others, I figured why not do it?

Questions/comments? Let me know what you think

-- Kevin

 

you got 07 where it is probably set up for the capability of putting OEM reverse camera...

so me where I have 05 probably do not have this set up therefore I will have to use after market reverse camera, etc...

 

...Yah didn't quite understand that one. But yes, the point is those of us with the OEM navi system and reverse camera can put a toggle switch in if we want to. As I had mentioned in my original post, those with an aftermarket setup had to do wiring for it to come on in reverse, so it would be easier at that point to put a manual toggle switch in.

This write up was more or less for those of us with the OEM setup.

And I would like to add that you wouldn't have to go to as much "trouble" as I did. An easier way, and if you don't mind cutting wiring (which as we know, I do), would be to just cut the wire an inch or two down from the connector side going back to the navi unit, and install the diode there, with the manual power wire from the toggle switch fed right in after it.

As I said before, this mod doesn't really have a use but it was fun, simple, and cheap to do

 

Nice job. How long did it take you to do this?

 

Because this was the first time I had ever done this, and didn't have any instructions, I probably spent about 1 1/2 hours on this. Also don't forget that I depinned everything, etc etc. If you wanted to just go ahead and cut the needed wires to splice into, etc etc, I would think this could be easily done in under 20 minutes.

Having had this mod for a few months now, it is actually quite fun. People get a kick at being able to watch traffic fly by in the opposite direction, and even more so, when you pass people going the same direction. The camera also makes you appear to be going a lot faster then you actually are, which is also different.

Again, this mod serves no "real" point, but it was easy and cheap to do, and there had been some interest previously so. Any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

Hey I don't think your mod is crazy... in fact I may use it as part of a car PC implementation.

I'm currently trying to use a EEE PC with touch screen mod as a car PC. The problem with this is that this leaves the stock navi screen with nothing to do! Doing this would give me an "extra rear view mirror" :P

 

Great writeup! Would there be any difference if this were done on an auto? And what wire did you connect the switch and diode too?

 

Where did you read people doing this with aftermarket cameras? I have a wendy's cam and this sounds like a neat idea

 

There is a DIY by bzyrice, I believe

 

nice write up, i think i want to do this mod now lol

 

Man ive been looking for this for a while... Nice work, gonna have to try it out this weekend.

 

Is there anyway you could give us a picture of how your connected everything? At least a picture of the Connector on the passenger side?

 

I really really want to do this mod!!

Do you have a schematic or any supporting pictures/diagrams. I'm too nervous to dive into this without a little more direction.

What specific parts did you get? I have a auto transmission as well.

 

bump - anyone

 

sweet mod.... wish i knew what i was doing to attempt to tackle this

 

Does anyone have the wiring schematics...which wire do you tap into??

 

need pics and more info

 

Wow, very cool. Pictures would be nice....

 

When you say cut an inch from nav side,do you mean the nav screen itself or the dvd rom for the nav?sorry if it sounds like a silly question