Fish the camera's wire through, replace the trim, then mount the camera using its clips:



Reinstall the screws and license plate bulbs (no pics, its straigh forward).

Now we need power to the camera, and I'm taping the right reverse light:



I used a test light as my multimeter was at the time being borrowed, I do NOT recommend this and ask to please use a multimeter to test any sort of connections. The top red wire was the 12V and the white wire is ground:



Cut the sleeve holding the reverse wires:



I used T-taps with connectors, take a pick at what you like as long as it is secure and durable:



Run the RCA cables:





Make the connections at the camera and start cleaning up all wires. At this point it is time to run the RCA to the front. Use plenty of zip ties to keep it neat and follow the trunk harness INCLUDING the slack, remember the trunk opens and closes, make it too tight and you'll stretch the wire:






Run the wire behind the trunk covering:

 

Seats coming out. Bottom seat is held only by 2 strong clips. Requires effort, trust me its not a joke:







Now the side trim needs to be removed. It has two pull clips and a metal clip that sticks with the trim. Get your hand under it and pull up. If you break a clip, replace it, theyre reusable but get brittle after awhile:





Next is to loosen the top seats, no need to remove completely, just enough to slide the wire by. It should have 4 screws, I remember 12mm, on the bottom of the seats, two on the out sides and two towards the center:





From the trunk, you got to push the wire towards the bottom left of the trunk. Follow the black wire seen in the pic, my amp wires also go in that direction:



This is the inside, bottom of the seat where the wire will go through. Its hard to see but look for the yellow RCA tip in the pic:

 

Run the wire down the door sills, this pic is the drivers door but its the same for both:







I was able to get by with the center pillar by just tucking the RCA cord under but the pillar pulls out for larger gauge wire:





Pull out the kick panel, it has a plastic push screw towards the back and clips inside. Requires door sill to be removed first. Remove the screw and pull:



Next is the radio, remove the vents first, they pull out towards you, use SOFT tools, the dash scratches easily. Do not tug it out, the Hazard Light harness is right behind it:



My radio is a stealth display, so this is where I branch from most installers who already have their double din installed:





But it comes out one way and thats by first taking the shift knob (turn it counterclockwise) and the two plastic pillars next to the push draws (pull them):





Pull the trim plate by where the shifter is:





Rest of the center console pulls up too, I pull from the back. WATCH for the cigarette lighter:

 

Push tray comes out by two philips screws where the pillars pulled from and the cigarette lighter/ AUX plugs from the back. Put the car to the "ON" position, shift to L and it makes it easier to remove:

 

To remove radio and heating controls its 4 10mm screws, 2 up top and 2 on bottom:





Once those are out, pull all plugs from your radio and heating controls (no pic, I assume this is straight forward).

I did a trim install too, showing that here:





Once that installed, I ran the RCA wire I left at the drivers seat up the kick panel.
Wire goes below the steering column and into the back of the radio:



Leave it hanging and run the reverse wire lead for the headunit. It taps into the 12 pin connector at the kick, red wire. Always meter wires before tapping. Heres a thread I followed to find it: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...-generation-2002-2006-2007-2011/354140-2009-camry-le-reverse-wire-location.html



Ran the wire with the RCA to my headunit (hard to see but Im holding it):



Reinstall and clean all wires with zip ties where possible. Didnt document this but its just working backwards.

Finished result:

 

Thats it, thanks for reading such a long post, hopefully it was helpful to those wanting to tackle it but just needed some guidance. Any questions just ask, Id be happy to answer.

 

Great job, very specified and lot info, marked. Will upgrade mine very soon.

 

Thanks! Hope it goes smooth for you as it did for me.

 

very nice and pretty detailed install.

 

Hi,
I bought a rear camera that used Wifi instead of routing the wires to the front.
My camera sits on the license plate but I am stuck on figuring out how to pass the wire into the car without drilling a hole in the body.
It is unclear to me how you were able to pass the wire from the camera into the inside of the car without having to drill a hole in the license plate light. Can you please explain?
(Also, I ended up breaking the key lever but that is another post).

 

Hi,
I bought a rear camera that used Wifi instead of routing the wires to the front.
It is unclear to me how you were able to pass the wire from the camera into the inside of the car without having to drill a hole in the license plate light. Can you please explain?
(Also, I ended up breaking the key lever but that is another post).

My camera goes where the license plate lights go. So I had to remove one of them to install it, wires goes behind it so no holes are drilled, which is exactly what I wanted. Heres pics regarding it:

These are the license plate lights:



Here it is mounted to the trim before mounting it to the license plate light:



The result, with no holes (but lots of wiring) and the other half of the camera itself is still a license plate light:

 

Thanks for replying but it is not clear to me; the rim of the license plate light is tightly flush with the trunk lid - there is no space to route a wire in.
I assume the wire from your camera has to be inserted through between the plastic rim of the light and the metal trunk - is that correct?
So how did you do it...?

 

I see what youre asking, what I think isnt clear is the way my backup camera is built. I needed to throw one (right side) of my old license lights out to fit it in. That leaves a hole, it is made to match the bracket of my license plate light so it uses the actual hole that the license plate light uses for its wiring to allow the camera's wires in, I literally remove one of my license plate lights and it goes in place of it and the wire is allowed into my trunk behind the camera itself. No tucking. Here are pics to hopefully make a little more sense. Mine is up top, as you can see, it has the license plate light built into it and it fits right into the hole which is why I had to remove the trim and one of my lights. The bottom is a generic backup camera where you would have to drill holes as it has to be mounted to the trim and also needs a hole to tuck the wire whereas mine uses my license plate light.

This my camera:



If youre thinking of using these, then drilling is required:

 

ok, I understand now. This is the camera I purchased. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Jn67tisag
I was hoping to somehow pass the wire in through the license plate lights without drilling.
I ended up breaking the key hole lever and am thinking of returning the camera to the store - very frustrating.

If you have expertise on how to repair the broken part, please help - no replies so far. see my post here
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...006-2007-2011/1030618-broke-plastic-part-connecting-latch-lever-lock-trunk.html

 

Im sorry to hear about your frustrations, I did check out the one you used and yes it needs to be drilled in order to run the power wire. Also for the trunk piece, youll need to buy a whole new one, they dont sell small pieces like that. Junk yards are your best bet, im looking for the key tumbler myself as I broke mine on another occasion.

 

Thanks for posting. This is the best looking camera, what's the brand and where did you buy it? How's the image quality? Thanks!

 

Thanks! It is a generic no brand Chinese camera, I bought it off ebay. Look up "rear view camera camry" and it should pop up. I had to have it shipped from Hong Kong as there were no US distributors. Image quality is pretty good, considering its not HD nor expensive. There are markings it puts into the display that really help (you can see it in my pictures).

Here's a link (if this is not allowed, mods please remove):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CCD-Color-R...PICNIC-ECHO-VERSO-CAMRY-/121620724059?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c5128f95b

 

Holy shit that's a long guide. Thanks man. I actually bought an ebay camera for $10 a few weeks ago but haven't messed with it. I'll use this to install mine. Here's the one I purchased:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351514582620?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

Does the image appear reversed? If yes, it's because of the head unit or because of the camera? Thank you.

 

Usually because of the camera. But mine is not reversed or maybe I still don't know what "reversed" means. That warning you see on my head unit is just that, a warning from pioneer. Only the colored lines are from the camera.

 

Though it's not a DIY job, I thought I'd post a link to pix of my custom installed back-up camera and head unit...and costs...
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...011/1313953-2005-camry-pioneer-head-unit-camera-555-installed.html#post11081697

 

Though it's not a DIY job, I thought I'd post a link to pix of my custom installed back-up camera and head unit...and costs...
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...011/1313953-2005-camry-pioneer-head-unit-camera-555-installed.html#post11081697

Looks good kitacamry! Sometimes I wish dash kits matched color with the surrounding trim which in your case would be tan, it just looks different and obvious in that color.

 

Wow!! amazing post. I have a 2008 Camry xle with factory nav. and wanted a backup camera. but didn't want the ones on license plate... i got the same one you got on ebay! and gonna do install using your post one of these days!! can't wait.

Is the camera rather tight when sitting in the license plate light socket?

also why did you need to remove the trim piece? was it just for convenience, or necessary?

 

Not sure if the factory nav requires a module to use a backup camera but keep me updated so I can share that info with others.

Fits just like the OEM license plate light.

Also, in my case, I needed to remove the trim piece as the camera would not maneuver into the trim once in the OEM light hole. I had to put it through the trim first and then mount it to the trunk.

 

Long overdue. Here's a 3 year update on this setup.

Camera is still working well but the weather has taken its toll on it. The paint is slowly fading around the camera lens as you can see in the pics below (it is the ring around the lens). Image quality has remained the same. Even to this day it is holding its worth for a cheap unit from China. I did have to redo the t-taps as I did a bad job initially alongside using low quality taps, now I don't have to guess if my camera will come on lol

I upgraded to a Pioneer AVH-4000NEX from a AVH-P4400BH, but again the video quality of the camera is the same and limited to the camera. Had I knew better, I could have opt'ed for an HD camera with a wider viewing angle, but I shouldn't be complaining about $20 vs $100

 

Great install and looks good. Quick question, if you were to do it all over again with a budget of upto $1000, what would you replace the factory non HBL head unit with? I am wanting to replace the 2011 head unit with something that's compatible with Iphone Carplay, USB and a back-up camera?

Thanks

 

I'm biased to Pioneer so I'd max out the budget on a the latest and best NEX series unit available. Since I really don't use Nav but rather iphone maps, I stick to AVH units. The AVIC units have built in GPS and come with a nice price tag.

But, spend the money on a good backup camera, it makes a worlds difference.

 

Can I buy a factory head unit with NAV and then replace the screen with an after market unit? If not, what's the best after market trim kit one can purchase and what's the largest screen one can install, 9"?

 

Unfortunately not, if you want an aftermarket double din then you will need a dash kit. The old metra kits were what I preferred and is what I have, the new ones just look weird now. Max screen size for a double din is 7".

If you want a 9" you'll be looking at a generic/Chinese Android unit which can be a hit/miss. I don't like them but that's my opinion.

 

Would something like this works, they are advertised all over the place for under $250? What does android thingy means?

Thanks

 

Would something like this works, they are advertised all over the place for under $250? What does android thingy means? Thanks

It would work, but I personally are against them. They have been unreliable, terrible sound quality, and just feel cheap to me. But if you look enough, there's a sea of rave reviews. I also haven't touched one in years.

The "android" means it uses an android operating system like android cell phones. When the earlier models came out, they used Windows CE like home computers and were terrible. I still have a Windows one in my attic.

 

Great help. I will definitely look into Mantra trim kit and hopefully will have it done soon. A very reputable audio/video store quoted me $1300 for everything installed (Carplay, bluetooth and rear view camera), reasonable deal?

 

Reasonable if you’re getting a high end head unit, probably a Pioneer AVH-W4400NEX would fit that kind of a quote. If not, pass immediately.

 

In a 6th Gen Camry with a factory NAV/BC, is it easier to replace just the screen with an updated say, Pioneer AVH unit?

 

It is harder, as you need different (and more expensive) wiring harnesses/adapters to retain the JBL amplifier, bluetooth controls, and backup camera (which sucks to begin with).

Easiest and cheapest radio swap is a Camry with no Nav, JBL, and bluetooth.

 

The set up is for our 16 year old daughter hence the need for hands free phone and back-up camera. Is factory JBL system OK for a beginner, I think it would be?

 

Not sure what you mean by this. JBL is the premium audio package offered by Toyota, it can be had on both the non-Nav and Nav Camry's and includes an external amplifier located under the passenger seat and upgraded speakers.

 

Is there a good brand of rear camera to go with Pioneer MVH-1400NEX? The store manager mentioned not many people using CD's so no point in spending extra $200 on AVH series, any truth to that?

 

To be honest I haven’t been keeping up with cameras since I got mine. But as far as I know pioneer still uses the single RCA as the video feed so options are endless. If budget is no issue, a Pioneer or alpine backup camera is the way to go.

Also you are right, since I bought my 4000NEX the CD player has not been used once. But the 7” screen is the way to go.