Camry HybridDiscussion area for the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving Americas favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
Totally my new TCH. It has all the stuff. However, I really really want to find a backup camera that can be hooked up to this amazing Nav System. Other cars have it . I've tried all contacts found in other forums and followed up to hear that it just can't be done.
If anyone has found a way -- please let us know!
www.coastaletech.com. If you can get them to answer your email. I've tried three times to no effect, however someone on camrychat managed to get and use their products.
I did get an e-mail response from Coastal Tech. When asked if they had a solution for a backup camera on the '07 TCH.... they simply replied: 'not yet please check back'
They have a module that will give you two video inputs. One for DVD and one for backup camera. They want $450 for it. I would buy, but I also want iPod interface.
One source said that they would have to remove my Nav unit & send it cross country to FLA where the proper connections would be implemented on the unit & then return it for installation & hook up (nervous about that idea). Also, local Toyota service dept. said:
"It can't be done and any outside tampering would void the warranty on this $$$$ unit".
--Still hoping a reasonable solution can be found.
They have a module that will give you two video inputs. One for DVD and one for backup camera. They want $450 for it. I would buy, but I also want iPod interface.
Wait until January 2007 - Vais Technology is comming out with a unit that adds 2 auxillary inputs to the existing Nav unit. 1 Controlled Audio input for iPod & 1 Audio/Video source, which can be used for a navigation unit or a rearview camera!
Made the plunge and bought an Eclipse BEC105 camera on ebay for $140. After shipping, the total came to $160. After the camera arrived, I tried to figure out how to best install the camera and mount it. www.oemvalue.com was an invaluable resource to peruse, but doesn’t tell you much on the mounting process itself. So, my laziness won out for the moment and I took it to an audio shop to get them to do the install. They looked at it, said they would have to drill some holes, quoted me $300 and said they could get to it in about a week. Wrong answers, so I started to do it myself. OK no pictures, but here’s how I did it.
You’ll need a soldering iron, silver solder, snap/fastener removal tool, wire snake, some cord or wire to fish the camera cable through tight spots, assorted tools and shrink tubing. You’ll also need some cables from an old computer case, the ones that connect to leds or to the cdroms. I’ll explain later.
Take out the liners for the trunk lid, the driver’s side trunk liners and the hybrid battery. That part is probably not required, but what the hell, I did it. You’ll also have to remove the driver’s side door kick plates/sills on the front and back doors. Next you’ll have to remove the assemblies for the shifter and the dash parts around the nav unit. The step by step disassembly instructions can be found on the Toyota Camry Hybrid Service Manual. Someone has posted that on this forum. You should download that.
There is a triangular opening on the lower part of the drivers side in the trunk that has wiring going through it. I used that opening to fish the snake through. It comes out by the space between the back seat and the door. Since I don’t have ham hands, I could squeeze my fingers through the gap to grab the snake. I attached the first bit of wire to the snake to feed it through to the trunk. Left that in place for the moment. I fished another length of wire through the side bracing from the back door to the front door. Also, left that in place for the moment. Then I ran a length of wire up the lower kick plate up, underneath the steering wheel to the dash console. I taped the camera cable to the wire and pulled it through, repeated that process with the wires I left in-place until it ended up in the trunk.
The BEC105 camera actually comes in two pieces. The camera has a length of cable attached ending in a three pin cannon plug. A long length of cable with a cannon plug that mates to the first plug and on the other end is a four pin white connector that will connect to an Eclipse nav unit. That plug on the camera cable will have to be cut. No sense in dissassemling the connector as the pins are too big for the R10 plug to Toyota navigation system. The pins for the wires I got from my old computers are the right size for this plug. There is only a small plastic lever that locks the pins into the connectors, so a needle can be used to pull the pins out of the connectors. There are lots of colors to choose from in the computer case so I used colors that are the same as on the camera wires. In case you’re wondering, the color code on the camera is white and black are tied together for ground. The yellow is video plus and the red in for the 6 volt power. I soldered the wires with pins on, cleaned everything up with the shrink tubing and inserted the pins into the R10 connector. Oemvalue website has the pin locations for these. Just make sure you push the pins all the way into the R10 plug so it will properly mate to the nav connectors. This part is a real pain in the ass and will take some gentle yet persistent pushing. I plugged it in and tested the camera at this point. No sense continuing if I had screwed this part up. Voila, it worked and I could see myself on the nav with the car on and the gear in reverse.
I decided to mount the camera on a metal license frame I bought. I took off the trunk part that has the Toyota logo and the license plate lights. It’s held on by five bolts and a couple of snap connectors. I ran the camera cable through the drivers side license plate light opening. That was my solution, but you might also just run the cable between the gap for this trunk part and trunk and not tighten the bolts as tight when you reassemble everything. As luck would have it, there is a grommet that has the truck release sensor wire running through. I used this to string the camera cable through. Look ma, no holes to drill. Once I took off the tape to allow access to the grommet, I used a long nosed needle nosed pliers to stretch open the grommet so I could force the camera cable through. Made the connections, aimed the camera, reassembled all the liners, sills and console parts and I was done with the cursing and yelling.
The picture quality isn’t HDTV, but it works. Does low light fairly well. Doesn’t work too well in bright sunlight. Not because of the camera, but that you can’t see the nav screen too well if there is too much glare. Total cost to me was $160 for the camera, $10 for the fastener removal tools since I misplaced the one I had and $5 for the solder since ditto, I couldn’t find that either. All told, I spent $175, that better than $1100 from the dealer. Feel free to ask questions if this is too confusing.
Thanks for the writeup - any chance you have pictures?
I'm curious to see how the cam is mounted on the trunk and also what the connector you had to plug into behind the dash looks like.
Sorry, no pictures yet. The camera is mounted on the top of my license frame just under and between the drivers side license light and the touch pad to open the trunk. You can go to oemvalue web site and one of the links there will have pictures of the R10 plug. It's easy to know which pins to use since the top row of pins has 5 on one side and 4 on the other.
Well, one thing I'm not too comfortable with about the way you installed yours was that you said the camera is mounted on the license plate frame. I'm looking for a more secure mounting location (secure in the sense that I wouldn't want someone to be able to take the camera by unscrewing the license plate frame and clipping the wires). I may have misunderstood your mounting location and technique though.
If the Lexus OEM reverse cam can mount securely on the Camry, I think I'd rather go that route and spend the extra $$. I'll have to do some more research there.
Again, thanks for writing about your experience - did you have to reset the NAV system to get the reverse cam detected? I'm concerned about that step too, since I have the 6.1 NAV version and can't go into the diagnostics screen.
If the Lexus OEM reverse cam can mount securely on the Camry, I think I'd rather go that route and spend the extra $$. I'll have to do some more research there.
Again, thanks for writing about your experience - did you have to reset the NAV system to get the reverse cam detected? I'm concerned about that step too, since I have the 6.1 NAV version and can't go into the diagnostics screen.
I worried a little about camera security, but my car lives in my garage mostly. The camera mounts with 3M tape so I could stick in on the car or the license plate frame. I chose the frame since it was closer to center. If someone wants the camera so bad, let them have it. It's only $140 and the hard part was the wiring, which would still be there. And the camera is actually pretty unobstrusive. Most wouldn't notice it unless they went looking for it.
Once the camera was plugged in, it played on the nav right away. Didn't have to do a reset or anything.
I started taking out the trim panels so I could have a look at the "R10" connector but wasn't able to get the AC vent pulled out. Did you use the special tool referred to in the service manual for that? I just tried to pull with my bare hands.
I was able to reach upwards from the bottom and remove the R10 plug, and it idoes in fact look like it will be quite challenging to push the new computer wiring in as you described.
I'm starting to think of alternative mounting methods for the camera now such as making a metal bracket that can I can secure the camera to and finding a place to screw or bolt that bracket into while that rear license plate light piece is removed.
I started taking out the trim panels so I could have a look at the "R10" connector but wasn't able to get the AC vent pulled out. Did you use the special tool referred to in the service manual for that? I just tried to pull with my bare hands.
I used a spakle blade, the flat tool you use to smooth out spakle on small nail holes? It was a little challenging on the drivers side because of the shape of the dash and proximity of the windshield, but once it was out a little, you can get it off with your hands.
I worried a little about camera security, but my car lives in my garage mostly. The camera mounts with 3M tape so I could stick in on the car or the license plate frame. I chose the frame since it was closer to center. If someone wants the camera so bad, let them have it. It's only $140 and the hard part was the wiring, which would still be there. And the camera is actually pretty unobstrusive. Most wouldn't notice it unless they went looking for it.
Once the camera was plugged in, it played on the nav right away. Didn't have to do a reset or anything.
Hey - I'm interested in installing this on my 07 XLE, could you please post pix of the final product, so we could all see how it looks
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my new TCH. It has all the stuff. However, I really really want to find a backup camera that can be hooked up to this amazing Nav System. Other cars have it 
. I've tried all contacts found in other forums and followed up to hear that it just can't be done.
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