Reverse light connection for dash cam

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crapday69
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Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by crapday69 »

I bought a dash can with rear camera. I fitted the rear camera to a hole that was plugged up on my rear bumper (looks like it was made for that). The problem is that the reverse light are on the tailgate and not rear quarter panel. Where would the best place to find the reverse cable so I can splice into it. On my 07 place C4 the reverse light was easy to access for my reverse sensors, so I joined that up no problem.

2012 1.6HDi estate with satnav.

Cheers.

Gary.
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by GiveMeABreak »

The rear slit or square will be for the towing eye to screw in when towing another car. It is unclipped on the Tourer by pressing in at the bottom.. So not a good place to put it if this is where you mean.

Secondly, is this for reversing only or to operate all the time as a rear dash cam? I ask as most dash cams have wiring to hook up to the main unit on dual display dash cams.

The picture is generally not very good for reversing, unless playback on a PC for example. Unless of course it’s a specific reversing camera, in which case it would generally have a separate display unit and be a bit bigger. Of course it’s not possible to wire up a dash cam to the satnav unit without a special A/V interface unit.

I have dual dash cams and the rear one is wired directly back to the front. I can have full front, full rear, or split front rear display, but the screen size is not really sufficient to display a proper image for reversing purposes.

Perhaps it might throw a little light on things if you were to explain exactly what you wanted it for. There will of course be a wire for the reversing lights for the Tourer, but this will probably go through the main loom at the top of the tailgate. So you would have to tap into the correct wire from the top of the vehicle and wire it down the side panel down to the bumper, but like I said the towing eye socket is not the place to put it.
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crapday69
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by crapday69 »

Its a dual camera dash cam. It has the ability to use the rear camera for reversing. I know it won't be as good as a proper dedicated camera, but as the X7 is big and with a tower in situ, it will let me know when I'm near the object behind me. The hole on the rear bumper in not the towing eye hole, its a little hole to the top left of the middle. There in nothing behind it and its the size of a 1p.
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by GiveMeABreak »

:-k Hmm... Can't see any other hole as you describe Gary:
Crapday69 Bumper.PNG
Does it look like it was made by the previous owner perhaps? The rear reversing camera on later Tourer facelifted models had the camera mounted near the number plate, thus:
Crapday69 carmera.PNG
Meanwhile, I can look at the wiring for your car for the reversing feed if you pop your VIN up here - (I know you did previously post it, but that was before the system masked it, so it has been permanently hidden as it was manually deleted).
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by admiral51 »

It may be a reversing sensor hole and the cover plug has now been removed as in the OP.
Could you tap into the reversing light wire on the towing hitch ecu/relay as that will not be in the tailgate.
Have read that this ecu/relay can play up a bit if things are not done correctly, sure Marc and others will give more detailed advice
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by GiveMeABreak »

The actual reversing sensors are located in the lower black bumper skirt Colin, and there are 4 of them, so I'm still puzzled as to what this other 'hole' is. :-k
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by admiral51 »

Just had a look and you are right Marc, i cannot see any "hole" in the bumper or anything above the centre of it and the sensors are located in the lower skirt.
Could the previous owner have had something fitted that has now been removed and used a generic grommit to plug the hole of the same colour ?
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by crapday69 »

Just had a quick look and it’s one of the holes for the reverse sensor as there are another 3 of them. I didn’t notice them. I tried to connect it to the tow control box, this has 2 lots of connectors that do the same thing. One lot are wires and the other side is screw connectors. I tried the reverse on the screw side but no luck. I’ll need to get my voltage gauge out and check the wire side.
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by crapday69 »

It was such a beautiful day yesterday so I took the opportunity to have a look at the reversing connection for my rearview camera again. I ended up taking a lead from the reverse lamp on the tailgate. It wasn't as difficult as I thought and took about 30 minutes. The reverse light takes it power from the far right (when the notch in the connector is facing up), so I connected my lead from that. Hiding the wire was easy with the removal of the top 2 trim screws (well top when tailgate open and bottom when tailgate closed). I then poked a hole in the rubber grommet feeding the wire through this and down the rear pillar trim into the boot. Now when I put the car into reverse, my dash cam turns into a reverse camera. I will move the camera from the position it is in now to nearer the middle of the bumper so I can see where the tow ball will be.
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by Cit fan 151 »

Does wiring an aftermarket reversing camera to a C5 X7 reversing light (to power camera), normally throw an error code? Would appear not from previous post?

Do we have pin position details for C5’s left reversing light socket (3 wires)?
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by GiveMeABreak »

The reversing light wire should really only be used for the reversing signal in order for the camera to activate, but the camera should be powered separately. You may get over-heating issues of the socket / wire if not careful.

I've had several examples of the rear light cluster wiring socket melting without anything wired into it - because the factory earth was insufficient. Citroen knew about this on the C3 and re-wired it with a new socket and wiring. I've done this a few times now, as you can see this one was caught in time, but the earth pin was well into the process of melting away the surrounding plastic.
C3 Melt.JPG
Other issues with a C5 when LEDs were fitted to reversing lights - resulting in a meltdown:

viewtopic.php?t=55290&hilit=melting
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by Cit fan 151 »

Thanks.

I recall there was a thread that outlined the best way to route cables from the boot to the front of cabin in a C5. Can anyone help me with finding this thread?

I would prefer to cable on the passenger side, in a right hand drive C5 X7.
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Yes, I did a guide for that on my C5 X7. It's in the resources Section for donating members here:

viewtopic.php?t=56754
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by Cit fan 151 »

Thank you, the guide was most helpful.

Just by way of comment, at step 7 where it mentions to continue wiring down and in between the upholstery padding and the boot divider, I think it is worth mentioning that there is a side airbag in the upholstered section (in our 2012 C5, at least)
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Re: Reverse light connection for dash cam

Post by GiveMeABreak »

Hi, yes on your 3.0 you have the optional rear Airbags on the 2 outer rear seats, so thanks for reminding me, I will update that to mention this.

In my guide (which is for the saloon of course) I already have the rear seat folded flat to show the routing, so as long as the wiring is behind the seat and down the side trim of the vehicle and not anywhere where the airbag can catch it you should be fine.

Bear in mind that the curtain roof (side airbags) explode inwards, which is where the danger would be if anyone were to wire above and along the side headlining and the wiring was in front of the airbag for example. The seat airbags explode away from the passenger to provide additional impact from side impacts, so as long as they are firing away from the passenger and the wires are out of site and tucked / secured behind the seat and down to the floor you should be fine.

Update: I have amended the guide in 2 places to make this clear. Thanks for letting me know.
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