Connecting Backup Camera Low to RNS510 using a cable costing less than £15

[apples12]

Hi all

I recently embarked to install a reversing camera into my Mk5 and upon looking into it, i was, as many others probably were, horrified by the ridiculous pricing on either the 'badge' camera or the 'backup camera low' which required a loom from VW costing £45 and making another power loom, looms which from kufatec cost in excess of £80...

I managed to buy a 'backup camera low' (5K0 980 551 - retrofitted to scirocco's by a few people) for cheap from ebay.de and i've just succeeded in making up a power and video loom for less than £15 with the help of the retrofit genius maloosheck!

i'll post up pictures etc including pinouts for the camera, connector types required etc etc once i've finalised my own loom :)

[Scousus maximus]

Nice one Apples, could be interested in this.
Regards,
John

[Lyons]

Likewise, sounds impressive.

Depends how easy the loom is to make!

[apples12]

Hi all

I'm just finishing up my loom,

Lyons, it requires a 'little' bit of fiddly wiring but thats about it.

it involves connecting 8 wires into each of their own little 'crimp terminals' (using a pair of pliers not a 200quid crimp tool!) into an 8 way connector, this goes into the camera, and then crimping 5 wires on the other end of the cable to go into a 20way connector block to be plugged into the RNS, then its a case of connecting the power wires up, i chose to leave mine loose and just connect directly into the +12v going into my RNS.

i'll post up the pinouts for the camera and a few pictures later on today/tomorrow hopefully

Ali.

[seckles]

Ace! I too am very interested in this. I didn't even know VW did a camera like this. (i thought it was badge only)

Nice one

Steve

[apples12]

HI all,
OK a bit of an update with the promised pictures....

1. This is the camera as you would get it from VW (Picture borrowed from my-gti.com, i was a bit too trigger happy with my scalpel to take any 'before' pictures!)



2. The camera with the 'sheath' cut off from the back.

In order to get to this stage, i would recommend doing the following:

   a) Holding the camera with the cable away from you, firmly 'snap' the sheath off the back of the camera, DO NOT cleanly snap it off, just a sharp push in order to break the seal between the sheath and the camera itself.
   b) once you've got the sheath off, pull the cable away from the camera
   c) CAREFULLY cut away the sheath, it can ONLY be cut away, it can't be 'slid' off the cable.
   d) and then you should end up with something like this....



3. when the cable is removed from the camera itself, you should be presented with the following:




4.....

Now, this is where it starts to get a little bit interesting....

Effectively what VW or whoever made the camera for them has gone and done is made something terribly simple into something hideously complex to make things fit in with VW wiring....

now, those 8 little pins you see on the back of the camera correspond to 8 connections which are split between the blue coaxial video cable and the 3pin power connector...

with a multimeter and some ingenuity with a needle i managed to work out the following pinouts...




Now, that probably doesnt mean much...

however, I have taken the liberty of simplifying things.........


and here is the pinout....



The connector required to plug into the camera is a 2.0mm pitch DIL 8 way header, the connector which goes into the RNS is a 2.54mm/0.1" pitch DIL 26 way header.

RS part numbers:
8 way header: 670-3594
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=6703594

That requires terminals with part number: 670-3679

26 way header: 670-4840
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=6704840

That requires terminals '90119 series'

the CABLE that I used was Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) ETHERNET cable! bog standard LAN wire, you can use UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cabling too if you want,  that makes it really really neat to get 8 wires going from the front of your car to the back and the wire itself is in a nice rubbery casing which is pretty resistant to abuse!



I hope someone can just figure out how to mount this damn thing now!




Ali.

[Lyons]

 

No photos of the connecting of the wires to the terminals? 

[CocoPops]

Genius 

Good work, will be following this with interest.

Like you say, just need to find somewhere to mount it now.

[Lyons]

That was the problem with the Golf. The rear spoiler is no good because the bottom of the rear window blocks a view of the bumper, and the number plate housing is too low.

At least with the Octavia etc, it can go along side the boot handle as it's above the bumper.

[CocoPops]

Might be useful:
http://www.sciroccocentral.co.uk/roccopedia/index.php?title=How_To_Retro_Fit_The_Reversing_Camera

[Lyons]

That link would suggest you can get an OEM loom. So really just the camera and loom needed.

Any idea how much the parts are from VW?

[SteveP]

The video cable is around £48 from VW and then about £18 for the other connectors.

[apples12]

would there be much interest in these camera's at a £130 price point? i may be able to get hold of a couple at a decentish price, better than the 170+vat vw want, and/or kits for the cable?

[seckles]

Yeah, I'd certainly be interested if that's a camera + loom for around £130 (i.e. everything I'd need to plug 'n' play fit the camera). Of course, then there's the question of where/how to actually mount the camera!

Steve

[gtlee]

Yeah, I'd certainly be interested if that's a camera + loom for around £130 (i.e. everything I'd need to plug 'n' play fit the camera). Of course, then there's the question of where/how to actually mount the camera!

Steve

+1