Have had a few number plate cameras in my old mk5, they work well for the money - such as item 251035963563 on ebay.
Sorry I have no pictures though.
Few small things to bear in mind.
- They usually come with 3/4 SMD bulbs so you might want to change your other number plate light to an SMD white festton to colour match.
- The LEDs from the camera don't get full coverage as the lens portion blocks light a touch, so you may have a shadow bit on your number plate depending on how far up it is attached.
- They usually last about a year or so before the lens gets cracked with a stone, moisture ingress or an LED goes. However every year they get cheaper to buy and once installed you don't have to redo wiring to the HU.
- Rather than chop your number plate plug, go to VW and buy a plug with two repair wires and solder this onto the camera wiring, it makes it plug&play without touching factory wire. Also gives it a solid connection to make sure it gets power/earth. If you change camera then you only have to chop this repair wire and solder it to the new one.
(Take a number plate light socket into dealer so they can look up part number of plug, the socket is an old, old part used on many VAG cars).
- The VGA cable that comes with them is like spaghetti and is very flimsy. Install something liek ebay 230862407159 (big fat VGA cable) and you'll only have to do it once. Same goes for power wires, use a good quality one and you'll not have to chase them out again or have intermittent power issues. Also, a mk5 fitment HU will likely have a canbus adaptor so run the wires to the HU loom for automatic reverse activation, rather than into rear light cabling.
- The camera itself - you want a CCD version not CMOS. The picture is very good but sometimes they'll have guide lines or markings that can't be turned off, that mean nothing.
One like ebay 150950073865 is not good as the camera block is too big and may protrude over letters on your plate, depending how high up it is, plus it's even less discrete.
- The cameras can be quite generic in fitment, and some require a bit of thought to attach. The one I linked to has a similar fitment to an OEM light fitting (tab on one end and a springly clip the other) but with these retainers being a tad offset it isn't held 100%, but if it comes with a sticky tape rectangle surround then it's less of an issue.
Some have two holes to screw upwards, in the mk5 this is screwing into thin air! So you may need the bumper off and put some plastic behind it for something to screw into, and thus have a clamping effect.
So, it's only a matter of time before someone comes along and tells you to fit a mk6 camera and that the RNS510 is the best HU ever, well that's great if you want to spend that much. Otherwise give it a bash it'll only set you back £20 and a couple of hours.
