How-to Guide
How to Set Up a Reverse Camera on an Android Head Unit
Quick answer
If you've got a factory Toyota camera, there's no trigger wire to connect. The camera plugs into Connector 3, and you get the video back out on Connector 10 as a yellow RCA. You plug that RCA into the reverse camera input on Harness F. An aftermarket camera is the only case where you run a trigger.
What this gives you
You get a reverse view on a nine inch screen in a vehicle that never came with one. You can also run a second camera full time on the auxiliary video input, for a trailer or a front view.
Before you start
- Know which camera you have. A factory Toyota camera and an aftermarket camera wire up differently.
- Know the camera type. Standard analogue and AHD both work, but you have to tell the unit which one.
- The vehicle chocked and the handbrake on before you test anything in reverse.
Step by step
- Factory Toyota camera: follow the whole path
Plug the factory camera into Connector 3, which is steering wheel controls and factory camera. The signal runs through the 6V converter built into the harness, and you get the video back out on Connector 10 as a yellow RCA. Plug that yellow RCA into the reverse camera input on Harness F. If you leave it unplugged, you never see a picture. It's the step that gets missed most often.
- Factory Toyota camera: there's no trigger wire
Reverse already arrives on Connector 3, so there's nothing to tap and nothing to meter. If you're hunting for a trigger wire on a factory camera install, you're solving a problem you don't have.
- Aftermarket camera: video first
Run the camera video cable, the yellow RCA, to the reverse camera input on Harness F.
- Aftermarket camera: then the trigger
Run the small red trigger wire from the yellow RCA cable to the pink reverse wire on pin 5 of the 16 pin main plug. On earlier units that wire is brown. There's a second pink wire on Harness F which is the camera 12V supply, so work to the plug and the pin, not to the wire colour.
- Aftermarket camera: power the camera
Run the camera's own power wire to the reverse light circuit at the rear of the vehicle, so it powers up when you select reverse.
- Set the picture format, or you get a black screen
Go to Settings, then Reverse and AUX, then Reverse Camera Format. Choose CVBS N if you've got a factory or standard analogue camera, or AHD 720P25 for a PVS AHD camera. Restart the unit after you change it.
- Test it safely
Chock the wheels and put the handbrake on. Select reverse, then check the screen switches and you see the picture the right way up and the right colour.
If it does not work
- If you never see the camera view, check Connector 10 is plugged into Harness F on a factory camera. On an aftermarket camera, check the trigger at pin 5.
- If the screen switches but you see black or a scrambled picture, it's the format. Try the other value and restart.
- If you see the picture roll or the colours come out wrong, it's still the format, not the camera.
Worth knowing
If you want a camera running full time rather than only in reverse, wire it to the auxiliary video input, the yellow RCA on Harness A, then select it from the source button. Reverse still takes priority the moment you shift into reverse.
Still need help?
Tell us your vehicle, the year and what you're seeing on screen, and we can point you to the right step.