rrroscoe
Active Member
If you have a way to reboot the radio, the soft key will show up right away. I used a Tazer for my install and it has a reboot function.
5thGenRams Forums
Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Adding OEM Front Camera?
- Thread starter chucka
- Start date
So you installed a cargo cam. What pins did you connect to on the plug behind the Uconnect?
And where did you connect your video in cable, RCA I assume for your front camera?
I had to disconnect my cargo cam to put a RCA video cable there to hookup my front camera. But I now don’t have the cargo cam.
Mine was pins 21 and 22 for the RCA dongle into the UConnect. The switcher I installed allows up to four rca ins and just the one main output. So the output went directly into the dongle connected to Uconnect and the two cameras rcas went into the switcher. The system defaults to cargo cam and when I provide a trigger voltage to one of the other inputs it overrides the cargo cam and gives me the front camera on the screen. When I kill the trigger it goes back to cargo cam. Hope that helps. That switcher is a bit of a learning curve and trial and error.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
My pin 21 and 22 I could not get the front camera to turn on plugged into those with a rca video cable.
Did you have to provide a trigger switch, power to the rca video cable in pins 21 and 22?
toyboy1980
Well-Known Member
Yes, both cameras I am using are analog and require power.
toyboy1980
Well-Known Member
Yes, I am aware. That was a troubleshooting question in reply to @Gts saying that he wasn’t getting signal.
Yes.
I have been told that since I have the backup and cargo camera I cannot add the front camera.
I am also having a hard time getting the soft keys on the backup and cargo camera screen that says”Camera” and the other key says “Surround “
I do have those two keys on in the controls screen.
Last edited:
toyboy1980
Well-Known Member
Gotcha. Yeah I think the smart way to do it is probably how @gecko6375 did it with the switcher.
That is true. There is only one analog input for a camera on the back of the 12" uConnect that I am aware of. That’s where the switcher comes in. My switcher output goes into the back of the radio. The cargo cam is on input one. It’s always powered when the ignition is on. When I want the front camera. I flip my switch, it gets power, and it sends power to the trigger wire of a different input on the switcher and thus it switches to front camera. The Uconnect still shows it as cargo camera. As soon as I kill power from the switch it goes back to the cargo cam after about 3 seconds. Hope that helps.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
When you say your Cargo cam is on input one, are you meaning the switch box input one?
I have the 8.4” Uconnect and there is no video input on the back of the screen.
My cargo cam is wired into pins 24 and 25. My backup cam is pins 31 and 32.
If I put my video rca cable in pins 31 and 32, nothing happens. The same goes for pins 21 and 22. But when I take out the cargo cam wires in pins 24 and 25 and install my rca video cable in those pins, then my front camera works.
I may have to do like you and get the switch box and the rca video cable splitter and install that rca video “cable in” the pins 24 and 25. Then on the switch box I would control the Front cam, and Cargo cam. I would like to also add Left cam and Right cam under the mirrors.
Am I thinking this out correctly?
Also if I do what you did, which I like very much, would your wife be interested in making some custom labels for me for my 6 way control box? If so, how much would it cost?
Thank you
My understanding is the uConnect will only accept one analog camera input on the back. That’s why I used the switcher. So, I think your logic seems correct. I will say this, if you go with the same switcher I did then there are some things to be aware of. The directions are very misleading. First off, you obviously need to power and ground the switcher through a switched 12v input. Where it gets tricky is the inputs. I ran my cargo cam on input one and the camera itself is powered by a switched 12v power source.
This is where it got tricky, input one through four all have a positive and negative wire to activate them. For input one, I just had to tie into the positive switched power. Input two, even though it doesn’t say this requires a negative input. So I used input three for my front cam. Again, I just used the positive wire. It’s really weird because I am not used to only hooking positive and negative wires but this switcher requires an either/or and not both or it wont work. Took some time to figure it out. Let me know if you have questions but in my install I am using input 1 and 3. I skipped input two as I didn’t want to do a negative input or I would have had to rewire my relay setup. Not really a big deal but, I basically had to forget most of what I know of 12v wiring for this thing.
As far as switch legends, are you going with the same switch? The stock version of what I had has green LED’s and my labels would look very weird on the stock one. If you leave the LEDs green you’d likely want different colored labels than what I went with. I was lucky and have a friend that is a mad genius with electrical components and I had him alter the board to white LEDs as I hated the green. That said, if you’re still interested in new labels I can certainly ask my wife what she’d charge. I know she would need what you’d want on them and what colors you need. Take care and let me know if you have any other questions.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Yes I agree. 12 volt use to be pretty easy. Red is hot or positive and Black is ground or negative .
I don’t like the green n yellow leds too. I am looking at a switch that is blue when off n red when on. Can ur wife use clear or just cut out the color part of the letters? Lol I know nothing about that.
You said a relay. Did you install a relay on your switch? I don’t know much about relays. Are there different ones.
Thanks for all ur help
Hi RRRoscoe,
looks like we have the same vehicle. So you used Tazer and what hardware did you ended up getting?
dts828
Ram Guru
I have 19 Rebel and enabled my front camera a few months back with the tazer. I used this camera based on another member and very happy with it. I tried a few other first that I ended up returning.
Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk
The switch kit I ordered, from Amazon, has a relay for each switch. This handle the higher wattage of lights and what not. Probably not needed to send the signal wire and power a camera but it never hurts.
What switches are you using? Usually that dictates the back light color then the label goes over that. Typically labels are black with the letters cut out clear so the back light shows through.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
thanks
and did you need any of the switches and panels described by others? Or does this camera go straight to the panel in back of the 12" and be operated by the cargo view button? I realize the answer is likely in this multi-page thread so feel free to not provide an elaborate response. I should be able to just search for your contributions in the thread....
toyboy1980
Well-Known Member
If you go look back through this thread, I did a write up with needed parts, links, etc.
dts828
Ram Guru
Other than the Tazer and camera you will need rca pigtail. You can make it yourself(parts linked above) or purchase from Tazer. This is all you need for basic install with camera mounted to bottom of "A" of RAM nameplate on Rebel grill.
Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk
