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How to connect trailer back up cam to 12" screen

Dog Hauler

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Is there a way to get a trailer back-up cam to display on the 12" U-connect screen? I don't have my truck yet (should be in at dealer any day) but will start trailering pretty much right off the bat so I want to do what I need to asap.

I searched and found an aftermarket solution to get a trailer cam to display on the smaller screen but found nothing on the 12" screen.
 

TrackDay

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Sorry for the distraction in your thread, but what aftermarket option did you find for the 8.4" screen? I'll be looking for something similar soon.
 

Dog Hauler

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Sorry for the distraction in your thread, but what aftermarket option did you find for the 8.4" screen? I'll be looking for something similar soon.

I searched the Towing forum with something like "trailer back up cam" and found only one thread dealing with that subject. In the thread was mention of a work around to get a trailer back up image on the smaller screen. Cost was $499, as I recall.
 

202snowman

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You need to clarify for us...you're asking to get an aftermarket rear camera to show on the 12 inch screen? I see you are getting the Limited which should already have a backup camera....are you looking to replace it with a different model?
 

Dog Hauler

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Yes, the Limited already has a back up cam on the truck, itself. What I'm looking for is to have the back up cam which is mounted on my trailer display on the 12" Uconnect screen. I want a back up cam when I'm backing my trailer and I don't want a separate screen in the truck.
 

202snowman

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Yes, the Limited already has a back up cam on the truck, itself. What I'm looking for is to have the back up cam which is mounted on my trailer display on the 12" Uconnect screen. I want a back up cam when I'm backing my trailer and I don't want a separate screen in the truck.
Gotcha. No, I haven't heard of anyone being able to do this on the 12 inch (or the 8.4 for that matter). Maybe someone else have some additional insight, but I'm guessing that since the system is looking for low voltage differential signals from the camera system, that adding one into the circuit probably will cause issues (which is what I think some other people on the forum are seeing)
 

Dog Hauler

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Boy, that makes no sense. A hook up to a trailer cam should be standard equipment on a vehicle that is frequently used for towing. Or at least make it an option.
 

edrclark

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There might be a way, but is convoluted. Keep in mind I have not tried this, nor have I heard of anyone trying it.

There are trailer backup cameras that use your phone as the screen for the camera. You then can put the phone display on the 12” car display.

There are serious problems on doing this with Apple car play as it won’t natively do this. You would have to jail break the phone to make it work

Android, I have no clue
 

edrclark

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I have also seen some aftermarket cameras that plug into where the tailgate camera plugs in, but as yet, I have only seen models advertised for 2018 and below
 

Dog Hauler

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I just read the manual section about removing the tailgate. To do that, you must disconnect the (very acessible) cable that connects, among other things, the rear camera. Although I have no idea how to do it, it seems to me that connecting a hard wired trailer cam to the Uconnect through the trucks rear cam connection should be possible.

A cable between the trailer cam and the truck would be needed then that would need to connect through the truck's rear view cam connection via some kind of switch so you could go back and forth or the trailer cam could just override the truck rear cam whenever a trailer is hooked up. Hmmm. That would probably take not only the hardware hack into the truck rear cam connector but also a software hack to make switching or override possible.

Hey, I'm a big picture guy and as I said, I have no idea how to do all that. But it seems like it would be feasible. Are there any electrical wizard/detail folks out there who have any ideas? If you could figure it out I bet you could market the hack for a very handsome profit.
 

Dog Hauler

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For now, I bought a trailer back up cam that is wireless to a smart phone. I haven't mounted it yet, but just setting it in my driveway and walking a good distance away, it seems to have sufficient range and the video is pretty good. We'll see once it's mounted.

I haven't had much luck with wireless cams in the past, but this was only little more than $100 so I figured I'd give it a try.
 

Dog Hauler

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I had a chance to mount and use the wireless cam to smart phone on a short tow. It works pretty well. Signal strength and picture were good. Picture stability was also good. It's a cheap solution.
 

Johnvan

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We're you able to display it on the 12 inch screen? I was looking at a similar setup but the camera apps didn't state that they were compatible with Android Auto or Apple Carplay.
 

Dog Hauler

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No. I wish. Just displays on the smart phone. A tablet, too, I imagine, if you want a bigger picture. I need a trailer cam only when backing and it's fairly quick to get the system fired up and a picture to come through on the smart device so this works reasonably well for my purposes....just set the smart phone in front of the truck's screen and have at it...it would be more convenient to just push a button and the rear trailer view shows up on the truck's screen but that needs to wait for a hack someone comes up with.

And it's cheap. Little more than $100 for the camera and I already had the smart phone, of course.

And I just thought of this: if the truck's screen is capable of mirroring the smart phone...I have no idea if it can do that...perhaps you could get the picture that's on the phone to display on the screen that way. But that just adds another step to the process and seems pretty pointless.
 

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