Marco#1
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There has been a fair amount of discussion concerning adding a front camera to the 8.4" head unit, but there has not been any clear answer if this is possible.
What would be ideal is to integrate an HD front camera into the rear camera input without the need of a Tazer. Z-Automotive's option works, but it is going to cost you $510 for their camera and a Tazer JL Mini. What you get lower quality (SD) video and have to deal with losing the ability to update your head unit and you lose functionality of the Sirius Guardian, from what I've read.
"It disables some of the features and communication with Sirius Guardian, if your vehicle has that. They confirmed this is a known issue. I think it's super sleazy of them not to have noted this clearly on the product pages. It prevents the vehicle info page from updating, but some of the warnings and alerts come through. But then when you clear them, it still shows the warnings and alerts." from a review on Quadratec.com
Sure there are lots of other options you get with the Tazer JL Mini, but if all you want is a front camera, or maybe to replace the OEM camera with a 360º bird's eye system, using the Tazer seems like an expensive and unreasonable trade off.
If the rear camera input in the back of the head unit was an RCA connection, we could easily use an RCA switcher to select which camera we want. Imagine a small DPST switch on the back of the steering wheel near the volume buttons, how cool! Even cooler, what about a 360º bird's eye view system to replace the OEM backup camera?
Anyway, we are stuck dealing with that Fakra connector, which seems to be the only hurdle. Finding reliable info on anything related to the connection and type of signal is quite challenging. Is there a such thing as a Fakra switcher? Can it be as simple as an RCA to Fakra adapter? Is one analog and the other digital? If so, what does that even mean? Can anybody shed some light on this for me?
A coupe weeks ago I bought a Natika 720P camera from Amazon for $40. It has a yellow RCA and a red DC power plug. The supplied RCA cable has short red wires coming out of the RCA plugs. One end connects to the reverse signal from the head unit, the other end connects to the power wire. The power wire itself has red and black wires for 12v and ground, plus the short red wire to connect to the RCA cable's red wire. Not sure if it makes complete sense to me, but whatever. Here's a picture:
I planned to use an RCA switcher and a small DPST in the cabin to select between the cameras. Here's a picture of the switcher I bought ($26), which is actually a 3-way switcher, connected to the camera. I eliminated the long RCA cable for clarity:
The red wire (#1) would be connected to my in-cabin switch providing a signal to turn on the camera and tell the switcher to select that input. Bundle #2 could be used for a third video input. When I purchased this I thought the OEM camera would plug into that red "default input" RCA and the yellow "output" RCA would plug into the head unit. I had no idea what a Fakra plug was at the time. I was so young and foolish a couple weeks ago.
Okay, here's the question. Can I use a Fakra to RCA adapter to connect the OEM camera to the switcher, then use a RCA to Fakra adapter to connect the switcher to the head unit? If not, why? What is the bottleneck, and what would it take to overcome it?
Something like these? The Fakra connectors aren't the right keyway (we have the red one) but that can be easily overcome.
Link to the camera:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HNRYHZ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Link to the switcher (although the one I received looks a little different):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B155G5M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
What would be ideal is to integrate an HD front camera into the rear camera input without the need of a Tazer. Z-Automotive's option works, but it is going to cost you $510 for their camera and a Tazer JL Mini. What you get lower quality (SD) video and have to deal with losing the ability to update your head unit and you lose functionality of the Sirius Guardian, from what I've read.
"It disables some of the features and communication with Sirius Guardian, if your vehicle has that. They confirmed this is a known issue. I think it's super sleazy of them not to have noted this clearly on the product pages. It prevents the vehicle info page from updating, but some of the warnings and alerts come through. But then when you clear them, it still shows the warnings and alerts." from a review on Quadratec.com
Sure there are lots of other options you get with the Tazer JL Mini, but if all you want is a front camera, or maybe to replace the OEM camera with a 360º bird's eye system, using the Tazer seems like an expensive and unreasonable trade off.
If the rear camera input in the back of the head unit was an RCA connection, we could easily use an RCA switcher to select which camera we want. Imagine a small DPST switch on the back of the steering wheel near the volume buttons, how cool! Even cooler, what about a 360º bird's eye view system to replace the OEM backup camera?
Anyway, we are stuck dealing with that Fakra connector, which seems to be the only hurdle. Finding reliable info on anything related to the connection and type of signal is quite challenging. Is there a such thing as a Fakra switcher? Can it be as simple as an RCA to Fakra adapter? Is one analog and the other digital? If so, what does that even mean? Can anybody shed some light on this for me?
A coupe weeks ago I bought a Natika 720P camera from Amazon for $40. It has a yellow RCA and a red DC power plug. The supplied RCA cable has short red wires coming out of the RCA plugs. One end connects to the reverse signal from the head unit, the other end connects to the power wire. The power wire itself has red and black wires for 12v and ground, plus the short red wire to connect to the RCA cable's red wire. Not sure if it makes complete sense to me, but whatever. Here's a picture:
I planned to use an RCA switcher and a small DPST in the cabin to select between the cameras. Here's a picture of the switcher I bought ($26), which is actually a 3-way switcher, connected to the camera. I eliminated the long RCA cable for clarity:
The red wire (#1) would be connected to my in-cabin switch providing a signal to turn on the camera and tell the switcher to select that input. Bundle #2 could be used for a third video input. When I purchased this I thought the OEM camera would plug into that red "default input" RCA and the yellow "output" RCA would plug into the head unit. I had no idea what a Fakra plug was at the time. I was so young and foolish a couple weeks ago.
Okay, here's the question. Can I use a Fakra to RCA adapter to connect the OEM camera to the switcher, then use a RCA to Fakra adapter to connect the switcher to the head unit? If not, why? What is the bottleneck, and what would it take to overcome it?
Something like these? The Fakra connectors aren't the right keyway (we have the red one) but that can be easily overcome.
Link to the camera:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HNRYHZ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Link to the switcher (although the one I received looks a little different):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B155G5M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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