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Off-Road Camera (front facing) writeup

Jmonroe

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So I am ready to mount a front camera and like the one above from @BillInDanville from Amazon however I do have the Tazer and want to know what wires/harness I need to mount that camera. I do not want the Tazer camera set up as I want to mount lower on the bumper not,in the grill.
Others have used the "Tazer camera" but mounted it somewhere other than the upper grill mounting. It comes with plenty of harness/cable.

That said, you can download the installation instructions which will show you where to plug a camera in.
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I posted this to the Z-auto cargo camera intro thread but thought some here may have an answer.

Installed Z-Automotive cargo camera last weekend on my 2018 JLUR with 8.4. Activated it using my SC JL Flashcal. Worked intermittently during the week. Now I am seeing problems with both front and rear camera showing black (not blue) screens. Anyone else seen such problems?

Having had the typical/common intermittent Uconnect issues all along as many have seen in this forum. Just trying to rule variables out while I troubleshoot.

BTW, how waterproof is this camera. I drove through a pretty hard downpour and was wondering if that may have played a role.

Thanks.

mikep
 

kermitjewel

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Got the install finished up today and took some pics showing the viewing angle with the different style camera mount.

I set a gas can (left), tool tray (center) and stool (right) which you can just see the edge of each in the screen.
upload_2018-8-24_15-23-24.png


Here's what they were set up like looking across the bumper.
upload_2018-8-24_15-23-6.png


From straight on
upload_2018-8-24_15-24-20.png


Looking down at the bumper
upload_2018-8-24_15-24-32.png


And a close up of the camera itself
upload_2018-8-24_15-24-59.png
does it look sturdy from say a branch whack from a downed tree?
 

ShannonC

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So I am ready to mount a front camera and like the one above from @BillInDanville from Amazon however I do have the Tazer and want to know what wires/harness I need to mount that camera. I do not want the Tazer camera set up as I want to mount lower on the bumper not,in the grill.
Here is what I used, it is from Z Automotive. It is the RCA cable with connectors from their camera kit but only has the video RCA Cable.

https://www.zautomotive.com/product/video-cable/
 

Goin2drt

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Here is what I used, it is from Z Automotive. It is the RCA cable with connectors from their camera kit but only has the video RCA Cable.

https://www.zautomotive.com/product/video-cable/
So with that and a camera from Amazon I would be good? Do I just plug those ends of the Zauto cable into the existing 8.4 radio harness It seems thats what it says. Also it looks like that cable is short so I would need a long “video” cable to run from camera all the way to the radio. Correct?
 

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So with that and a camera from Amazon I would be good? Do I just plug those ends of the Zauto cable into the existing 8.4 radio harness It seems thats what it says. Also it looks like that cable is short so I would need a long “video” cable to run from camera all the way to the radio. Correct?
The camera from Amazon includes a long video cable, so you connect that to the short cable and you are good to go. But pay attention to the instructions from Zauto. You may have to experiment with connecting the video to pins 21 & 22 or 24 & 25 depending on which radio head unit you have.

Here's one curious thing I didn't mention in my write-up. The video cable with the camera is pretty long, and since I am anal about neatness, I coiled up the extra at the radio end and zip tied it into a nice, neat bundle. While I was testing everything I felt the video cable under the hood and it was hot--way hotter than anything else close by. I don't know why I thought of it, but I cut out the excess cable and soldered it back together. It has a central wire and a braided shield. Even though I lost the benefit of the shield for about an inch where I reattached the cable it didn't cause any visible degradation. But the heat problem disappeared. I'm sure an electrical engineer could explain why this happened, but I'm glad I found it at the start.
 
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Ok. Are you still happy with the 135 degree camera from Amazon you bought?
Perfectly happy. I had both installed and the 135 degree is much better for me. I went to Utah and Arizona a couple of weeks ago and had a chance to play with it on some trails and it worked great. Like I said in another post, it doesn't replace a spotter in difficult situations, but it can keep you from having to get out at the crest of a hill to check what you can't see from the driver's seat.
 

DCBlake

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So I am ready to mount a front camera and like the one above from @BillInDanville from Amazon however I do have the Tazer and want to know what wires/harness I need to mount that camera. I do not want the Tazer camera set up as I want to mount lower on the bumper not,in the grill.

Here's what i used as i installed my own camera and the same cable should work for most camera's... This is also from z-automotive but just the cable patch to tie into the 8.4 radio connections so you can tap into the the Video feed... The power will still come from some connection you choose anywhere on the rig... In my case i have it tied back into my Aux Switches

Tazer Cable:
https://zautomotive.com/product/video-cable/
Tazer Instructions for installing cable from Radio to engine compartment – Use these instructions to get all items run to front where you want to install the camera:
https://zautomotive.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tazer-JL-AV-Cable-install-guide.pdf

I posted a set of what i did well over a year ago and please note i put mine on the grill but again most of these camera's use same connections... Basically a power, ground, and rca cable connections... Excuse the few typos in the document but i hope this helps...

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/attachments/front_camera_install_items-pdf.147117/
 

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Goin2drt

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@BillInDanville or anyone else I need help. I got the Tazer harness and a camera off Amazon that Bill recommended.

1. I got the yellow and black connected to 24 and 25 as instructed by Zauto instructions (see pic).
2. on the cable that comes with the camera up by the yellow video plug there is a red wire. Where does that get connected to?
3 then on the same cable at the other end where it connects to the camera there is obviously the plug to the camera but then there is another red and black. Where do I connect those to?

see the pics. Thanks for the help.

E1EA871E-19B4-481A-967C-0DCC97E66367.jpeg


42C5A479-95C0-42EA-996E-62857CA72683.jpeg


F2BC1F12-CF79-43A5-9B93-70673BD33CC4.jpeg
 

Goin2drt

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I figured it out. The red one by the radio doesn’t have to be connected. The red and black by the camera need a ground obviously and then a switched power. I am going to run those over to the fuse distribution block in the engine bay and “add a fuse”.
 

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Time for more mods. It has been awhile as it has been in the shop a lot getting the PSC steering system fixed.

Added I front off road camera
  1. Camera ordered was this one - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083SF5VVN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  2. Because I have a Tazer already I then ordered this connection plug - https://www.zautomotive.com/product/video-cable/
  3. I then ordered a few extra things all from Amazon; extra wire, micro add a fuse, 22.5mm drill bit and this stuff to run the wire through for a cleaner install - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082B7GK9C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
First started at the radio and followed the Zauto instruction for installing the video cable in the stock radio wire harness. I have an 18 so I used those specific holes.

First freebie FYI - the camera will have a very long cable to run from radio to front. At the radio there is a red power wire and the yellow video jack. YOU ONLY USE THE YELLOW VIDEO JACK. Red wire you don’t use.

Then I install the camera. It comes with a cheap drill bit drill the hole. It snapped and the hole drill part skipped on the paint and made for some ugly scratches. Get yourself a good bit. Ordered one from Amazon. Also got a rubber auto washer to use on the install to cover up some scratches. My bumper are gray and a bitch to color match.

Second freebie FYI. There is a green and white wire and the end by the camera. Cut both those loops for no grid lines and front facing. Fine print tells you that.

I then ran the ground and power through the nice heat shield and run the wire along driver side engine bay, up and over through the wire channel over to the fuse box. I used an add a fuse and used the heated seat spot in the fuse box. Grounded the wire right by the battery at those ground posts and completed.

Camera quality is no where near the rear but it will do. You can’t get HD on the front facing camera.
Jeep Wrangler JL Off-Road Camera (front facing) writeup 9FD7DD30-E570-4E73-864A-EDCE53ECED41
Jeep Wrangler JL Off-Road Camera (front facing) writeup 1BDC8C98-0D16-4872-9520-23448441581E
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