I recently bought aftermarket CCD camera kit from eBay for my 2014 Prius-II and got it installed by best-buy geek squad. But camera is not working due to power problem. According to best buy technician, Prius factory harness is not supplying power when car is put in reverse gear. I am not sure how to address this problem. Please help.
yaswanth, A couple of things: 1) The stock HU sends out 6.5V for camera power not 12V. Not sure what your camera is expecting. 2) On car power up, the HU senses to see if a camera is attached. If it doesn't find a camera, then it won't send the 6.5v to the camera when the car is placed in reverse. There is a sticky thread at the top of this forum that has instructions on how to connect a camera to the stock HU. One forum member just connected the camera to a 12V source that was on when ever the car was on. This allowed the HU to sense the camera at power up. The down side is the camera is on when ever the car is on. But his camera is still working for over a year now.
DaneH5, James4455 had the same problem with best buy. The hitched up the camera, but couldn't get the HU to sense it. I don't think they ever got it to work.
I would think you could use the 6.5v to close a relay that supplies the 12v to an aftermarket camera.
DaneH5, Yep. That would work. Some people have made a solid state relay (no moving parts to wear out). The problem is BB just wants to connect some wires and have it work. It is a little more complicated than that to get a 12V camera to work with the factory HU.
There is a much easier solution. If your camera expects 12 volts, just tie it into the backup light bulb clip behind the taillight lens. The only complicated part is wire-fishing from the rear lamp area then behind the headliner and eventually through the flex-conduit near the top of the hatch. Then when you are in reverse, the camera comes on and the HU picks up the signal. Just be sure you get the wiring correct...you might have to probe to find the + wire on the backup bulb socket.
