Reverse Camera Install (E53)

[Turks]

Nat,

Do you have the original advert at the time of sale? Did it say on there 'reversing camera'?

Even if not, it is an AUC vehicle and they supplied it with the camera. You weren't to know that it wasn't a standard BMW item or that it may cause problems later on. You expect that a purchase of an AUC car from the Main Dealer to be one of the safest you can make and therefore you put all your trust in them that they were selling you a fully OEM car. Go back and give them hell Write to BMW UK if you have to.


Turks.

[Nat]

Thanks for all the advice. i have phoned BMW UK..................that was over a week ago and I still havent had a reply, despite phoning back twice. It is utterly shamefull the way they r0are treating me, but no one seems to give a fcuk. The thing is, i am based in Sevenoaks, and I bought the car up in Edinburgh, so its not easy to take back.
Personally, I think the nav/dvd unit ( which I am told is the culprit ) that has gone wrong. I dont think it has anything at all to do with the camera, but BMW UK have refused the claim on the basis that its not a BMW camera. So far they have agreed hour of diagnostics on the 29/12..so Ill have to wait till then.
On the minus side again , the n/s CV gaiter has split. Not covered under warranty as its " Too old ".
This has been the most inconvenient and useless warranty I have ever had.
I really dont see the point of it. It seems to cover nothing.

Ill keep you posted

Regards

Nat.

[fenj66]

getting back to to the camera install guide,
i now have my camera fitted into the tailgate grab handle and run some wiring down to the boot area, but for the final part of connecting everything up, i could do with a few pointers as to connecting the video signal to the white connector as per the earlier diagram. the connectors pins dont appear numbered and i have no green wires in this loom, so how can i identify pins 13 and 14 of the connector?

cheers all!..

[Sanj]

[quote=""fenj66""]the connectors pins dont appear numbered and i have no green wires in this loom, so how can i identify pins 13 and 14 of the connector?

cheers all!..[/quote]

Hi fenj66,

They are numbered but only at the beginning and end of each side - then you have to count along to get pins 13 and 14...

[fenj66]

hmmm! ok then, pins 13 and 14 are empty! i'm gonna have to source some pins from somewhere to get this project finished.. any ideas anyone?

[lezmtaylor]

I have some pins off old wiring harness, let me know what you want,( Send me a pm) Will cost you the price of a stamp !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lez

[fenj66]

hi lez, thank you for the kind offer.
after a lot of research late last night i found the pins on realoem and today my local stealer had them in stock @ £1.50 each, complete with wire tails. part number B61.13.0.005.197.
so hopefully i can now get this sucker sorted out! lol.

cheers again.
fenj66

[fenj66]

Ok, well with the good help of the OP’s ” how to” guide, i have now successfully fitted my reverse cam.
the only additions i would like to add to the original guide are :

the camera must be ntsc format. mine came from ebay, Item number: 220691346479

my camera was slightly different in that it stated it replaced the number plate light, but that looked like too much hacking out for me, but it did look like it would fit next to the number plate light with less trouble by hacksawing a cut out in the black plastic, as per photo.
my camera fitted there perfectly, albeit with a new hole drilled through the boot for the wires to pass through.


the wires were passed behind the plastic linings of the hatch and through the rubber grommet between hatch and body, into the passenger compartment headlining where they were routed down the plastic rear side window shroud, passing behind the cd changer and so down into the boot floor area. the rca plastic plug was cut off to aide passing the video wire through the grommet- it has to be cut off anyway to connect up later. a bit of silicone spray also helped getting the wires through the grommet!


connecting the video lead to the tv module was the hardest part as my blue and white connectors were pin-less, but the pins complete with fly wires were available from bmw at low cost. 3 pins were required. 2 for the video lead- pins 13 and 14 of white connector. and 1 for pin 17 of the blue connector.

following the original connections diagram was straightforward, and i would add that the reverse light positive wire is the white with yellow stripe wire in the boot area, as per photo.


all connected up and when reverse is selected, the camera comes up on the screen!






my camera needs tilting down a touch somehow as i would like to see all of my bumper for a point of reference, also i dont know about the guide lines on show.....
but for a total layout of less than £40 i think this is a top mod!
now to sort out that useless aux heater!!

[Sanj]

Nice job!

If you have the resler you can set NTSC or PAL on the car BUT yes be sure to get the NTSC if you have no mods on the car OR get one that is compatible with both types...

[otas]

Hi Sanj, you are such a guru on X5. I did not install the reversing camera yet, I was not well and it was cold... Now I am thinking of FLIR camera, which would be mounted in the front grille. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAW_5qqvvJQ
So if I want to have best of both worlds, than in order to switch on the display to FLIR I would need a switch simulating the reverse switch supply?
Do you think that would work?

[JF1980]

This looks like a simple way of doing it:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Reverse-Camera-BM ... 4cf594d930

[Sanj]

[quote=""otas""]Hi Sanj, you are such a guru on X5. I did not install the reversing camera yet, I was not well and it was cold... Now I am thinking of FLIR camera, which would be mounted in the front grille. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAW_5qqvvJQ
So if I want to have best of both worlds, than in order to switch on the display to FLIR I would need a switch simulating the reverse switch supply?
Do you think that would work?[/quote]

Hi Otas - apologies I missed this post...

No guru at all, such very sad...

No reason why this won't work, you can get both front and rear cameras wired up to the TV module and on a seperate switch, then you can select which you prefer to run - better that way. If you have the rear on the reverse light it could interupt the signal (i.e. switched manually for front camera and then you selected reverse), not sure what the outcome would be. Wouldn't wish for you to damage the car... (think it will just display no signal though).

When I was trying my first attempt I wired the camera up to a switch, so when the car was running I could get a pic on the screen, same principle if applied to the front camera.

[quote=""JF1980""]This looks like a simple way of doing it:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Reverse-Camera-BM ... 4cf594d930[/quote]

Hi JF - it is but you will get the error on the OBD for the rear reg light being out EVERY time. It's not ideal for the X...

[JF1980]

Really? It says the light plugs in to the normal lead. Any way to solve that, resistors or such like? I'd really like to fit a reversing camera but don't want to hack lumps out of the trim and the lower position is no good as I occasionally tow.

[Sanj]

Deno 1 used the same camera and paid an absolute fortune to get it fitted and he gets the error.

Try it though, I may be wrong. Small outlay to test it. If it doesn't work, you've laid the wires already.

I wouldn't go for the lower position either, I like seeing the bumper in camera view up front. Oh and it's only a 'tiny' lump to take out really...

[lezmtaylor]

I removed the bmw roundel and bought a carbon fibre roundel cut a hole to mount the camera and refitted.
Works fine.
Lez