[kormega917]

Yea i saw that there was also no white wire to activate cam. Ok ill go back and look for the harness listed before. Thanks.

[ATTN]

Originally Posted by grzes

so since the extra harness that can be purchased separatelly if you don't want to splice the original wires and it is easy to follow as all is just the image of the original harness, there is no need to add that to the wiring diagram. I did modified the diagram a little (showing twisted cables and back of the emulator just in case your wire colours are different than mine). Rotary Rasp or/and n8s 330xi. PM me your e-mail and I will send you the pdf so you can attach this to your original posts. It will eliminate looking for it . Hope this will help you guys in your feature installations.

UPDATE:
original attachment removed and replaced with the latest revision - March/2015

Question to EVERYONE that hass successfully installed this following instructions.

I've followed this to the tee, but still can't get it to work. I follow instructions pretty easily, just like following a cook book of Jamie Olivers.

That said, my trouble is there doesn't seem to be any power to the camera. One thing I've noticed and have not tried is.

Connecting the camera's RCA(+/-) into PIN 28 and 18

I followed OP's steps using 24 and 21 North America

I noticed in grzes diagram the PIN regions

PIN 24 and 21 is North America
PIN 28 and 18 is Europe

I have a RHD (Australian) would that fall into Europe category, and I should be using PIN 28 and 18 Europe?

Or both PINs give the same power source??

[grzes]

your camera is powered by the red cable from the camera and white cable from the emulator (colors may different but you should have some note paper with the emulator from the seller telling you which cable connects where). The RCA pin's are video input only and not power and yes, Australia may follow the Europe pin assignment. Just try it

Originally Posted by ATTN

Question to EVERYONE that hass successfully installed this following instructions.

I've followed this to the tee, but still can't get it to work. I follow instructions pretty easily, just like following a cook book of Jamie Olivers.

That said, my trouble is there doesn't seem to be any power to the camera. One thing I've noticed and have not tried is.

Connecting the camera's RCA(+/-) into PIN 28 and 18

I followed OP's steps using 24 and 21 North America

I noticed in grzes diagram the PIN regions

PIN 24 and 21 is North America
PIN 28 and 18 is Europe

I have a RHD (Australian) would that fall into Europe category, and I should be using PIN 28 and 18 Europe?

Or both PINs give the same power source??

[ATTN]

Originally Posted by grzes

your camera is powered by the red cable from the camera and white cable from the emulator (colors may different but you should have some note paper with the emulator from the seller telling you which cable connects where). The RCA pin's are video input only and not power and yes, Australia may follow the Europe pin assignment. Just try it

Ah yes, makes sense. Then maybe the camera has power but its not registering on the CIC screen because I'm using North America PINs and NOT Europen PINs

I will give this a try.

Thanks for your help

[vastano]

Originally Posted by bmg4

It is responsible for quite a bit. I am no expert though. My radio worked when it wasn't plugged in. It looks like the picture from the second post.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=842131

Turns out this was my issue, I initially didnt move the MOST connector into the new harness. Also, while I had everything apart, I removed the unnecessary wires in the harness. Doing this made pushing the CD player back far enough pretty easy.

All in all the camera works fantastic!

Also, shout out to user Alex@Alpine for doing my remote coding! Fast and great job getting everything coded!

[bmg4]

Originally Posted by vastano

Turns out this was my issue, I initially didnt move the MOST connector into the new harness. Also, while I had everything apart, I removed the unnecessary wires in the harness. Doing this made pushing the CD player back far enough pretty easy.

All in all the camera works fantastic!

Also, shout out to user Alex@Alpine for doing my remote coding! Fast and great job getting everything coded!

Glad it helped! Everyone needs a radio.

[Cbozz]

Originally Posted by vastano

Turns out this was my issue, I initially didnt move the MOST connector into the new harness. Also, while I had everything apart, I removed the unnecessary wires in the harness. Doing this made pushing the CD player back far enough pretty easy.

All in all the camera works fantastic!

Also, shout out to user Alex@Alpine for doing my remote coding! Fast and great job getting everything coded!

where do you guys get a good emulator? I went through a bunch of shitty chinese ones and my camera works for a second and never works again! I know camera is good cuz I tried hooking it up to the TV it's the emulator that's faulty... who's got a good working one?

[gazosnic]

Has anyone now tried this w CIC emulator in tandem to know if it will work? I would really like to add this mod if so.

[Rotary Rasp]

Originally Posted by gazosnic

Has anyone now tried this w CIC emulator in tandem to know if it will work? I would really like to add this mod if so.

From what others have said, it does not work reliably with the CIC emulator.

[gazosnic]

Originally Posted by Rotary Rasp

From what others have said, it does not work reliably with the CIC emulator.

Does that mean it works but with extended delay? I may be OK with that.

If not - are there other new alternatives to the CIC emulator?

[unrealii]

I need some input. I purchased a camera which replaces the license plate LED as I do not want to make my trunk handle any smaller.

The camera came with an RCA cable and a short power cable. To make it work, I will have to run a seperate power wire in parallel with the RCA cable to get the signal from the emulator. I would rather have it all encompassed in 1 cable, so I came across these two cables. Let me know what you think.

Cable 1:
Similar to many included with your kits. RCA cable with 1 power wire
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HitCar-5M-RC...-/381239770020

Cable 2:
This has the perfect connector which would play nicely with the current power connection on my camera. To utilize it, I would run + and - to the front of the car instead of just the + and grounding the - in the trunk from the cable above. Does anyone see any issues with doing that?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AV-Cable-3-5...-/400548087340


Along with the backup camera, I will also be running a shielded coax cable to power a blackvue dr650-2ch rear dash cam to the rear of the car.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Having done car audio in the past I have been very wary of interference, so I am just trying to make sure I have all my bases checked.

[Cbozz]

Originally Posted by gazosnic

Has anyone now tried this w CIC emulator in tandem to know if it will work? I would really like to add this mod if so.

I hear that it doesn't work if you have your cic with emulator but you can have your cic scripted and then won't need emulator and you can use this one! LET ME KNOW if you want it scripted, I know someone that can do it cheap!

[austin0023]

Want to thanks everyone with all the helpful info on this DIY. I just installed it and it is all working as it should. I went with harness route and found the only challenge was to find the space to fit the harness. I put it right side at the back. Both sides have a hole but I think the right side has a bit more room. I have some info for others that want to do this.
1. Remove the pin from new harness - the "Click" is in the opposite side of the metal wrapper. Looking from the wire side, you see the wire is locked by the metal at the top. The "Click" is at the bottom side. I make my own tool to slide it in all the way to unlock the "Click".
2. The top panel is easy to pop out, you can just disconnect the "Start" button cable and leave the hazard cable connected without pulling the panel out completely. You get enough room for pulling out the climate panel. The DVD panel is just hold by 4 straight pin, work from the bottom and the panel should be pulling straight out.
3. The camera trunk handle that I got has about 1 mm play, it only has 1 central "Click" in compare the original trunk handle with two "Click" and it can be pop it out without tool, so I have to apply a thin adhesive sealant to help to hold the camera in place.

[Honda]

Sub'ed

[benj04]

Hello
I did everything as it should But still does not work I think the version of the CiC is the CIC C.08 problem . Is this possible?
This ligne:
PDC_DIRECTION
vertikal
is not in the cic module. I have the rear pdc
If I activate this line:
MACRO_L6_PARKMENU
aktiv
the image of the PDC do not appear

I do not understand anything

[vespa]

First of all, huge thanks to Rotary Rasp for this great DIY! How the hell did you figure this all out?

Second, I'll add my notes:
- Trunk handle camera and emulator from OP eBay link (autofocustech) arrive as a single package very quickly from China. There's at least one vendor who won't hate Rotary Rasp.
- Handle fits and works well, the remaining trigger is plenty wide enough and looks/feels good.
- Installation is quite difficult. Lots of trim panels to remove, none of which are easy, and the CIC wire splicing is very time consuming.
- This project is for "coders" only. If you're not already coding, don't go thru that hurdle just for this -- just buy a Bimmertech unit.
- I ran the trunk wire zig-zag to follow the factory wiring instead of diagonal like the OP which put the little round connector in an undesirably tight spot by the trunk hinge. Worked fine but diagonal is probably better.
- There is plenty of wire length no matter how you run it, even running it the longest possible way I still had about 2 feet extra.
- To get thru the rubber trunk tube I first ran some thin steel wire, used it to pull heat shrink tubing thru, then shrunk around the plug and pulled it back. Worked great, no lube. But boy is it tight, you really need a solid plan for this.
- The factory wiring harness (battery cable, etc.) runs thru the passenger door sill and it's easy to follow cleanly with the camera cable. A few zip ties and an occasional wrap around the factory harness keep the camera wire tidy. There is no factory wiring in the center console so it's best to stick to the door sill.
- Coding in advance had no effect much to my surprise. But it all came alive once the emulator was wired. No PDC and no problems.
- There is lots of room for the emulator. I velcro'd it to the back of the CIC.
- I pulled the 4 pins from the CIC plug and soldered to the backs of them. Very clean but time consuming and definitely not advised for those unfamiliar with pulling pins and soldering. You need to make sure the new wire won't force the pin off center and there's a fine line between a cold solder joint and melting the insulation of the original wire. Otherwise, just poke a screwdriver in the slot above each pin to unlatch them and use a knife to slightly bend the latch back up before reinstalling.
- Wire colors do not quite match -- Use the big wires for power, not just the first red/black you see. Grzez'z diagram is correct and easy to follow.
- The camera has an extra red wire (red at one end and red/black at the other). Both reds are the same and connected together, be sure to trim and insulate the one you don't use (typically the one with the black).
- There is an obvious grounding lug on the fender right where you need it. A fairly large round eyelet is all that's needed to connect the ground there. There is another one on the driver's side that the stereo is connected to.

Trim panel removal -- I'll give my tips since little was mentioned by the OP:
- Trunk panels are tough. You need a small and sharply curved plastic forked pry tool because the rivets are deeply recessed into tight little pockets and are very strong.
- E92 Rear seat bolster does not come out easily. I recommend fishing behind it. But if you must, the bottom is hooked vertically to the seat hinge and the top has a single forward-facing clip. You can loosen the seat belt cover and then just yank the top forward really hard.
- E92 rear seat bottom cushion requires a hard upward yank on each front corner. Pretty easy and helpful. If I could do it over again, I'd only remove the cushion and 2 trunk panels.
- Door sill can be yanked upward with a lot of force but all the clips are left behind which must be dug out with a sharp pry tool and then re-inserted into the sill. This alone is a 30-45 minute project. Might be better to just shove the wire under the sill without removing it. There's a huge gap in the carpet under the sill so if you just pull the wire back and forth under the sill it'll surely drop right down into that gap and end up perfectly alongside the factory wiring.
- Under the glovebox is trivial, just a couple screws/lights and the factory harness is right there along the firewall and is easy to follow right to the CIC.
- To remove CIC, first pull start button trim forward a little, then pull vents aft/out, then climate panel aft/out, then cd player trim aft/out, then 4 screws. Note CD faceplate does not come off newer models, only the surround.
- It may be easier to unplug all the CIC cables but I couldn't figure out how. I used a thick sweater to protect the console from the leaning CIC.

Results:
- Instantly shows the camera and instantly goes back to the previous CIC menu as expected with the gearshift. Unlike other cars that won't display the camera until the nav system has finished booting, this always works immediately -- only the side menus are missing until the CIC has booted up.
- CIC menu options for contrast and brightness don't really work, they always revert back to defaults. Luckily the defaults are best anyway.
- Other menu options don't work at all (guide lines, PDC). Though I have no PDC.
- Camera isn't great, contrast and color are mediocre at best.
- Image is somewhat disorienting and surprisingly small. CIC scrunches it into a narrow form which further distorts the usual fisheye. Does not compare well to the full screen OEM cameras on other cars which are easy to drive with. It's hard to describe and you can see in the pics below that the image looks perfectly fine and undistorted, but trust me, it's a little weird in person.
- Fisheye effects seem to vary between users. Note the bumper appears nice and straight on my Autofocustech system but others have a distorted bumper, even the sample images from the Autofocustech eBay ad are distorted.
- As with other cars, making phone calls or messing with the map while driving backwards causes the camera to disappear and then a gearshift fiddle is needed to reacquire it.
- I've used it about 100 times now and have seen the following bugs: Twice the video and menus remained on screen for a few seconds after shifting to D. Once, the menus displayed but no video. So it works perfectly about 97% of the time and adequately about 99% of the time.

Photos:
- A pic of my emulator install
- A pair of 25' tape measures denoting a car-width path (1.5 car lengths long) as seen by the camera. Note wood boards at each corner of the car approximating the corners of a close opposing bumper.

[benj04]

I did the same
I have no camera display
And do not have that menu and cic Version
Everything and well connected and well coded

[vespa]

Benji, I have C08 and no PDC on my 2011 and it works fine. I just coded the options and VO from the OP including the PDC stuff. Did you remember the VO?

[kormega917]

Ok so i finally got my camera. Emulator. And i bought a harness. In fhe pic i depinnned and added the rca to the white connector to pins 21 and 24. Do i depin the wires i took out of the harness tht are just hanging around on the other side of harness and just leave those pins open (nothing in there)? Also as u can see sort of, the can wires are not twisted together. Do i depin/ cut n twost them along with the emulator can wires. Or are u guys twisting them separately and then just splicing together the harness can wires and emulator can wires...

[timmyklang]

Originally Posted by Rotary Rasp

The emulator powers the camera and switches the idrive screen automatically when the car is shifted into reverse.

The WHITE wire from the emulator is used to supply +12 to the camera. You'll need to ground the camera to the chassis in the trunk.

How is this emulator compared to the bimmerretrofit? You said the white wire provides +12 volt. I have the bimmerretrofit and the shop spliced the wires. We reconnected the wires red to red, black to black, yellow to yellow, but white is by itself and doesn't connect anywhere. However, there is no image showing when i put in reverse.

[timmyklang]

Some help appreciated. I can't get camera to show image after the shop spliced my wire. It was original wire consisting of a yellow and red, connected to camera yellow and red. After splicing it, i can't get any image.This is a reverse camera retrofit from bimmerretrofit.com. The guy at the shop tried his own camera and it seems to work. But my camera doesn't show any image. Does anyone know what the white wire is for?? I can't figure out what the white is for. I read up on the old thread here with a different kit,stating white wire is 12v power that needs to be connected to red wire of camera. What does my red wire do that's from the harness then??

[MiguelTavares]

Has anyone used this to retrofit this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271677886583

It's from the same seller as the camera and the emulator posted on the OP.

This sure seems to save all the slicing, soldering, just wonder if it's worth it or not