02-05 Rear camera installation help | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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02-05 Rear camera installation help

  • Thread starter Thread starter AJW
  • Start date Start date
I’m trying to wire a rear camera to a 2005 Thunderbird. I intend to put a relay in the truck but I can’t determine what wire is the reverse light feed to go to the relay. When I put a test light to the reverse light wires they both have power. Both the black and red and the pink and blue. I changed the radio to a JVC apple play. Everything works, the subwoofer, center console speakers, even the steering wheel volume controls. The is the final piece of this project. Any ideas, I think I’m missing something!
 
AJW said:
I’m trying to wire a rear camera to a 2005 Thunderbird. I intend to put a relay in the truck but I can’t determine what wire is the reverse light feed to go to the relay. When I put a test light to the reverse light wires they both have power. Both the black and red and the pink and blue. I changed the radio to a JVC apple play. Everything works, the subwoofer, center console speakers, even the steering wheel volume controls. The is the final piece of this project. Any ideas, I think I’m missing something!
Click to expand...
Grounds are switched on off. Plus 12v always hot on Tbird lights. All of them.
 
Radio Installation Deju 4. That is the circuit I used and it worked perfectly until the radio died (un related). As an engineer who designs radios I tried saving money by buying and using 3 other radios from china with no support. I am now having a pro install a Kenwood with Standard Garmin Nav and with I-play. Need Waze nav for the city and Garmin for the desert driving. Too busy to work on it myself, I am finding sometimes "cheap isn't inexpensive"
 
2005 50th anniversary silver
Thanks for all of your help, I’ll attempt to complete this project this weekend. Good luck with your Kenwood radio! apply play is a good feature, it puts google and apple maps on your radio. I don’t think you need to buy a radio with navigation. I’m not sure about the Waze app but I could download it and let you know.
 
AJW said:
I’m trying to wire a rear camera to a 2005 Thunderbird. I intend to put a relay in the truck but I can’t determine what wire is the reverse light feed to go to the relay. When I put a test light to the reverse light wires they both have power. Both the black and red and the pink and blue. I changed the radio to a JVC apple play. Everything works, the subwoofer, center console speakers, even the steering wheel volume controls. The is the final piece of this project. Any ideas, I think I’m missing something!
Click to expand...
All I can tell you is from what my installer was saying he said that the thunderbird was weird things that should have been positive were negative and things that were negative were positive once he hooked the power to the camera the camera would not work after hours of him scratching his head he decided to switch the wires to the camera and then viola camera started working. Sorry but this is all I got on that I hope that it helps. We ran into the same issue while installing the remote start as well best advice on that is to find a person that has not done one before or they will want to charge insane money because it is so difficult and a real pain. I found an installer that said he as good and reviews said he was good and he said he’s never installed one on a bird before but was like how hard can it be he charged me only 150 for basic install quoted price upfront took him over 9 hours to actually finish and make it work lol
 
My rear camera is finally installed. Turns out that it was defective from Crutchfield. They replaced it in one day. @PCR59 has it right for wiring it! Anyway while it’s fresh I’ll go over it in case anyone needs the info.
I put a 10 amp fuse in line between the relay and my battery and connected the red 30 and green 86 wire from the relay to it. The black and red wire from the rear reverse light on the passenger side is the reverse trigger wire, I tapped onto it with a Positap, This gets connected to the black 85 wire on the relay. The red wire from the camera and the red wire on the outside of the camera wire get connected to the white 85 wire on the relay. The black wire coming from the camera gets grounded to the battery hold down screw.
Behind the radio it’s just the rca plug in and one reverse wire that gets connected.
Hope this can help someone!
 
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So how do you connect the wire to work when its supposed to? OOps, just saw comment that the black & white wire from right side backup light is the one to connect to. Has anyone tried any of the new wireless cameras?
 
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I think all lights are hot 12V all the time. When in reverse, the ground is applied to the other (low) side of backup light.
You need to figure out how to reverse this (some kind of small, low power relay) or find a kit that does the job.
 
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You need a standard 12V relay to deal with the trigger from the TBird backup lights that is opposite what most backup cameras expect.. I just went through this with my car...
 
I had a wireless camera once. Didn't work very well so I ran the cable. Maybe some wireless are better than others but the cable always works.
 
AJW said:
I’m trying to wire a rear camera to a 2005 Thunderbird. I intend to put a relay in the truck but I can’t determine what wire is the reverse light feed to go to the relay. When I put a test light to the reverse light wires they both have power. Both the black and red and the pink and blue. I changed the radio to a JVC apple play. Everything works, the subwoofer, center console speakers, even the steering wheel volume controls. The is the final piece of this project. Any ideas, I think I’m missing something!
Click to expand...

Which wire did you attach to the backup camera? My husband started installing one for me. Then he got frustrated and quit. That was a year ago. Still don’t have it going

any insight would be appreciated. I have an 02 Bird
 
Fairly easy/simple connections, running the wires to the back is a pain though.

1591389260578.png
 
highwayghost said:
Fairly easy/simple connections, running the wires to the back is a pain though.

View attachment 12056
Click to expand...
I can tell you that won't work on a Kenwood, the backup light signal is expected to go high (+12V) by the radio to invoke the camera image on the radio screen, our TBird's signal goes low instead; hence the need for the relay as discussed in prior posts.

I suspect the same applies to other major radio brands.
 
I mounted the relay on the left rear fender behind the cosmetic panel and stuck it to the side with velcro tape...
If you switch into reverse with the ignition on and engine off you can actually hear the relay fire to make the radio display work.

I always use this setup for automotive/marine relays; cheap, waterproof and socket along with pigtail leads are included with free "next day" delivery:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N66W2XF/?tag=thunderbirdforum-20

The power wire(s) gauge is overkill for this job but doesn't hurt a thing...put a bit of dielectric grease in the socket on installation and you're good for a lifetime.
 
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