02-05 Rear View Mirror Backup Camera | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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02-05 Rear View Mirror Backup Camera

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomsmall1952
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tomsmall1952

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Thunderbird Year
2003
Backup camera in. Installed an Auto-Vox T1400 mirror cam ($150 on Amazon). This is a wireless setup. Here is a list of materials:
1) Auto-Vox T1400 mirror cam
2) mini add a fuse( goes in #18 in passenger side fuse panel (this is a switched outlet and doesn’t cause battery drain when car is off),
3) pack of quick connect connectors (red),
4) one ring terminal (blue) to fit on + battery terminal,
5) one female add on lighter socket (to plug mirror power supplyinto)
6) wire (used multilead trailer wire I had on hand 16ga)
7) one RL45 relay (this is due to Tbirds having a positive ground on the lighting in rear( Amazon or any parts house.

I had installed a 5” screen system up high on windshield for another system, but it seemed obtrusive. The mirror screen looks like a regular mirror. You lose the courtesy lighting in the OEM mirror though. Was anxious about removing the OEM mirror and snapping off the mount. I went to the Safelight place up the street and they popped it right off with no damage, time or cost.

Another thing you need to do is locate the black/green wire coming out of driver side rear lamp assy. Do not cut it. Lay back the tape wrap and use a red line tap to access the wire.



Including the wiring diagram for the relay. Trigger is line from above black/green wire. Questions?
wiring.png

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Last edited by a moderator:
tomsmall1952,

“Another thing you need to do is locate the black/green wire coming out of driver side rear lamp assy. Do not cut it. Lay back the tape wrap and use a red line tap to access the wire.”

Can it be the black/green wire on the passenger side rear lamp assembly? (I’ve already got it isolated.)
 
I installed a Auto-Vox wireless backup camera on my 2004 Thunderbird. I thought that the intallation was quite easy. In a normal situation you could power the camera by tapping off of one of the backup wires so the camera turns on when in reverse. However in a Thunderbird all of the rear lights have voltage and the rear electronic module supplies the ground to illuminate the lights. Because of this a relay has to be installed to supply voltage to the camera and to trigger the relay when in reverse, you have to tap into either the black/green wire coming out of driver side backup light or the black/red wire coming out of passenger side backup lamp.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

Relay Installation Instructions.JPG

Non-OEM Color Backup Light Wiring Diagram.JPGOEM Backup Light Wiring Diagram.JPG
 
Doug 7740
Thank you for the very nice reply/post. It was very helpful. My T-bird is in NC and I live in SD but work part time in NC so I am trying to get this resolved here in November. I bought a screen/monitor with Apple CarPlay that broadcasts sound through an FM channel and has a dash cam attached to the external headunit/screen. It has a backup camera too and that is what I was inquiring about in my post in early August. I've got an RL45 relay. I've isolated/identified the black with red stripe wire coming out of the right/passenger rear taillight assembly (my negative/ground trigger) and I am planning to wire it to post 85. The backup camera comes with a ~15 ft cable that plugs into the screen via a mini audio-type plug. There is a male/female connector about 2 feet from the back-up camera end with a 3-4' red wire with a bare tip coming back from the male end that is supposed to be connected to the taillight power source. I intend to attach this to post 87. When I was trying to sort out the correct connections in early August, I opened the black camera cable. Inside, there are four wires: a bare wire, a red wire, a yellow wire, and a white wire. There also seemed to be a foil-type coating around all of the coated wires and the one bare wire (as a bundle) underneath the black external coating. I'm assuming the yellow and white wires carry the video signal. I believe the red wire carries the positive current and the bare wire carries the negative/ground. Since I don't think I should have gotten in to this cable, I've done my best to seal it back up and restore it to the original. I am confused, however, as to how to reconcile what seems like my connection of the red wire to post 87. Do I need to somehow ground the backup camera to the car frame? The black coated video cable simply runs directly in to the back of the backup camera that I have attached to a metal license plate holder but it is not connected to the bare metal car frame anywhere. As I reviewed a few YouTube videos on using relays (and I reviewed your post above with the schematics, it seemed wise that I connect both post 86 and post 30 to an inline fuse before it is connected to the positive on the battery. I can't find a recommendation for an inline fuse to use. 10 Amp? One with a wire coming out of both ends and the fuse in a holder in the middle or one that taps in to a fuse box slot? Sorry to ask more questions but I thought it best to try and get things figured out on paper before I go out to the garage to tackle this later this week. Thanks again for the help! Phil
 
doug7740 said:
I installed a Auto-Vox wireless backup camera on my 2004 Thunderbird. I thought that the intallation was quite easy. In a normal situation you could power the camera by tapping off of one of the backup wires so the camera turns on when in reverse. However in a Thunderbird all of the rear lights have voltage and the rear electronic module supplies the ground to illuminate the lights. Because of this a relay has to be installed to supply voltage to the camera and to trigger the relay when in reverse, you have to tap into either the black/green wire coming out of driver side backup light or the black/red wire coming out of passenger side backup lamp.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

View attachment 31748

View attachment 31749View attachment 31750
Click to expand...
Doug 7740
Thank you for the very nice reply/post. It was very helpful. My T-bird is in NC and I live in SD but work part time in NC so I am trying to get this resolved here in November. I bought a screen/monitor with Apple CarPlay that broadcasts sound through an FM channel and has a dash cam attached to the external headunit/screen. It has a backup camera too and that is what I was inquiring about in my post in early August. I've got an RL45 relay. I've isolated/identified the black with red stripe wire coming out of the right/passenger rear taillight assembly (my negative/ground trigger) and I am planning to wire it to post 85. The backup camera comes with a ~15 ft cable that plugs into the screen via a mini audio-type plug. There is a male/female connector about 2 feet from the back-up camera end with a 3-4' red wire with a bare tip coming back from the male end that is supposed to be connected to the taillight power source. I intend to attach this to post 87. When I was trying to sort out the correct connections in early August, I opened the black camera cable. Inside, there are four wires: a bare wire, a red wire, a yellow wire, and a white wire. There also seemed to be a foil-type coating around all of the coated wires and the one bare wire (as a bundle) underneath the black external coating. I'm assuming the yellow and white wires carry the video signal. I believe the red wire carries the positive current and the bare wire carries the negative/ground. Since I don't think I should have gotten in to this cable, I've done my best to seal it back up and restore it to the original. I am confused, however, as to how to reconcile what seems like my connection of the red wire to post 87. Do I need to somehow ground the backup camera to the car frame? The black coated video cable simply runs directly in to the back of the backup camera that I have attached to a metal license plate holder but it is not connected to the bare metal car frame anywhere. As I reviewed a few YouTube videos on using relays (and I reviewed your post above with the schematics, it seemed wise that I connect both post 86 and post 30 to an inline fuse before it is connected to the positive on the battery. I can't find a recommendation for an inline fuse to use. 10 Amp? One with a wire coming out of both ends and the fuse in a holder in the middle or one that taps in to a fuse box slot? Sorry to ask more questions but I thought it best to try and get things figured out on paper before I go out to the garage to tackle this later this week. Thanks again for the help! Phil
 
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