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Reverse light tap for backup camera


odysseybernard

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Has anyone done this and remember what color wires are for the reverse light?  Went to the bargman site and looks like white is ground and black is 12v? I just sealed my lights and would prefer to not have to redo that to see which color wires feed into the reverse bulb.

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Yes, wh/gnd---blk/12V---blue is backups. Still have mine open as project in progress. 

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It's working but incorrectly.  I wired the positive side from the camera to the blue light, and the negative camera wire to the white light which I thought was ground. Camera works when put in reverse, but then the reverse light on that side doesnt, and camera goes off when put foot on the brake. Maybe white isn't ground. Will remove the tailight to try and discern which color wire is the reverse light ground.

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You may need to go to Harbor Freight and buy a cheap volt meter. They are less than 10. Meter the wires. The meter will show + or -. If it shows - reverse the meter probes and read again. That will indicate which is positive and which is negative. I wire my back up camera to the park lights. I did this because the rear of my 89 Dolphin is totally blind in the rear. I drive with the park lights on so that the camera is on. That way I have a video rear view mirror all the time when I am driving.

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Yes, Blue is backup. You may try grounding to bare metal rather than wire. I had same issue with a air horn hookup. It needed to be grounded to metal, and not hooked up to system wire ground to work properly.

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On my odyssey, white was the brake light, yes blue is the reverse light. Is now working using a frame ground and not a wire ground.  But now the reverse light on the tapped side is not working.  I have 12 v at the  bulb outlet and have tried a new bulb.  I guess must be the ground for the bulb holder. The other side reverse light works.

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8 hours ago, odysseybernard said:

On my odyssey, white was the brake light, yes blue is the reverse light. Is now working using a frame ground and not a wire ground.  But now the reverse light on the tapped side is not working.  I have 12 v at the  bulb outlet and have tried a new bulb.  I guess must be the ground for the bulb holder. The other side reverse light works.

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It could be either a bad socket or bad ground. Judging from the look of your socket a little fine sandpaper on the inside of the socket may do the trick. 

You could also clip a jumper wire from the outside of the socket to a good ground. If the light works, it’s the ground. 

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I was thinking of setting up a backup camera that would be on whenever the rig is running, since the mirror it shows on is otherwise useless (unless you're trying to supervise whoever's in the cabin while driving; speaking of which, do y'all have passengers in the cabin while driving?)

Any suggestions on how (not) to do that?

As always, thanks in advance!

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Instead of getting your power from the reversing lights, you could connect to the side lights and have the camera on whenever you have your lights on. Never a bad idea to have them on (DRLs). Or find a source that's 'Ignition On' (like the radio, wipers or heater fan) for them on all the time.

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1 hour ago, sweetleon said:

I was thinking of setting up a backup camera that would be on whenever the rig is running, since the mirror it shows on is otherwise useless...

A bit of deja vu here... guess you might remember when I covered this in a post last year; I ended up connecting my rear-view camera setup to the running/clearance lights—it's still working out really well. And, I agree with Derek: always a good idea to have those lights on anyways.

 

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