Reverse Camera Installation in Kia Spectra

[majid79]

Hello fellow PW members, this is my first DIY, to be published on this site so kindly send feedback if something is missing or further information required.

So guys this is my Kia Spectra 2006 Model

as you can see the trunk of this car is a bit higher than other cars of this class so while in reverse there is a huge blind area, which you need to tackle by guess, also same thing happens while reverse parking. Therefore I decided to add a reverse camera in my Spectra.

Goals and Objectives:
1. The Camera should be as concealed as possible (don?t want any Charsi to rip it apart from the car)
2. Camera should come on whenever the car is put on reverse, no additional buttons should be required to operate it, as soon as the car is put in forward gear the camera should turn off.
3. Should be weather proof

Things you need:

1. Reverse Parking Camera (Estimated cost Rs. 1,000/-)
2. LCD Screen (already had one so not sure about cost)
3. A few meter cable (For wiring Purposes)
4. Some CD Covers (explanation coming shortly)
5. Multiple Size screws
6. Basic Tools (Pliers, screwdrivers etc.)
7. Multi Meter (Very Important)

This project consists of 4 stages;

1. Installation of the Camera
2. Wiring of the Camera
3. Preparing the LCD, to be directly connected to the Camera
4. Wiring of the LCD

Let?s start

[hamza_xeg]

nice work
waiting for more

[majid79]

First remove the light from inside, there are two screws holding it, best way to do this is to lie down on floor and insert the screw driver in the gap between the bumper and its holder.

This way you can remove the light without needing to remove the bumper, also you can see the wires and where they enter in the trunk as you will need to insert your camera cables there.

Ok so Light out

Cut the wire, you will need to connect the lightof camera to this cable. (Refer to the Camera Picture)

Here I got a problem as the camera was designedfor corolla it is a bit smaller for the hole in the bumper of my spectra. So Idecided to make a holder for it.

[usmanuetian]

pictures of your spectra are not viewable....

[majid79]

To make this type of holder I used a dvd cover,

Marked the size of camera on it with a black marker

Made necessary holes in it

[majid79]

Fixed the camera with screws Secured with tape to make it a bit solid

Camera ready

[majid79]

Camera Installed i Car

[majid79]

Next Step: Wiring of the Camera

This is the camera with a wiring diagram (Sort of)

[majid79]

The Camera has three different connectors

a. Power for Camera Light (Number Plate Light)
b. Video Signal Cable
c. Power for Camera

The “a” needs to be connected with the wires of the existing number plate lights wiring, the one we removed in step two.

The “b” needs to go under the carpet to the dashboard, to be connected to the LCD’s new RCA input cable

The “c” Power for camera cable is a bit tricky one, as I wanted to power the camera on only when the car is in reverse gear, the best option to do this is to connect it to the reverse light, the white light which turns on whenever we are reversing the Camera, finding it was a bit tricky as I didn’t opened the lights, so it was a sort of trial and error but with the multi meter it went on quite easily.

Here’s the wire’s temporarily connection (for testing purpose)

The permanent connection

[majid79]

Don't forget to cover the above wires properly with tape.

Ok so the camera is in place now lets move on to the other half of this Project, installation of the LCD

[majid79]

The LCD I have is from another Car which I sold last year but kept the LCD due to some reasons.

The LCD has this type of pin

I have no idea where to connect the power cable or the video signal cable, so bassically I needed to find the following two cables from the PIN

a. 12v power supply cable
b. Video Signal Cable

So to find these cables, instead of first cutting the cable, I decided to open up the LCD first and try to find the color codes on the cable.

This is what inside of my LCD look likes;

You can see that there are five cables inside

Red, Black, Shielded Black, Yellow and White

Red is the +ve 12v cable
Black is the –ve 12v cable
Shielded Black is for some unknown purpose
Yellow and White are for Video Signal

So here is the Cable after cutting

Now any video output device can be connected to it. I've decided to add a female RCA connector on the Video cables, the Yellow cables goes to the Inside connector and the white is for outer connector.

[majid79]

Stage-4: Wiring of the LCD

This is a quite straight forward step, you need to connect the power connection of the LCD with the audio system’s power connector, or you can connect it with any power source in the cable, just make sure that the LCD is powered on when the car’s electronics are On.

So here is the LCD

LCD Power on (Notice the screen displaying “No Signal” message as the camera is connected but it’s not powered on.

Reverse gear and the Camera is powered (displaying the grid on the screen)

[majid79]

End Result

The camera is working perfectly as I intended, turns on with reverse gear, have decent pixel quality.
Very helpful during reverse parking and is very much concealed.

Some sample images

I will also try to upload a video of its operation.

Thanks for reading this tutorial, please feel free to contact me if you need any help in this regard.

[salal_abid15]

very nice, pictures on post 11 and after it aren't appearing

[majid79]

very nice, pictures on post 11 and after it aren't appearing

Kindly re check, I've re posted the pics, do notify me of the if the issue remains

[majid79]

Thanks

[salal_abid15]

oh i see beautifully done there

[majid79]

oh i see beautifully done there

Thanks mate, took a while to properly plan out everything, but the end result is worth it.

[faizandawood007]

Nice Job Sir jee

[majid79]

Nice Job Sir jee

Thanks bro