GT86 TAS300 rear camera input

[SVXdc]

[branched off from my Show us your OEM head unit (pictures wanted) thread]

Originally Posted by Keethos

Like most other countries, us UK folks don't have reverse cameras as an option at all and there are quite a few of us on a more local forum who'd like to fit one but have no idea how to connect a camera to our OEM head units. So this maybe a long shot but I was hoping you could help us UK folks with figuring out which pins are used for a reversing camera on our head units and if possible, even source adaptors/harness' for after market cameras, if you willing to post all the way to the UK that is.

We know that our head units are capable of being used with reverse cameras as there are other Toyota models that do come with the same head unit and have reverse cameras available as extras. I've tried asking some local dealers here about how they connect reversing cameras to other vehicles with the same head unit but they don't seem to be willing to help or just have no idea.

How exactly does one find out which pins are used for what?

I've attached some pics in the hopes that this will help as well as these links to the installation manuals for the head unit:

Standard Touch Head Unit:
[Touch installation PDF]

Nav Touch & Go Head Unit (same head unit but with different software and added underside module I believe):
[Touch & Go installation PDF]

[many great pictures in post in other thread]





This is a pure guess but could it also be the 16 pins [plug] for us as well? Could the one red cable be from the reversing gear? And since most after market cameras require 12V, do you still have to hook up the camera to the reverse light for power or should most head units supply enough voltage?

Any help would be much appreciated and if you could create and supply harness' to the UK, I know of quite a few guys who would be very much interested in purchasing them.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the great pictures!

Your hunch is correct -- the rear camera input is on the HU's 16-pin socket. Apparently that's a standard for Toyota HUs now.

Yours is like in the BRZ -- the only wire (pin 6) is the parking brake signal. Camera video is on pins 8 (video signal) and 16 (ground / shield).

The reverse gear signal is on the 28-pin harness (pin 2). Your car appears to have that lead, so all you need for the feature to work is for the HU to see a video signal on pins 8 & 16.

Pin-outs of 16- and 28-pin sockets in BRZ here.

My RCA cable and 16-pin harnesses should work for you, and I'll be happy to post them to the UK.

I don't know whether your Panasonic HU will have the same requirement as the BRZ's Fujitsu Ten nav (which must see the camera video signal present during boot-up). That precludes powering a camera from the reverse lights.
[ADDED: We've confirmed TAS300 works the same: HU checks for camera each time it boots (when you turn key to ACC)]

I've seen discussion on other Toyota forums that leads me to believe the Subaru OEM cameras' 6 Volts power is also a Toyota standard. We'll have to see if your TAS300 is the same. I'm not aware of any aftermarket camera which will work with less than 12 Volts, so you'll almost certainly need to power an aftermarket camera from the car's +12V Accessory bus.
[ADDED: TAS300 does supply 6V. There are actually many aftermarket cameras which work fine from 6V]

If you find a Toyota OEM camera that can fit your car (physically), we can look at powering it from your OEM HU.

BTW, the 6- and 10-pin harnesses (your pictures 9 and 10) appear to be part of some kind of adapter harness. They're plugged into the "real" factory 6- and 10-pin harnesses behind it, similar to the one shown in this thread: Extra wiring (and a USB surprise). Yours looks like a subwoofer harness. Or maybe a Bluetooth phone adapter harness.
[ADDED: Confirmed: it's from a dealer-fitted upgraded JBL sound system with new speakers and subwoofer]

I've spotted something about your 28-pin harness that leads me to think the one in your pictures is actually a similar type of adapter. Follow the wires farther back and see if they go to another "native" harness with a 28-pin plug. If so, check if that one still has the reverse gear wire.

[Keethos]

Hi David,

Thanks ever so much for such a quick response and for looking into this for me, I didn't even know that this unit was a Panasonic unit, there seems to be very little information available for this head unit, not even the TAS300 code or part number brings up much on google.

I must apologies, I forgot to mention that I had also opted for the upgraded JBL sound system which was a dealer fitted accessory (changes all 6 speakers for 9 JBL speakers, plus amp and sub that are fitting in the wheel well in the boot (see here for the installation manual for the JBL):

http://www.toyota-tech.eu/aimuploads..._002_515_1.pdf

Only a small hand full of people have opted for this upgrade so most have just stuck with the standard system or the Nav system which I assume won't have these pin adaptors.

When you say "need to power an aftermarket camera from the car's +12V Accessory bus" what exactly do you mean by this? Are you referring to the 12V plug like in the glove box? How would I go about doing this?

This is the camera I'm looking at getting (in the hopes it will easily replace one of the license plate lights)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2510965531...84.m1423.l2649

Please check out the pics below that I've just taken for more info, these are hidden menu's that can be activated by holding the "Media" button and then turning the lights on and off 3 times and the other is by holding the "Setup" button and then turning the lights on and off 3 times. While in the mode via the "Setup" button, I can advance onto a "Next page" which will indicated if the Reverse Gear is engaged, and when I do engage reverse (even with the clutch down) as you can see in the last pic, "REV" reads "ON". Does this mean that the reverse 28 pin harness does have the reverse pin connected correctly even at the native port? Will you still require me to follow the cable back to the native plug?

I'll try and get more pics to you next weekend when I'm free.

Thanks again,

Keith

[SVXdc]

Originally Posted by Keethos

When you say "need to power an aftermarket camera from the car's +12V Accessory bus" what exactly do you mean by this? Are you referring to the 12V plug like in the glove box? How would I go about doing this?

If your TAS300 behaves like the BRZ FT nav, your HU will need to see the camera video signal already present when the HU boots. That means your camera will need a source of 12V that turns on when you turn your key to ACC or ON/RUN. This is "+12V Accessory". That is used to turn the radio on/off. It's often used for accessory outlets ("cigarette lighter" outlets). There are usually several circuits (buses) going to various modules and devices throughout the car. You'll need to check your model's wiring diagrams to find good locations to tap (ideally near the camera).

On the other hand, if the TAS300 doesn't care about the camera video signal until you actually shift into reverse, then you can power your camera from the reverse lights (tap into that wire, near the camera).

Please check out the pics below that I've just taken for more info, these are hidden menu's
...
when I do engage reverse ... "REV" reads "ON". Does this mean that the reverse 28 pin harness does have the reverse pin connected correctly even at the native port? Will you still require me to follow the cable back to the native plug?

Thanks. That confirms you have the reverse signal at the 28-pin plug at the HU. That means we won't have to add that signal to your harness.

That doesn't tell us whether the reverse signal is on the native 28-pin harness or if it's merged in via the nav [correction: "Standard Touch Head Unit"] adapter harnesses. The main reason to check that is so we'll know for people who have your same model car but don't have the [same HU as] yours.

Originally Posted by Keethos (via PM)

how I can power the camera during an initial test (i.e. just hooking up the camera to the head unit without installing anything, what's the easiest way of powering it momentarily)

Probably the easiest would be to get a 'cigarette-lighter-plug-to-plain-wires' type adapter and a pair of alligator clip leads. Use those to clip onto the camera's power leads.

It's definitely a smart idea to test a camera (especially no-name ones from Asia), because more than a few people have had problems. First, test on a regular TV or monitor that has a composite video input, then on your HU's rear camera input. You want to discover any problems while it's still easy to return (and definitely before you've drilled holes, cut wires, glued, etc.).

[Keethos]

Hi David,

Thanks again for all this!

If your TAS300 behaves like the BRZ FT nav, your HU will need to see the camera video signal already present when the HU boots. That means your camera will need a source of 12V that turns on when you turn your key to ACC or ON/RUN. This is "+12V Accessory". That is used to turn the radio on/off. It's often used for accessory outlets ("cigarette lighter" outlets). There are usually several circuits (buses) going to various modules and devices throughout the car. You'll need to check your model's wiring diagrams to find good locations to tap (ideally near the camera).

On the other hand, if the TAS300 doesn't care about the camera video signal until you actually shift into reverse, then you can power your camera from the reverse lights (tap into that wire, near the camera).

Hopefully this will be the case, otherwise I may have to bother you again for help on finding one of these 12V buses near the boot

Thanks. That confirms you have the reverse signal at the 28-pin plug at the HU. That means we won't have to add that signal to your harness.

That doesn't tell us whether the reverse signal is on the native 28-pin harness or if it's merged in via the nav adapter harnesses. The main reason to check that is so we'll know for people who have your same model car but don't have the nav upgrade like yours.

No problem, again I'll try and get you these this weekend. And FYI, I don't actually have the NAV upgrade on mine, but from my understanding of the installation manual I posted (Link) the top 16 and 28 pin ports shouldn't be affected by the NAV module at all, however, I do know that the NAV versions have a slightly different software to those without NAV, would this make a difference? I'll see if someone with NAV could also have a look at the 28 pin harness for you as well.

And just one more thing, any ideas if I would need an NTSC camera or a PAL camera, or does it not make a difference?

Thanks,

Keith

[SVXdc]

Originally Posted by Keethos

FYI, I don't actually have the NAV upgrade on mine, but from my understanding of the installation manual I posted (Link) the top 16 and 28 pin ports shouldn't be affected by the NAV module at all, however, I do know that the NAV versions have a slightly different software to those without NAV, would this make a difference?

Sorry, I confused which upgraded HU your car had. Based on both PDFs (nav and non-nav), I have a suspicion that the reverse signal may be one of the things brought in via that long harness G1 that connects near the right door, and the signal won't be on your native 28-pin plug.

I also now see that the adapter harness adds the 16-pin plug -- the drawings say your car didn't have a native one.

I'll see if someone with NAV could also have a look at the 28 pin harness for you as well.

I'd definitely be interested to see pics of their 28-pin connectors. It's still possible that the 28-pin adapter harness is slightly different on the nav version.

any ideas if I would need an NTSC camera or a PAL camera, or does it not make a difference?

Subaru owners in PAL countries found that the 2008-2011 Impreza/Forester nav (made by Kenwood) required the camera to be NTSC (even though the aux video input could be NTSC or PAL). Since both Japan and the US are NTSC, that may be the reason. Plus, I'm sure Subaru only planned on the cars being fitted with OEM cameras.

You'll need to test yours with video devices in both standards. But I'm guessing your HU will require NTSC also.

[Keethos]

Hi David,

Please find attached more pics of the cables behind the head unit. Sadly I can't follow the green cable from the 28 pin harness or the red cable from the 16 pin harness (the reverse signal and parking brake is it?) as they seem to just converge into one big cluster of wrapped wires but then break off into 2 groups of cables but again wrapped up, one heads into to the back of the head unit area into even more clusters of cables and the other group heads off behind the drivers dash instruments (which you can see in the last 2 images).

I've also taken a couple shots of a harness plug with nothing plugged into it, probably of no use to you but thought I'd take a picture anyways just in case.

Hopefully these images will help and that the harness that you supply will still work. So far, these's only been a had full of responses on my thread that I posted on our local site with the interest of ordering one, but no one has stepped forward yet to take any pics of their head unit and cables (those with Nav). I'll give them a nudge but they may simply be waiting for me to try it out first.

Thanks again for all this David!

[Keethos]

Hi David,

Apologies for the late response here. I managed to get round to checking out the native 28-pin harness however, I was unable to unplug the connector as the foam surround has actually been stuck to the connectors, there's no way of removing the foam without actually destroying the foam. Below are some pics of what I could get, again apologies for not being able to capture them in the ideal positions as they are very tightly clustered together which doesn't allow for much movement or the ability to insert anything between the rows at the back of the 28-pin, hopefully these will suffice.

Also, sadly I don't have anything portable that can output a video signal to the yellow RC cable to test your harness out so I may have to wait for the camera to actually arrive to test it. I've had a quick read through your e-mail that you've sent and that's quite a list of tests to run I'll have to try and find myself a voltmeter, maybe I can find a relatively cheap one off ebay, but I'll be sure to run these tests for you before installing the camera. I'll come up with a simplified game plan that I'll run through with you first as there are a couple of things that I'm not too sure on so I'll be in touch shortly.

Thanks again for all your help.

Kind Regards,

Keith

[Riseed]

Originally Posted by SVXdc

Probably the easiest would be to get a 'cigarette-lighter-plug-to-plain-wires' type adapter and a pair of alligator clip leads. Use those to clip onto the camera's power leads.

It's definitely a smart idea to test a camera (espeically no-name ones from Asia), because more than a few people have had problems. First, test on a regular TV or monitor that has a composite video input, then on your HU's rear camera input. You want to discover any problems while it's still easy to return (and definitely before you've drilled holes, cut wires, glued, etc.).

What is the main criteria about the connection with adopter. i am seeking for this method because i faced this problem. i have a workshop and want to publicity it. so i don't wanna make any problem with that.