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For a little while now, I've had a problem with the picture from the rear view camera going black. It seemed to be related to either very hot or cold temps, though today it went out pulling out of the driveway and the temps were very reasonable.
So this afternoon, I figured I would start at the camera end and check for loose connections. Of course it wasn't that straight forward, as most things MB tend to be. Long story short, the easiest way to get to the connector is to remove the inner trunk lid lining which exposes the wiring harness. Most of the lid is held up with the small round plastic clips. Once those are out, there are two things to disconnect, the red light in the lid and the inside trunk release button.
The connector is covered by a foam sleeve. The camera has 4 wires, 2 for power and 2 for video. I cycled the connector about 4 times and with the ignition on but engine stopped, put the car in reverse and monitored whether the camera would cut out while I moved it around. Worked fine, so I left the trunk lid lining off and will give it all a couple of days to see if the problem reoccurs. If it does, I can play with the connector there and then and see if manipulating it solves the issue or not. If it doesn't, the next step is to look at the power supply module that sits by the rear drivers side door sill. Intermittent problems tend to be the biggest PIA's to solve....
Waiting for investigation results as well, since I have kind of same problem from time to time. I also noticed that this is more luckily to occur at very high or low temps.
Of course it was fine this morning. These types of problems are usually at the connectors, so that is where I'll focus the effort till its fixed or otherwise.
The cameras on my 2015 have been chronically problematic.
I'm on my 3rd COMAND unit, 2nd camera unit. At no time have they tried replacing cameras. Changing the camera units seems to have made the most difference on my car. On mine, when it goes out, ALL of my cameras go out at once. I've never had just one camera fail.
I believe on yours there is no camera unit and the camera just plugs straight into the back of COMAND, so I'd start there.
Also, check the power connectors. When I lose my cameras, the car doesn't even attempt to show it when I put the car in Reverse, but if I manually bring up the camera input it'll show black screens for all of the cameras.
The cameras on my 2015 have been chronically problematic.
I'm on my 3rd COMAND unit, 2nd camera unit. At no time have they tried replacing cameras. Changing the camera units seems to have made the most difference on my car. On mine, when it goes out, ALL of my cameras go out at once. I've never had just one camera fail.
I believe on yours there is no camera unit and the camera just plugs straight into the back of COMAND, so I'd start there.
Also, check the power connectors. When I lose my cameras, the car doesn't even attempt to show it when I put the car in Reverse, but if I manually bring up the camera input it'll show black screens for all of the cameras.
On this car there is only one camera and it is a separate unit that plugs into the harness at the trunk lid. That harness meets up with the power supply near the rear seat and then that harness runs up eventually to plug into the back of the command unit.
This has happened a few times on my 2010.
However, only seems to happen when I start fiddling with the audio as soon as I put car in reverse. I think it may be overloaded with my trying to change audio systems while camera is trying to "load."
It's been a week since I looked at the camera and no issues so far. What I have noticed is that previously even though the camera wasn't blanking out, there would be a moment of jitter before the picture would come on, similar to old tube TV's that had to horizontally sync as you changed channels (Do I date myself here?) . Now its pretty rock steady, no jitter and fast response. Keeping fingers crossed, so I'll button it all back up and hope for the best.
When I lose my cameras, the car doesn't even attempt to show it when I put the car in Reverse, but if I manually bring up the camera input it'll show black screens for all of the cameras.
How do you bring up camera manually? Thanks. I am not getting any picture whatsoever when I reverse.
I don't have this car anymore, sold it due to never-ending electrical problems and MBUSA refusing to acknowledge it, so it's been awhile since I've used one.
Off the top of my head I had the Star / Favorites button mapped to the camera function. The camera function was all the way in the right menu, which I believe was System or Vehicle, then 360 Degree Camera. I'm not sure if this option appears on a backup-only model.
The camera function was all the way in the right menu, which I believe was System or Vehicle, then 360 Degree Camera. I'm not sure if this option appears on a backup-only model.
Must not be in Back-up camera only cars. I followed the instruction listed in the manual and this is all I have in the menu:
On this car there is only one camera and it is a separate unit that plugs into the harness at the trunk lid. That harness meets up with the power supply near the rear seat and then that harness runs up eventually to plug into the back of the command unit.
Is there a connector between the camera and the camera harness? Or is the harness integrated with the camera? I tried to remove my camera from the trunk lid but could never find the fight way to get it done.
08-22-2016, 07:04 PM
