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I recently picked up a 2007 GL450 with 60k miles in excellent condition. The previous owner has an extended warranty until 80k, but is being moved to another country for work so they had to let it go. I picked it up for 19k! It has factory Nav, DVD, but as many people complain about NO BACKUP CAMERA!! I've done hours of research regarding my options on a DIY aftermarket install, but would like those of you who were in my shoes at one point to chime in before I pull the trigger. Here is what I've narrowed it down to:
So...This weekend was the big install, and everything is working perfect! I'm not sure if anyone else has ran upon this thread, but I decided to make the next guys life a little easier if they take the route I did. Let me explain and post some pictures.
1. I went with the http://www.tvandnav2go.com/ option. It was among the cheapest route, but found very good reviews on it. I also bought this camera
2. I followed PorscheTT's post as I mentioned above. Make sure you read through his posting here: His Install
3. Below are my steps..
Step 1. You'll need to remove your rear panels from the lift gate. These are in pretty tight with both metal and plastic snaps. Work your way around the edges with a plastic pry. You'll need to use some force to release them. Go in the order below.Start with the panel near the top of the windowThen do each small side panelThen at the bottom (like where the latch is) there is a manual latch release that has a plastic cover around it. Pop that out.Now remove the big plastic piece that surrounds the latch and also the red trunk close button.
Step 2. Okay, now you have an exposed lift gate. It's time to find a place to install your camera. I decided to go against the *normal* location where factory installs the cameras and where most others have (including PorscheTT). I put mine to the right of the external gate release. I had to drill a small hole to feed the wire back through....see picture below. This allowed it to be almost dead center of the vehicle.
To the right of the lift gate release.
Step 3. Now with the wire on the inside run it along the edge with the other wires to the rear/top of the tail gate. You'll need to feed it down through the rubber hose to get inside the roof of the vehicle. I found it best to run a "feeder wire" up through the bottom of the tube in order to wrap around the camera wire and pull it down into the roof. See picture below
You can see my wire zipped tied with the white ties. I haven't fed it down the tube yet into the car. I used a feeder wire coming from the inside of the roof to hook the wire and pull it through the rubber tube.
Step 4. Now work the wire down around the right side of the vehicle until you can get it down to the back fuse panel. My camera had all 3 wires (power, ground, vga) all fused into one nice wire which made it nice.
Step 5. The next part is vital....I will try to explain it the best I can. I wanted to switch my camera on when the reverse lights were activated. You'll need to locate the wiring harness that plugs into the right rear taillight assembly. If you pull that harness out, at the end where the pins plug in, you'll see #'s. The #3 pin is the reverse light. I can't remember the wire color, so with the harness plugged into the tail light double check with a multi meter. You'll have zero voltage when in park, and it it will jump to 11 something when you put it in reverse. Now make sure you are checking the voltage WITH the harness PLUGGED IN the tail assembly or you'll get a false positive reading. Splice into this wire with some new wire you've picked up. You'll need 15 feet of it (radio shack)...so buy something with similar gauge (22 or so) and lots of it! Don't wire the camera directly into this wire...Another super important detail....the reverse wire (probably all of them) are PULSATING!! That means it's not a constant 12v of power, but jumps up and down. You can't use this to power the camera directly or you'll get lines all on the screen as it pulses power. You CAN use this to wire up to a automotive relay (also radio shack, here is the link to it). So, to recap you have your Radio Shack wire spliced into the pulsating reverse wire waiting to eventually be wired into a relay.
Step 6. I spliced into the reverse wire and ran my new "Radio Shack" wire along with my wires from my camera clear up to the front of the vehicle tucking it in along the roof. This particular camera had the power/ground/vga all combined into once nice wire.
Step 7. Remove the head unit from the dash. This is a
Step 8. You now need to locate "switched power". In other words you don't want constant power that is always on. I can't remember the exact harness/wire I pulled it from, but once again get your multi-meter out, and with the harness still plugged into the back of the head unit use the needle part of the meter to find a wire that is only showing voltage after the key is turned to the accessory position or when the vehicle is running. Splice into this wire and run a new "Radio Shack" wire (about 2 feet) from it. This will be your "clear power" that doesn't pulsate. Run this to the #87 on your relay. Now hook up your power to your camera to #30 on the relay. You now need to ground the #85 on the relay....so run a new piece of "Radio Shack" wire from the #85 to a bolt back behind the head unit...there are a few to choose from. Just make sure it's a good ground (test with multi meter). You now need to trigger the relay....so take that wire that you ran from the rear (reverse lights) that pulsates....and hook it to #86 on the relay. When you put the car in reverse you should hear the relay click as it closes the gate and connects the clear power to the camera wire.
Step 9. You are not done...but almost. You'll notice on your tvandnav modulator box there is a grey (I think) wire that is labeled "camera". This is triggering an internal relay to tell it to push the vga feed from the camera to your head unit. Wire this to the #30 part of the relay. So when the automotive relay is triggered, it will now provide power to the camera and also the tvandnav modular.
Step 10. I'm assuming you've read the instructions that cam with your tvandnav and have already take off the display and replaced the ribbon cable. If that's the case you're ready to test...Hope this helped out!
08-17-2014, 12:40 PM
