spamgnome

I'm going to be installing a backup camera in my 2013 GLK250. My plan is to hook up the power (+) wire for the camera to the reverse light wire on the car. My question is, what's the easiest place to do that? Since the camera will be mounted to the tailgate, I'm hoping to find the wire on the tailgate itself somewhere, instead of running a wire all the way up the tailgate and then somehow down to where the light is. Thanks!

habbyguy

I found it a lot easier to connect to a wire near the head (control) unit in the dash, since that has to come out anyway. There's really no down side to not using the reverse light signal, since the camera draws a tiny amount of power, so it won't have any effect on anything as long as you choose a power source that turns off with the key.

I used the blue power antenna / amp sense wire coming out of my head unit, but it's on a 2011 with the slightly different NTG4.0 head unit. That might well be the same for the NTG4.5 unit in the 2013 though.

Here's the (inevitable) video that I made on the install process - I think it's pretty clear that it's easier to hook the power up to the radio harness somewhere (as long as the kit you have has a harness that carries a power wire back to the camera connection, which my ~$20 kit did).

spamgnome

Thanks for the (super fast) reply. Fortunately (or not, as the case may be) I'm going to be installing a camera that provides a wireless feed to the front of the car. There's no need to actually take anything apart on the panel as the wireless receiver will plug in to where the original Nav module used to be. I replaced that recently with an $88 replacement module that gave me Android Auto as well as a "dongle" to install the camera. For $90, I'm finding that module works very well!

habbyguy

Interesting option. I have a wireless backup camera on my RV, and haven't really liked it much because of the less than reliable link from the camera to the "receiver" (in this case, a device hanging on my rearview mirror), but it IS a "bit longer" than my GLK... (by about double). ;-)

I think the easiest way to connect is going to be to just open up the access to the rear light housings, and find the reverse light, and tap into the "non-ground" wire going to that socket. Should be pretty straight-forward, and certainly the current drain will be negligible.

spamgnome

[QUOTEI think the easiest way to connect is going to be to just open up the access to the rear light housings, and find the reverse light, and tap into the "non-ground" wire going to that socket. Should be pretty straight-forward, and certainly the current drain will be negligible.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like it. Although I'm going to try to find the correct wire in the conduit that leads from top of the hatch to the "C Pillar" that eventually goes to the light cluster in the rear fender. If anyone knows the color...:-)