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Fiesta Reversing Camera And Screen


tomroscoe
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I've just fitted a very smart reversing camera to my 2013 Fiesta Zetec and very good it is too. I'll attach a not-very-exciting picture of it fitted into the black insert of my rear bumper. The camera/CMOS assembly is waterproof, cost less than a tenner and feeds a smart 4.3'' LCD screen (fifteen quid) that sits happily just ahead of the gearlever in that little cubby hole under the stop/start switch. The camera's simple to wire into the reversing light and when reverse is selected the camera powers up and its signal turns on the LCD screen. Neat!

The camera is amazing. It has a very wide-angle field of view yet has zero barrel distortion, so there's none of the fish-eye effect you get with car cameras in general. It's also very sensitive and sees well in the dark - though the picture gets grainier the lower the ambient light levels. More fun then beepers, good people.

post-45623-0-91236400-1375717144_thumb.j

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What model camera is that? Do you have a link? Also what head unit/display have you got that you connected it to?

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Here's a shot of the monitor in the car - it fits perfectly into that little cubby-hole aperture.

post-45623-0-77458200-1375824175_thumb.j

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Looks great and a bargain too

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Looks just what I'm after. Don't supposed you'd do a few details on how you fitted and maybe a photo or two of how it's cabled in etc? It looks prefect and as you say looks near and works brilliantly, and far more entertaining that reverse sensors/beeping. Probably abut to order so anything to help fit it would be great though.

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Dead easy to fit to a current Fiesta. You have this model?

I looked at various camera positions but didn't much want to drill steel, so I chose the black bit of the bumper where it's concave.

I drilled the plastic bumper and opened up the hole with a file. No need for accuracy as the camera's flange covers any slight mistakes. Behind that black bit of the bumper is a reinforcement and I've used this with a tiny bracket to make the camera 'look upwards' slightly as it's rather a low-down fixing point. If you really make a hash of things then a rubber grommet will let you cover the hole.

The camera comes with two wires, one is a power feed and the other is the signal feed. Take off the off-side real lamp cluster (removing the boot carpet in the vicinity is the difficult bit) and wire the camera to the reversing light power lead. Run the signal cable into the car via this rear light cluster and from there to the boot, past the rear seat and up to the centre console under the driver's seat.

The monitor's power is taken from the fuse box which sits behind the glove box (I chose to use the reversing light's fuse), and it's a simple matter to hide the wire between the top and bottom half of the centre console as it goes to feed the little 4.3'' monitor. You can just see this wire leading to the monitor in my picture, but you could do an even neater job by drilling a hole for the cable in that pretty useless cubby hole that the monitor now blanks off.

The monitor is a bit low in actual practice - it would be grand in the info screen's position and you can get 'fold-down' screens if you fancy going that route. Selecting reverse powers the camera and the signal sent to the monitor turns that on - so everything is automatic and dandy. The camera works in very low light though of course your reversing lights help a lot.

And that's about it. You'll still use your door mirrors, but the camera will let you get to with a few inches of the car parked behind you, far far closer than bravery allows. What would have been good is if the camera's image went out of focus when objects were 12'' away, say, But the image is sharp from 1'' to infinity amazingly, so they've missed a trick there.

Need more info? Just holler.

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If you stayed closer to me I would have paid you to do this to mine

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You'll be fine Stevo, and there are YouTube videos you can watch that might help. Not on the Fiesta, but the electrics are the same these days.

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I would have probably paid you to!

Would love something like this but don't have a clue when it comes to wiring and electrics

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I would have probably paid you to!

Would love something like this but don't have a clue when it comes to wiring and electrics

Same with me but Tom's instructions are very clear and I'm hoping it'll make sense when I see things like the fuse box - I've literally no idea how to wire cabling in to that or how to "wire the camera to the reversing light power lead", but I'll have a look anyway and see if I can do it. If all else fails can always pay an auto electrician to sort those bits for a couple of sheets.

And I'm sure Tom, me new best mate in the whole wide world be happy to help with a query or ten, lol.

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Hey Tom

It may well be easy but I have no clue about electrics or anything like that.

Hopefully find someone closer to home to install

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B Motoring, getting the 12v from the reversing light bulb is easy. Take off the lamp cluster and pull apart the multi-pin cable harness connector. Look for the colour of the wire that feeds the reverse light bulb as this is fed 12v as soon as you select reverse. Use a 'break off blade' knife to pare back some of the insulation on this wire and then wrap the power lead from the rear camera around this pared back section. You might want to use a tiny bit of insulating tape on this connection.

The power to the little monitor comes from the fuse box. Your instruction book tells you how to get at the box and tells you which one is the reversing light fuse. Pull out the fuse, poke in the monitor's power cable wire and trap it by reinserting the fuse.

Sorted. I'm no electrician, but I do go carefully, use a big bright LED light and double check before I turn on the ignition again.

tom.

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I think I will need too find some one closer, I will make a mess if I do it.

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Does anyone on here know who in aberdeen could fit this for me.

Cheers

Steve

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I am so doing this! If for the 'Gucci' gadget factor if nothing else at that price lol

TomRoscoe can you get a pic of the back of the car like from a distance? I'm curious asto how well it blends into the car please (:

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Hi, can a camera be integrated into the Sony DAB as fitted to our Titanium X so it uses the centre screen?

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@cuke, I wish I knew. ls such a camera not available on the Fiesta options list?

@Andy, picture coming up, but if you imagine a bumper-fitted reversing sensor then my camera looks just like that. Only it's fitted on the black bit of the bumper and lower than beeper sensors, so it's even more invisible.

tom.

post-45623-0-46567700-1376469821_thumb.p

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Hi, can a camera be integrated into the Sony DAB as fitted to our Titanium X so it uses the centre screen?

I had to get a wing mirror repaired at my local dealer and asked this while I was hanging about. It's a bargainous £250 option when ordering new (I didn't have that luxury) and the dealer claimed initially it would be mind boggling expensive, I mean really expensive. They quoted £299 for rear parking sensors alone. She then went off a got details and said it wasn't possible to retrofit it.

I was a little skeptical and tried a few local aftermarket parking sensor fitters (thinking that was the next best option until tomroscoe came to the rescue). One of those aftermarket fitters specialises in integrating with existing systems (screens, stereo etc) where possible but they said they could't locate a suitable adaptor, not yet anyway.

So the long and short of it is that it appears to be somewhere between expensive/impossible for the main dealers and impossible at the moment for aftermarket fitters, and even they they charge £100-200 for sensor and fitting alone, let alone anything more interesting.

Tom's got the best solution and clearest instructions. I've ordered the components he's found and will have a go. If I hit problems I'll just find an autoelectrician to help finish off the tricky bits but suspect it'll be okay.

If your spec'ing new motor then get the camera and/or sensors fitted when you order it to avoid disappointment.

Having said that, £25 and a couple of hours elbow grease sounds better to me either way.

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Hi, can a camera be integrated into the Sony DAB as fitted to our Titanium X so it uses the centre screen?

Yes, but only as a factor fit option it seems. I've asked my local dealer and after market fitters and nobody can help for various reasons. Having said that there isns't a lot of detail as to why other than one suggesting they couldn't get hold of a suitable adaptor. The factor fit option on the current Fiesta displays through the existing screen in your dash. The previous Fiesta could be spec'd with a reverse camera that used a screen integrated into the rear view mirror.

See my other post about lack of deal/aftermarket retrofitting options :(

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Hi, thanks for all your answers. It is something that can be spec'd from new with the Sony Sat Nav but I was just wondering if anyone has seen the back of the Sony DAB to see if there are any video inputs, as, if there were then this would be possible. It's not a big deal really as I don't drive the car often enough, it's my partners car, and really for the size of car it is I don't have a problem reversing or parallel parking it. However it might be of a benefit to my partner :huh:

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Dead easy to fit to a current Fiesta. You have this model?

I looked at various camera positions but didn't much want to drill steel, so I chose the black bit of the bumper where it's concave.

I drilled the plastic bumper and opened up the hole with a file. No need for accuracy as the camera's flange covers any slight mistakes. Behind that black bit of the bumper is a reinforcement and I've used this with a tiny bracket to make the camera 'look upwards' slightly as it's rather a low-down fixing point. If you really make a hash of things then a rubber grommet will let you cover the hole.

The camera comes with two wires, one is a power feed and the other is the signal feed. Take off the off-side real lamp cluster (removing the boot carpet in the vicinity is the difficult bit) and wire the camera to the reversing light power lead. Run the signal cable into the car via this rear light cluster and from there to the boot, past the rear seat and up to the centre console under the driver's seat.

The monitor's power is taken from the fuse box which sits behind the glove box (I chose to use the reversing light's fuse), and it's a simple matter to hide the wire between the top and bottom half of the centre console as it goes to feed the little 4.3'' monitor. You can just see this wire leading to the monitor in my picture, but you could do an even neater job by drilling a hole for the cable in that pretty useless cubby hole that the monitor now blanks off.

The monitor is a bit low in actual practice - it would be grand in the info screen's position and you can get 'fold-down' screens if you fancy going that route. Selecting reverse powers the camera and the signal sent to the monitor turns that on - so everything is automatic and dandy. The camera works in very low light though of course your reversing lights help a lot.

And that's about it. You'll still use your door mirrors, but the camera will let you get to with a few inches of the car parked behind you, far far closer than bravery allows. What would have been good is if the camera's image went out of focus when objects were 12'' away, say, But the image is sharp from 1'' to infinity amazingly, so they've missed a trick there.

Need more info? Just holler.

Hi,

TomRoscoe, I've got the camera and screen and ready to have a go soon. I was wondering though if you could tell me the route you took the cables from the back of the camera into the car? Just been having a shufty about in the boot and can't figure it out. Any guidance appreciated.

Regards,

Phil.

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Hi Phil. Lie under the car looking up at the underside of the rear bumper. You'll run the camera's signal cable and its power cable towards your left if you've removed the off-side rear light cluster and the signal cable will connect to the 6 metre wire they supply. Both this wire and the power taken from the reversing light bulb will go up behind the rear wheel arch and into one of the holes that's exposed when you take off the rear lamp cluster. From there the signal cable will enter the boot behind the boot's side carpet trim panel, and from there past the rear seat hinge, alongside the lower door trim valance and on towards the centre console.

tom.

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