Reversing camera and Active Park Assist

[Victory]

14 minutes ago, vibeone said:

The short cable I bought says the camera should have an ignition live to it otherwise it won't be detected?  

did you buy this cable? https://car-solutions.com/en/camera-connection-cable-for-ford-cars-with-sync-1-monitors.php?utm_source=FordOwnersClub&utm_medium=ForumLinks&utm_campaign=referrals

 

sorry be bearer of bad news but i think that cable wont work at all. you need one of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fakra-to-RCA-Video-Input-Adaptor-lead-Connector-CT29VW03-VW-Ford-Mercedes-/361115368959

 

camera needs wiring in reverse light so it comes on when you select reverse.

[vibeone]

I've tried emailing them to cancel but they don't respond.  I'll try going via paypal.  I don't think it's shipped yet so it's very annoying.  I don't get why it won't work though - surely it's just an adapter if the smart bits don't work? It says Sync 1 but is for non-sync as well.  Just probably american not european.  

[Victory]

7 minutes ago, vibeone said:

I've tried emailing them to cancel but they don't respond.  I'll try going via paypal.  I don't think it's shipped yet so it's very annoying.  I don't get why it won't work though - surely it's just an adapter if the smart bits don't work? It says Sync 1 but is for non-sync as well.  Just probably american not european.  

i researched this quite a bit when i first posted it above, its got a different connector so would not plug in.. you can actually see one my questions answered by then at the bottom of the order page,  There response .. "First of all, this is not Fakra connector"

distance regulations allows you to cancel 14 days so they will have to comply failing that im sure paypal will take your side in a claim.

[vibeone]

But it obviously shows a fakra connection? I just don't get it.  Anyway, they responded via paypal.  Distance selling doesn't really work when its coming from HK.  They've said return it, which is fine, but a pain in the ***** when I emailed them a full day before dispatch!  So annoying.  I'll let you know when it arrives anyway!

[vibeone]

Just finished a half day job doing this. Extended the wires by about 25cm - bit excessive but made it easier then coiled it up behind the kick pad.

all works well guide button does nothing but the guides are built in on my cam anyway so that's fine.  Will test P.Pilot button shortly and report in!  Very very happy

 

[Victory]

7 minutes ago, vibeone said:

Just finished a half day job doing this. Extended the wires by about 25cm - bit excessive but made it easier then coiled it up behind the kick pad.

all works well guide button does nothing but the guides are built in on my cam anyway so that's fine.  Will test P.Pilot button shortly and report in!  Very very happy

 

Great glad you got it working. Yeah thats one the reasons i made sure guides were on the camera i bought as it doesnt work.. no biggy tho how about the park pilot? Would love see some pics of yours working.

[vibeone]

Park pilot button doesn't do anything but the hardware park pilot button turns the overlay on and off so all good.

it doesn't seem to switch to showing front or rear radar views - not sure if OEM does?

[vibeone]

Just to add, I'm pretty sure the visual indicator on the park pilot overlay is not working. No biggy but I think that's the case

Secondly the camera image is reversed/mirrored. I'm trying to get my head around whether there is a reason for this?

[Victory]

looking good mate, glad u got it working..let me know what you use more now the camera or the sensors.. my suspicions are you will love the camera!

oh and about the flipped image it is horizontally flipped so that the output is a mirror image. This is necessary because the camera and the driver face opposite directions, and without it, the camera's right would be on the driver's left and vice versa. A mirrored image makes the orientation of the display consistent with the physical mirrors installed on the vehicle

[vibeone]

12 hours ago, Victory said:

looking good mate, glad u got it working..let me know what you use more now the camera or the sensors.. my suspicions are you will love the camera!

oh and about the flipped image it is horizontally flipped so that the output is a mirror image. This is necessary because the camera and the driver face opposite directions, and without it, the camera's right would be on the driver's left and vice versa. A mirrored image makes the orientation of the display consistent with the physical mirrors installed on the vehicle

THanks - that makes sense!

I suspect I will much prefer the rear camera, however I'd have potentially liked a slightly wider angle.  Absolutely love the OEM feel though.  I had a rear cam on my mk2.5 focus but on an external display velcro'ed to the top of the rear view mirror and the headlining.  It was an terrible as it sounds haha.

[vibeone]

Just to add btw, I was wrong. Park pilot is working perfectly on the screen. It's all working great.

 

[Victory]

4 minutes ago, vibeone said:

Just to add btw, I was wrong. Park pilot is working perfectly on the screen. It's all working great.

 

now i want the parking sensors!! 

[vibeone]

55 minutes ago, Victory said:

now i want the parking sensors!! 

Haha sorry... it's just so OEM! Its incredible really.  So happy with it and massive thanks to you Victory and the others who've shared the info.

[Phil21185]

I think this will be the next invasive mod I do so you can bet I'll be peppering you with questions when I do! Nice job!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Phil21185]

The NecroPoster strikes again!!!!!

And this time its me!   On my own post!!!!!!

Just to say that I never got round to doing this mod, but as the weather improves, it's one I want to do this year so I've come back to get a shopping list of parts bookmarked.

Has nobody reverse engineered that russian module yet? £110 total for this mod means its gonna take some convincing my wife to get it done.  On the other hand, she can't reverse for toffee so that might work in my favour!

Nope, next on my list is heated seats!  Another one where it suits my wife to have done so suddenly the cost is not an issue!

Anyway, got my list so thanks again folks and I'll update my build thread once the goodies start coming in the post again!

[JW1982]

I found a much easier solution for the (original or Russian aftermarket) rear view camera module.

The latest generations of the 5 Inch FCDIM do no longer require the rear view camera module. These displays accept the camera feed of every NTSC camera (every cheap Chinese NTSC rear view camera will be fine). These displays can be identified by the green 4-pole Rosenberger HSD (also called Fakra HSD) connector at the back of the FCDIM. As far as I know the latest generations of the 5 Inch FCDIM do only support SYNC 1.0/SYNC 1.1. The older Bluetooth/Voicecontrol system is not supported.

 

older generations of the 5 Inch FCDIM have a normal Fakra connector and require a rear view camera module.

 

I installed a FCDIM from a Fiesta MK7.5 with part number F1BT-18B955-DC. This FCDIM costed me less money than the costs of the Russian aftermarket module. 

[boncio]

As I'm new here, first of all hi all :)

@JW1982 Can you write more about your camera connection? Have you used this cable https://car-solutions.com/en/camera-connection-cable-for-ford-cars-with-sync-1-monitors.php to connect camera? Or have you used another cable? Do you have parking lines from FCDIM? Static or bending? Or lines are created only when parking sensors are present?

btw, F1BT-18B955-DC works also fine with old non sync BT/VC modules. I have it working perfect in my 2011 C-max (bt/vc). It has firmware for all types of modules/configurations. Exactly the same model I have in 2014 B-max with sync.
Another model that is also ok is E1BT-18B955-Dx.

[JW1982]

The cable from car-solutions.com is way overpriced in my opinion. This cable basically only consists of a Rosenberger HSD connector, a RFA connector and 30 cm of shielded cable. I decided to build the adapter cable myself. The components to build the cable costed me less than €10,-.

The original (bending) parking lines only work when an original camera and camera module (or BCM) are installed. When using an aftermarket camera there will be no original parking lines. However this can easily be solved by using an aftermarket reverse camera with integrated parking lines overlay functionality. This way the camera software draws the parking lines on top of the video image that is outputted to the FCDIM.

[boncio]

Thanks for fast response.
This is what I suspected with cable. The most expensive part is Rosenberger HSD connector, but as you mentioned 10€ is maximum for all with work :) I've found this cable also on amazon for 23$.

Anyway,  I was trying to find HSD connector but so far no luck. Can you advice where to buy it? Another point is how to connect camera? Do you have any connection diagram? I mean which pin is signal, which is ground? Is it differential signal or composite? HSD is designed for star-quad cables, what cable have you used?
Do you know whether other pins are for voltage supply? Or perhaps it is for LIN signal for oem camera lines?
I thought that when camera is connected directly (don't know oem as well) lines are drawn by FCDIM, same as in SYNC 2/3. I haven't seen modules for fiesta and B-max.

Once I have ready interconnect I plan to buy camera integrated with trunk switch. No need to drill anything.

[JW1982]

The rear view camera needs to be connected as follows:

 

 

 

In theory the camera should be connected to Pin 2, 3 and 4 of the FCDIM camera input. However when using an aftermarket camera with an RCA connector the connection is a bit different. the RCA cable only has 2 wires which basically means that he "shield" and "Signal -" are combined. In this case the camera can be connected to Pin 2 and 4 of the FCDIM camera input. Both the "shield" and the "signal -" of the adapter cable can be connected to Pin 4.

 

I ordered the Rosenberger HSD connector on eBay from the following seller:

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Auto-Vehicle-HSD-Fakra-Z-Crimp-Female-Jack-RF-Connector-for-Dacar-535-4-pole-/173021264909?hash=item2848defc0d

I used the universal water blue version of the Rosenberger HSD connector which is a direct fit to all different colors of the Rosenberger HSD connector.

 

To build the cable I used about 30 cm of twisted/shielded cable that was previously installed as a USB cable inside my old Personal Computer.

 

The original rear view camera has a LINbus connection that is connected to the rear view camera module (older vehicles) or to the BCM (newer vehicles). The rear view camera module or BCM communicates with the original camera and draws the active (bending) parking lines onto the video image. 

An aftermarket camera does not have the ability to communicate with the original rear view camera module or BCM. Because of this the original active (bending) parking lines only work when an original LINbus camera is used. 

In my opinion an aftermarket rear view camera with integrated parking line functionality is a perfect solution. I ordered 4 different rear view camera's from different AliExpress sellers to test/compare the image quality and the overall quality of the camera's. Only 1 camera arrived within the period listed by the seller. For the other rear view camera's I got a full refund as described by the AliExpress buyer protection program. However after approximately 3 Months I still received 2 of the camera's.

I decided to use a seperate rear view camera instead of a camera that is integrated into the trunk switch. Many of the aftermarket trunk switches with integrated rear view camera develop problems on the longer term as a result of water ingress.

 

 

[JW1982]

The only disadvantage of the newer FCDIM modules (that no longer requires a rear view camera module) is that the camera image remains active until the vehicle reaches a speed of approximately 8 KM/H. Because of this it is not possible to use the reverse light to power the aftermarket rear view camera. When connected to the reverse light the rear view camera will be switched off while the camera image on the FCDIM is still active. This results in a black screen until the vehicle reaches a speed of approximately 8 KM/H.

Many people solve this by connecting the aftermarket rear view camera to an ignition switched 12V +. This way the camera will permanently be powered when the ignition is switched on. This is not a good solution in my opinion. Aftermarket rear view camera's are not designed to be powered (semi) permanently. They can develop quite some heat and on the longer term even burn out completely.

Because of this I decided to go a different route. I built myself an Arduino based CANbus relay. The rear view camera is powered by the relay based on the messages on the CANbus network.
 

The rear view camera is switched ON:

* When the reverse gear is selected.
* When the PDC button is pressed.
* When the Active Park Assist button is pressed.

The rear view camera is switched OFF:

* When the vehicle reaches a speed of 10 KM/H.
* When the rear view camera was switched ON for 6 minutes.

My CANbus solution turned out to be perfect. The parts/components needed to build the relay costed me less than €10,- so this solution is pretty inwxpensive. It took me however quite some time to design/build the relay and to write and test the Arduino program. Being fully functional it was definetely worth all the effort.

 

[boncio]

I know about this issue. Your solution seems to be perfect, but I think easier can be used - standard 12V time relay. At least I think so :) Triggering signal will be reverse light, time can be set to ~5 mins and I only need to find constant 12V power supply for camera. I don't need camera switched ON while pressing PDC button. Mostly when I need it I go forward :) For active park assist camera will go ON when reverse gear is chosen. and thus be still ON until parking is finished (less then 8 km/h). I've found such relay for 3€ to 7€ with adjustable OFF time delay.
What you think about my solution? Can you tell whether I need strictly 12V or 12-24V model?
As I need connectors for 2 cars, I decided to buy 1,2m cable with 2 connectors on both sides. After cut I'll have 2 ready cables for cam :)

[Cix]

Hi guys, I open this topic, I wanted to ask for an info.

I have a Ford Fiesta of 2017, with the OEM parking sensors, and I wanted to mount the rear camera hearing here in our forums say that it conflicts with the parking sensors not being original, but I would go to use the car solution cable or similar.

I saw that a user of you succeeded but how? what it takes to do the same thing on a Fiesta with the color sync 1.

Sorry for the english but I'm italian

[Albacore]

On 5/12/2018 at 12:51 PM, boncio said:

I know about this issue. Your solution seems to be perfect, but I think easier can be used - standard 12V time relay. At least I think so 🙂 Triggering signal will be reverse light, time can be set to ~5 mins and I only need to find constant 12V power supply for camera. I don't need camera switched ON while pressing PDC button. Mostly when I need it I go forward 🙂 For active park assist camera will go ON when reverse gear is chosen. and thus be still ON until parking is finished (less then 8 km/h). I've found such relay for 3€ to 7€ with adjustable OFF time delay.
What you think about my solution? Can you tell whether I need strictly 12V or 12-24V model?
As I need connectors for 2 cars, I decided to buy 1,2m cable with 2 connectors on both sides. After cut I'll have 2 ready cables for cam 🙂

Boncio, did you implement this solution and does it work OK?

Lance

[Albacore]

Update

My first aftermarket camera was quite an expensive UK sourced one. It had good image quality and a nice wide angle.

It worked well for a while, but then died. So I fitted another. This was an AliExpress cheapo, with poor image and narrow angle. This also died, after about a year.

I can only presume this is because I permanently powered the camera from ignition +.

Why on earth a camera should die when it is permanently powered, I don't know.

Anyway I decided to add in a timer triggered from the reversing light supply so that my new camera (the 3rd!) overruns by 5 mins once reverse is no longer selected.

For the help of others, the timer module you need is type FC-31, available on eBay or AliExpress. Eg this one

I wired up the timer with short flying leads and then covered it fully in heatshrink and fabric loom tape. You can then wire it up to the camera, earth, +12v and rev light live with crimps and cable tie it in inside one of the small tailgate cavities (on estate).

It's working well at the moment.