[seijirou]

I see this thread is a few years old, but I could use some help! I have a Pioneer AVH-X4500BT deck in my '99 F350. I tried to wire in a camera, and I'm not having any luck. Sounds like I did it wrong, however it did come on for a split second! Here's what I did-
Ran a wire back to the camera and to the engine bay. Wired in a 40 amp relay the same way you would for fog lights with a switched 12v source and a toggle switch on the dash. Hooked up the RCA from the camera to the Pioneer deck. I was hoping to wire it so I can turn it on and off whenever I want to.
I can't figure out how to get it to work! Do I need to change up my method?

Your head unit might be expecting a signal to tell it that you're in reverse. What you've connected so far turns the camera on, and that's fine, but you need to command the head unit to actually pay attention to the camera input. You may be able to manually pull up the rear view camera input through the menu but there should also be a wire for connecting reverse input. This is likely looking for +12v on that wire (but check your manual). You can connect it to the reverse wire (pink with black stripe) or "T" it to your switch that you're using to control the relay. You don't need to worry about using the relay for this because it's just a signal, there's no load/no appreciable current draw.

 

[seijirou]

Ok, that makes sense. I'll try and "T" into the head unit from the switch so I can turn it on when I want to.
Since the relay is already there and wired, should I undo it, or just keep it as is? Will it cause any problems using a relay for this application?

Yup. From the switch you'll T to both the head unit reverse input and the relay, activating both.

A relay is probably overkill for powering the camera because the current draw there is going to be low but it's not going to cause problems. If it's already done I'd just leave it.

 

[seijirou]

That worked! Thank you for your help.

Cool glad to hear it. You're welcome.