I am in process acquiring knowledge (and tools and parts) to upgrade the CDR-24 in my 2006 Boxster (
tiptronic
equipped) to a 2din aftermarket head unit. All is going well -- I have acquired the bezel replacement kit, wiring harness kit, have decided on the head unit and new door speakers (though those are still on the to buy list), and have sourced good online information for removing the CDR-24 and replacing door speakers
As part of the job I am currently planning on installing a backup camera. The plan is to use one of those wireless transmitter/receiver units to avoid the hassle of running video wire from the back to the cockpit. That requires that I access a signal in the cockpit to trigger the backup display in the head unit (and also to trigger the return to normal display). All the information I can find suggests using the backup light at the rear light assembly as the signal trigger. That would seem to negate the whole "wireless" strategy though so is sub optimal at best.
Any suggestions as to where to acquire the signal inside the cockpit with the least turmoil?
I know it's not cool to answer your own question but I don't want to waste anybody's time.
I had posted this in another forum. The discussion there and further investigation on my part turned up the solution:
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A little more research and I found apparently these wireless send/receive units are made in 3 different configurations, one of which includes a trigger wire on the receiver specifically designed to trigger multimedia heads to display rear camera by attaching to the lead in the unit. I haven't found a source in the usual suspects (Ebay/Amazon) but a Chinese supplier has one at Alibaba:
http://www.aliexpres...1468757995.html
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I'd go hard-wired rather than wireless. I wasn't going to reply with my suggestion mainly because I have a Cayman instead of a Boxster - so I can't give specifics. In my case, it really wasn't a big deal to run wires to the rear. I've done it twice - once for the back-up sensor's connection to the b/u light, the other time I ran speaker wires to the trunk. Can't say for sure, but it might even be easier in the Boxster.
In the end it would be a better, simpler and more reliable setup IMO. You just run the B/U trigger wire, a switched +12V power source, and the video wire at the same time, The +12V lets you turn-on the camera from the H/U at any time (rather than powering it from the car's backup light - which is only on when in reverse). Most head units have a way to manually display the camera video besides the automatic display when in reverse. Note: I'm assuming you'll install a NAV H/U, which also benefits from the B/U sensor for improved dead-reckoning motion calculation at times when GPS fixes are not available.
I think the Boxster may be more difficult to run the wire (with all that convertible top mechanism in the way) but I am not sure. I was trying to avoid even considering that.
I think I will use the wireless strategy (if it doesn't work out I can always try the wired route and the cost of trying wireless is relatively low). I wasn't planning on installing a NAV unit -- I find that my phone based GPS is much more useful (with up to date maps and real time traffic information) -- the head I am looking at does have a full screen display though -- the only use I was going to make of the rear camera was for backing up so the only on in reverse mode was enough (and in fact desirable)
