Selecting a Reverse Camera?

So you want to select a reverse camera, but don't know what you should be looking for? Here are some things I've considered before getting one myself. Please feel free to comment.

Criteria	Description
CCD or CMOS?	Charged Couple Device (CCD) and Complementory Metal Oxide Semi conductor (CMOS) are two available camera types. CCD gives better/cleaner images and so tend to be slightly more expensive (but not a lot). They tend to give better resolution as well
Viewing angle	Naturally, the larger the viewing angle, the better chance of capturing items that could potentially hit your vehicle when reversing. Generally, a viewing angle over 140 degrees would do. Some cameras may give you a fish eye type effect which I personally am not a fan of.
Water proof	Its vital that the camera is water proof ! Sure, none of them are truly water proof, but more like water resistant. But given the rough weather it goes through, its best that the camera is water proof
Embedded versus Fixed	Embedded is where the camera is actually fitted into the bumper of the vehicle. You might want to consider what would happen if the camera goes bad, and you need to replace - what if you can't find the same size/model? Also centering the camera is crucial. On the other hand, the models that are fixed to the license plate can easily be replaced
Night vision	True night vision does work if the camera has infrared lights. You do get some cameras that work quite well though, despite not having night vision LEDs. Also, having light emitting from the vehicles reverse lights does help.(If you have modified the reverse lights to include different coloured lights, you might want to consider the infrared night vision cameras)
Adjustable	By adjustable, I mean the ability to change the (horizontal)viewing angle. Some cameras come as fixed, which might be give an awkward angle (or may not be as helpful as it can be)
Anti fog	This is a nice to have feature. Doesn't really affect me, so the camera I have is not antifog. I've occasionally had to wipe the camera off though. So it might be worth considering. I believe they have a coating of some chemical on the camera lens to avoid fogging
Front /Reverse camera	Be careful when buying either, as they aren't quite the same. The (proper) reverse camera inverts the picture horizontally so that it matches your viewing perspective. A front camera doesn't do this. In other words, you may think you have an object on your right, but its actually on your left.
Guiding lines	Some camera's have two lines indicating the rough distance between you and the objects behind you (See Image)
Guidelines are displayed automatically, to gauge your vehicle position.

Car stereo installation (wire guide)

So, you want to install a car stereo? Good for you. Fixing a car stereo is fairly easy. If however, you intend to install an Amplifier and subwoofer, it gets a little tricky. But nothing too difficult. This is a basic guide on a simple car stereo installation. Hopefully, if i have some time, I will blog on some of the more complicated installations I've done.

First thing's first - will it fit? Car stereos come in two sizes mainly. Single, and double din. The single din are the older CD/FM radio players. Back when I started installing car stereos, it was a simple fit, by swapping the old with the new (wiring aside). However, as car interior designs got more complicated, most of the stereos come as part of the dashboard. Hence when you take it out, you end up having a huge space on the sides (particularly) The car manufacturer expects you to purchase a filler that can be used - this way, you end up having the missing part of your dashboard console, but also have a neat space where you can fit your single/double din player. So before you go about buying a car stereo, see what size your dashboard can support. Afterwards, see if such a filler can be purchased (either on ebay or from a local dealer)
Next up - Sounds? So are you having a 2 speakers, 4 speakers? Sub woofer? If you plan to, please ensure that the CD/DVD player you plan to buy supports them.
Typical Wiring Battery (+)  : Yellow thick wire - Constant (+) * Ground (-) : Black (Connect to body of vehicle or negative of battery) ACC (+) : Red wire Illumination : Orange (optional on some) (+) White : Front Left (+) White/Black : Front Left (-) Grey : Front Right (+) Grey/Black  : Front Right (-) Violet : Rear Right (+) Violet/Black : Rear Right (-) Green : Left Rear (+) Green/Black : Left Rear(-) Blue : Antenna / Power amplifier signal (+)  Antenna cable (see image here) Optional Light green : Parking brake signal ** Reverse camera signal wire :
* if you do not connect this correctly, you will lose your saved channels /settings once you power off the car.
** used to signal if its safe to show videos (as its illegal for videos to be displayed on the screen while the car is in motion). May be positive / negative - check manual
Tips Be careful when wiring as its quite easy to short the cables Its best to connect the power cables last of all Insulate all the other cables that are not needed Don't forget that the body of the car is negative - so any positive cable that touches the body will result in sparks
Troubleshooting No sounds - check volume, if you're using an amplifier, check if the RCA cables are connected and the amplifier has power, check the amplifier signal cable Doesn't power on - check the ACC, Battery and Ground wires, check for blown fuses, reset setup Channel memory is lost after a while. Check the yellow cable and ensure it has a constant flow of current.

Installing Headrest Screens to Montero / Pajero / Shogun 2007-2015

These are a couple of headrests I purchased. This project covers installing DVD/TV headrests to your car seats. If you plan on hooking this up to your head-unit, ensure that it has a video out first. Also, you do get various models which have their own DVD/USB inputs built in. What you see here has its own DVD player, but alternatively has an AV input.
The first step is to find a long wire and attach it to the end of the headrest's cable. I used insulating tape to do this. Its best that its not made too bulgy, but at the same time strong enough to withstand the tug of pulling the wire.
Insert the long wire as much as possible and search for it using your fingers at the back of the seat. Some cars have a removable rear cover - specially if you have leather seats. Otherwise the wire could come up at the bottom of the seat. However, its quite likely that you won't get it right at the first time.
If all goes well, you should be able to get the wire as indicated here. (Note that this was on a Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero/Shogun 2013 with fabric seats.)
Carefully insert the headrest in and adjust the height as required. Run the wires from under the seat, and then under the main console in the middle (under the gear lever etc). My intention was to get the headrest to work along with the head-unit. So I had to get the video out of the head unit as well as power.
I connected the power from the amplifier which I already had, and i got the head-units amplifier on signal to power on the headrests. The second headrest gets power from the first one, however your's may be different, and require two separate connections. Afterwards hook it up to the head-units video out.
Congratulations ! you now have working headrests!
Things to consider You can install the headrests so they will turn on only when the head unit is powered on However, do not connect the headrests directly to the antenna power out/amplifier power out (you may overload it) The correct way is to use a relay to do this, using the antenna/amplifier signal cable just to signal the relay. In some countries it may be illegal to have the headrests working while the vehicle is in motion If so, you will need to get a signal from the gear lever control when the gear is in Park. Some head-units require you to enable the video out either in the settings or using a key combination Refer your head-units instruction manual on how to do this

Installing Angel Eyes on a Montero / Pajero / Shogun 2007-2015

Angel eyes are ideal for the Pajero/Montero especially considering most of the SUV's now come with day time running lights. Shown here is one of the 75mm angel eyes I purchased.  The blue wire is positive and the white negative.	Image 1 : Angel eye led light
Ensure you measure your lights correctly. Last thing you need is a set of light too small or two big! I fitted mine so that it would sit comfortably between the silver plastic cover, and the OEM fog light	Image 2 : OEM Fog light
The first step is to remove the silver cover. When  I was planning this project, this was something I had trouble finding how this could be done. Finally, I checked the reverse of the silver cover (accessible from behind the tyre, or from the engine compartment (See image 4).	Image 3: Fog light cover removed
No disassembly was required, but I had to be careful not to wedge my hand in between the engine components and mud guards.	Image 4: The alternate way to access fog light
The next step is to place the angel eye over the fog light. You will need to pass the wires through so that it can be reached later on. Use insulating tape to place the LED on the fog light. You need only about 2 to 3 pieces. After all the LEDs aren't very heavy. Don't worry, the tape is just temporary ! (Duh !)	Image 5: Tape the angel eye to the fog light
Next carefully put silicon gum on the edges. The angel eyes itself aren't very heavy, so you needn't put a lot. Just a few dots here and there will help. However, you might need to keep this overnight to settle. Do not remove the tape until its fully dried. You also need to be careful when removing the tape. If you pull it too hard, the silicon could come off or you may end up breaking the LEDs on the angel eyes.	Image 6:Ready to paste !
Once the tape has been removed, you can add the cover back. Hopefully it will look like this	Image 7: Job done !
As an added effect, I connected the angel eyes to the security system so that they would blink when remote locked/unlocked. However this requires extra circuitry which is beyond the scope of this post.