Hi all,

I've run into an interesting issue over the last week. I decided to upgrade my head-unit and add a backup camera to my 97 'Vette. Head unit install took a little time, but worked out well using the Axxess XSVI-2004 harness. At the same time, I also installed a backup camera which taps into the backup lights (convenient wiring availability) for auto switching. Wires in most cases are soldered, and shrink wrapped as I took a lot of time on this project.

This is where it gets interesting - The backup camera is blurry looking and sometimes flickers under different RPM while backing up. At first, I thought this was faulty wiring or a bad camera and started my troubleshooting there. Re-terminating connections etc...This made no change to the quality of the picture at all. I decided to take the car out for a short drive and just forget about it, but much to my pleasure, when I arrived back at my house and put the car in reverse, the camera was crystal clear. Thinking this was a little odd, I shrugged it off to a loose connection and decided I would check out quality when I had time to drive the car again in a couple days.

Today when I started the car up, the camera was exactly as blurry as it was when it was first installed. After a short 10-15m drive, the visual quality of the camera is again perfect.

This leads to a couple questions I have around troubleshooting I've done and hopefully some expertise you all have with these cars. I've always noticed that the fuel pump sounds excessively loud when the car starts up cold. I saw some other forum posts that this was no uncommon for a 97 and didn't think anything else of it, but this time I noticed that the voltage indicator was reading out 13.2v on the dash when the pump was loud and camera was blurry. When the camera is no longer blurry, I can't hear the fuel pump at all, and the indicator reads 13v or less, closer to 12.9 or 12.8 where it should be. This typically occurs after 10-15m of driving, so my best guess would be that this has something to do with the alternator and recharging the battery from startup.

Loaded question I'm sure, but has anyone experienced a similar issue? Anywhere to check first? I'm assuming I need to start with all of the grounding points on the car, but would love a quick fix that I'm pretty sure doesn't exist.

Shameless plug for Marc - the Vettenuts double din looks fantastic and does match our dash really well.

 

It's very common for backup cameras to have noise and be wavy - not saying normal and live with it lol. You could try grounding the camera to the frame by the antenna. There is a thing called a ground loop where the grounds have different potentials based on location, and you can get interfeence/noise. If you google back up camera noise, you will also see devices you can add to the wiring.

A lot of the components and wiring for these are cheap - mine was under 20$ and i saw what looked to be identical ones for 1/2 that. It also ran a power wire inside the RCA cable.

Mine is powered from the positive on the bulb and grounded to the frame. I woudn't use the light as the ground, I would use the frame.

 

Also - what head unit did you use? Does it do any of the following - trying to gather info on weird issues with axxess and have seen some of this and experienced it too.

1) Turn on momentarily then turn off by inserting the key (not turning it)
2) Turn off and reboot on when turning car off without opening door - when using RAP

 

You need to check the actual to the camera when its acting up. You could have low voltage at the camera even though the gage reads something different You do know that that gave DOES NOT read actual battery voltage. It reads voltage on ONE contact of the ignition switch. You should also check current available on that circuit. Use a heavy load incandescent lamp that draws a lot of current and see if it lights bright and the voltage stays at of close to full battery voltage under load...…

BC

 

Thanks for the response Ed! I’m thinking the ticket might be grounding to the frame instead of the bulb. The head unit I’m using is the Sony XAV-AX100 - I wanted to have both android auto and Apple CarPlay on a unit that had usb on the back and an actual volume ****.

I don’t have the issue when inserting the key where the head unit turns off, but it does power cycle when I actually start the car. I did some digging around the forums for that specific issue and found this thread. Wish I had found it prior to install because it would have fixed my dimmer issue and the restart on engine start issue in one thread.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...vi-2004-a.html

read down till you see info about hvac pin and the comment under that addresses an issue with power cycling if you have that problem. Though it sounds like your issue is a little different if it just happens with key insertion and not turning the key.

 

Thanks Bill! Should I do so when the car is running, or just on accessory power?

 

I would do both since you already have the test equipment out and testing.

Bill

 

Thanks - that was one of the threads I read in my initial research. I just went without the auto dim and if I have the car at night, I can dim the screen or shut it off. That's what they are talking about with dimming and tapping the HVAC.

I'm not adding capacitors like some people, I can live with RAP rebooting as I rarely use it.

The issue with inserting the key is if it powers up then shuts down. One guy I spoke with didn't know he had it until aI asked him to just insert the key (don't turn it) and watch the unit for 10 seconds. When you insert the key, the data bus transmits signals so I believe the XSVI is turning on my radio momentarily.

Metra was no help, they just blame the cars. It seems like shut down and reboot happens with RAP (I have that) and in some cases the inserting the key causes it to power cycle. I have a 2004 which apparently doesn't have a great extra accessory wire, so I went with Axxess because it means zero hooking wires to the car - just a plug and play harness.

On the camera, mine was pretty wavy until I moved the ground to the stud in the rear behind/below the right lights.

 

Was there any progress?

 

Not yet. I did have a chance to jump back in the car on Thursday for a little, but no time to actually work on it. I put the key in the ignition, did not change to ACC or turn the car on, and after about 15 seconds noticed the issue you spoke about above with the head unit turning off. In my case, it does not reboot, but rather just turns off entirely until I start the car or change ignition modes. So unbeknownst to me, apparently I do have that issue. Hoping to have some time in the next week to change the grounding location and perform some more testing though.

 

If you don't turn the key, it will boot and turn off - I believe that is because Axxess sees the data bus active with VATs and powers the radio momentarily. I have found a lot of people have that one and don't realize it so I am not worried lol.

If you have been listening to the radio, and turn off the car without opening the door, a lot of people experience the radio turn off, then reboot (could take 15-20 seconds)

Would really like to hear the result of the backup cam when you are done.

Thanks!

 

Did you tie your ground to G402 or G401? Directly on the stud? I'm assuming I'll need to do that from under the car, didn't want to tear the carpet out of the back before verifying. Seems like I will also need to create another hole to route that way. May be easier to hit G302?

 

With the right-most taillight out, there was a ground stud below it on the metal structure. It was very convenient with the camera going to reverse light positive. Everything was hooked up with the license plate/reverse light assy out and the tail light lens out. One of the antenna grounds went to it.. I can pull the lens and take a pic if you like. It is not shown on that pic so I made an arrow where it was.

 

interestingly enough, my 97 doesn’t seem to have an external mounted antenna. Based on what I looked up, that stud would be for the antenna. Out of curiosity I popped the light out anyways, so heres a pic.


Found this, makes a lot of sense given mine is a coupe. I suppose I could always drill into the frame there and make a ground point, or just try to chase up to G402 since I can see the frame rail from that vantage point.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...o-antenna.html

 

Gotcha - coupe with antenna in window. I edited this post as I just understood. You could just make a little hole in the metal and use a self tapper. If it didn't work out, a little touch up paint would seal it up.

 

Update! First, I’m an idiot and forgot to take a pic inside the bumper once the work was complete, but creating a new ground worked great! Thank you! I used my dremmel to clean a little spot of black paint off the frame under one of the tail lights and created a new grounding location for the camera lead. Connected the ground on the light back to how it was, and now the camera is crystal clear all the time.

This does concern me a little and I feel like it wouldn’t be a bad thing in general to go around the car and clean all the grounding locations.

Much appreciate the help here!

 

AWESOME! Don't assume all the other grounds are bad - but cleaning them never hurts if they show dirt/rust/corrosion. Think of it like this. Any potential difference in grounds creates issues. The radio is grounded to the chassis, and now the backup cam is directly grounded to the chassis. Yes, the light circuit is ultimately connected there too, but moving the camera to the chassis has less potential difference in your application. I have found that lighting circuits are just not good circuits to for power and ground for certain applications. Went down this road with a Raptor shift light on a motorcycle years ago and never forgot the lessons learned.