vara411

Howdy! I'm about to install a Sony XAV-AX200 head unit in my 2008 base coupe. I also have front and rear cameras ready to install (the unit has 3 camera inputs, not sure what to do about a third... any ideas?).

I have done extensive searches but am still unclear about three things:

1) I received my head unit from Crutchfield with their "ready harness" wiring for efficiency, but I'd like to bypass the parking brake so I can run the DVD player when the car is in motion (not for me, for my kids on long trips). I know I have to route the parking brake wire to the ground, but would love a pic or more detailed explanation of this if anyone can share.

2) I would like the rear camera to activate automatically when put in reverse AND if I select the "rear camera" button on the head unit even if I'm NOT in reverse. Just my preference! The camera has red, black, and purple wiring by the camera itself or closer to the head unit, and only one side needs to be connected.​

VetteofSD

I installed the XAV-AX100 (No CD drive) version in my 06 as well as the rear camera. I removed the trunk release soft button and put the camera in that hole. I never used it anyways and if I decided to remove the camera for whatever reason I wouldn't have an open hole in the rear fascia. Works great and it's only offset very slightly from the center of the car.

As for the "staying on" part. It's a little tricky. the trouble is the camera will have to have constant power vs intermittent. For example, I have mine set to come on only when I'm in reverse and it's tapped off of the reverse lights. You would want to tap power off of something that is on as long as the car is on, then the trigger "purple" wire to the reverse lights. If you tap it off of something that always has power, the camera will always be on and "could" drain your battery if it's parked for a while. I was originally going to have it be on at all times, but there was this firmware bug that would cause issues when the button was pressed. By the time the update came out I just made it function in reverse only and never changed it.

As for the parking brake bypass. Mine didn't have this feature, but it should work similarly to the trigger wire for the rear camera. its basically just an on/off switch for the software to enable/disable the video player feature. So if it's running off of a constant source it should "technically" always be on and let you play DVDs. So something like the AC controller or the seat heater may work. Again, mine didn't have the parking brake wire so I didn't need to do this, but this would be what I would try if I had one. If you get stumped, any good audio shop should have an idea of how to make it work. They've tackled of crazier install attempts than this. Good luck!

vara411

^^^ Many thanks for the helpful reply! I will do my best to figure it all out and post an update with pictures!

I was going to get the XAV-AX100 but playing DVDs for the kids and keeping satellite radio capability could come in handy for longer trips. I also was excited about the optional on-board nav capability through Tom Tom (in case I lose cell service), but apparently TomTom and Sony couldn't agree on something and there are no map updates available for now.

pdc001

I can't speak for Sony on how to bypass the parking brake but as most installs I've done in the past, if it's just looking for a ground then you can attach the wire to the chassis of the headunit itself. Another alternative is that you can run the ground wire anywhere you can unscrew a bolt for a ground and then crimp/solder on a ring terminal and that's that.

The rear camera part isn't tricky at all for what you're asking and I've done this to all my cars. You can run the positive and ground wires all the way back to the headunit where you would attach the supplied wiring harness and add it the switched positive and ground there. This way it does what you wanted it to do and that's how I have it on my daily car(s).

As for placement of the camera that would be at your discretion as to how it you like it looking since I don't know what kind of camera you have. Most of the time I have drilled a hole and just mount it like so but the license plate ones are the easiest obviously.

BLEKVET

vara411

Thanks, but I found that simply crossing the the parking brake wire with the ground wire was all that was needed... works great!

endus

For the camera staying on, I wanted to do the same thing. The problem was that I don't think there is any switched power in the rear of the car., so you would need to run a wire up to the front of the car. I couldn't get up the motivation to do it so I just tapped the backup lights like everyone else.

I used a C7 rear camera and the field of view is so ridiculously wide it wouldn't have been much use on the road anyway. If you want to go forward with it it's not a hard thing to do...just run that one wire for power to a fuse tap or one of the other switched sources.

vara411

Thanks! The had a red wire bundled in with the yellow RCA video wire running to the head unit (strangely, Amazon's photos shows only a plain yellow RCA cable without the red wire). This made the install easy. I'll break it down for those trying to do this:

At rear of car:
- I connected the red wire from the camera itself to the bundled red wire running alongside the yellow RCA cable
- I connected the black ground wire from the camera to ground of the reverse lights

At the head unit:
- I connected the yellow RCA cable to the rear camera "video in" slot (duh)
- I tapped the bundled red wire to the 12V wire going in to the head unit. Some say solder this, but I just used heat shrink and taped it up.

As hoped, when I put the car in reverse the rear camera turns on, but I can also trigger the rear camera by pushing the "rear camera" button on the head unit at any other time. Why do this, some may ask? I have a steep driveway and like to go down slowly in NEUTRAL rather than keep the clutch depressed. This allows me to do it.

Also, I found a way to install the Pyle camera WITHOUT drilling any new holes! All I did was switched the direction of the mounting base and used a screw from the license plate lights... piece of cake!

nannam

I just ordered a Kenwood DMX9706S, the wiring harness, dash kit, and 2 cameras. One camera will go up front. I will also have to install the bluetooth microphones, which is something I didn't think about till after I placed the order. I usually like to keep all wiring neat, and hidden, so I'll probably have to take apart more of the inside than I originally thought.