Installing factory rear vision camera on 2014
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:18 pm
I don't know if this has already been done but I have found nothing reading this forum over the years or searches on this particular topic.
Ever since GM announced the 2015 Caprice would have a rear vision camera I have wanted to get this done on my 2014 Caprice I bought brand new in 2015. I hoped it would be as easy as obtaining the factory camera, trunk trim and harness and plugging it in since many times a wiring harness on a vehicle is standard no matter what options are selected and since the Caprice has had a rear camera for many years in other markets, I had high hopes.
Over a year ago when I was building my 2015 Caprice patrol car, I had the trunk apart and the back seat out and realized the 2014 does not have the connector for the camera. I was discouraged and put this on the back burner for a while. After running across a recent similar thread on this forum I decided to attack this again.
I started with research in the factory shop manual for a 2015 Caprice. The camera has a 6 wire harness that goes to it.
Ignition power
Ground to camera
Ground from camera back to camera harness shielding (protects video quality)
12 v signal to turn on camera (comes from BCM I assume)
Video signal +
Video signal -
I then pulled the radio first from the 2015 patrol car, then my personal 2014 car to compare. Here is what I found.
The screen itself is not the radio. It seems to just be the screen and the redundant controls for the radio. They looked identical on both 2014 and 2015 cars.
I then pulled the actual radio which sits below the screen and partially behind the HVAC controls. I should have figured this since the CD slot was so much lower than the screen. Both radios looked again exactly the same. The wiring on the other hand had one important difference. I also noted that on both cars there was a unused coax port (not sure what this is for (red arrow) and both cars had a USB cable plugged into the back of the radio (green arrow). I don't want to get my hopes up but maybe this is the USB cord that other vehicles and Caprices in other markets have that goes to the center console such as on the SS and allows you to plug an auxiliary device in. Is it possible the standard USB end is just coiled somewhere in the dash since the PPV came with no center console in 2014 and up (no 9C3) or did they just cut it like the dash. Ill look into this later. Back to the difference between 2014 and 2015.
This is a pic of the 20 pin "X4" connector on the back of the radio. The 2015 connector had these two wires (white/blue and grey/yellow) in pin positions 5 and 15. According to the 2015 PPV shop manual, these are the pins for the video signal from the camera. Not surprising, I looked at the shop manuals for the 2014 SS and 2015 Camaro and the video signals were in the same pins 5 and 15. The 2014 X4 connector looked exactly the same but did not have these two wires.
My thinking is I can obtain the camera, trim, grommets, trunk lid harness from GM, make my own harness using shielded cable and run a new harness to the front and make the appropriate connections. I can either repin the 2014 connector to add the video signal or I have found some compainies that make a T harness to add video signal to 2013-2015 GM vehicles with Mylink. Still trying to work out how to trigger the camera either through the BCM or maybe a manual switch or a combination of the two. I tapped into this on the patrol car to allow viewing the camera when stationary in Park for officer safety reasons. I don't think I can just tap into the reverse lamp though cause that could cause issues when the reverse lights are flashing. Coincidentally, according to the 15 shop manual, the wire color for the reverse signal output on the BCM is green/white which is the same color as the camera signal wire at the camera and the same color as the wires going to the actual reverse lamps.
The main challenge for me is figuring out the software or whatever modules need to talk to make it work on the mylink screen. I'm placing a call to white this weekend. Part numbers/prices to follow. FYI, the factory camera has the grid lines that move with the steering wheel and can be turned off through the menu.
Ever since GM announced the 2015 Caprice would have a rear vision camera I have wanted to get this done on my 2014 Caprice I bought brand new in 2015. I hoped it would be as easy as obtaining the factory camera, trunk trim and harness and plugging it in since many times a wiring harness on a vehicle is standard no matter what options are selected and since the Caprice has had a rear camera for many years in other markets, I had high hopes.
Over a year ago when I was building my 2015 Caprice patrol car, I had the trunk apart and the back seat out and realized the 2014 does not have the connector for the camera. I was discouraged and put this on the back burner for a while. After running across a recent similar thread on this forum I decided to attack this again.
I started with research in the factory shop manual for a 2015 Caprice. The camera has a 6 wire harness that goes to it.
Ignition power
Ground to camera
Ground from camera back to camera harness shielding (protects video quality)
12 v signal to turn on camera (comes from BCM I assume)
Video signal +
Video signal -
I then pulled the radio first from the 2015 patrol car, then my personal 2014 car to compare. Here is what I found.
The screen itself is not the radio. It seems to just be the screen and the redundant controls for the radio. They looked identical on both 2014 and 2015 cars.
I then pulled the actual radio which sits below the screen and partially behind the HVAC controls. I should have figured this since the CD slot was so much lower than the screen. Both radios looked again exactly the same. The wiring on the other hand had one important difference. I also noted that on both cars there was a unused coax port (not sure what this is for (red arrow) and both cars had a USB cable plugged into the back of the radio (green arrow). I don't want to get my hopes up but maybe this is the USB cord that other vehicles and Caprices in other markets have that goes to the center console such as on the SS and allows you to plug an auxiliary device in. Is it possible the standard USB end is just coiled somewhere in the dash since the PPV came with no center console in 2014 and up (no 9C3) or did they just cut it like the dash. Ill look into this later. Back to the difference between 2014 and 2015.
This is a pic of the 20 pin "X4" connector on the back of the radio. The 2015 connector had these two wires (white/blue and grey/yellow) in pin positions 5 and 15. According to the 2015 PPV shop manual, these are the pins for the video signal from the camera. Not surprising, I looked at the shop manuals for the 2014 SS and 2015 Camaro and the video signals were in the same pins 5 and 15. The 2014 X4 connector looked exactly the same but did not have these two wires.
My thinking is I can obtain the camera, trim, grommets, trunk lid harness from GM, make my own harness using shielded cable and run a new harness to the front and make the appropriate connections. I can either repin the 2014 connector to add the video signal or I have found some compainies that make a T harness to add video signal to 2013-2015 GM vehicles with Mylink. Still trying to work out how to trigger the camera either through the BCM or maybe a manual switch or a combination of the two. I tapped into this on the patrol car to allow viewing the camera when stationary in Park for officer safety reasons. I don't think I can just tap into the reverse lamp though cause that could cause issues when the reverse lights are flashing. Coincidentally, according to the 15 shop manual, the wire color for the reverse signal output on the BCM is green/white which is the same color as the camera signal wire at the camera and the same color as the wires going to the actual reverse lamps.
The main challenge for me is figuring out the software or whatever modules need to talk to make it work on the mylink screen. I'm placing a call to white this weekend. Part numbers/prices to follow. FYI, the factory camera has the grid lines that move with the steering wheel and can be turned off through the menu.