COOL MOD - Add a front camera to your factory mirror!

[wottenad]

If you have an aftermarket navigation like an Advent OGM1, Alpine or Kenwood, etc. and have tied your factory camera into the aftermarket head unit, unless you disconnected it or sold the factory display mirror, you are now left with the factory camera showing in the mirror as well as the display on the radio.

 

Although this is a perfectly acceptable situation and in some cases may be preferable if you tend to look at the mirror while backing up, you have a couple more options available:

• Sell your mirror monitor on Ebay for ~$250-$300 and replace it with the cheaper standard mirror
• Use the mirror monitor for displaying another camera like a front, side or camper/trailer camera

A front camera is a lifesaver when pulling into a tight parking stall or garage space, and for the cost (in this case less than $125, but can be done for much less), it's cheaper than fixing ANY damage you could do to the front of your truck by running into another vehicle or other immoveable object. Also, if you ever hook any accessories to the front of your truck (snowplow, front hitch, etc.), a front camera is indispensable.

 

To use the factory mirror with another camera is really pretty easy and can be done simply by adding a switch to turn on the display and hard-wiring your camera to the mirror. This mod covers adding a front camera (Advent CAM500) to my own Tahoe, and the process is identical in the Suburban and Yukon, but slightly different in the Silverado/Sierra, where the camera wires are actually easier to get to.

 

An overview of the process:

• Determine what type of switch you want to use (momentary or toggle) and where you want to mount it
• Choose your camera and where you want to mount it, then run your camera power/ground and video output cables to the mirror
• Identify the wires for your mirror display trigger and the mirror monitor camera input
• Wire switch to ignition and mirror trigger wires
• Wire camera power/ground
• Wire camera video output to mirror input
• Enjoy another camera in your truck!

In my own Tahoe, I added an Advent CAM500 to the front grille - this is a small camera with an all-metal body that can be used as a front or rear camera and has switchable parking lines:

 

 

In the case of the Tahoe (or Silverado) with the factory "crosshatch" style grille, it was EXTREMELY easy to mount because the threads of the camera body were within a few thousandths of a "friction fit" into any one of the holes, so I added about 4 wraps of electrical tape to the metal threads to tighten the fit:

 

 

As I mentioned, the camera is able to be used as a front camera because you can cut a loop to reverse the image, and another loop to remove the parking lines:

 

 

Once the camera is mounted, it's very unobtrusive and almost hard to pick out as an aftermarket accessory:

 

 

 

 

Next came finding a switch to use and a place to mount it. I sourced a nice rubber covered momentary switch, which when activated turns on the mirror display that stays on for 3-5 seconds after releasing the button. I mounted it on the steering column cover to the rear of the opening for the steering column tilt release lever:

 

 

The switch is what's needed to turn on the mirror display while the truck is running, so it has to have an ignition power feed on one terminal (input) and a connection to the mirror display trigger wire (output) on the other terminal. A handy place to grab both ignition and the mirror trigger is at the left I/P junction block - this is under the large black cover to the left of the footbrake. Once you pull the cover off, this what you'll see (or some minor variation of this layout):

 

 

In this case, the wire labeled "REVERSE" above is in fact the trigger wire for the factory mirror, and IGNITION and GROUND for the camera and switch are readily accessible here as well.

 

What we need to do is hook one terminal of our switch (input) to the IGNITION terminal here, then remove the light gray plug at the top right of the junction block and peel back the tape on the harness a little bit, then cut the blue "REVERSE" wire:

 

 

Connect the side that goes into the taped harness and up to the mirror to the output terminal of your switch:

 

 

At this stage, you can test the operation of your switch - if your factory camera is still hooked up, put the truck in reverse to turn on the factory camera, then you should be able to turn the mirror display on and off with the switch.

 

Now we can identify the wires from the factory camera. In the Silverado and Sierra, these wires can be found at the left kick panel (and if you have already wired your rear camera to your radio, you've already identified these wires and hooked your radio's backup camera RCA lead to them), or at the mirror harness like the Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon/Avalanche:

 

 

If you have a Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon/Avalanche, this camera plug is not at the kick panel - the only place I've ever been able to locate it is at the mirror harness itself - the factory camera wires are the white and blue wires in Pins 6 and 7 at the plug at the mirror (third and second pins in from the right, respectively in this photo):

 

 

Here's the actual pin assignments at the mirror:

 

 

The easiest way to get access to these wires in order to make your connections is to remove the mirror (loosen the Torx T-20 screw at the base and slide it off upward), then remove the domelight lens to gain access and remove the two Torx T-15 screws under the lens, then pull out the upper console and unplug the harnesses attached, then set the console aside. You can then pull the mirror harness up and out of the hole in the headliner where the console was. Peel off the tape around the upper portion of this harness to expose the wires inside.

 

You will need to route your camera's video output up to the mirror in order to make these connections, and if you did not hook power to your camera at the left I/P junction block as mentioned above, you can run power and ground for the camera here as well. It is far easier to run these cables by removing the left side "A" pillar trim by pulling the trim plug at the top of the "A" pillar cover and removing the 7mm screw underneath, then pull out at the top of the trim panel, then up. Unplug the tweeter if you want, or just lay the panel on top of the dashboard. Run your camera wires up the pillar and ziptie to the existing harness that's already there, then route across the forward edge of the headliner to the upper console location.

 

Camera power connections: IGNITION is the pink wire in Pin 13 and GROUND is the black wire in Pin 8:

 

 

The factory camera wires are the same white and blue wires you see in Pins 6 & 7 at the mirror, but they are wrapped inside the blue foil seen here:

 

 

When you peel back the foil, the factory camera wires are inside - you will cut these wires as shown below in order to hook up your new camera input to the mirror:

 

 

Almost all cameras have a standard RCA male for video output, so it makes sense to source a female RCA cable and hardwire that to the mirror harness instead of hacking off the male end of your camera harness - in the photo below, my female RCA cable has had the outer insulation stripped off and the center conductor (RED) connected to the white wire leading to the mirror and outer shield (COPPER) has been connected to the blue wire leading to the mirror:

 

 

If you are doing this in a Silverado/Sierra, the same connections apply, but you will be doing them at the driver's kick panel, with the front camera video feeding the white and blue wires leading UP THE PILLAR TOWARDS THE MIRROR.

 

Once your connections are made, you should then be able to display the rear camera on the radio when the truck is in reverse and the front camera any time the key is on by flipping your switch. If everything checks out, you can reassemble the truck and start using your camera!

 

To lend some perspective to the difference this camera makes, I backed up in my driveway, then pulled in as close as I dared to the front of my garage without using the camera, judging distance solely by looking over the hood - (close enough that I was scared of running into the house) - then switched on the camera:

 

 

On getting out and checking my clearance, I was embarrassed at how badly I had judged the distance:

 

 

Next time, I backed up and tried pulling in with the camera on, and I was able to reduce this distance to about 6-8 inches with no problem at all. It truly made all the difference in the world being able to actually see where the front bumper was instead of having to guess (badly) where it was! If you (or your significant other) are regularly sticking the nose of your truck into tight spaces like a garage or even pulling into a parking stall, the added perspective will give a boost of confidence that I don't believe you can get any other way, and potentially save some pretty major repair bills...

 

In conclusion, this mod is one of the most cost-effective, useful (and fun) mods I've done in awhile, and it makes great use out of your factory mirror that you probably don't even look at any more (for the camera portion anyway).

 

 

 

[BlaznSaddles]

 

Pretty cool mod; thanks for sharing.

[MikeNH]

Interesting. I never hooked up the rear camera due to how lousy the OE GM camera looks on the big display. So in that case I could hook the video right to the currently unused input of the OGM1 and then just tap into a switched power and ground so the camera would essentially always be on, I'd just select that input on the OGM1 and be good?

[wottenad]

Interesting. I never hooked up the rear camera due to how lousy the OE GM camera looks on the big display. So in that case I could hook the video right to the currently unused input of the OGM1 and then just tap into a switched power and ground so the camera would essentially always be on, I'd just select that input on the OGM1 and be good?

 

The way the OGM1 works, you don't need to do anything more than run an RCA cable over to the white and blue wires at the kick panel and tap into them with the center conductor of your RCA going to the white wire and the outer shield of the RCA going to the blue wire:

 

 

Plug the other end of the RCA cable into your backup camera input and turn on the backup camera in the menu, and you will have backup camera display on your OGM1.

 

Since the OGM1 cannot be triggered except while in reverse (all of the backup camera triggering is done via data), there are really no other modifications that you can do to have it display on the radio at any other time - this is the reason that I did this mod - to get some use out of that factory mirror display that is currently doing nothing other than displaying what you already see on your radio...

[MikeNH]

I guess I wasn't clear. I don't wish to use the OGM1 as my backup camera because from what I've seen, the poor quality of the OEM camera makes the backup display on the big nice OGM1 screen look marginal. So if I did get a front camera I'd wire it to the OGM1 and keep reverse in the mirror.

[wottenad]

I guess I wasn't clear. I don't wish to use the OGM1 as my backup camera because from what I've seen, the poor quality of the OEM camera makes the backup display on the big nice OGM1 screen look marginal. So if I did get a front camera I'd wire it to the OGM1 and keep reverse in the mirror.

 

Not going to work the way you want because the only way the OGM1 triggers the backup camera input is via data and this would allow the use of the front camera ONLY while in reverse, which would be kinda backwards.

 

You really should try the factory camera on the OGM1 since it's so easy to connect - although it's nothing great quality-wise, it certainly is good enough to keep you from backing into anything. I have always offered a kit to upgrade the factory camera for guys that are unhappy with it, but I only think 2 or 3 people have taken me up on it...

[MikeNH]

It's mostly curiosity for me. By early spring next year I hope to be in something new anyhow.

[TimmyG]

Cool mod, kinda off subject but can you add a switch to power the factory cam to work with the factory rearview? Basically when my bed cover is folded up to thr window allowing me to check on my trailer? Or maybe a tailgater?

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[wottenad]

Cool mod, kinda off subject but can you add a switch to power the factory cam to work with the factory rearview? Basically when my bed cover is folded up to thr window allowing me to check on my trailer? Or maybe a tailgater?

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

You would use the same method, just have to verify where the factory camera gets its power...

[block8head]

does this work with the 2014 Silverado/Sierra?

[wottenad]

does this work with the 2014 Silverado/Sierra?

 

No reason it couldn't work as long as you identify the proper wires. I don't have any data on the 2014 1/2 tons yet...

[VMaxtastic]

What kind of camera upgrade are you talking about? I can't believe how horrible the backup camera looks on my display.

[wottenad]

What kind of camera upgrade are you talking about? I can't believe how horrible the backup camera looks on my display.

 

We don't have a camera upgrade per se, I just posted this mod mainly to allow guys to put the mirror monitor to another use rather than just duplicate what already displays on the radio.

 

I don't know if there are any upgrade kits for the factory cameras in the 14+ body style trucks - we have not yet gotten any calls from any dealer that has wanted to upgrade...