Silverado won't consistently power trailer's rear camera

J-Stroke · March 11, 2019

9 hours ago, Jack D said:

My guess is that the truck is not supplying enough current to the trailer lights to power the camera and the lights. You may try wiring the camera directly to your trailer batteries. Our Lance trailer is a 2018, and I've been using it for two seasons. At first, I used the rear camera all of the time, but after a while, I found that it was more of an annoyance than it was beneficial. Someday I may want to use that camera again, but I have no immediate need for it, so I have time to watch and see how things turn out.

I agree, direct wire to the trailer's batteries is likely my only solution, at least for now. Also, I just returned from our maiden voyage to Florida and after 2,500 miles of relying on my side mirrors with no rear camera I, like you, don't feel the "need" for the camera any longer. BUT I paid for it and it's not pretty enough just to be an expensive ornament. Besides, I've been blown off by so many vendors and technicians by now that it's a matter of principle; I'm on a mission!

Jack D · March 13, 2019

J-Stroke

I hope you get to the bottom of this. I will only have our new truck to test the trailer camera. Hopefully, this will be the last of everyone's '19 GM truck and trailering issues. If it is a power issue, I hope that we can convince Lance to find another power source for the rear-facing cameras, so that future buyers won't face the same issues.

Still waiting for our Silverado to show up at the dealership, so I can't be of any help to you on this end until it shows up. If it turns out that powering the camera directly from the battery solves the problem, then it's workable. I'm not sure if you can access the camera wiring somewhere inside the trailer, but William Leon at Lance may be able to help you. Otherwise, you'll have to cut & splice onto the 3" of exposed wire sticking out of the back of the trailer, while insulating the still-connected wire that runs inside. We have a 2375, and I don't see any way to access those wires without cutting a hole in the rear wall, inside the upper cabinets. Another option is to run a new power cable down the ladder to the frame, then forward to a 12v source.

Where did you find the backup light wire termination? I just got a pair of LED lights to connect to the rear frame. Just starting to get weather warm enough to go out and crawl around under the trailer.

GOOD LUCK!

J-Stroke · March 13, 2019

12 minutes ago, Jack D said:

J-Stroke

I hope you get to the bottom of this. I will only have our new truck to test the trailer camera. Hopefully, this will be the last of everyone's '19 GM truck and trailering issues. If it is a power issue, I hope that we can convince Lance to find another power source for the rear-facing cameras, so that future buyers won't face the same issues.

Still waiting for our Silverado to show up at the dealership, so I can't be of any help to you on this end until it shows up. If it turns out that powering the camera directly from the battery solves the problem, then it's workable. I'm not sure if you can access the camera wiring somewhere inside the trailer, but William Leon at Lance may be able to help you. Otherwise, you'll have to cut & splice onto the 3" of exposed wire sticking out of the back of the trailer, while insulating the still-connected wire that runs inside. We have a 2375, and I don't see any way to access those wires without cutting a hole in the rear wall, inside the upper cabinets. Another option is to run a new power cable down the ladder to the frame, then forward to a 12v source.

Where did you find the backup light wire termination? I just got a pair of LED lights to connect to the rear frame. Just starting to get weather warm enough to go out and crawl around under the trailer.

GOOD LUCK!

Jack, check out my reply on LOA, I included a pic of where the wire bundle is located (tucked in to the frame just behind the bumper).

Here's an update, sort of, on the camera dilemma. I turned off all apps and electronics I could in order to see if there was an interference issue I could eliminate; no luck, no change. However, I did manage to end up with a blank Navigation screen. I called OnStar and they rebooted it; all is good on that front. But while we waited the 5 minutes for the reboot, I explained my camera issue to the OnStar tech support person. She said it is probably an incompatibility between my camera and the truck's IOT Radio System, which is GM's high-end system. She suggested that I could probably solve the problem by downgrading to the IO6 system, though it would be expensive to do so. I suggested OnStar do a software fix from their end instead. She laughed at me. "IOT", I assume from my Google search, refers to Internet of Things which I have seen some refer to as "Interference" of Things.

As to accessing the wiring in the trailer, I'll be checking with Leon soon, after he's had his coffee.

bshort · March 13, 2019

The monitor itself only pulls 300 milliamps. The camera has to be that or less. As far as the truck's 12V supply to the trailer, it should think that the camera is just another running light. Odd situation.

Rocz3cqg · March 13, 2019

For 2019 GM has three levels of Radio Systems that are built for the trucks Gen 3 IOR, IOS and IOT. IOR is a 7" unit, IOS is a 8" HD unit while the IOT is a 8" HD with Nav. The 2019 trucks have two types of Trailering connections. One is just a standard wiring without the Trailer Lighting Module and the othe includes the Module.The camera should work with the standard wiring [which basically would be a straight connection to the 12 volts] while the module presents an interface between the battery and the end connector.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Rocz3cqg

Jack D · March 14, 2019

Comments by bshort and Rocz3cqg follows a rational line of thinking - it just doesn't make sense. The camera should draw minimal power, but the problem has to lie within the trailer lighting module, somehow. Or, did Lance somehow wire the camera so that only part of the wiring is connected to the running lights? I still believe that wiring the camera directly to a 12v circuit that is not monitored by the trailer lighting module, or directly to the battery and a chassis ground, should be the cure.

Good luck J-Stroke!

GormanAZ · May 13, 2019

Having the exact same issue on 2019 Sierra. Voyager camera turns on for a second every few seconds. Hope we can find a fix!

GormanAZ · May 16, 2019

I have gone down the rabbit hole on this issue and talked to all levels of GMC even Echomaster support. The 2019 IOT Radio system in the SLT and Denali, was not developed by Echomaster and they had no input unlike other model years and even lower models of current year. GMC system they did internally is not compatible with wireless cameras for 2019. The TPMS system they decided to use is generating interference in the same wireless range as the cameras. The solution they used for Denali was to install RCA plugs in the back (admission of the issue) and expect people to run a wire to the back of the trailer to avoid the interference so they could keep promoting the trailer integration features. This is not a solution for something like an Airstream where running wires is not easy. They did not install the RCA plug in the other non Denali models with the IOT Radio so they have no towing camera option solution to hardwire it. The interference seems to be across the 2.5 to 5 Ghz range, so no aftermarket wireless system will work that uses that range (being all but wifi systems). Echomaster said to try and run an antenna from the rear camera to the front of the trailer to see if it will cut thought the TPMS interference. I just order a wifi based camera that connects to the phone, but this is not what was promoted by GMC! No integration. You can build the truck with the hard wired camera as an add-on online, but it does not really exist and does not ship on the non Denali trucks. Not a Happy customer! GMC will need to make a custom camera that can handshake with the bastardized version of bluetooth they implemented in the IOT radio system to avoid the interference. I doubt this will happen! Hopefully I saved people the 5+ hours of phone calls to arrive at that answer.

Edited May 16, 2019 by GormanAZ

J-Stroke · May 16, 2019

Thanks, GormanAZ, you did a heck of an investigation! This is quite a mess. I though I would solve the problem by having my trailer service center rewire the camera directly to one of my trailer batteries. But they estimated four hours at $75/hr and I refuse to pay that.

It seems to me that this is a design defect that GM should be legally obligated to fix. But I'm just a retired lawyer, what do I know?

GormanAZ · May 16, 2019

GM left it as "We understand that you were promised a trailer camera but we don't have a solution for you, you will need to discuss this with your sales team at your dealership, or you can try various third party devices that may provide similar capabilities." The Echomaster guy was excellent and gave me some ideas to try regarding remote antennas on the trailer but said he is not aware of any camera that will not have the interference from the TPMS as an issue as they are all made by same Chinese companies. Don't direct wire your camera, that will not fix this issue and you will be wasting money.

flowbytwo · May 17, 2019

I have an airstream with the review camera and I am also experiencing this issue. I had planned to see if the issue was related to ripple on the dc line to the camera by using a direct feed (tapped in at the wiring junction for the 7-wire pig tail. If that fixes it I would simply put a relay (and probably a load resister to fool the computer that the lights still work) to switch parking lights over to the constant hot DC system.

If this is an interference issue then I wonder how they got approval for these components from the FCC? I mean anyone driving their new GMC past someone else with a review camera would cause it to cut out. That seems like a pretty serious issue (and I would be surprised if that is the case).

Brad Schuette · May 18, 2019

I am having the same problem with my 2019 GMC Sierra 1500. I took the camera down and it works perfectly fine inside the truck next to the monitor. if I plug the camera back into the trailer and take the monitor to the back of the trailer to view it, it does not work. This is not a Bluetooth or wireless interference problem. I can actually hear a buzzing noise on the camera if it is plugged into the trailer power powered by the Sierra running lights. It seems to me that this is dirty power coming from the truck.. Not sure if it is has some kind of AC signal riding over it and not a clean 12 volt DC power or what, but this is definitely a power issue that is being provided by the truck. The camera uses so little power, I don't think it is a current draw issue.

geddy76 · May 20, 2019

We brought home our new truck last weekend and discovered this issue a few days later when we hooked up our camper for a test tow.

I just got got off the phone with ASA Electronics tech support. They are aware of the issue and are actively looking for a fix. She said what GM did caught the entire industry off guard. No estimate for a fix at this point, but it’s good to hear they are looking for a solution.

Jack D · May 20, 2019

Since GM said that the new trucks would be camera-compatible, and it's obvious that they did not thoroughly investigate existing camera systems during their infotainment design, they should provide us with the stand-alone hard-wire cameras that they sell as an accessory. At a significant discount, of course.