I have had this project in the back of my mind for a while and finally got around to digging up all the parts and wiring info to complete it.
First off the mirror I used was from a 2011 Acadia. The mirror has OnStar auto dim and of course the backup camera monitor built in. This is a standard mirror installed in many GM vehicles from the Saturn View to the Traverse to the Equinox to many others. I didn't have to change the plug in the back of the mirror as our plug is exactly the same as the one in this mirror. Now with that said there are some changes to be made to make it work but this involves adding 3 wires and changing one existing wire. The camera I bought from Amazon.com was around $38 and will provide a grid when the camera is activated to show distance.
This mod involves removing the passenger side speaker panel behind the passenger seat, the door sill panel and right side kick panel. Also you will need to remove the right side windshield post panel and the overhead panel above the mirror.
Here is a shot of the mirrors together. The new mirror is only slightly larger.
At this point the install is actually pretty simple.
I installed the camera right above the license plate.
Next I routed the camera wiring into the trunk of the car. And to get it into the passenger side wheel well area I routed it through here.
At this point I found the backup light wire to tie in my power wire to the mirror and camera. This is the light green wire in the harness. Best way to check that you have the correct wire is to use a tester and have a friend put vehicle in reverse when you have backup lights you should have power to your tester. I say this because there are a couple of green wires in this harness. I used a splicer to connect to this wire. I also wired the camera to this same green wire as you only want the camera to come on when the car is put into reverse.
Next I routed a wire from here to the mirror itself. Now you can find this same green wire all along the passenger side under the door sill but I wanted to fuse it with a 5 amp fuse as the backup lights are on a 10 amp and I didn't want to add another fuse link . I also feed the video cable along with this wire to the mirror.
After running the video and power wire for the mirror monitor I went to the BCM on the passenger side footwell and made a second power connection from the BCM. You also need a ignition hot wire that become hot when the key is turned on. This wire is needed to power the auto dim. I used a splice here and connected to the 10 amp wiper fuse.
At this point I am ready to run all my wires and video cable to the mirror.
Before proceeding I will show you the actual plug from our mirror.
The gray wire to the left is the in the #1 wire slot and right above it is the empty #16 slot to the far right of the gray wire is the black #8 slot. Remember these wire slots and the numbering of the pins as you will need to add wires to select slots to make this mod work.
Now the first thing you do is cut the blue wire with the white stripe and make sure to cut at least 2 inches above the plug as this will be your video positive feed wire. I soldered a red wire to this and ran it back up through the harness to be joined by a second wire for the negative video that I added a connector to and added it to the wiring plug in pin #5. I then added the white wire form my backup light to the #16 pin. This will provide power to allow the video to display on the screen. Next I added the ignition wire (yellow) I got from the BCM to the #12 pin that will add power to the auto dim. Next you use the pictured female RCA connector and solder you two video cable wire to allow the connection of the RCA connection from the camera.
Now here is what the plug looks like with all the new wires added.
The above image shows the #16 pin (white wire) to the far right, that is the supply wire from the backup lights, to the #9 pin which is empty. You will also notice there is now a wire in pin # 12 (yellow wire) that is the ignition wire from the BCM. Those are the only changes to the bottom row of pins.
This next image shows the top row of pins.
The changes here are that the blue wire with the white stripe is now the video plus feed in pin #6 this is the wire I soldered. Right next to it in pin #7 is the video negative feed.
After the wires were all set I ran them up along the windshield frame and and secured them as in this image.
I then tested my connections to make sure I had video and auto dim.
As you see the video works perfectly. I tested the auto dim by holding my finger over the sensor hole in the back of the mirror and in a few seconds I dimmed.
Total cost:
Mirror $145.00 I got the mirror by searching this site car-parts.com
Camera $38.00 Camera was bought from Amazon.com
Mics wiring and plugs $20.00
A special thanks to Ofer Perlmuter on the Camaro forum for his assistance on the wiring and for providing the plug and pins.Now this mod will remove your map lights. I plan later to mount some LED lights to the top and wire them up to work just as the map lights did with on and off switches and the auto dim out.
This is a picture of the pins you will need to add to our existing plug. I got these from a member on the Camaro forum so if you need any I would be glad to supply his contact info. There may be other pins that will work but I am not sure.
These two images show you the plug that is used in my project that I also got from him. You have to "unlock" the plug before you can add any pins. To do this you insert a small flat head screw driver into the back of the plug and pry up. Now it will only come up about a 16th of an inch so don't over do it. If you look at the two images below, on the side you will see a small square that is white inside when you have the plug up correctly you will no longer see white in that square and note in that image how high the top white plug is then. Even with the plug up you are still unable to remove the wires with out releasing the actual pin on the end of the wire inside the plug so don't try and pull any wires from the plug unless you do that first.
As always any questions or help I will be glad to help you if I can.
