[slinkyjynx]

Hi all,

Retrofitted a reverse-parking camera today into my 2013 F30, saw it as one of those projects that sounded reasonable in difficulty, and not too expensive if you found a good deal on fleabay, ie: the sweet spot of weekend mods

I looked at options ranging from BMW OEM solutions, to the kit from a reputable business that hangs out on here, but both were way too expensive in my opinion. Did some searching and found a full kit on sale for £205/$250 which included all the components I needed, so took a shot at it.



Here's the kit, it contains the following:

1 Boot handle with integrated camera
1 really long video cable
1 Comms box
1 Harness adaptor

You'll also need:
Pry tools for the trim
1 T20 head (for cabin part)
1 T25 head (for boot part)
1 standard + head (for boot part)

If you're the photo-scrutinising type (like me) the shiny bag contains the handle, the long black coil is the video cable, beneath it is the comms box, and the multi-coloured ensemble is the harness adaptor.

The idea of the retrofit is super simple: You replace the boot handle with the one with the camera in it and then run the wire from the back of the car to the front. Then you connect the video cable to the comms box (which is connected to the new harness). Finally, you unplug the old harness (and remove the optical cables from it) and plug it into the back of the new harness, which connects to the NBT unit. Code the car to recognise reverse camera (FA code 3AG) and code the NBT_HU and REM modules. Done!

If thats confusing, simply think of it like a USB extension cable: You unplug the existing harness (USB cable) and plug it into the new harness (USB extension cable) which plugs into the NBT (Computer). The comms unit attaches to the new harness so all you have to do is connect the white wire, which you cant get wrong

OK, fitting time. If you're going to do this mod, here's my first piece of advice: Skip fitting the boot handle first, unplug the head unit, do the whole retrofit in the front of the cabin first.

You really dont want to go through the pain of running the wire through the entire car to discover a problem and then have to troubleshoot. Much rather see if it all works, first

Remove the dash trim to access the fascia screws:



Remove the fascia, and be careful of a small connecting wire on the right hand side, which is the electronics wire for the buttons:



Then unscrew the head unit and pull it out:



When you slide the head out (giggedy) you'll see there are a lot of wires, and one big mother thats multicoloured. That's the harness, you'll want to first remove the optical cables from it and plug them into the new harness.

You'll want to run the cable from the drivers footwell into the area behind the head unit, it's simple really just lift the panel where it splits vertically (about where your calf would be when sitting) and then thread it upwards and grab it from the NBT cavity. Now connect it to the new harness.

At this stage, you should do/have the following:

Old harness removed from back of NBT, plugged into back of new harness.
Optical cables from old harness put into new harness.
Video cable connected to boot lid connected to comms box which is connected to new harness (phew!)
New harness connected to NBT in place of old one.

Still with me? Now you have to code the car.

Turn it on and connect with e-sys. Load, save and Edit FA, expand down to SALAPA element and add option 3AG. Now save. Switch to Coding, and read SVT. Right click on NBT_HU and click Code, when done scroll down to REM and click Code. That's it! Now disconnect, turn on the car and whack it in reverse. You should see the camera feed working



Man, was I happy at this point! OK, now either it works or it doesn't. If it doesn't, troubleshoot. If it does, read on.

You've now got quite a lot of wires at the back of your head unit, and the comms box to boot, so you'll need to come up with some space. It's hard to describe, so I've paired a photo with a diagram for you to show where things can/should go:



OK the red arrow is meant to illustrate where the Comms box should go, basically you want to tuck it away. Here's a diagram to explain it better:



Right, here goes the explanation:

The red area is the area reserved for the head unit. Once fully back in, there's no real space going and the extra harness will likely cause you problems.

The green area is a cavity that can fit the extra cables and the comms unit comfortably. You'll notice the small grey square, that's a support strut, which makes space more confined than ideal, so you'll need small hands!

The yellow area is empty space that could potentially hold the Comms box, but it's really narrow and we couldn't quite get it to fit in, but your mileage may vary!

Right, now you just put everything back in reverse order, knowing it's all working.

As for running it to the back of the car, that's simple but time consuming: Lift the outer trim and run the cable beneath it before replacing. You'll want to use the pry-tool for this part!

Getting it to the trunk/boot is a bit trickier, you need to lift up the rear bench by pulling it up, and you should see the loom under the seat, just follow it with your video cable.

To be honest I could write up how to do the rest, but it's simple, in fact there's a video that does it more justice than I ever could:

Once you're done it'll all be worth it, reversing camera with dynamic lines:



I know this has probably been documented a lot before, but this forum has helped me a lot and this seems like a good way for me to give something back to anyone who like me was considering this retrofit on a budget.

The important thing, and I can't stress this enough, is don't rush. Take your time, and don't force anything. It can get a bit hairy when your entire head unit is exposed and there's wires everywhere but be patient and you'll be golden.

I wouldn't say I'm an expert at this, but if anyone has questions I'd be happy to help!

[jimmy79]

looks good, i have couple of questions. I n the last image it looks like you still have use of the parking sensors on the screen aswell as the reversing camera is that correct? also what the camera like in the dark?

[slinkyjynx]

Originally Posted by jimmy79

looks good, i have couple of questions. I n the last image it looks like you still have use of the parking sensors on the screen aswell as the reversing camera is that correct? also what the camera like in the dark?

Yeah the reversing sensors move to the right of the screen, assuming you have the widescreen unit, not sure what happens on the entry screen.

The camera is alright in the dark, if you look on the left hand side of the screen in the final image you'll see an icon that looks like a sun. That allows you to adjust the brightness for when it gets dark and it does a pretty good job of brightening up the image.

You thinking of doing it?

[jimmy79]

good stuff, maybe a future project for me. do you have a link for where you bought it from?

[slinkyjynx]

Originally Posted by jimmy79

good stuff, maybe a future project for me. do you have a link for where you bought it from?

I got this one, the seller seems to offer quite a few though

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252602822547

[jimmy79]

Thanks for the info.

[weytie]

How is the Quality of the camera?
Been looking this set for a while...

[slinkyjynx]

Originally Posted by weytie

How is the Quality of the camera?
Been looking this set for a while...

During the day it's fantastic, plenty of detail and just like OEM. At night it fades a little worse but realistically, it's perfectly useable if you just toggle the brightness. For £200 you really can't go wrong

[Compute]

Thanks for the info.

Quick question, Do you think the cabling is long enough to fit on a LCi F31 ?.

[slinkyjynx]

Originally Posted by Compute

Thanks for the info.

Quick question, Do you think the cabling is long enough to fit on a LCi F31 ?.

Quite possibly, I had a good foot or so remaining which I had to bundle together for neatness so I'd say you should be ok

[Hugrov]

Great guide, am seriously considering getting one of these kits, it's just the coding part that puts me off as I've never done it, got a quote for £120 to code it remotely which seems excessive really when you consider the cost of the kit.

I've been looking at an OEM kit for about £475 which looks good as well although it's a bit more complicated connection wise (CAN wires, KBAS etc), then coding cost on top of that as well, starts to become an expensive mod.

Really would like the reversing camera to finish the car though, are you happy with the camera image quality now you've been using it for a while?

Cheers again for an excellent "how to"

[slinkyjynx]

Originally Posted by Hugrov

Great guide, am seriously considering getting one of these kits, it's just the coding part that puts me off as I've never done it, got a quote for £120 to code it remotely which seems excessive really when you consider the cost of the kit.

I've been looking at an OEM kit for about £475 which looks good as well although it's a bit more complicated connection wise (CAN wires, KBAS etc), then coding cost on top of that as well, starts to become an expensive mod.

Really would like the reversing camera to finish the car though, are you happy with the camera image quality now you've been using it for a while?

Cheers again for an excellent "how to"

Thanks for the kind words man. I love it, yeah. The camera quality is great, dynamic lines and obstacle tracking is fantastic. I'd probably opt for a third party kit that has a wiring harness because the pain of retiring isn't worth it to me!

[andrew.webber]

Originally Posted by Hugrov

Great guide, am seriously considering getting one of these kits, it's just the coding part that puts me off as I've never done it, got a quote for £120 to code it remotely which seems excessive really when you consider the cost of the kit.

I've been looking at an OEM kit for about £475 which looks good as well although it's a bit more complicated connection wise (CAN wires, KBAS etc), then coding cost on top of that as well, starts to become an expensive mod.

Really would like the reversing camera to finish the car though, are you happy with the camera image quality now you've been using it for a while?

Cheers again for an excellent "how to"

Talk with Neil at Vehicle Installation Solutions in Birmingham - I know it is not close to you but he installed an OEM style camera in my F30 and you would not know it was not fitted at new - perfect OEM integration and a good price too. See http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-CIC-NB...8AAOSwSlBYwbfp
HTH
Andrew

[Hugrov]

Originally Posted by andrew.webber

Talk with Neil at Vehicle Installation Solutions in Birmingham - I know it is not close to you but he installed an OEM style camera in my F30 and you would not know it was not fitted at new - perfect OEM integration and a good price too. See http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-CIC-NB...8AAOSwSlBYwbfp
HTH
Andrew

Cheers for that Andrew, I actually searched for him on the net the other day and was thinking about getting in touch with him, I hadn't realised he was advertising on eBay though so that saves me a job

Thanks again

[andrew.webber]

Originally Posted by Hugrov

Cheers for that Andrew, I actually searched for him on the net the other day and was thinking about getting in touch with him, I hadn't realised he was advertising on eBay though so that saves me a job

Thanks again

No problem - his website is www.handzfree.co.uk

[rjoelshipp]

Thanks for this! Just curious.... Do you have to have rear parking sensors for this to work? I figured you dont for the camera view, but I wasn't sure if you get some kind of error message or something if you code for the rear camera and not have parking sensors.
Thanks!