Hi,

I purchased a cheap aftermarket camera / monitor. It is the Pyle PLCM7200 7-Inch TFT Mirror Monitor with Rearview Night Vision Camera from Amazon. I am not sure how to hard wire the monitor unit. I already have the camera mounted & wired.

What I would like is to have the camera on continuously, not just when I shift into reverse. Instead of wiring the camera Pos (+) to the back up lights, I spliced it to the headlights so it turns on when I turn the headlights on.

For power to the monitor unit there is a pos (+), neg (-) & green backup lead. To have the monitor powered, does the green wire need to be connected to a positive wire?

I initially wired the positive & green leads to a fused pos (+) wire I have coming directly from my battery which I am also using to power some Off-Road lights. There is ~12.5 vts. when I tested it with a multimeter. When I did this the monitor worked but began smoking. I've since gotten a replacement monitor but do not want to fry it again.

Is there a better / easier way to hard wire the monitor?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Can you post a Pic of the schemattic ( or directions ).

You need 12V to the monitor. And 12V to the camera. The only thing left is the camers trigger. It should take 12V ( + ) for the trigger too. But not sure.

 

This instructions for this unit are horrible but here's a



link from the manufacturer's website.

 

Ok. Here is what you should do. Forget the headlight circuit for power. Don't know why you chose that anyway? Use the link that I have provided below for power. Since you said that you want the camera and monitor to be on all the time, just connect all the power wires to this source. Positive for camera, positive for monitor and green trigger wire. I would suggest that you break the power to the green wire thru a switch. Then you could activate the video from the camera at the flick of a switch. If you should decide to make the camera work only in reverse, you will need to tap the harness to the reverse light. This wire is accessible at either the drivers or passengers floorboard harness. Then just simply connect the green wire to this tap.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your install.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-e...source-191552/

 

Thanks for your help.....it is certainly appreciated. I"m still kind of confused over the green / trigger wire. needs to be connected to a positive source right? I've seen some install vids with this camera where they claim to not use the green wire at all. It didn't seem to activate the camera without it when I tried before. Also, any ideas on why the monitor started smoking on me before. Should I connect to less than a 12.5 positive source?

Thanks in advance.

 

The monitor needs the Green Trigger wire in order to switch ON the display from the camera. The few that I have had experience need a ( + ) 12V input on this wire to trigger the display. I think the voltage problem you experienced has something to do with connecting the power supply to the headlight circuit. A lot of the guys doing lighting mods have found that Jeep has used different types of voltage output ( depending on make / model ) for their lighting systems in an atempt to "build a better mouse trap" so to speak. You should be fine using power from the fuse box ( TIPM ). Good Luck with your install. Hope you enjoy your new system.

 

UPDATE:
I installed a fuse tap, with some difficulty, but got the monitor working good. I didn't realize that you need to place a fuse in the tap at first. I put 2 fuses in the tap because there was space for two. Do I need two fuses in the fuse tap? I doubt it but if nothing else it makes a good place for a spare, I suppose.

The monitor is working WITHOUT using the green (3rd) / trigger / back wire, so I left it disconnected since I want the monitor / camera to be operational all the time.

The camera works okay but since I wired the positive lead to the lights (out of convenience since the wire were right there & so that it wasn't continuously draining power), every time I brake hard or use the turn signal, the signal must be weak or something, because the screen flickers a bit. I DO NOT want the camera to only operate when in reverse, which is why I didn't splice into the reverse lights as is common. Would I be best off running the fuse tap line to the rear?


Is there another power (+) source I can connect to that would be convenient for the camera? My camera is mounted to the license plate for now. I'm considering mounting the camera to a magnetic strip which can be moved & definitely going to add a second camera.

Any suggestions on a good secondary camera / area to mount near a power (+) source?

Also the camera seems very "zoomed out" ie objects are definitely closer than they appear. Is this the case with most cameras? I will be using cameras for help spotting so it is somewhat hard to judge distances.

Thanks in advance for any help / suggestions.

 

The fuse tap only need 1 fuse. So the other can be a spare ( hope you never need it though ). The tap should be installed in a holder that is only live when the key is in the On / accessory position. So no worries about running down the power. Be very careful using lighting circuits for power. The Jeep lighting system is smart. It actually has some type of processor that knows when there is a problem with the circuit. And it will automatically shut itself OFF.

I highly recommend that you use the fuse tap circuit for all the power on this system. Some of the Jeep lighting circuits us an unconventional power source. this source can damage your new monitor or camera. Doesn't the monitor have an ON / OFF switch? Also, it's very odd that the monitor is displaying the camera without the trigger connected to something.

 

I'll take your advice and run a hot line from the fuse tap to the rear of my jeep to power the camera.

Here's a new question, is enough power through the one fuse tap (10 amp) enough to power the monitor and perhaps two cameras?

Thanks again for your help.

 

My camera came with a harness that carried the power connection all the way to the dash area. You have to run the coax cable all the way to the back anyway. One more wire shouldn't hurt.

I don't know what the average current draw on those devices are. Just guessing, you shouldn't have any problems.