Hi everyone,

I was hoping I would get some help on the best way to wire two cameras in my 2007 Ford Mustang convertible. I'm an electrical novice (although very mechanically inclined ) I currently have one already installed in the front so I can see how close I am to curbs and I will be adding a backup camera.

My JVC head unit has a remote turn-on wire. When +12v is supplied to the wire, it displays the video input. My problem is now I have two different power sources that activate each camera. The camera in the front is attached to a manual switch that I can turn on and off. The backup camera will be controlled by the reverse lights. I think I need a relay but I’m not sure how to wire it.

Ideally, this is an outline of how I would like it to operate:

• Camera 1 (backup) turns on when the reverse lights are activated.
• Camera 2 (front) turns on using manual switch.
• Camera 1 is the default camera. If, for some reason, both cameras are on at the same time, I would like it to use camera 1. I do not want both power sources to be active at the same time (that would probably ruin the head unit).

Basically, I have two +12v input sources only one +12v output. I would like to control which +12v input source is sending power to the output (which will go to the head unit remote turn-on wire). Does anyone know what type of relay to use and the best way to wire it?

I appreciate the help!

//mark

 

You could use a 3 position switch, 1 for front, 1 for off, and 1 for rear. I had a 2 way switch in a truck I had, wired it so either the switch or the reverse lights turned on the camera, to do that I wired them in parallel and had to tap into another power wire to get it done right.
Also how are you going to display both cameras? Are you just going to use a Y adapter?