Post Double Din pics..

I got everything off of crutchfield. Here is a link to the camera:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_074RVCLPMB/Accele-RVCLPMB.html?search=backup+camera

Cstoliker said:

One tip on back up camera. It is common practice to power it by the reverce lights. If you run a power wire from your deck's remote amp out put you can use it while not in reverce. Driving for instance. Well worth running one wire.

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I've been thinking about this for a while. I think some sort of relay would be good. You want it to come on automatically when the reverse lights come on, but it would also be cool to have a switch to manually turn it on at any time.

93 x_SPORT said:

I've been thinking about this for a while. I think some sort of relay would be good. You want it to come on automatically when the reverse lights come on, but it would also be cool to have a switch to manually turn it on at any time.

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You can do it easily on the kenwood deck..

Run the power of the camera to the 12V switched of the radio, or the remote lead, that way the camera has power whenever the truck is on. Then run a wire from the reverse light to the "reverse" wire on the headunit.
This way, when you put it in reverse, it will automatically turn on, and when you tap "AV1" on the headunit, it will also work, so you can manually run it.

Yea you gotta run two wires anyway but few think of running the third. Even a lot of "professionals" (term used loosely) won't unless you specifically tell them too.

Cstoliker said:

Yea you gotta run two wires anyway but few think of running the third. Even a lot of "professionals" (term used loosely) won't unless you specifically tell them too.

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Professionals. I've had to clean up more than one 'Professional' car audio install..

93 x_SPORT said:

I've been thinking about this for a while. I think some sort of relay would be good. You want it to come on automatically when the reverse lights come on, but it would also be cool to have a switch to manually turn it on at any time.

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As DJ said. Most head units (that I've looked at) have an on screen option to switch to the camera in addition to automaticly switching when in reverse. On my JVC it's never more then two clicks away. Same on kenwoods. Provided the camera has power.

I found that license plate mounted cameras work best when mounted on the top of the plate. The overhang keeps the snow and crap off them. Besides the places my truck ends up it would be more of a fish finder then a camera. lol

DjDom said:

Professionals. I've had to clean up more than one 'Professional' car audio install..

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Yea. I've seen some nightmares too. Just completely ruin a vehicle. Turning a monkey loose with wire clippers in your car can do less damage, with about the same result too

Cstoliker said:

As DJ said. Most head units (that I've looked at) have an on screen option to switch to the camera in addition to automaticly switching when in reverse. On my JVC it's never more then two clicks away. Same on kenwoods. Provided the camera has power.

I found that license plate mounted cameras work best when mounted on the top of the plate. The overhang keeps the snow and crap off them. Besides the places my truck ends up it would be more of a fish finder then a camera. lol


Yea. I've seen some nightmares too. Just completely ruin a vehicle. Turning a monkey loose with wire clippers in your car can do less damage, with about the same result too

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Yeah, I had to mount it on the bottom because there wasn't enough room to get my fingers in to use the hatch latch with it mounted on top. I originally had it mounted on top.

As far as switching to the AV1, that would work, but I thought it would be nice to be able to just have a switch outside of the radio that goes to the signal wire. Little more involved, but here is why it would be cool; When the unit senses the car going into reverse, it switches to the camera. However, whatever you are listening too (radio, CD, iPod, etc...) remains on.

If you have to switch to AV1, you will lose your tunes.

That reminds me of something else I don't like about this unit (it's probably a problem with anything that has a touchscreen???). It takes FOREVER, to turn on (really it's only a few seconds, but ain't nobody got time for that).

So when I pull up to a train (we have a lot of them around here) and turn off my truck, the radio shuts off. Then I pull it back to ACC and the radio takes a while to 'boot-up'. Super annoying.:thumbdwn:

I've been researching a relay for having the radio stay on until the doors open. Looks like you have to use 2 or 3 relays for that. Was hoping there was a simpler solution. Maybe I will do that much, much later.

93 x_SPORT said:

Yeah, I had to mount it on the bottom because there wasn't enough room to get my fingers in to use the hatch latch with it mounted on top. I originally had it mounted on top.

As far as switching to the AV1, that would work, but I thought it would be nice to be able to just have a switch outside of the radio that goes to the signal wire. Little more involved, but here is why it would be cool; When the unit senses the car going into reverse, it switches to the camera. However, whatever you are listening too (radio, CD, iPod, etc...) remains on.

If you have to switch to AV1, you will lose your tunes.

Click to expand...

I believe it continues playing the music if you press AV1. Or you can set it up to do that.

93 x_SPORT said:

That reminds me of something else I don't like about this unit (it's probably a problem with anything that has a touchscreen???). It takes FOREVER, to turn on (really it's only a few seconds, but ain't nobody got time for that).

So when I pull up to a train (we have a lot of them around here) and turn off my truck, the radio shuts off. Then I pull it back to ACC and the radio takes a while to 'boot-up'. Super annoying.:thumbdwn:

I've been researching a relay for having the radio stay on until the doors open. Looks like you have to use 2 or 3 relays for that. Was hoping there was a simpler solution. Maybe I will do that much, much later.

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All touchscreens are like that.. very common. It just has a lot to load.

Maybe AV1 can be setup for that, but currently I have my auxillary audio jack hooked up to that. So when I switch to AV1 it can play music from my phone.

93 x_SPORT said:

Maybe AV1 can be setup for that, but currently I have my auxillary audio jack hooked up to that. So when I switch to AV1 it can play music from my phone.

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Does your phone not have bluetooth?

It does, but the sound quality was horrible.

Posting from my phone, what's up with the font? It's like text, only smaller. *Nevermind, it looks normal on my tablet*

93 x_SPORT said:

It does, but the sound quality was horrible.

Posting from my phone, what's up with the font? It's like text, only smaller. *Nevermind, it looks normal on my tablet*

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What phone is it?

LG optimus F3. Probably not 'top of the line', by any means.

93 x_SPORT said:

LG optimus F3. Probably not 'top of the line', by any means.

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Regardless of 'top of the line', Android's have good quality A2DP streaming. What player are you using?
My Nexus 5 has no problem Bluetooth streaming.

DjDom said:

Regardless of 'top of the line', Android's have good quality A2DP streaming. What player are you using?
My Nexus 5 has no problem Bluetooth streaming.

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Just whatever came with the phone. Should I get a different player? It works fine through headphones or headphone jack to stereo.

93 x_SPORT said:

Just whatever came with the phone. Should I get a different player? It works fine through headphones or headphone jack to stereo.

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Hmm. Try using Google play music.
Mine has no problem streaming any apps music.

93 x_SPORT said:

Yeah, I had to mount it on the bottom because there wasn't enough room to get my fingers in to use the hatch latch with it mounted on top. I originally had it mounted on top.

As far as switching to the AV1, that would work, but I thought it would be nice to be able to just have a switch outside of the radio that goes to the signal wire. Little more involved, but here is why it would be cool; When the unit senses the car going into reverse, it switches to the camera. However, whatever you are listening too (radio, CD, iPod, etc...) remains on.

If you have to switch to AV1, you will lose your tunes.

Click to expand...

You could mount an external switch to supply 12v to the reverse sense lead on the head unit. It's actually a good idea but you would have to run a diode in line so the switch doesn't also turn on the reverse lights. That would be easy though.

93 x_SPORT said:

That reminds me of something else I don't like about this unit (it's probably a problem with anything that has a touchscreen???). It takes FOREVER, to turn on (really it's only a few seconds, but ain't nobody got time for that).

So when I pull up to a train (we have a lot of them around here) and turn off my truck, the radio shuts off. Then I pull it back to ACC and the radio takes a while to 'boot-up'. Super annoying.:thumbdwn:

I've been researching a relay for having the radio stay on until the doors open. Looks like you have to use 2 or 3 relays for that. Was hoping there was a simpler solution. Maybe I will do that much, much later.

Click to expand...

I haven't tried this but just an idea. If you put a decent size capacitor on the power lead to the radio it could (in theory) keep power going to the head unit long enough to switch the key to ACC. There are unknown issues though. The cap would also supply power back into the truck and try to power other things. (Again, maybe a Diode to the rescue)
And when you actually turn the key off and the cap is drained it would not just shut off power like a switch but the voltage would drop. This may cause unknown issues with the head unit. But it would be a simple hook up.

93 x_SPORT said:

It's the DDX371. I like it. I prefer a simpler EQ (base and treble). It seems like I'm always fiddling with the settings, maybe it's the CD I'm listening too.

I haven't gotten any sound out of my iPod yet. Haven't had a lot of time to play with it though.


It really woke up the factory sub. I will probably have to replace it soon.

The reverse camera is pretty sweet. It took FOREVER to install. The whole time I was thinking, this isn't going to be worth it, but it totally was.

Unless I find something different, I will probably put this same setup in my wife's car.

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Finally had time to read the manual and was able to fix a few of the issues I was having.

Found simple bass and treble controls (hold down volume button).

It’s playing audio from the iPod now. There was a setting you had to change with the stereo in ‘standby’ mode (seriously?!).

Bluetooth audio sounds great now. There is a setting to play Bluetooth thru front speakers or all. Selected all and it sounds great now.

Damn I should have opted for a touchscreen headunit with a backup camera, looking at these pics they look so sweet.

Well anyways here's what I installed a few months back to replace the factory unit. I just wanted the ability to play my iPhone 5 music through USB/Bluetooth and to be able to make and receive calls through the headunit and car speakers. So I bought the JVC KW-R910BT, I am extremely happy with it. Here's a few pics of my 2004 Mountaineer, was a clean and very easy install, the microphone wire that hooks up to the back of the unit I ran under the dash up the widow pillars and it sits right by the rearview mirror.