DIY: F430 Front View Camera and Back Up Camera Installation

First things first – I’m posting for sharing knowledge & experience. I’m not here to argue or debate with anyone. I have better things to do.

Sharing here what I learned in case anyone wants to do this mod hopefully I can make it easier for you.

Situation: My F430 Spider didn’t come with back up camera or front view camera.

Difficult to see while backing up. Last thing I want is to damage the rear of my car or worse yet God forbid injure someone like a little child as I didn’t see him behind me while I’m backing up.

Reason 2: I scraped my front bumper twice already (ugh) on those darn parking cement stops, so it’s time to install also a front view camera.

I have a post here somewhere when I installed a wired back up camera. But I wasn’t happy with running wire connections all over car so I opted this time for wireless connection.

Products used:

Garmin GPS / Back Up Camera Monitor. Can handle up to 4 wireless cameras.
Pros: easy installation, great GPS, however, video quality of cameras are just OK………

Parts list:

• Garmin GPS: Garmin Drive Smart 61 LMT-S: $199.00
• Back up camera: Garmin BC30. $140.00
• Additional BC30 Camera Part number: 010-12242-20 for front view camera. $100.00

Now I can fully see when Im backing up and no longer have to worry about scraping my front bumper or guessing how far my car is from the curb or worry about hitting someone when Im backing up.

Please see attached detailed DIY info sheet and photos below.

Hope this helps some of you.

Dan
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Front view camera photo below.

And while you're at it I highly recommend replacing the side marker bulbs with LED's.

LED's are much brighter, it doesnt get hot and consume much much less power.

DIY info also attached.

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By the way, level of difficulty from 1 - 10 being 10 = difficult: This is about a 3 in my opinion. Fairly easy.

Total time spent about 8 hours, 4 hours for rear and 4 hours for front camera taking my time.

Dan

 

Thanks for the kind words Dave and Trevor!

Dan

 

Thanks for the appreciation. You're welcome!

Dan

 

Hi Billy, the BC-30 is the Wireless Back Up Camera which includes the wireless receiver and transmitter.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00RVGXYJK/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_5-1lCbBCGMD2Y


The BC-30 is the add on camera which I used for the front view:
Garmin 010-12242-20 Add-On Camera & Transmitter for Bc (TM) 30 Backup Camera
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00XWRG1KQ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ma2lCbMA6B8NX

As far as location &* placement of cameras - we each have a preference on where to put it. My preference is center placement as for me a front view camera not installed in center is just like a front plate not installed on center of bumper. Just looks odd.... But that's me. So you can certainly place it where you want as long as you have a good view of what's in front of the bumper.

Hope that helps.

Dan

 

Hi Paul, thanks for the kind words.

Great question on front camera placement.

• My recommendation is mount the front camera temporarily using small double back tape.
• Now turn on parking lights to provide power to front camera. Turn on GPS monitor power and select Front Camera input.
• You should now see the front view camera video displayed on the monitor.
• Now move the front camera front / back/ side to side to your preferred location. Adjust placement as necessary to get a view good enough for you.

Hope that helps.

Dan

 

Thanks for the kind words David.

The side marker bulbs are "194" type. There are many of them for sale at Amazon and eBay.

Here are a couple:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07BMSB7WV/ref=psdc_15730081_t1_B01DE7UC6C

https://smile.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Bright-Chipsets-market/dp/B01DE7UC6C/ref=sr_1_8?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1546643677&sr=1-8&keywords=194+led+bulb#customerReviews

Just remember that some of them are polarized so if you insert them and they dont light up reverse the bulb 180 degrees and it should light up.

Regarding the rest of the LED bulbs, I have a post here somewhere on that. Just kindly do a search.

For all other LED bulbs I highly recommend Scud Ing Swiss exterior and interior LED bulbs (Just kindly do a Google Search).
They are very well made and super bright. And the designer and owner Stef has excellent customer service.

Hope that helps.

Dan

 

Thanks for making the time to express appreciation.

Sincerely appreciated.

Dan

 

You are most welcome.

Im here if you or anyone have any questions about doing this installation.

Dan

 

Yes, I believe so.

You can place the front and rear cameras on the same location, tap the power from the same car wiring, tuck the front camera wiring underneath the front bumper.

Hope that helps.

Dan

 

Hi Mike,

The front view camera and rear view camera have the same wiring.
The camera itself has one wire about 2 feet long, at the end is a narrow connector disconnect (so owners can feed the cable to a hole should they choose to drill a hole on their bumper).

The camera cable connects to a connector which has a long Y cable. One end of the Y cable goes the video transmitter ECU and stops there. The other end of the cable hooks up to vehicle power.

My recommendation is do what I do on any mod project. Go to the manufacturers website and download the installation manual and owners manual. This way I can learn in advance what the project entails and gives me a better understanding on how the system will need to be installed and how the system works so that when Im ready to do the project I can be efficient and do it quickly and properly.

Here you go: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/501486

https://support.garmin.com/support/manuals/manuals.htm?partNo=010-12242-10&language=en&country=US

Hope that helps.

Dan

 

I understand your question better now.

The rear camera has the exact same wiring as the front camera and each have its own video transmitter box.

Power is tapped from the reverse lights for the back up camera.

When power is applied the transmitters sends the signal to the receiver.

The video signal receiver cable is included on the BC-30 Camera kit. That's the reason why the add on BC30 camera is cheaper as it it doesnt include the video receiver power cable that you will need to use to replace the power cable that came with the GPS Nav Screen.

It will all make sense once you read the BC-30 installation and owners manual.

Hope that helps.

Dan