Used the battery switch - worked out fine… I only did the new aftermarket stereo part first to make sure everything is working (including the camera) before wasting any time running this cable to the back. We will see how the rest goes tomorrow… Thanks for your help!
The red wire just needs a source of 12 volt power. I wouldn't recommend using a constantly live power source as that will flatten your battery. I believe the camera uses very little power, so the battery probably won't go flat overnight, but, ideally, you need to hook up your camera to a switched power source. Since you will be pulling your car to pieces to install the video cable, probably attaching the red wire to the head unit will be the simplest option, but there are other options. You could attach the wire to a switched power fuse behind one of the seats or as mentioned earlier, to one of your exhaust bypass valve solenoids. If you don't want to cut into OEM wiring, then I recommend one of these fuseholder plug-in devices: https://www.jaycar.com.au/double-low-profile-mini-blade-fuse-socket-wire-tap/p/SF5130? Image Unavailable, Please Login This is assuming there is enough room under your fuseholder covers for something like this. There are simpler fusetaps.... Image Unavailable, Please Login Then just feed the power wire through the firewall with the video wire.
I have my camera working on my head unit, today I’m going to try and route the cables to the back through the grommet in the firewall. Now the pics you provided are great but they’re also for a coupe, whereas I’m dealing with the spider. So if you puncture a hole with some solid copper wire, are you able to see it without removing any of the panels on either side of the engine? It doesn’t look like you removed anything in your picture, but I’m not sure if that’s different because you have a coupe and not a spider. I’m hoping I can tie the wires to the copper wire like you said and push it through far enough that I can see it without removing all the engine bay panels (although I’ll likely have to anyway to run the wires). Thoughts?
Alright! So it’s completed! Thank you all for your help. And again, this is my 2006 f430 spider. Here exactly what I did: Replaced old Kenwood head unit with a single DIN boss 7” screen unit. I didn’t even touch the Ferrari wires, I just rewired from the kenwood wire harness that was in there to my boss harness. That was the easy part. I wired in the Boss included back up camera in the cabin to check the video feed was working. Instead of using the reverse signal, the Boss harness had a wire for “reverse cam power”. So I simply used that and I can run the camera whenever I want while driving which is great for when my rear mirror is vibrating like crazy and I can’t see great. The power for the camera uses a regular 12v dc cable and a standard yellow video cable. Easy. Once confirmed everything worked in the cabin, I disconnected the camera. Then went to the engine compartment and removed the driver side wall panels. Once those were removed, I moved up the driver seat and removed the panel behind it where the wire connections are and the ECU. Found “the grommet” that goes through the firewall, then punctured it with a bbq skewer… yes… a skewer. Then I took a 6 foot solid 8 gauge copper wire, aggressively taped the long video and power cable to it (about 25 feet each) and grabbed a helper. I started running the copper wire through the grommet until the wires were next to go through. Then I had my helper (my wife) grab the copper wire on the other side and had her pull. The wires went through no problem. Once through, I wrapped the wires in a heat shield wire loom and ran it neatly along the side of the engine where I had removed all the panels. Have to be extra careful in the spider because of all the mechanics around the convertible top. Then when I ran the wires all the way to the back, I tested the camera feed one more time to make sure I didn’t lose signal. All was well. So then I zip tied my wire loom down everywhere. Last step was the camera. It bolts onto the license plate frame. Then I ran the wire attached the camera behind my plate, down, and through the vent underneath the plate area. Then I connected it to the wires in the loom and wrapped it in some extra loom. That’s it!!! I’ll get to pictures at some point, but I have pics of the final result. This was essentially the same process as what was written up in the thread, but I figured I’d write it all up again anyway since I went through the driver side instead, and it’s a spider. Thanks again for everyone’s help! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
