I just thought I would post a note on installing a backup cam on my 07 Yukon Denali. I have not seem a single video that shows how to do this. But there are three YouTube videos that have just enough information to make the job straight forward. The links are below.
My truck came with an older Pioneer AVIC-X940BT NAV head unit but did not have a backup cam. The radio is perfectly good. I decided to add that missing backup cam.
Backup cameras are very simple to wire. You need a +12V wire from the reverse light and a ground to power the camera. The reverse lights come on and your camera powers up – simple right. You need to run the video cable from the rear of the truck to your aftermarket head unit (an RCA cable that plugs into your aftermarket head unit). You also need to connect that +12v reverse wire to the backup camera signal wire so it can switch into backup camera mode – that’s all there is to it.
Of course, installing the camera sucks. Running the wires sucks too. It’s just not that easy. Here is exactly how to do the install in excruciating detail:
The Camera - AUTO-VOX Cam1
I chose the AUTO-VOX Cam1 backup cam. It was cheap ($35) – seems nicely made. A lot of thought went into this camera. It has a few features that are very nice. It has some LEDs for night vision so it should be good at night. It has a bracket that mounts behind the license plate – a few seconds to mount the thing. It also has a small 5mm connector on the wire to the camera. This is a key feature.
Basically that small 5mm connector has a few tiny pins that pass the video and power and ground wires though a tiny connector. This can just slip through an existing hole for the license plate screw (with slight modification). So you don’t need to drill a hole in the sheet metal of the truck since you won’t need to push the RCA video connector though. You just drill out the plastic insert for the license plate screw (just enlarge it with a small drill bit a tiny bit). If you wanted to take the camera out, you could simply replace the plastic insert for the license plate screw – although I believe the drilled out insert would still hold the license plate screw perfectly fine.
So you push the 5mm plug in the hole for the license plate screw and you are inside the tailgate. Your license plate will be OK with three screws. I used the lower left screw hole. Then it plugs into a “breakout” or junction box that breaks out the RCA and power and ground. The +12v and ground (red and black wires) are routed to your tail lamp assembly and tap into the reverse light signals. The red wire is also embedded into the video cable. So you are just dealing with a single wire as you route the video cable to the front of the truck.
Modifications – you must extend the power wires and video cable
The Yukon is large. The AUTO-VOX Cam1 is very nice but the cables are not long for the Yukon. I had to extend the power and ground wires at the junction box in the rear. Solder and shrink sleeve is the preferred method. I added about 6ft to the power and ground at the breakout box (18ga red and black wires). This enables you to reach the tail lamp using the existing factory wiring path. I also had to extend the video cable. So I needed a female RCA barrel connector to add a 6ft video cable to the existing RCA cable. As I mentioned, the red wire is embedded into the video cable. So when you look at the end of the video cable for the head unit there is an RCA plug and a small length of red wire sticking out. This red wire is the same red wire that is connected to the reverse lamp – it was just hidden in cable for the video to make routing the wire easier. I added 6ft of 18ga wire to that end of the red wire so that I could reach the head unit. This splice takes place right around the driver’s door.
The rear install – Video #1 – The Tailgate
This is the video that shows you how to remove the plastic panels for the tailgate. It is excellent. He is installing his company’s camera and a modified factory head unit. We don’t care about the connections to the head unit. This write up assumes you have an aftermarket head unit with an RCA connector for video and a signal wire to switch to the backup cam. The camera in this Youtube video is the same as the AUTO-VOX Cam1. It has that 5mm connector. The first 6:42 of the video is all you need. It shows you exactly how to remove the plastic panels and route the wires through the existing factory rubber seal at the top of the tailgate. You do it exactly as he shows you. Plug the 5mm connector into the breakout box and route the wires along the inside tailgate to get to the top and that factory rubber seal that routes the wires from the tailgate to the body. The breakout box will be inside the tailgate under the plastic trim panels. It will not be exposed to weather here. This gets the video, power and ground wires to the top of the headliner. The video cable can go all the way down around the door frame so it can be routed to the front along the driver’s side of the car - just like you see at 6:42 of the video. Stop here ….
The second video – Routing the wires from the headliner – down to the tail lamp
We need to get the power and ground wires from inside the truck – up in the headliner area - down to the tail lamp wiring. Remove the rear tail lamp – two Philips screws. Set it down carefully. Look at the second video at 0:33. You will see that black plastic housing above the tail lamp on the left side. Take that off – two Philips screws. In my Denali – behind that black plastic cover there is rubber plug in the body that has a cable for releasing the tailgate. Pop that out. I was able to fish the power and ground wires from the headliner area through that rubber plug. It’s only a few inches from that plug to the headliner area. That’s your path from the inside of the truck to the tail lamp area. So that’s all there is to it, now you have some power and ground wires dangling down behind the tail lamp. Everything is routed through existing factory weather seals.
Now look at the video at 1:00. You will see the tail lamp assembly. That lower lamp is the reverse lamp. The green wire is +12v when the reverse lamp is on. That is your reverse signal for the head unit and it’s also your power source for the camera. The two black wires are both grounds, either one will work. Connect your power and ground connections here. That’s it, now put the tail lamp back on, put the weatherstrip back on and put all the plastic panels back on the tailgate. You are done with the tailgate. You should have a single video cable down at the floor in the left rear exactly as shown at 6:42 of the first video.
Video Cable Routing
This is simple, just tuck the wire in along the left side of the truck. The trim at the door sills pulls up and out. Just be careful and tuck the wire in. Somewhere around the driver’s door you will need to add an extension to the video cable and that red wire.
The Front Area – routing the wire from the left side floor over to the head unit
Go back to that first video
At 9:20 he shows you how to take apart the dash. That kick panel under the steering wheel is held on with two Philips screws and one 10mm bolt. You also have to pop off that left side panel exactly has he shows at 9:20 – 9:47. With these panels removed you are all set. Route your RCA cable and red wire over to the head unit area.
Removing the Head Unit
This third video shows you how the pop the head unit out:
The first 2:00 is all you need. Once the radio is out, connect the RCA cable you your reverse camera jack. Connect the red wire to your backup signal wire. On the Pioneer unit the backup signal wire is violet with a white stripe. Just twist the two wires together and give the system a test. Start the car and pop it in reverse. The rear camera should come on. If it all looks good finalize your connections.
That’s it. Put the radio back in and install all the trim and you are done.
I have to say this was a pain to do. I did the rear on Saturday and the front connections on Sunday. Getting the radio back in – with all the various interface boxes is difficult. It’s a very tight fit. It almost does not fit. If you get a quote for many hundred dollars for a professional install – now you know why. Of course, they might not be this careful to use all the factory seals and the like, but it’s still a pain. I hope this helps you out.
My truck came with an older Pioneer AVIC-X940BT NAV head unit but did not have a backup cam. The radio is perfectly good. I decided to add that missing backup cam.
Backup cameras are very simple to wire. You need a +12V wire from the reverse light and a ground to power the camera. The reverse lights come on and your camera powers up – simple right. You need to run the video cable from the rear of the truck to your aftermarket head unit (an RCA cable that plugs into your aftermarket head unit). You also need to connect that +12v reverse wire to the backup camera signal wire so it can switch into backup camera mode – that’s all there is to it.
Of course, installing the camera sucks. Running the wires sucks too. It’s just not that easy. Here is exactly how to do the install in excruciating detail:
The Camera - AUTO-VOX Cam1
I chose the AUTO-VOX Cam1 backup cam. It was cheap ($35) – seems nicely made. A lot of thought went into this camera. It has a few features that are very nice. It has some LEDs for night vision so it should be good at night. It has a bracket that mounts behind the license plate – a few seconds to mount the thing. It also has a small 5mm connector on the wire to the camera. This is a key feature.
Basically that small 5mm connector has a few tiny pins that pass the video and power and ground wires though a tiny connector. This can just slip through an existing hole for the license plate screw (with slight modification). So you don’t need to drill a hole in the sheet metal of the truck since you won’t need to push the RCA video connector though. You just drill out the plastic insert for the license plate screw (just enlarge it with a small drill bit a tiny bit). If you wanted to take the camera out, you could simply replace the plastic insert for the license plate screw – although I believe the drilled out insert would still hold the license plate screw perfectly fine.
So you push the 5mm plug in the hole for the license plate screw and you are inside the tailgate. Your license plate will be OK with three screws. I used the lower left screw hole. Then it plugs into a “breakout” or junction box that breaks out the RCA and power and ground. The +12v and ground (red and black wires) are routed to your tail lamp assembly and tap into the reverse light signals. The red wire is also embedded into the video cable. So you are just dealing with a single wire as you route the video cable to the front of the truck.
Modifications – you must extend the power wires and video cable
The Yukon is large. The AUTO-VOX Cam1 is very nice but the cables are not long for the Yukon. I had to extend the power and ground wires at the junction box in the rear. Solder and shrink sleeve is the preferred method. I added about 6ft to the power and ground at the breakout box (18ga red and black wires). This enables you to reach the tail lamp using the existing factory wiring path. I also had to extend the video cable. So I needed a female RCA barrel connector to add a 6ft video cable to the existing RCA cable. As I mentioned, the red wire is embedded into the video cable. So when you look at the end of the video cable for the head unit there is an RCA plug and a small length of red wire sticking out. This red wire is the same red wire that is connected to the reverse lamp – it was just hidden in cable for the video to make routing the wire easier. I added 6ft of 18ga wire to that end of the red wire so that I could reach the head unit. This splice takes place right around the driver’s door.
The rear install – Video #1 – The Tailgate
This is the video that shows you how to remove the plastic panels for the tailgate. It is excellent. He is installing his company’s camera and a modified factory head unit. We don’t care about the connections to the head unit. This write up assumes you have an aftermarket head unit with an RCA connector for video and a signal wire to switch to the backup cam. The camera in this Youtube video is the same as the AUTO-VOX Cam1. It has that 5mm connector. The first 6:42 of the video is all you need. It shows you exactly how to remove the plastic panels and route the wires through the existing factory rubber seal at the top of the tailgate. You do it exactly as he shows you. Plug the 5mm connector into the breakout box and route the wires along the inside tailgate to get to the top and that factory rubber seal that routes the wires from the tailgate to the body. The breakout box will be inside the tailgate under the plastic trim panels. It will not be exposed to weather here. This gets the video, power and ground wires to the top of the headliner. The video cable can go all the way down around the door frame so it can be routed to the front along the driver’s side of the car - just like you see at 6:42 of the video. Stop here ….
The second video – Routing the wires from the headliner – down to the tail lamp
We need to get the power and ground wires from inside the truck – up in the headliner area - down to the tail lamp wiring. Remove the rear tail lamp – two Philips screws. Set it down carefully. Look at the second video at 0:33. You will see that black plastic housing above the tail lamp on the left side. Take that off – two Philips screws. In my Denali – behind that black plastic cover there is rubber plug in the body that has a cable for releasing the tailgate. Pop that out. I was able to fish the power and ground wires from the headliner area through that rubber plug. It’s only a few inches from that plug to the headliner area. That’s your path from the inside of the truck to the tail lamp area. So that’s all there is to it, now you have some power and ground wires dangling down behind the tail lamp. Everything is routed through existing factory weather seals.
Now look at the video at 1:00. You will see the tail lamp assembly. That lower lamp is the reverse lamp. The green wire is +12v when the reverse lamp is on. That is your reverse signal for the head unit and it’s also your power source for the camera. The two black wires are both grounds, either one will work. Connect your power and ground connections here. That’s it, now put the tail lamp back on, put the weatherstrip back on and put all the plastic panels back on the tailgate. You are done with the tailgate. You should have a single video cable down at the floor in the left rear exactly as shown at 6:42 of the first video.
Video Cable Routing
This is simple, just tuck the wire in along the left side of the truck. The trim at the door sills pulls up and out. Just be careful and tuck the wire in. Somewhere around the driver’s door you will need to add an extension to the video cable and that red wire.
The Front Area – routing the wire from the left side floor over to the head unit
Go back to that first video
At 9:20 he shows you how to take apart the dash. That kick panel under the steering wheel is held on with two Philips screws and one 10mm bolt. You also have to pop off that left side panel exactly has he shows at 9:20 – 9:47. With these panels removed you are all set. Route your RCA cable and red wire over to the head unit area.
Removing the Head Unit
This third video shows you how the pop the head unit out:
The first 2:00 is all you need. Once the radio is out, connect the RCA cable you your reverse camera jack. Connect the red wire to your backup signal wire. On the Pioneer unit the backup signal wire is violet with a white stripe. Just twist the two wires together and give the system a test. Start the car and pop it in reverse. The rear camera should come on. If it all looks good finalize your connections.
That’s it. Put the radio back in and install all the trim and you are done.
I have to say this was a pain to do. I did the rear on Saturday and the front connections on Sunday. Getting the radio back in – with all the various interface boxes is difficult. It’s a very tight fit. It almost does not fit. If you get a quote for many hundred dollars for a professional install – now you know why. Of course, they might not be this careful to use all the factory seals and the like, but it’s still a pain. I hope this helps you out.
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