I'm having the Pac SWI/PS and a rear view license plate camera installed tomorrow in my 05 F250. I already have the Z1 done from the same installer.

I was just wondering what you guys thought would be a fair install price for these two items, considering the Z1 is already wired in.

$50 for camera $25 for swi-ps. dont be surprised if its a little more since the radio and stuff have to come out again now that the z1 is already installed. If you had done it all at once it could of saved only a slight bit of work but many installers would of preferred it that way. for that vehicle try to make sure that you dont get the license plate cam that has a full trim around the license plate and a backing up by where the camera is, such as the platecam by crimestopper. If you do use that one, the camera will surely be pointing more towards the ground then out past your bumper giving you really no view of whats close to your bumper.

I had an f150 so thats why I am familiar with it. Also, make sure that the wiring is tied up real well, its going to require that the installer do some real under your truck work to get the wire nice an hidden like. there is a groomit under the driver seat left side corner kinda, that you should be able to go through with the wire and then on up into the kick panel and dash and then radio. make sure that the groomit isnt just removed and a tiny hole big enough for the wire only to go through is made.

hope this helps

Good advice and info, thanks! I'll let you know how it goes.

damn is it really that hard to do it yourself? These prices seem so outrageous for something so easy

damn is it really that hard to do it yourself? These prices seem so outrageous for something so easy

I'm sure I could do it, but I reailze that I couldn't do it with the same amount of quality as a professional who does this every day. I don't have the patience, tools, or experience to do it properly, so I have no problem paying someone to do it right.

One question about the PAC SWI,

If you disconnect the battery, do you have to reprogram it again?

One question about the PAC SWI,

 

If you disconnect the battery, do you have to reprogram it again?

Damm, I sure hope not!

damn is it really that hard to do it yourself? These prices seem so outrageous for something so easy

For me, the easy part was connecting the camera to the Z1. No brainer. The hard part was fishing the wires through the hatchback (I used the same rubber tubing that the factory used for the taillight wires, etc). That seemed to take forever.

I agree. I would pay someone more than fifty bucks to do the camera for me. Seemed to take forever. That, and I am way too lazy to ever do that again

no you dont loose the memory on it.

The pac-PS uses non-volatile memory, so it will still retain your info after a power loss

I see, thanks,

BUMMER! I had the PAC SWI-PS installed today, along with the rear view camera. I sat with the installer as he programmed the unit (he didn't mind, really). It was working perfectly, Volume up/down, Source and next track/Next preset, just what I wanted.

Then, an hour or so later, on the way home from picking up my kids from school, suddenly the volume became intermittent. I tried holding it down for a few seconds, multiple presses, etc.

Now, sometimes Vol up works, while down doesn't, or niether one works.

Any ideas? I guess I'll take it back to the shop and see if they can do anything about it.

Do you think this is an installer problem or a hardware problem, or maybe just an incomapability problem?

HELP?

maybe the plug for the pac-PS came off. That has happened to me a couple times for some weird reasons.

maybe the plug for the pac-PS came off. That has happened to me a couple times for some weird reasons.

Hmm,

That shouldn't cause it to be intermittent though, right? Unless, maybe it's just loose....

This happened to someone else I know as well, I'm wondering if these units are not that reliable.

If i could I would like to have the PAC SWI unit extended near the footwell in the passenger side, so if the PAC unit acts flakey, you can just reprogram it without having to take the headunit out each time, is this possible?

I have installed dozens of these and not one was bad. I thing if anything its the installation or useage that is causing some people to have problems

I've never had a problem with those either. In fact I've got one in my car tied into my cruise control switch. Works perfectly.

Hmmmmm,

Last night, I tested it again. NOTHING worked at all, no matter what I did. So I thought, ok, maybe it was a bad unit.

Then,

This morning, I hooked up my boat to take it in for service, and EVERYTHING worked perfectly. I was like, WTF??

Then, on the way home from the boat shop, once again, it was intermittent???

I'm confused, and disapointed.

take it back and have them look at it, plain and simple

Oh,

By the way, here's what I paid. $225.00 for the Color CCD license plate camera (I'll post the brand later, but it is good quality company that makes a lot of monitors and stuff). $75.00 for labor to install camera.

$75.00 to install the Pac SWI-PS.

They said they lost money, but was giving me a deal because I had already paid for the Z1 install and was a cool dude (okay, I made up that last part, LOL!).

What do you guys think?

They wanted $275.00 for the camera, but I told them, I could get a bunch of various brands for between $125-$225, so the came down to $225.

I dont know of any camera that is more then $150 for the license plate type. Install is relative, so you can only really go off of the the product cost

I dont know of any camera that is more then $150 for the license plate type. Install is relative, so you can only really go off of the the product cost

That sucks. Maybe I got burned on the price of the camera. I'll do some research on the price for that brand/model and let you guys know.

I'm pretty happy with the quality, but my favorite part is that it is screwed in from the back, and the only way to get access behind the plate is to lower the huge spare tire, BUT, the spare has a special key that you have to use. So, that relieves my worries that it would be stolen easily.

Any updates on the steering wheel adapter?

I'm about to install mine too.

Any updates on the steering wheel adapter?

 

I'm about to install mine too.

I won't be able to take mine into the shop until next week, but I drove to work tonight and it worked perfectly??

Very Strange, I know...