HI Installed the pioneer dmh c2500nex..Great stereo so far..Been reading about installing a backup camera..States connect the backup light power to the violet/white wire in the stereo harness (reverse wire)..When I check that violet/white wire (putting the vehicle in reverse), it shows power to that wire from the stereo (have 12 volt light, connected one end of light to ground in vehicle and then touched the violet/white wire in stereo harness in reverse). I'm using the idata harness and maestro RR to simply things. 

So if that wire is hot in reverse, why do I need to send a signal from the reverse lights as stated in all packages if that wire already lights up when put in reverse. To me that would seem that the stereo already know that it's in reverse. If that's the case, can anyone identify the [placement for the camera wires. I believe it has a rack (which goes to the brown plug in stereo). Then there is a power and ground(can they be connected at stereo) and finally what wire connects to reverse or maybe I don't need to connect to violet/white. or could I connect the power to the violet white and that would supply power to the camera

Any help would greatly appreciated

Cheers

Al

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I just installed a backup camera on a c2550-NEX. You do not have to tap into the reverse lights for power. If the camera wiring harness has a power and ground wire (mine was red & black/red, then connect the red to +12v accessory in the car's harness and black/red to the ground wire in the car's harness. The "reverse trigger" wire at the pioneer harness should connect to "reverse trigger" wire at the iData harness (mine was light green and labelled). This way the camera has power at all times when the vehicle is on or in accessory position. You can then select the camera to view continuously (from the Pioneer settings menu) or it will activate automatically when the vehicle is placed in reverse. And no added load on the vehicles rear lighting harness.

I did no wiring at the rear of the car whatsoever, other than feeding the camera's cable through the bumper and rear panel. Though depending on the camera you selected, you might have to wire the camera power and ground to the camera's harness power and ground at the back. I've attached the wiring list for a 2008 Ford harness with the PAC C2R-FRD1 and 2550-NEX. Your color codes may be different. Note: mine has no steering wheel controls (SWC) or NAV (VSS). It also shows correct wiring for the micro bypass unit (for informational purposes only).

PAC C2R-FRD1.txt

Backup cameras have a wire for the turn on signal and a wire for the power. Both need to be connected to the radio. However, you could splice them together at the light's wiring harness because the radio will separate the signal and power.

You can't do that with a wiring situation where the parking lights are turned on, on the ground side.This was my situation, and fortunately, Pioneer has the option in its menu to take a hot signal from the ground wire. I had to run two separate wires for the power and turn on signal.

If Pioneer didn't offer this, you would have to add some kind of relay to reverse the polarity of the signal back to the head unit. This would make a simple install job a big PITA.