back up signal

[jfirios]

i am still in the rebuilding stages of my baby. I sealed off the storage compartment and installed a 10in sub in there. Looks great but in doing so, I moved all the computer parts that were formerly housed there. The Jetronics module and the white and black modules. The problem is now when I was hooking up the back up camera, the car thinks it is always in reverse. I have a 5 speed manual, so driving it wont be an issue, but the reverse lights are always on and my stereo whenever I connect the signal wire to the green with brown stripe wire on the tail lights, the back up camera is activated. Don down at DMC cali thinks there is a ground somewhere that shouldn't be. Does anyone have any thoughts on what might be the problem. I have gone through all the wiring that I touched and nothing seems to change anything.
Does it matter that the modules that were behind the drivers seat are now in different positions, and the black wires that came off the wire trunks I grounded together since they were both screwed to the metal box that held the units.
Pulling my hair out. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel for the rebuild, barring any unforcene problems like this one.
Thanks everyone.

[Ron]

I'm assuming when you said, "I connect the signal wire to the green with brown stripe wire on the tail lights..", you meant "reverse lights"...

If your reverse lights are always on then the switch in the trans is bad or there is a wiring problem. There are two ways reverse lights are usually wired. One way power is at the bulb(s) waiting for a switch to ground it. The other, as on a delorean, the bulb is grounded waiting on a switch to send power to it. When you turn on the key, fuse #16 feeds the LightGreen/White wire which sends power to the switch and, when activated, the switch passes the power on to the bulb along the Green/Brown wire to the bulb. Chase this power rather than looking for an improper ground.
Check your documentation and see which (ground or power) the camera is expecting...If it is calling for a ground signal, I can tell you what to do, but you must remove the camera connection and get the reverse lights working correctly first. If it is calling for power, everything should be ok when you get the reverse lights working correctly.

Hope this helps....

[Spittybug]

and the black wires that came off the wire trunks I grounded together since they were both screwed to the metal box that held the units.

Does this mean that the units are no longer grounded????? Your description wasn't clear on that....if the boxes were bolted to the boxes and the boxes grounded... get my point?

[jfirios]

Does this mean that the units are no longer grounded????? Your description wasn't clear on that....if the boxes were bolted to the boxes and the boxes grounded... get my point?

No I grounded them to the body of the car. I have built a grounding terminal block which holds all my accessory lighting that I put in the car. I tied those ground wires together and attatched them to the ground block. The radio and back up cameras all look for a positive signal, and the delorean is a ground type car. I think i should have tied the reverse signal wire for the radio to the fuse block which sends a positive signal to the radio.

[Ron]

You have to answer our questions for us to understand the problem and help you...

I wouldn't mention this but since we are dealing with negative v/s positive side switching, and just in case, the delorean is a "negative ground" or "negative earth" type car, v/s a "positive ground" car.

Also, what do you mean by "reverse signal wire for the radio"?

I'd disconnect the camera and radio. Confirm the BU lights then work correctly. Then add the radio (making sure its hot all times and hot with key on wires are not swapped). Then the camera.

[Elvis]

Ron, the reverse signal for the radio tells the radio to change from any mode to the BU camera mode.
I have this installed, too in my car and don't wanna miss it anymore :-)


Two things come to my mind:
- BU switch broken and always connected
- The wire to the radio is the wrong one. It should just be an input signal that isn't able to deliver a
current that would drive two 21W bulbs.


of course it's hard to tell what has been done without knowing what radio, the schematic, pics....

[Ron]

Ron, the reverse signal for the radio tells the radio to change from any mode to the BU camera mode.
I have this installed, too in my car and don't wanna miss it anymore :-)

...So unlike some of our firetrucks with their own display, the "radio" has a "backup display" mode for a "backup" camera which is activated by applying 12V+ to a ?"reverse"? signal wire which is connected to the Green/Brown wire which is connected to the "taillights"...just kidding..."backup" lights.
Why isn't it called a "backup signal wire"?

Two things come to my mind:
- BU switch broken and always connected
- The wire to the radio is the wrong one. It should just be an input signal that isn't able to deliver a
current that would drive two 21W bulbs.

+1
Seriously, since everything works until the reverse signal wire is connected to the Green/Brown wire, it has to be the switch (test by pulling fuse#16 since it is the only thing on the circuit), or, like you say, the Green/Brown wire is connected to something like an antenna motor trigger wire. Or the docs lie lol.

[jfirios]

all the reverse signal wire does again is look for any power going through it to tell the radio to switch to the back up camera display. a weird problem but I think more than likely the switch on the trans is bad.

[TTait]

It is possible, but unlikely that the backup wire out of the stereo is accidentally supplying power back down to the back up lights... disconnect the wire and see if they go off. If thats the problem then install a diode in the wire so that the voltage only runs one way. Depending on how you wired in the power for the back up camera itself its possible that this is happening.

I did something similar, but for a different reason. I used a blank rear defog switch as sold by houston to supply voltage into my backup light wire on demand, so i can switch on the backup camera at will without being in reverse. Without the diode I would also be energizing my back up lights when I hit the switch.

T

[Ron]

+1 ...but easier to pull fuse #16 -- If the BU lights go off, the switch is bad. Otherwise, it would be the radio because it is the only other thing connected to them....that be the case, a diode would take care of the BU lights, but the camera would stay on.