retrofitting Bluetooth and reversing camera to a 2003 Corolla

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timmmay

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#2501217 9-Jun-2020 09:37

Yeah, trying to avoid that. This car is my work runabout, if I decide to go ahead with a reversing camera I'd just duct tape any wires to the roof or the floor and not care about the appearance. But based on the feedback to date I think it's going to cost more than I want to spend, and take too long to do, so I'll just keep doing things the old fashioned way, using mirrors and sticking my head out the window, and listening to the radio :)

linw

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#2501800 10-Jun-2020 07:37

A few years ago I tried a wireless reversing camera but the image was awful - breaking up etc.

I didn't find the front to back cabling difficult as I tucked it up inside the plastic flap running inside the door opening ledges. Just held it out a bit and poked the cable up! YMMV though, of course!

mdf

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#2501838 10-Jun-2020 09:31

I did this a while back for our equivalent old runaround.

The two biggest issues (for me) were the odd-shaped factory fitted head unit (I bought an insert to fill the gaps which didn't end up fitting) and the placement of the reversing lights. Ideally you power the camera from the reversing light. On our Ford, the reversing light wasn't at all convenient to the camera (camera on the boot, reversing light up down and over to the bumper). But I managed to deal with both issues.

Most headunits and cars have some kind of proprietary connector. But you can buy head unit --> standard ISO wiring loom, and standard ISO wiring loom --> car, so that bit is just plugging everything together.

Run essentially an AV lead from the head unit to the boot. I did this by shoving the wire around the top of the door trim, but I've also seen it done under the carpet. Plug the AV lead to the camera, and ideally wire the camera into the reversing light. And then wonder why you didn't do it years ago (I did).

Other than the head unit, I would guess it would cost you around a hundred dollars in materials and maybe 5-6 hours work/troubleshooting. For the head unit, depends on the features you want. You can get ones that will work ex China for less than $200, but might not work that well. $300-$400 ish will get you something local that will definitely work with basic bluetooth. If you are going to the trouble though it might be worth a few hundred more for full Android Auto.

Keep the old head unit and reinstall if/when you sell the car.

I wouldn't buy wireless. I've heard bad feedback, and you still need to power them somehow.

Dugimodo

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#2501848 10-Jun-2020 09:52

You can get cheap reversing camera kits with a screen and a camera, no Idea how much effort installing them is but you could probably bodge it up if appearance isn't a concern.

If your head unit has a aux/line in you can get a bluetooth kit for it cheap enough. I got one for my second car which has a japanese stereo in it so I could use my phone for music / handsfree calling / navigation and it works really well.

After some research I got this one from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSUWCZ0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 last october and so far so good

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