Mods, please sticky if you see fit.
:woohoo:Well, thanks to Engenuity's invaluable lead and some legwork by my big bro, G, we have cracked the reverse camera enable and input connections on the Navi units (as fitted to MY09 Forester and MY08 Impreza/WRX & STi). We disassembled the Navi unit to get down to the third PC board to check the circuits and components so G could work out what was what. Slightly nerve racking but it all went back together and functions perfectly. Luckily for you all you need to do is plug things in!
Socket/Plug:
The socket you need is the white square 8 pin (2 x 4) at the bottom right of the back of the Navi unit. A proper plug is hard to find for reasonable money although the Aux-in lead Subaru sell for the 06-07 Impreza Clarion unit has the same plug at the HU end -part number H6210FG000 - but it's $US60!
There's a guy on NASIOC who sells his own aux-in lead with this plug - Tim-M who is worth a shot if you want the proper plug. EDIT: Contact Tim McCabe by email at
jtco"at"sympatico.ca to order the correct plug - you can pay by PayPal. The plug works perfectly, I recommend it!
Cheap alternative connectors:
The cheap/easy way to connect the camera is to find some mini square crimp pins -in Australia you can get some suitable ones at Jaycar called PCB sockets(0.9mm) - part HP-1260 for $3.60, but you will also need to insulate them with 1mm shrink-wrap as the pins in the socket are very close together. We soldered the wires in first then crimped, then shrink wrapped.
I think in the USA possibly suitable pins are called "Telephone butt connectors" at Radioshack for $1.99. (see BonesDT's post at NASIOC - he used them on the same socket in the Clarion unit for cheapie Aux-in MP3 mod) forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25769094
Assuming you want to connect a reversing camera with a stock RCA output (I used a Kenwood CCD-2000 with an interlaced scan signal, 1Vp-p/75ohm, I'm pretty sure most car cameras you get will do this) you will need to get an in-line RCA socket and connect 2 wires from it to the PCB pins to put into the unit - there is no co-axial input obviously. Best to twist the pair of signal wires to reduce interference - see pic, sorry it's a bit fuzzy - damn phone camera.
The other connection is the enable or pull up to tell the unit to look for the reversing camera and overide the screen - this just needs to be a short length of wire to goes to an eyelet that you can put under a handy screw on the side of the Navi chassis.(see pic).
Connections:
The socket, as viewed from the rear has pins numbered like this:
Top: 4 3 2 1
Bottom: 8 7 6 5
The "enable" or pull up goes on pin 6 and the other end goes under a screw on the side of the Navi chassis -ie: earth.
The signal wire from the Co-ax/RCA goes to pin 1, the shield goes to pin 5.
I recommend you connect your camera power, earth and reverse light wires to your camera power box down the back LHS of the car under the rear quarter trim(at the trailer connector) and just run the coax/RCA plug forward up to the Navi. I actually tapped into power, earth and reverse in the loom at the back of the Navi and put the camera box behind the climate control area but in hindsight i'd connect down the back.
Job done.
:woohoo:Well, thanks to Engenuity's invaluable lead and some legwork by my big bro, G, we have cracked the reverse camera enable and input connections on the Navi units (as fitted to MY09 Forester and MY08 Impreza/WRX & STi). We disassembled the Navi unit to get down to the third PC board to check the circuits and components so G could work out what was what. Slightly nerve racking but it all went back together and functions perfectly. Luckily for you all you need to do is plug things in!
Socket/Plug:
The socket you need is the white square 8 pin (2 x 4) at the bottom right of the back of the Navi unit. A proper plug is hard to find for reasonable money although the Aux-in lead Subaru sell for the 06-07 Impreza Clarion unit has the same plug at the HU end -part number H6210FG000 - but it's $US60!
There's a guy on NASIOC who sells his own aux-in lead with this plug - Tim-M who is worth a shot if you want the proper plug. EDIT: Contact Tim McCabe by email at
jtco"at"sympatico.ca to order the correct plug - you can pay by PayPal. The plug works perfectly, I recommend it!
Cheap alternative connectors:
The cheap/easy way to connect the camera is to find some mini square crimp pins -in Australia you can get some suitable ones at Jaycar called PCB sockets(0.9mm) - part HP-1260 for $3.60, but you will also need to insulate them with 1mm shrink-wrap as the pins in the socket are very close together. We soldered the wires in first then crimped, then shrink wrapped.
I think in the USA possibly suitable pins are called "Telephone butt connectors" at Radioshack for $1.99. (see BonesDT's post at NASIOC - he used them on the same socket in the Clarion unit for cheapie Aux-in MP3 mod) forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25769094
Assuming you want to connect a reversing camera with a stock RCA output (I used a Kenwood CCD-2000 with an interlaced scan signal, 1Vp-p/75ohm, I'm pretty sure most car cameras you get will do this) you will need to get an in-line RCA socket and connect 2 wires from it to the PCB pins to put into the unit - there is no co-axial input obviously. Best to twist the pair of signal wires to reduce interference - see pic, sorry it's a bit fuzzy - damn phone camera.
The other connection is the enable or pull up to tell the unit to look for the reversing camera and overide the screen - this just needs to be a short length of wire to goes to an eyelet that you can put under a handy screw on the side of the Navi chassis.(see pic).
Connections:
The socket, as viewed from the rear has pins numbered like this:
Top: 4 3 2 1
Bottom: 8 7 6 5
The "enable" or pull up goes on pin 6 and the other end goes under a screw on the side of the Navi chassis -ie: earth.
The signal wire from the Co-ax/RCA goes to pin 1, the shield goes to pin 5.
I recommend you connect your camera power, earth and reverse light wires to your camera power box down the back LHS of the car under the rear quarter trim(at the trailer connector) and just run the coax/RCA plug forward up to the Navi. I actually tapped into power, earth and reverse in the loom at the back of the Navi and put the camera box behind the climate control area but in hindsight i'd connect down the back.
Job done.
