While I don't dispute David Navone's reputation, I do find it a bit suspect that the 4 channel LOC he sells for $40 US and claims is the best line output converter in the world is also available on eBay from a seller in Hong Kong for $13.66 US.
Unless he's pulling the units apart and replacing components internally, which I doubt, then the only products I'd trust from him would be the higher end units that appear to be hand built from off the shelf parts.
Either way, I'm sure the Scosche unit I've ordered will work fine.
Audio System Upgrade Information
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Well, you may have something there.... LOL I really hope he isn't another one of those that sold his name for use on some crappy companies sweat-shop made excuse for custom hand-built peice of equipment.
Any, can't go wrong with Scosche either!
Any, can't go wrong with Scosche either!
He's probably doing what a lot of companies are doing--outsourcing the manufacturing to Asia while keeping quality control in-house. Those Hong Kong units are probably ones that didn't pass QC.
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Too bad... I always kinda wondered why all the industry mags praised him one minute, then he just vanished the next. Guess I now know why...~tc~ wrote:He was a prick
Ok, my Garmin unit arrived today, and it's already been stripped down, examined, and wired up temporarily on my workbench:
Pretty much everything worked as I'd expected but for the camera, which had me stumped for a bit.
Looking at the wiring diagram, you would assume that these units work just like any other car stereo, where supplying 12V to the reverse pin switches to the camera input.
Not so... After several hours of prodding and tracing things out, it turns out that pin 5 of the reverse camera connector has to be connected to ground when the unit is first connected to the constant and switched 12V supply. The OEM camera connects that pin to ground, which enables the reverse camera functionality. Without that, supplying 12V to the reverse trigger wire does nothing.
Seeing as I'm not forking out the insane amount of money that Suzuki want for the OEM camera, I modified my unit internally to work with pretty much any camera with a composite video output. The blue wire is a permanent ground to the PCB, so the unit always thinks there's a camera attached, and the reverse trigger will then switch to the camera image (it works like any other double-din car stereo):
The other two pins on that connector aren't needed for a non-OEM camera. They supply +6V to the OEM camera and in the case of a normal camera, you can just power it directly from the reverse lights.
By connecting the vehicle speed input on the G243 navigation connector to pin 18 of the G248 main harness internally (where the non-nav units get their speed signal), that means all I needed to add were two extra wires - Black one for the handbrake switch, and green one for the reverse camera. I also fitted an RCA socket on a flylead so the camera plugs straight in, and the unit is now ready to go:
And the proof it works is in this picture. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one yet to do this:
If you've got a Kizashi, SX4, or Grand Vitara with the Garmin unit and no camera, you can use these instructions to easily add a cheap reversing camera now... I'm looking in to sourcing the connectors so I can offer a completed plug and play loom.
Have uploaded an updated version of the guide pdf with info on the reversing camera.
Pretty much everything worked as I'd expected but for the camera, which had me stumped for a bit.
Looking at the wiring diagram, you would assume that these units work just like any other car stereo, where supplying 12V to the reverse pin switches to the camera input.
Not so... After several hours of prodding and tracing things out, it turns out that pin 5 of the reverse camera connector has to be connected to ground when the unit is first connected to the constant and switched 12V supply. The OEM camera connects that pin to ground, which enables the reverse camera functionality. Without that, supplying 12V to the reverse trigger wire does nothing.
Seeing as I'm not forking out the insane amount of money that Suzuki want for the OEM camera, I modified my unit internally to work with pretty much any camera with a composite video output. The blue wire is a permanent ground to the PCB, so the unit always thinks there's a camera attached, and the reverse trigger will then switch to the camera image (it works like any other double-din car stereo):
The other two pins on that connector aren't needed for a non-OEM camera. They supply +6V to the OEM camera and in the case of a normal camera, you can just power it directly from the reverse lights.
By connecting the vehicle speed input on the G243 navigation connector to pin 18 of the G248 main harness internally (where the non-nav units get their speed signal), that means all I needed to add were two extra wires - Black one for the handbrake switch, and green one for the reverse camera. I also fitted an RCA socket on a flylead so the camera plugs straight in, and the unit is now ready to go:
And the proof it works is in this picture. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one yet to do this:
If you've got a Kizashi, SX4, or Grand Vitara with the Garmin unit and no camera, you can use these instructions to easily add a cheap reversing camera now... I'm looking in to sourcing the connectors so I can offer a completed plug and play loom.
Have uploaded an updated version of the guide pdf with info on the reversing camera.
Last edited by ms_enj on Fri Jan 17, 2014 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ms_enj,
I notice your reverse cam image has the distance guide incorporated...my factory issue 2013 unit does not.
I'm guessing you bought a different camera and it's part of it's workings...
If that's the case, how easy would it be to fit a camera that has that feature???
Think we've already started a chat on this somewhere...
I notice your reverse cam image has the distance guide incorporated...my factory issue 2013 unit does not.
I'm guessing you bought a different camera and it's part of it's workings...
If that's the case, how easy would it be to fit a camera that has that feature???
Think we've already started a chat on this somewhere...
Red 2013 Prestige w/ sat-nav
Yeah, most of the sub $20 cameras that come from eBay have distance guides built in.cocos3 wrote:ms_enj,
I notice your reverse cam image has the distance guide incorporated...my factory issue 2013 unit does not.
I'm guessing you bought a different camera and it's part of it's workings...
If that's the case, how easy would it be to fit a camera that has that feature???
Think we've already started a chat on this somewhere...
Here is the wiring diagram for the factory reverse camera:
If you bought another camera, and supplied it with power directly from the tail light circuits, you could disconnect the OEM camera, splice an RCA connector into the original wiring to give you video from the new camera.
Centre part of the RCA socket (video signal) to the red wire at the camera end, and the shield or outer ring of the socket (video ground) to the brown wire at the camera end.
As long as that black wire from pin 5 of the headunit (on the far right) remains grounded, you'll get your aftermarket camera whenever you shift to reverse.
If it were me though, I wouldn't bother.
The closest distance marker on my cheap camera is cut off by the head unit overscanning the video signal (though, in saying that, I only have a PAL camera, it might not be as bad with an NTSC one), and after installing quite a few of these cameras over the years, it's a lucky dip if you happen to get the guide lines to sit on the proper plane with the ground behind the car once it's aimed correctly anyway... This is made even more difficult considering the Kisashi's factory camera hole is offset to one side to begin with.
Lovely progress!
I wonder how hard it would be to just make a clear sticker that would go over the factory camera iris to give it guide lines?
I wonder how hard it would be to just make a clear sticker that would go over the factory camera iris to give it guide lines?