To spell it out even more... it's confusing that red wires appear to exit the connectors - they don't... it's just easier to make the cable that way. There are 3 wires in total in that cable:
1- video signal - between the centre of each connector.
2- video ground - between the outer ring of each connector.
3- a red wire - each end sticks out near the connectors.
So the RCA connector only covers two wires and the third red wire that hangs out of each end needs to, or can, be connected to a positive source if needed. Am I getting closer to understanding this? I am an artist, not an electrical engineer.
Tom, Here is what I see you need to do.
1. The camera needs power to operate and it will get its power from the Transmission Switch when you put your car in reverse.
2. The Mirror also needs power to operate hand gets it power from the separate + & - wires in your diagram.
3. Now you need to tell the mirror to tun on, so you need to connect the triggers wires together at each point so the mirro know to turn on. See my diagram with the blue lines. I am assuming the trigger wires send ground to the mirror to activate it. The red wires I think are connected to the ground of the cable for the camera.
You can PM me if you need some more help.
The wires at the back up switch are a constant hot and a switched hot. You can confirm this by studying the SOBill diagram posted early in this thread
The red trigger wires do not carry a ground, they carry a +12 V.
It is best to tap into the back up light wiring in the tail light bucket area to make sure you are getting the switched tail light power, not the constant 12 V hot that goes to the switch.
Larry
thank you all for advice and information so far. Some of what you've given me so far should have been made clear in the instructions for the mirror and camera. Maybe the minimal instructions provided would have been enough for some, but not me. I'll let you know how things ended.
Tom
