Fitting Wireless Reverse Camera to 06 E90 Sedan
Here are some fitting instructions if you want to connect a wireless reversing camera on a
Dynavin DVN E9X v5
Check this thread for more wiring info.
http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12440860&postcount=1
Mine is basically the same except tor an extra brown wire with „amp con‟ label on it.
(maybe a power source inside the cabin for the transmitter if you need it, as it only
supplies power when the radio is on. I wouldn’t use it if you are connecting an external
amp though).
rear components only shown
I take no responsibility for your vehicles, but this is how mine was put together.
Mine is fitted in a 2006 E90 sedan, so apply different procedures for wagons etc.
Firstly I removed the boot lid lining by carefully pulling on the caps of the plugs with a pair
of pliers. DO NOT try to wedge them out with a screwdriver as the picture shows they are
a 2 piece plug that doesn‟t come apart.
Pull the cap continuously till the plug fully comes out of the hole. (they stay connected, - do
not try to pull them apart)
Remove the left licence plate light by inserting a screwdriver into the slot and pushing to
the right. Then carefully wedge the light free and moving to the left and again to the right it
should come out
Unplug the light from the cable feed it back through the holes, I taped it up and labelled it
as “original licence plate light” as I won‟t be using it again andt attached it to the harness
inside the lid.
Fit the reverse camera/light into the hole and run the wires into the boot for now, we will
connect them later. Make sure the camera fits correctly and snugly, so that water won‟t
easily get in and it won‟t vibrate. I found that mine was very loose, so I cut some mounting
tape (double sided foam tape) to fit around the edges of the camera/light. As it was white, I
coloured in the visible edges with a black marker. I didn‟t remove the protective coating
from the other side, as I didn‟t want it stuck to the car. The thickness of the tape made it a
snug fit in the hole.
Before dismantling the plug, test which wires are for which lights, and make sure when you
insert the wires back into the plug, they are exactly the same as before you removed it. If
you don‟t, then when you turn the lights on, the wrongs may light up. That‟s why I took
pictures and still got it wrong the 1st time.......
(I am not an electrician, so I did mine by checking voltage then resistance across the
terminals back to earth with all the lights off, then turning the lights on one at a time and
put a multi-meter across the pins checking for voltage.).
Remove the left hand boot lid globe holder by placing a thumb on the clip (blue arrow) as
shown, pull back on the tab till it clicks and pull it out gently. Check visually what wires
operate which globes, and make sure it is the same as when you checked it
Remove the wiring harness from the globe fitting by pressing down on the black tab on the
plug (with a small screwdriver I found easier) and replace it back into the light fitting or
place it somewhere where you wont touch the glass lens, as the rear fog lamp (the narrow
one) is a Halogen lamp.
The wiring plug can be remover without removing the globe holder, but I found it easier to
remove the globe holder and physically check the way the globes are wired in.
On the wiring plug, crimp the white clips on the sides of the plug and the white cover will
push up free from the black plug
Place the white fitting somewhere where you wont loose or break it amongst all the tools
you are getting together for this small job...hehehe
I used a small screwdriver to push down on the small locking pins one at a time and
pushed them just past the first plastic bar (1), and pushed them down again (2) one at a
time to get them to go into the plug housing where I could then push them right out of the
plug housing.
on the wiring harness on mine, the wires are




Purple
Brown
Yellow/Black
Green/Yellow
Reverse
Common or earth
Tail light
Rear fog light
Route the wires in the boot and bare the ends of the wires if you are going to solder them,
carefully (unless you are using connectors where you don’t have to bare wires), as my
wires on the camera were very thin.
On my camera harness, I had a yellow plug (image), and a red plug (power) I attached the
red/black wire with the black plug into the red plug to supply power to the camera from the
reverse light.
The power for the licence plate light I decided to source from the left hand tail light, as I
was working on that plug anyway. If you can get the right size bullet connectors, you may
be able to use the existing plug you took off the licence plate light earlier.
Before soldering the wires, I put 12v across the red and black wires to see which wires did
what, I then connected them to the correct clips on the harness I thought, but I was wrong.
I put the vehicle in reverse, and the number plate light came on, as I still connected them
to the wrong pins, so it would be a good idea to label them when you are testing them.
I got the new black licence plate wire and the black wire from the transmitter/camera and
soldered them together.
Then I soldered the red wire from licence plate light onto the pin on the yellow/black wire,
the red wire from the transmitter/camera onto the pin on the purple wire, and the black
wires (from the transmitter/camera and the licence plate light I joined earlier) onto the pin
on the brown wire.
The wires that were supplied from the licence plate light and transmitter/camera were thin
enough to fit into the black plug housing. If you have thick wires you will have to bare the
wires on the original harness and solder them and then tape them up, or use connecting
clips that clip on both wires.
Insert the pins back into the black plug housing in the same order they were before you
removed them and make sure they are seated correctly by trying to pull them back out.
Replace the globe holder if you didn‟t before and put the plug into the globe holder. I taped
the new wires to the existing harness close to the plug to save stress on the thin wires
before I taped it to the old harness along the route of the cable.
I plugged the yellow wire from the transmitter to the yellow RCA plug from the camera, and
the black plug from the power to the red socket from the camera, and taped them together
so they wouldn‟t come apart, and wrapped them in a bit of foam so the would not rattle in
the boot lid.
I gathered the wiring and bundled it together then wrapped the transmitter in foam as well
before putting tape around the lot. This may be a mistake, as I get interference sometimes
in the monitor view when it is operating. I may have to take the bundled wires apart and
route them differently in the boot so they don‟t cross each other.
I also put foam round the camera and licence plate light wires where they might rub
against the metal cut-out in the boot lid, then taped it to the lid.
Replace the liner back onto the boot lid.
Inside the vehicle, remove the radio and find a suitable power supply that isn‟t constant
and suitable earth for the transmitter and plug the RCA plug from the transmitter into the
rear camera RCA socket from the Dynavin unit (dark blue on mine, see arrow).
Do not forget to connect both the purple reverse labelled wires together, or the screen will
not display the camera view.
If you are hard wiring the camera, you have to run a wire from the rear camera to the front
of the cabin, which means ripping up carpets, running wires from boot lid into boot, then
through the car to the front dash. The video cable that runs to the front needs a bit more
connecting as well, that's why I decided to go wireless. (I did hard wire it in the testing
stage to make sure it all worked)
Check this thread
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpost.php?p=12394327&postcount=466
My reverse camera works fine, except for the interference that I need to fix. When the
radio is off and I put the car into reverse, it switches the screen on (after a few seconds) or
if the unit is on, it mutes all sound and instantly goes to the rear camera view.
The grid on the screen of the reversing camera has 3 lines on it, and they are about
100mm (4inches) apart, they are;
Green 600mm
Yellow 500mm
Red 400mm
The car is arked about 1 metre (3 foot) away
from the join in the floor in the picture.
The image is slightly off centre, as the
camera is not mounted in the centre of the
vehicle.
The camera licence plate light with the camera is a LED, and about the same brightness
as the original light, it just doesn‟t spread the light as wide