So this morning I started to pull the boot apart to check the cable connectors. I have managed to get off ebay a MY17 bumper complete with camera, and wiring loom. So I was kind of hoping that this would be compatible with MY16 model ! This was based on the fact that I have the newer infotainment system, with the sdcard navigation. However as you can see from the pictures below I have a challenge. The camera plug, the one with two Fakra connectors doesn't have a home, and the second one looks like the connection for an aerial mounted on the bumper, which doesn't have a home either. I am less worried about the aerial as this may be for the convertible rather than the coupe. However the camera plug and the whole point of doing this is a problem. I have a brown cable with a single Fakra connection on, and two wires that are sealed off, that are attached to my loom in the boot (shown in the picture). So this leads me to the question of do I have the wrong camera and loom for my model ?, or you cant retrofit a reversing camera ? HELP loom from ebay bumper
Compatible connectors in my boot
Sealed off cables and spare fakra connector

 

So one step closer to getting this sorted. I ended up getting a second bumper of ebay, this time making sure it had the right camera connection and not just focused on the MY. It also came with the Blind spot monitoring modules, so that is another discussion. I have swapped the loom over and the modules plus camera. All the connections for these are ready and awaiting in the trunk/boot. FYI the camera mounting bracket was already present, and the drill hole is marked on the bumper. The hole is 15-16mm depending on how much tolerance you need. The next step is the CCF edit to make it work. Plugging the stuff in doesnt generate any issues or warnings on the dashboard. However putting the car in reverse results in a blue screen on the nav and various beeps, so it has disabled the rear parking sensors. I am assuming this will go away with the CCF update. Anybody interested, video is

 

Blue screen when selecting reverse in earlier models was what you'd get if the Reverse Camera was activated, but the video image signal was missing.

Interesting...

 

I thought I would finish off this thread with a top to bottom overview of what I have managed to achieve since I asked the question is it possible to retrofit the OEM parking camera?

There are two observations I would make. Firstly and most importantly you are going to need someone with the expertise to modify the CCF file. I have been in IT for all of my professional career, and while installing SDD is fine, the reality is it’s not easy or intuitive to use and you need the right tools. So its either a case of investing in the kit…. Laptop, 30 amp plus charger, decent ODB cable ( the cheapest I have found is £200 - there are plenty of clones out there, but not something you want to risk as a corrupted CCF will brick your car), or find a person that can !. Secondly you are going to end up taking your car apart. Lots of it apart !


So in good old jaguar style there is not a one size fits all. I cannot guarantee this, but from experience I think that there are two camera fittings, one from MY17 and one from before. I know this because my approach was to find a bumper on ebay and salvage the parts from it …. I have two bumpers as a result. The MY17+ model has a double blue Fakra connection, the early model has a single green Fakra connection. To find out which you need to check the left hand side of your boot/trunk. To do this you need to remove the loadspace trim. You should find your wiring loom connection there.

The second bumper I purchased with the right connector for me, also came with blind spot modules, so in for a penny in for a pound as the saying goes. Once again the wiring connector was present in the boot/trunk.

Starting from the rear, you have to remove the rear bumper to replace your wiring loom, with one that has the connections for the camera, and install the camera. On the rear of my original bumper it had the camera bracket, and the hole marked for the camera. You need to drill a 15mm-16mm hole in the bumper for the camera. I also fixed the blind spot modules into the bumper. These just screw in to the blank mounting brackets. Having done that you can remount the bumper.


The next bit I would recommend is to check the camera wiring loom. My assumption was based on the fact the connections were in the boot/trunk, I thought it was all there …. Wrong ! Also this is where it will deviate for a lot of people, dependant on which entertainment system you have. My car is MY16 but has the NLI entertainment system. It has the more modern look with navigation based on a SD card, as opposed to the older (but better in my opinion) InControl Touch plus. The reason why this is important is that if you have the older system, you will need to check the wiring all the way to the screen, as there is a connection for it on the back of the screen. For me the screen is fed by a single coax cable from the Audio head unit (AHU) which sits behind the arm rest. I didn’t know this so I pulled the dashboard apart.


If you have the coupe and the NLI system, just pull the panel above the arm rest out, and you should see the AHU. On the right hand side of the unit should be a double blue fakra connection. If this has both wires present, your all wired up. In my case I didn’t. The wire I needed to get too was behind the Right hand side subwoofer. So literally 24” of missing cable. To get to this wire you need to pull parcel shelf out behind the seats and remove the right hand rear panel and subwoofer. This is the brown wire from the boot and has another green Fakra connector on. You need to get a SMB Female to female connection with 75ohm screened cable if you are missing this cable.

To complete the blind spot installation, you need to get a couple of wing mirrors with the blind spot LEDS’s in the door mirrors. To install these, it’s just a case of removing the door cards and swapping with the existing mirrors. It’s not a big job.

The next bit is to reprogram the car for these new options. Oh my lord, what an experience. I thought it would be a simple case of opening up engineering mode on SDD and putting a tick in the rear parking aid box along with one for the blind spot monitoring. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and I am glad that I got someone in with a lot more knowledge than I had. Even so it took three hours of messing around before we got part way there. The list of options is for every JLR vehicle, so you have to sift through hundreds of lines to find the right one, and even then you may need to select more than one to get it working. Getting this right enabled the camera icon on the main screen and the introduced the blind spot options in the convenience menu on the central dashboard. However, the mirrors would not light up and we had to re-flash the modules and allow the car to go into a full power down mode (15mins) before we finally got working. The car kept reporting a fault with the left module, even though we got that side working before the right. After multiple flashes of the module we got no errors and everything lit up as it should. I cant say how grateful for I was for the support and help of my expert :-)

I got this work done before checking the wiring based on my false assumption, so the car was reporting a wiring fault on the camera. Hence the need to do that step before the CCF programming.


All in all this is a big job and I would recommend researching what is in your car before parts hunting. I have a few videos up on if you want to research in more detail, and understand how to deconstruct your car.

 

Nicely documented!

 

Paul. Would you do it all again or just go aftermarket??

 

Hi Andrew,

its not any easy call, but yes probably I would go down the OEM route again. This is purely because I now have something that is standard and accidentally better than I set out to achieve. If you want a quick and simple solution then aftermarket is the way to go, I was looking at https://www.nav.tv/products/jaguar-f...rev-camftype17 as a possible option. To go OEM, you need to know what version of camera is compatible with your car, find it on ebay (bumpers with looms and cameras already installed are a cost effective way to go), have the knowledge or access to someone with the ability to edit the CCF file.

For me the added bonus is because my ebay bumper came with blind spot modules, I also have rear traffic detection, so it warns if you are about to reverse into traffic, and the camera image tells you which direction the traffic is approaching from.It really comes down tou how much effort for what result you want.

Hope that helps

Paul

 

Hey Paul, I know this isn’t directly related to the topic but since you’ve had the back end pretty much dissembled, do you know if the cars main wiring harness is the same or did you have to splice into it at various points?

 

Has anyone been able to do this in the US?

 

older thread, but I am about to go down this route @Paul Calvert who helped you with the CCF and were they local to you or was it remote assistance?