Just a thought about backup cameras. My Prius has a backup camera and my 2011 XKR has the stock sensors in the front and rear bumpers. I like the sensors better! I can activate them whenever I need a little clearance help, and they work in both front and rear directions. I actually would rather have the sensors on the Prius! Once I got used to them, they're pretty cool.

 

Forgot to update you guys on this.

A couple of weeks back I did the touchscreen upgrade in a 2008MY XKR, so it got the full functionality of the 2009MY. For this car I only did the DAB+ Digital Radio install, not the reverse camera, but the functionality is there in that car now.

It was not exactly straight forward to make it work however... updating the software directly in the car didn't work as expected, and after several hours of getting nowhere, in the end I pulled the touchscreen out of my 2009MY XKR and put it in the 2008MY, updated the software in the Media Gateway module, updated the CCF, and it was working fine.

Then I put the touchscreen from the 2008MY XKR into my 2009MY XKR, and 3hrs later the software was updated, and my car was back to how it was before.

2nd time round should be a bit easier. But this update/retrofit will require an exchange touchscreen (programmed in my 2009MY XKR) and an SDD available at the vehicle to update the gateway and edit/load the CCF.

Not as simple as we would have hoped, but that's how it works.

 

Some excellent diagnostic/discovery work in this thread and kudos to all those that have got this far. I'm looking to add a camera to my 2010 and want to get one that works. First is to avoid ones that need additional power for led's etc. From reviewing some cameras I also see some specified with "guide/distance lines" or without - what is best for our application? What's the max resolution to look for? Any other advice?

In terms of fitment I'm hoping on a 2010 I just need the CCF change and do not have to flash any other modules - I hope Cambo can chime on this one.

 

Honestly I just bought a $30 camera from Aliexpress.

Most of these ones are "universal" in that they output both PAL and NTSC (don't ask me how) and you can turn the guide lines on or off by snipping a looped wire, same for making the image reversed.

But I tried four different cameras and they all had some sort of problems; one was not a reversed image, one didn't work at all, one would flip the image upside-down instead of flipping it horizontally to have the correct mirror image.

The final camera settled for has a pretty crappy picture, it doesn't work well in direct sunlight...

Yes on a 2010 just a CCF change is needed.

 

I can recommend the . The picture quality is ok in my opinion, and better than the factory-fitted cameras on the fairly recent Toyota and Citroën my parents have. It also has a button on the cable, with which you can turn on/off the guide lines, as well as mirror the picture either horizontally or vertically.

I ordered 3 of those in total, and we installed them on my sister's car and horse trailer. One reversing camera for the car, one for the trailer, and one for monitoring the trailer occupants while driving. Video from each camera is shown on a display on the rear view mirror, depending on whether in reverse or not and whether the wireless receiver (for trailer cameras) is on or not.

Here's a few pictures of the display during installation, unfortunately it was completely dark outside, and the new (perhaps unnecessarily powerful) reversing LEDs seem to have caused things to be a little overexposed.

 

It's a bit silly but I was more concerned about how the camera looked on the car, this design is a bit more OEM-ish than the other designs.

 

If a person installed a camera and monitor ( aftermarket ) , would it work to use a sensor to turn the system on and off as you approached a Kurb for a front system .

 

Neophyte response here. I think if the proximity sensor delivered voltage to the alarm (which is what I believe they do), and you had access to that wire that feeds the alarm, then yes it would be possible.

I think the challenge is to find a system that doesn't embed it in a circuit board. There are going to be two wires to the sensor. One outbound and one back to the alarm. The question is will the feedback wire deliver enough voltage to trigger a camera and monitor.

AS far as a product already on the market, there is this one:
https://www.123securityproducts.com/...xoCkygQAvD_BwE

 

There are also cheap-o chinese sensor systems available on Amazon for like ten bucks.

 

Looks pretty much like the rear camera I added to my 2007 XK:

 

Do you have a procedure for this? I recognize SDD/IDS is needed. Also any specific camera needed?

Sorry if I missed these specifics elsewhere.

Thanks!

 

Thanks . But they use a switch to activate. Allso larger sensors.

 

For some reason, my mind wandered back to backup camera integration in the 4.2L XK's, and this statement by Cambo in post #23:
Would this mean, that if a X150 touchscreen from a 2012+ car, where the backup camera is standard, were installed in a 2007 car, that it would work without any modifications via SDD?

If so, and something cheap were to come available from some dismantler, it would be an easier solution than sending touchscreens to Cambo for reprogramming. Just a thought.

 

What he said ^^^^^^^

 

Jeez post #23 was a long time ago, we learnt a lot of new stuff since then...

So here's what we know.

Hardware of the XK touchscreens from 2007MY-2009MY is the "same" (although the later screens look better/brighter, more vivid), 2010-onward screen is different hardware actually, and as we found out not 100% backwards compatible to the 2007-2009 cars.

Software in the XK touchscreens is three basic versions from 2007-2008, 2009, and 2010-onward model years. Bear in mind the hardware is not the same from 2007-2009 and 2010-onward.

Reverse camera, DAB and TV is supported by the 2009 and the 2010-onward software

All versions of the XK touchscreen hardware can support the Camera, DAB and TV.

It's possible to flash the 2009 software into a 2007-2008 screen, but a lot of stuffing around to do it.

Even if you have a touchscreen with 2009 software, you do not get any additional features unless they have been enabled in the Car Configuration File using SDD. No matter what you do, you still need SDD to enable these features.

 

Darn!
So, either getting the 2007 touchscreen flashed to 2009 software, or find a 2009 touchscreen as the starting point.
Then modify the CCF to enable features.
Is that CCF specific to the touchscreen, or does it contain config data for multiple modules? (sorry for the stupid question, but I haven't loaded or fired up SDD to poke around)

 

That's the basic process yes, but there is one other module that needs a software update as well, this can be done with SDD at the same time as the CCF change.

The CCF contains all the configuration data for the entire car, every little detail of the vehicles specification, for every module. When a modified CCF is loaded to the car, it get's saved in three major modules, which then share that data with the other modules in the car.

 

Can you elaborate Cambo? Which module aside from the touchscreen? I think last time we worked on this I flashed the 09 software and updated the CCF to activate rear parking or whatever it was labeled but never got the blue screen via Fakra.

Have I forgotten a step? (or a module) :-)

It's been awhile, sorry

 

So, can I just plug and play in my 2010, with the right parts?

 

And with proper programming through SDD.