BertilDator

Hi,
I have Panamera 2018, and I find it very difficult to reverse when it is dark as there is no (white) reversing light and/or no night vision in the back camera. Is this really how it is with Panameras or am I missing something or can something be done?

Thanks for your comments.

Nickshu

My 2018 camera works fine in the dark. Are your backup lights working? Otherwise something is maybe wrong w/ the camera.

orca15

Backup lights sufficient to illuminate the area behind the car are required equipment. My guess is yours are broken.

CA Code

skiracer

OP - did you apply a dark tint to your windows by chance? This has affected others who then have upgraded their bulbs to compensate, but if your reverse lights aren't even coming on there may be another issue. Good luck!

BertilDator

Thanks for the comments. I was reversing in pretty much pitch black darkness and camera was of no use. I see some additional light in the middle of the back lights turn on when putting on R gear, but it's not casting too much light to really make a difference. Probably need to talk to Porsche center to check that, as well as the camera.

​​​​​​I don't think the glasses have any extra tint. If someone could take a pick of the rear camera screen when reversing in dark, it'd be great. I'll share my pic too soon.

subes

On my 2014 panamera I replaced the original (no night vision) reverse camera with a cheap one from ali express (720p CVBS, resolution or tv lines don't matter, with night vision: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/10050...yAdapt=glo2deu). You need a Cinch/RCA to fakra adapter for that: Pick a camera that has an optional mirror cable to cut through (so you can horizontally mirror the picture from the camera). Also you need to be able to change the angle of the camera if possible (otherwise you might only see the floor and not what is behind you). Comparison pictures are on the bottom of this german thread: https://www.pff.de/thread/2767165-pa...gebauten-kame/

The camera has a higher resolution than the PCM 3.1 display. So it will still only show 7xx by 5xx pixels because of the display limitations.

Here a picture of the mount I created (right after spray painting it, beware I taped the actual camera lens):

Here a video on how to remove the rear bumper to replace the camera and do the cabling: And here some germans that replaced the original camera in a Cayenne (where I got the idea from; notice at 8:30 that they have a bad angle and only see the ground, not what is behind because they reused the original camera mount, which was also the case when I tried that on the panamera initially):
The new camera is where the original camera was now (I used double sided glue tape instead of drilling holes, which seems to be tight enough). There are also cameras that you can put as a replacement for a license plate light, but that caused misalignment because the camera picture was too far outside of the car center point, so it was hard to actually find out if I would crash into something, having the camera centered where the original camera was is the solution. I left the original camera inside (taped it to a cable), though not using the signal from it. Only leaving it connected to wire the 12v to the new camera and to prevent check control warnings preventing the replacement camera from being used. The car seems to detect when the camera is disconnected. Did not try wiring the 12v directly to the new camera without the old camera in place because I did not want to cut through the original connector.

Here the camera in action (integrated into surround view without issues):

Notice the original left, right, front cameras that only show black due to missing night vision.

Though I thought 2017 (971) models came with better cameras including night vision? Would also be interesting if the 2017 models support AHD instead of CVBS.

I also replaced the outer two license plate lights with CREE leds, this illuminates the area behind the car better. The inner two I disabled to not blind the camera (yes facelift has 4 license plate lights right next to the backup camera). The facelift 2014 model (970.2) actually has a worse backup camera than the first model (970.1) because the license plate lights are too near to the original camera and they blind it. I found the backup camera to be better in the first model (970.1) and that it has better night visibility than the face lift (despite also lacking actual night vision) because the camera is far away from the license plate lights. But there is still a huge difference to the aliexpress camera that I retrofitted successfully.

tonyhw206

thanks for posting this! Can we get an update on this and how are you liking the alibaba camera ? I’d like to upgrade my backup camera in the near future as well.

subes

Working without issues and i can safely reverse at night, also survived the car cleaner machine a few times already without damage to the self built holding mechanism.

BertilDator

Could someone please post a picture how their 2018 reverse camera image looks like when reversing in the dark? Doesn't need to be pitch black, but "relatively" dark without street lights. The repair shop in Helsinki, Finland said there is "nothing they can do", which was a bit arrogant as they didn't even care to look at the image to see if it would look normal.

Marcus13190

Hi i've install licence plate lights LED and it's ok for me.

BertilDator

Would you have details what LEDs you installed? I thought 2018 already comes with LED lights for license plate. 🤔

Marcus13190

Mine is 2012 but you have HERE LED with more power.

lkh5650

sorry to revive such old thread - i am looking to replace my back up camera as well.
I have 2 questions

1. Once you take out the rear bumper, how did you route the wiring to the back of the head unit? from the trunk to the rear seats and thru the center console from the rear? or did you send it thru the side of the car under headliner/trims?
2. how did you create this rear view camera mount..?