Original reversing camera for RT6 - Citroen C5 X7 2015

[GiveMeABreak]

Your aware of course that the OEM rear view camera was only fitted to the Tourer, so whatever has been added is entirely aftermarket and usually involved a separate control box and dedicated wiring, so I think your first step has to be locating the control box with the dip switches, looking for the manufacturer and then seeing what settings need to be changed on that (if any) to support any replacement camera as there will be nothing you can configure from the vehicle's point of view.

There's little point in going into the OEM wiring for a Tourer model with camera as that is a CAN controlled camera system wired into the specific parking assistance ECU for models with factory-fitted rear cameras.

[wfdTamar]

Yes, I wouldn’t bother fitting an OEM system. Too much bother. If I can’t sort out a new camera, I’ll just live with the one I have.

BTW, in Australia the sedans were fitted with cameras as standard from 2016. I presume they are OEM ones though I haven’t seen one to be sure.

Do you know the resolution of the RT6 screen?

[GiveMeABreak]

I have an Australian 2016 C5 brochure (probably the last before production ended) and it states only on the Tourer, so not sure what happened there....

Click images to magnify

The resolution should be fine - as the display is High Res on this model. It is the same High Res screen that I have on mine with NG4 Navidrive 3D that can play 16:9 DVDs and take input from multiple video sources, but there is no specific data I have on the multifunction screen or the RT6 covering this.

They were shipped to Asia and Europe, so should be widely copmpatible.

[wfdTamar]

Yes looking up specs it seems the sedans didn't have it. I was sure I had read it somewhere in a review, but can't find it now. It's possible the importer/distributer or even dealers were fitting some kind of camera just to get rid of the last C5's they had as by that stage in that level of car it was one of the have to have gadgets.

[lorddevereux]

The RT6 works on an 800x480 screen resolution, whether the screen supports higher than that I'm not totally sure but I doubt it, so that may be why the 800x600 isn't working? It all depends what's going on in that control box and how it's wired to the screen!

[GiveMeABreak]

Just for confirmation regarding compatibility of the Reversing Camera on the RT6.

The long 10 alphanumeric code on the back of the Head unit (starting with 98xxxxxxxx) needs to end with 777XT to be compatible with a reversing camera. Other RT6 units won't have the hardware on the motherboard to work.

[XUD9]

Hey guys - let's refresh this old discussion...

Last night I was looking at X7, produced Dec 2012, fitted with reverse camera from the factory. Attached below is the screen from Diagbox:

Software version BSI: 11.80

I checked my C5, produced again Dec 2012, with RT6. The version of the BSI and everything else is the same (checked with DiagBox) .
I was reading in Russian forums, that the only problem for fitting a camera to RT6 is the BSI software version. Or google translate it that way Is it true?

So what do you think? Can I fit a camera?

[GiveMeABreak]

Not to my knowledge. There are different versions of RT6. The versions that were made for vehicles with reversing cameras (like the later facelifted C5 X7 Tourer) have 2 additional micro chips inside the RT6 units to handle the reversing video functions. So in addition, to a correct RT6, you would need the correct wiring harness, the correct parking assistance module that also supports rear reversing camera, BSI configuration as a minimum and the correct wiring to the back of the RT6.

People have gone on about modifying wiring and taking feeds from here and there and modifying firmware - but from what I have seen, a waste of time if you don't have the hardware.

[XUD9]

Ahaaa...

If there are different versions of RT6 (with additional chips inside) - than unfortunately the answer is clear
I'm not afraid of wires, but if the hardware is not 'rev camera ready' - there's nothing I can do...

Just tried to activate the options and see is it going to display a black screen with parking lines, but unfortunately nothing happens.
- In BSI, under configuration >> driving assistance >> Parking assistance >> Front + Rear proximity sensors + distance measurement + camera (last option) ;
- In telematics, configuration >> vehicle configuration >> Video input from reverse camera >> Present;

WARNING!!! Be careful if you are changing configurations!!! If something goes wrong during the process of uploading changes (lost communication, computer restart/shutdown) - this can brick your module, and even the whole car!!!
In my case - it took about 2 minutes to update "video input" setting. Restarting, loading, ect....

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes definitely need caution here, it's why I put up a post in the diagnostics 'Sticky' here:

viewtopic.php?t=60600

[alx6ths]

Maybe there's another option - something like this:
http://media-in-motion.co.uk/reverse-ca ... onnection/

Yes, in the end I solved it exactly this way.

[XUD9]

Guys, I have lots of useful information that I want to share regarding the topic. Most of the things are not something new, but I will summarize everything in this post - software and hardware related.

Like most of you I was also wondering - is it possible to activate and install rearview camera that I don't have.
My car: C5 X7 Break 2.0HDI RHF 2012 (facelift) , RPO 13148, with RT6.
As Mark mentioned above - not all units are the same. Here's what I've found after hours of reading...

Hardware:
I started with disassembling the RT6 unit to check: is there a chip for the video signal. And... I found an empty slot.

Here's the way it should look:

Recently I replaced the Telematics unit with SMEG (CAN2004) , with camera option.

Software:
The BSI version is also a key factor. After reading lots of posts from different forums around the world, I came to the conclusion that version 11.54 is not suitable (the version can be checked with DiagBox/Lexia.
Firmware update is possible (official dealership) , but there are some risks. For example the car will "forget" all the keys + most of the settings and coding will be required.

My BSI runs 11.80 . And it supports camera! (Of course with the SMEG unit)

So if you have 11.80 (or later version) - no need to do anything in terms of updates.

Others:
After activating the camera option in the BSI and the Telematics, a simple test can be performed. Go to Telematics > Actuator Tests and run the test for the rearview camera.
If you see a blue screen - all good. If the screen is black - probably the unit can't work with rear view camera.

I hope I'm not missing something...