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After seeing the reversing camera fitted to the Discovery 4 a few years ago I was impressed and began wondering if I could fit one on my D3. To do this modification you would need the high line dashboard with built in screen. I set out then to find a suitable camera. My first stop was of course ebay, where I found a colour camera listed that replaced one of the number plate lamps on a D3, and included a smaller number plate lamp built into it. Perfect! It was a seller from China and cost about £20 plus delivery. I have purchased several items from China in a similar way and have not had any problems. If you are happy to wait a week or so there can be some great savings on many electrical items like reversing cameras.

It took about a week to arrive and when I looked at the camera in more detail it was decent enough for me to progress on with the project. It took less than two minutes to fit in place of the existing rear number plate lamp. In order to wire the camera in though, a bit more work was needed. With the upper tail gate open I removed the plastic side trim from inside, and then the top trim from the rear of the upper tailgate which covers the hinges – they both just pull off. Next I needed to run the power and an RCA cable from the upper tailgate of the car through the rubber trunking tubes into the car itself. I purchased an RCA cable set from a local electrical retailer – I went for the 5m length twin cables, and then split them down into singles by simply pulling them apart. I connected one of the single RCA cables to the camera plug and connected some twin core cable to the power supply wire on the camera. I routed these wires up the inside of the upper tailgate around to the rubber trunking at the top of the upper tailgate that allows the power cables and rear screen washer pipe to pass between the car and the upper tailgate. I found it impossible to feed the RCA

INSTALLING A REVERSING CAMERA

AND DVD PLAYER INTO YOUR

DISCOVERY 3

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connector through the rubber trunking between the upper tailgate and the car, so I had to cut the RCA cable, feed it through, and re-join it inside the car. I split the twin core power cable at this point before passing it through the trunking and took the earth cable to a pre-existing earth point inside the upper tailgate. This meant I only had to pass the single power wire through the trunking and into the car. I removed the rear roof trim from inside the car, again by pulling it off, and rejoined the RCA lead in the roof area of the car. Be careful to join the very fine inner wire and the outer sheathing wire but don’t let them touch. I taped the join together well and then cable tied the RCA wire to other cables in the rear roof area. I then routed the power cable and the RCA cable down the nearside rear pillar trim inside the boot into the storage area/rear fuse area in the boot. At this point I connected the camera power cable, via a fuse, onto the rear reverse light positive power supply to the lamp unit. This means the reversing camera is only powered up when reverse is selected, as the camera will take its positive feed from the switched positive that powers the reverse lamp. I then ran the RCA cable through the car and into the front passenger footwell area. I found the easiest way to do this was under the plastic trim that holds the carpet in along the floor area from the rear to the front. I then removed the front passenger footwell side trim. This meant removing the bonnet lever which is secured by a torx bit. Then just pull the side trim panel away. At this point you need to remove the dashboard trim in order to gain access to the rear of the screen. This is to enable you to make the connection to the screen. The main dash trim (known as the H trim) again just pulls away. Start at the bottom and gently pull. Once removed, this gives access to the screws that hold the screen in place. Remove the four screws and gently lift the screen forward. On the rear of the screen you will see three holes with green, brown and yellow squares around them. The centre one is for the reversing camera, the driver’s side one is for the DVD player and the passenger side one is for a third input. At this stage I took the opportunity to install three leads to the plugs on the rear of the screen. These leads are known as SMB to RCA leads. I found and purchased these online in advance of starting the work. I took the opportunity to purchase three of them as there are three inputs on the rear of the dash mounted screen, and whilst it was all apart I thought it would be wise to fit them together. The SMB end plugs directly into the rear of the screen. I plugged all three leads I had purchased in and fed them through to the rear of the lower glove box. I then fed the RCA cable from the rear camera to meet the SMB to RCA lead and joined them. Next I tested the system before I replaced any panels to make sure it all worked ok. As I had made a direct connection to the screen I needed to enter the screen diagnostic screen to view the camera picture. This is a simple procedure as follows; With the ignition on: Press the right hand hard button once. Place your finger in the top centre of the screen, and keep it pressed for 5 seconds (top right) Next hold the left hand hard button for 2 seconds (right) When the pin screen appears (picture 5) enter the code 7 – 5 – 3 (same code for any Discovery 3) then ok. (right) From the diagnostic menu select view video inputs (right) Then select Rear View Camera (right lower) With the ignition on select reverse – this should now power up your camera and display an image on the screen (top left page 19) You can purchase a box that auto switches the display for you and remove the need to manually select the screen through the diagnostic menu. As I only intended to use the camera when towing or in very confined areas manual selection through the screen suited my needs.

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Once you have tested it, and are confident it all works, start replacing the trim at the rear. Then carefully replace the screen and the dash trim. Be careful when pushing the trim back on, it sometimes needs a firm knock – but make sure all the plastic lugs are located first otherwise they will break. When completed I had a very useable and accurate reversing camera. The total cost including the camera, RCA lead and the screen SMB to RCA lead was around £40. It took about an hour and a half to do. No special tools were needed, just some electrical tape, cable ties, wiring terminals, butt connectors and a crimping tool. The pictures that follow show the screen and the three feet marker along with the outside view of the gap – pretty accurate.

I next went on to fit a DVD player. For this I will use the TV/DVD socket on the rear of the screen which I had inserted an SMB to RCA lead to earlier and left loose in the passenger glove box. Before you get excited I must point out that it is illegal for any driver of any vehicle to be in a position to view a screen showing TV, DVD/Playback material whilst the vehicle is in motion. This includes whilst stationary at traffic lights! I had already sourced a 12V DVD player. This cost me £40, but had extra features like a remote control which I felt were going to be essential to making a good quality installation. The model was also very slim, not much bigger than a standard car radio and my original intention was to install the DVD player in the glove box area. Despite my best efforts I could not get it to fit and look like it was meant to be there. In the end I opted to mount it on the lower side of the dashboard in the passenger footwell. Having already removed the side trim panel in the passenger footwell, I had easy access to the audio wiring where I would need to join my DVD audio out wires to the cars existing AUX wiring loom, so the DVD sound would come through the vehicle speaker system. I took an ignition power supply and fused it for the DVD player. I then used the other RCA lead I had left over from the twin lead purchased and split for the reversing camera and cut it so it was long enough to plug into the rear of the DVD player and reach the area behind the passenger footwell side panel. Looking at the plugs behind the panel you will see the centre grey plug. This is the one you need to connect the audio out from the DVD player to. There are several wires running through this plug but the ones you will need to work with are the red, blue and black ones. The outer core of the RCA lead needs to be carefully connected to the black wire. I did this by using a butt type connector, and then a fly lead to then join into the black wire making sure the joints are good and well insulated to avoid interference. The centre core of the RCA lead is then connected to the Blue and the Red wires. I again made up a short fly lead for this purpose. The video out from the DVD player needs to be connected to the screen input with an RCA lead. I used a much shorter one metre cable for this as the RCA connector was just above the glove box the spare SMB to RCA leads from the screen were already and waiting. Make sure you connect to the TV/DVD one as detailed above in the camera instructions. Once all these connections were made its time to power up the DVD player. Using

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the diagnostics manually enter the screen controls in the same way you would for the reversing camera. This time select TV/DVD from the screen menu (picture 8). This should then display the DVD start up screen on your dash screen. Insert a DVD and press play. The DVD should then be showing on the screen as it would your TV at home. At this stage you still will have no sound through the speakers. This is because to activate the AUX IN which you have wired the sound to you must first insert a 3.5mm jack plug into the rear AUX socket behind the arm rest. This will switch on the AUX input audio sound and hey presto you should now have a DVD playing on the screen and the sound coming through the car speaker system with the volume controlled from the radio. Once you are sure everything is working as it should you will need to refit the trim to the footwell and secure the bonnet release handle again. The DVD project cost around £50 including the DVD player, one metre RCA lead, connectors etc. Again the only tools used were an electrical crimping tool, drill and self-tapping screws to secure the DVD player to the underside of the dashboard. You can fit the DVD player into the top glove box but it would mean a cut in the rear of the glovebox insert to allow for the depth of the DVD player. Extra RCA leads can be added to rear headrest screens if you wanted to add to the system. The time taken to complete the install was around two hours, but I did mine at the same time as the reversing camera. Graham Bethell