rear screens input via cable from dashboard, alt method (e.g., for VLine, etc.) without visible cables (1 Viewer)

[ac4000]

Didn't want to leave the door open with cables "permanently" plugged in, so I lightly modified the harness on the Remote Control Adapter Assembly, and ran a cable to the dash. This looks neater to me and works perfectly. You could tap the cables instead, thus preserving the ability to use the RCA inputs from the back, but I don't expect I'd ever need that, so I went with solder and shrink wrap. I also ran video only, not needing an audio feed to the rear (but if you need that, it's just a few extra connections). Pictures here for anyone who wants to do this. Easy job, took about 30 minutes.

Pins 13 and 14 for video (signal and return); looks like 6 for audio signal left and 5 for audio signal right with 7 as the return (although I skipped the audio).

This is the harness the Remote Control Adapter Assembly plugs into.

Pins removed.

Pins soldered and shrink wrapped. Not the cleanest work, that's for sure, but it's serviceable.

Pins reinstalled.

 

[pvchaitanya]

I am exactly looking for this. Few questions. So far I understood you are routing your RCA input cable to front and use it to connect your signal rather than using the back rca port. if this is a correct, have few questions:
1. Where is the location for this remote control adapter assembly you tapped into? is it below seat or somewhere else?
2. the two white wires you sniped and soldered to your cable, are those the ones coming from the back RCA ports?, you mentioned two wire for video, but RCA has only one cable for video.
3. The soldered wire, is that an RCA female cable you routed to the front dash? can you show picture of that cable. RCA has 3 wires, video, audio L, audio R. you mentioned pin 6/5 for left/right, what is common? which line should connect to common(7)?

please elaborate for me the pin mapping between 3 rca wires to this pin out. thankyou.

 

[ac4000]

That is correct: RCA cable from the front dash (Android unit outputting HDMI to a converter providing composite video out) to the rear console where it effectively replaces the RCA input. (In other words, it moves the RCA input from the rear console to the front.)

1. Where is the location for this remote control adapter assembly you tapped into? is it below seat or somewhere else?

The Remote Control Adapter Assembly is this:

2. the two white wires you sniped and soldered to your cable, are those the ones coming from the back RCA ports?, you mentioned two wire for video, but RCA has only one cable for video.

I meant for the signal and return; will edit my post to make that more clear. The signal is the pin in the center and the return is the outer cylinder. You need to connect VV+ on the harness (pin 13) to the signal and VV- (pin 14) to the return. The white wires I cut come out of the Remote Control Adapter Assembly's harness. I found that easier since I could remove the unit and work on it.

3. The soldered wire, is that an RCA female cable you routed to the front dash? can you show picture of that cable. RCA has 3 wires, video, audio L, audio R. you mentioned pin 6/5 for left/right, what is common? which line should connect to common(7)?

I cut off the male end of an RCA extension cable and soldered the wiring to the two pins. I used this cable: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RXNVF2E

The Remote Control Adapter Assembly has the typical three RCA inputs, one for video, and two for audio. If you want all three, you can wire the two audio channels as well. According to the EWD and quick continuity testing, the left signal is pin 6 (VAL+), the right signal is pin 5 (VAR+), and they share a common return on pin 7 (VA-). I haven't hooked those up though, since I only want the video signal.

please elaborate for me the pin mapping between 3 rca wires to this pin out. thankyou.

	RCA cable	harness
video signal	center pin "yellow" cable	pin 13 (VV+)
video return	outer cylinder "yellow" cable	pin 14 (VV-)
audio left signal	center pin "white" cable	pin 6 (VAL+)
audio left return	outer cylinder "white cable"	pin 7 (VA-)
audio right signal	center pin "red" cable	pin 5 (VAL+)
audio left return	outer cylinder "red" cable	pin 7 (VA-)

 

[pvchaitanya]

Thanks for all the details. Is the sound from video coming out of android unit HDMI playing through the head unit already? Is that why u didn’t want to do the rca sound wiring?

 

[ac4000]

Yup, I only want the rear screens to mirror what's on the main screen (so audio will be from the main speakers). If you want the rear screens to show something different (e.g., output from a media player at the front), or if you want to mute the head unit audio and still let the rear passengers listen, then definitely send the audio back as well.

 

[pvchaitanya]

@ac4000 , I am trying to connect my RCA inputs to grom vline2 and running issues with audio. So I connect just the yellow video cable of the RCA cable input from the HDMI out of grom vline2 (using a hdmi to rca cable). When I turn on the rear screen and select the video as source, the video shows on rear screen but there is no audio either from the head unit which is mirroring the video. When I connect the remaining left/right cables to the rear inputs, it doesn't help either. Have you encountered this issue?
In my 2011 model, the rear software is trying to play what comes from the rca audio/video inputs and looks like its unable to process that signals or not receiving that signals.

 

[ac4000]

I haven't tried connecting the audio, so I haven't encountered that issue, but if you want audio, you absolutely 100% need to connect at least one of the audio cables (both for stereo), which you can connect in the same way as the video cable.

If you have the video working, then you've got the video (yellow) cable set up correctly. You just need to do the same with the red and white cables. Check the pins carefully and maybe try with a known-good RCA output audio source to make sure the path is correct.

As a side note, if you're using an adapter that works, post the link here because according to Grom a lot of people are having problems with their adapters. In my case, my Grom VL2 can't output a video signal my HDMI-RCA adapter can handle. I get the test signal bars, but no actual video. Grom says they have a bug report open on this, but if it's just an adapter issue, that might move that issue forward.