NV200: Bike Rack & 2nd rear view camera

All part of the overall plan – is a tow-bar mounted bike rack.  We had hoped for one that would allow the doors to open, but the only one that “may” work is the Altura DL from Roofbox – but that is >£330 and quite heavy and extends back quite a way from the van.  And no guarantee it would work.

So if doors can’t open, we want a secure one that can be removed easily.  There are a few players in this market, but again prices and size vary a lot.  I also want 13-pin so the rack has fog & reverse lights and thus allows me a power feed for the second rear view camera

So, I went for a Naos Rapid which whilst bought from Amazon was despatched from Germany which came quite quickly.

Sadly, as expected, this means the fog light and reverse light are on the wrong side.  No big deal, but being pedantic I want it UK way around (why as most use will be abroad lol!).  Annoyingly the lights are one way so we had to mount the holder upside down which worked, then modify the plug and swap yellow and green wires so the indicators were correct.  This is fine but I did need to cut the end off some bolts for the tyres to fit.  Its a bit tight so we’ll see how it goes.

With the reverse feed power, I connected a 2.4ghz video transmitter powered when reverse active, and mounted a camera in the right place.  Wires through a new grommet made in the back of the lights.

The Nissan DISPLAY (on the Tekna model at least) draws on the guide lines and the “careful when reversing” message, so my first camera attempt also drew on guide lines in a different place so a bit messy, so I ended up buying another camera where I can disable the camera guide display.  (Second camera was a cheap NTSC one (apparently, though home TV and Nissan Connect showed image) from ebay with a green wire you can cut to “remove” the camera guide lines.)

The OEM camera is in the rear door, and connected by a 4 pin connector.  Annoyingly, I could not find a matching connector so I had to snip the wires and take a gamble.  I’d rather do it neatly.  Sadly the OEM camera does not come out easily so I messed about in situ.

4 cables, red/black (red live on reverse engage, black=0v) and yellow/black (video/earth shield).   So simply I connected my blacks to the appropriate blacks (connected all the time) and with the yellow/red I put these on a double pole switch over switch I had ready – so in position 1 red/yellow connects to OEM camera red/yellow; and position 2 to the “new” camera.

The new camera is actually a 2.4ghz wireless camera, so just needs the wires connected to the receiver and this tucked in the door.

Not my neatest job, I had intended soldering, but there was so little space and I couldn’t get the OEM camera out 🙁  Or – if anyone finds the plug/sockets then I’d do it neater.  Hey ho.

The bike rack fits and removes in 5 seconds, brilliantly quick, and secure when locked.  Doesn’t move and the bikes are far enough away from the van.  It tilts easily, (no, doors can’t open), so getting on the first bike.

Display is from van in same position with OEM and new bike camera