[graaja]

Installed: VW Flip Camera in Polo GT Tsi

Installed the VW flip camera in my Polo GT TSi. As this is one of the coolest mods that may be done on a Polo GT TSi, thought of documenting the details of the installation for the benefit of fellow TSi owners.

Pre-requisites:
1. You need a HU that supports reverse camera video input - like the RCD510 (delphi), or RCD330G or an Android HU, or DS611.
2. You need to tap the reverse light signal from the left side tail light.

A few useful threads for the pre-requisites.

Android HU
RCD330G - Though the thread is about the OE RCD330G, there are lots of posts with RCD330G from AliExpress and reverse camera connection as well.
DS611
Reverse camera installation - For taking out supply for the camera from reversing light


Important Updates:
The camera has a mechanism to drain water that gets inside the assembly. The camera comes with a black rubber pipe for this. It is very important to complete the installation of this water drain system. If this is not done, water will leak inside the boot during rain or while washing the car. I have documented this in the following post.

Link

I found a better way to mount the camera using a custom adapter. The details are documented in the following post.

Link


Part - 1: Buying

About a year back when I was looking for a reverse camera for my Android HU, I came across the VW flip camera. This camera sits in the place of the hatch opening VW logo. When reverse gear is engaged, the logo flips open and the camera pops out. This was a very cool feature and I wanted to get this for my GT Tsi. However, due to the very high price tag of >20K INR (it was available in eBay and AliExpress), I went ahead with a simple reverse camera that sits in the place of the license plate light. However, I had added this to my wishlist and I would look at the price once in a while.

A couple of months back, found the price of the camera dropped to $140 (approximately 10K INR) including shipping in AliExpress, and I decided to fix this in the GT Tsi. Below is the AliExpress link to the camera.

VW Flip Camera - AliExpress Link

But before buying the camera, I wanted to make sure that the camera would fit the Polo GT Tsi. Some of the questions I had were:

• Will the camera diameter match the diameter of the existing VW logo?
• Will the mounting holes match?
• Will the manual and automatic hatch opening functions work?

I exchanges several messages with the vendor. The vendor was very responsive, and clarified all my doubts.

I first sent the measurement of the VW logo in the GT, and he responded with the measurement of the camera. Both were 110mm.

Measurement of logo in my GT (I sent the measurement in inches)


Measurement picture sent by vendor. Both are 110mm


Then I asked if the camera would fit the GT’s mounting holes. The vendor then replied with a picture saying for the Polo GTi and Golf GTi, it is a perfect fit, but some versions of Polo may require a workaround. In the below picture that the vendor sent, the mounting hole of the camera do not match with the mounting hole in the car and they have used a washer to hold the camera in place.



He said hatch opening and automatic hatch opening functions would work without any issues.

So the only risk was the camera mechanically not fitting the car, which can be worked around. So I went ahead and ordered the camera. It took close to 4 weeks for the camera to arrive.

The package had the camera, two cable assemblies, and a water drain pipe. One cable assembly is for the power supply of the camera and the other is for the video output. As I could not find any water outlet channel inside the hatch, I have not used the drain pipe.



The camera has three connectors. One connector connects to the power cable assembly, the second connector connects to the video cable assembly, and the third connector connects to the door open signal connector in the car.


Photo Credit: AliExpress product page

Flipping the logo shows a small spring loaded plastic plate. This plastic plate would pop out releasing the camera, when reverse signal is supplied.

[graaja]

Part 2 - Bench Test:

First I decided to test the operation of the camera. The power cable harness of the camera has three wires – GND (black), 12V (red), and reverse signal (blue). The 12V wire has an inline fuse. This has to be connected permanently to the battery. I tapped the 12V and GND signals from the ISO to Quadlock converter cable of my HU. The blue wire is to be connected to the reverse signal. For testing, I connected this to the reverse signal output from the HU. In the final installation, this blue wire is connected to the reverse camera signal from the tail light, as the blue is not long enough to be brought to the HU.

Below is the video of the camera in action.

https://youtu.be/8USaTnuRYbk

Satisfied with the operation I set out to install the camera.

Part 3 - Installing the Camera:

First, the trim in the hatch has to be removed. Remove the two torx screws pointed by the arrows, and pull the trim. The trim is held in place with several locks and comes out quite easily.


Trim removed.


Removing the VW logo that opens the hatch is quite straightforward. The logo is held in place with three screws. Remove these screws, unplug the 2 pin connector and the assembly comes out. The 2 pin connector is the hatch open signal.


Next step is to fix the camera. Uh. Oh. I hit the first wall! The mounting holes of the camera are offset from the mounting holes in the car.


I tried adding a washer as shown in the the picture the vendor sent me. But this will result in very fragile support to the camera. As the camera has to take the weight of the hatch while opening the hatch, I wanted to make a mechanically strong mounting.

Took the car to a sheet metal fabricator who does all the fabrication work for me. I was thinking of providing something like a L or U clamp to fix the camera. But the fabricator came up with a better idea of making a circular base which will be fixed to the car and the camera to the base. He said he would first make a rough cut prototype base and once the fitting is good, we can get a proper base plate fabricated using laser cutting and finished with powder coating.

The base plate has 6 holes. Three of the holes will match the mounting holes in the car, and three of the holes will match the camera.


The camera is first mounted on the base plate.


The base plate is then fixed to the car.


There was one problem. The rear wiper motor assembly fouls with one of the mounting bolts. So, I had to mount the camera with only two bolts. I will see if I can use screws with smaller head instead of the bolt so that the wiper assembly will not foul with the camera mounting.

Once the camera was mounted, I connected the camera again to the HU and verified that it worked. I also checked the boot opening function and everything worked like a charm.

[graaja]

Part 4 - Wiring:

The next problem was the wiring. The camera wires had to be routed from the hatch to the C pillar, and then through the floor, and behind the glove box to the DIN slot. I did not have enough expertise to do this wiring.

So, I took the car to an automotive electrician and he completed the job in 30 minutes, and charged me 200 bucks. I did not take enough pictures of this step. Just adding some pictures to give an idea of how the wire runs, and also a couple of issues that we faced so that others who attempt this can be aware of the issues.

We faced a couple of issues during wiring.

1. The fuse carrier in the power cable assembly would not go through the rubber grommet that connects the hatch to the C pillar. So, we cut off the fuse cable. I later soldered the fuse cable before connecting to the HU.
2. It was very difficult to route the RCA plug through the rubber grommet. It had to be wiggled in the grommet to be brought out. Though a difficult task, it is possible.

The wire is routed through the hatch. We first tried to route the wire from inside the boot area into the hatch. But this was not possible as the wire alwas got lost inside the hatch. So, we had to change the approach and route the wire from the hatch into the boot.


Then through this rubber grommet. As we ran the wire from the hatch to the boot, the video RCA plug and the fuse carrier had to go through the grommet. But the fuse carrier was too big for this grommet. So, I decided to cut this off and solder it back at the HU side. The RCA plug was a very tight fit and it was very difficult to wiggle this through the grommet. But with some patience and care this is possible.


Then inside the boot trim. Once the wire reached the boot, it was a straightforward work to remove the floor trims and route the wire through the floor to the passenger side, then behind the glove box to the DIN slot.


Once the cables were brought to the DIN slot, I hooked them up to the HU. I could not take pictures of this step as well. Following were the connections made.

1. +12V and GND signals from the camera connected to the +12V and GND lines available on the HU cable harness. I took this tap in the ISO to Quadlock converter harness, not on the car’s original cable harness.
2. The RCA plug from the camera connected to the reverse camera input of the HU.
3. Connected the blue wire from the camera to the reverse light signal. I had already taken out the reverse light signal during the installation of the previous camera – documented in this post. The previous number plate camera is still there.

[graaja]

Part 5 - Fabricating the base:


As everything worked fine, the next step was to get a good quality base fabricated. For this, I had to provide a mechanical drawing.

If you are bored by technical details, skip the next paragraph

First I traced the outlines of the crude prototype on a piece of paper. The crucial step was to find the diameter of the circle that has the 6 holes. I have totally forgotten basic Geometry and did not know how to accurately find the diameter of the circle. My daughter came to my rescue. She connected one set of 3 holes into a triangle. Then she found the center of the triangle. And then measuring the distance from the triangle’s center to one of the holes gives the radius. With the radius found, I then drew a circle connecting all the mounting holes. Then using a protractor, I marked the angular distance between all the circles. Below picture shows the drawing.



Then I made a clean drawing with the dimensions. Below picture shows the final drawing.


This was then given to a vendor who does laser cutting. The laser cut plate was then powder coated.


When we tried to fix this to the car, the plate was fouling with one of the mounts of the wiper motor. So we had to file off a couple of mm. The diameter of the circle on which the holes were located was a little big and the holes did not match exactly. So, we enlarged the holes from 6.5mm to 7.5mm. With this the base plate fit perfectly.

Below is the corrected drawing.


Next up was making a rubber seal to prevent water from seeping inside. I bought a 1mm thick rubber sheet. Placed the base plate on this sheet and cut out the rubber to the same dimensions of the plate. Used a punch to punch out the holes for the bolts.




Fixed the base plate and the rubber seal to the hatch.


Fixed the camera to the base plate. I got proper M6 allen bolts, washers and nuts for this. The camera is still being held by only two bolts.


With the laser cut base plate, this looks a very clean install.

[graaja]

Part 6 - Final Result:

Below are some pictures of the installed camera.

The camera when closed. It does not look like a camera.


When reverse gear is engaged, the camera pops out.


Close up of the camera.


The field of view on the HU. The previous camera, as it was placed very low only covered objects on the ground, close to the car. Any object near the horizon, like other parked vehicles, humans or animals behind the car a little far away were not visible. The flip camera gives a perfect field of view with the horizon at about 1/4th of the frame. This shows both near and far objects clearly and is very convenient.


Here is the comparison of the field of view of the old number plate mounted camera and this camera. Now I feel much more comfortable while reversing, as I can see the objects a little farther from the car as well.


Here is a video of the camera in action.

https://youtu.be/lqahncExnQU

Overall, a very satisfying DIY job as this involved some mechanical problems to be solved, and I was able to do a clean install without resorting to some crude jugaad. Also, I think this is one of the coolest mods that can be done on the GT.

That’s all I have folks on the VW flip camera installation on the Polo GT Tsi.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the DIY Section. Thanks for sharing!

[autorahul]

That's simply an amazing DIY. Well calculated, as are all your other DIYs, and adds very nice aesthetic and functional value.

I wonder how the guys at VW service react when they see the things your car is able to do.

[AtheK]

brilliant, i would love to do this with my car too, i see the price has dropped to 128$ now. The only problem is the patience and time to do this, but i have bookmarked this, my vento has majority of your DIY installed, thanks a ton for that, this seems to be the next one on the list.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by autorahul

That's simply an amazing DIY. Well calculated, as are all your other DIYs, and adds very nice aesthetic and functional value.

Thank you for the kind words, Rahul

Originally Posted by AtheK

brilliant, i would love to do this with my car too, i see the price has dropped to 128$ now. The only problem is the patience and time to do this, but i have bookmarked this, my vento has majority of your DIY installed, thanks a ton for that, this seems to be the next one on the list.

Thanks AtheK. I am really glad that my posts have been useful in getting many DIYs for your Vento. If the Vento's emblem has similar dimensions and mounting method as that of the Polo's hatch opening logo, then this could be definitely possible for the Vento as well. Good luck

[paragsachania]

Fantastic DIY and very very clean execution!

What I like (usually) is that the final results do not hamper the originality of any aspect at all. Till you tell someone, they would never know what hides behind that VW logo on the hatch.

The step by step guide is immensely helpful and your drawings for marking the holes and making the bracket show the level of perfection that you wanted to achieve with this.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by graaja

Part 6 - Final Result:

Below are some pictures of the installed camera.

The camera when closed. It does not look like a camera.
Attachment 1593425

When reverse gear is engaged, the camera pops out.
Attachment 1593426

Close up of the camera.
Attachment 1593427

The field of view on the HU. The previous camera, as it was placed very low only covered objects on the ground, close to the car. Any object near the horizon, like other parked vehicles, humans or animals behind the car a little far away were not visible. The flip camera gives a perfect field of view with the horizon at about 1/4th of the frame. This shows both near and far objects clearly and is very convenient.
Attachment 1593428

Here is the comparison of the field of view of the old number plate mounted camera and this camera. Now I feel much more comfortable while reversing, as I can see the objects a little farther from the car as well.
Attachment 1593429

Here is a video of the camera in action.

https://Youtu.be/lqahncExnQU

Overall, a very satisfying DIY job as this involved some mechanical problems to be solved, and I was able to do a clean install without resorting to some crude jugaad. Also, I think this is one of the coolest mods that can be done on the GT.

That’s all I have folks on the VW flip camera installation on the Polo GT Tsi.

Good job Ganesh
Never knew you had so many threads on DIY !
Congratulations!
Eagerly awaiting for your next one .

Regards
Dr. Kannan.

[redcruiser]

Quite a good job Graaja. Have you installed front dash cam also in your GT ? Desperately waiting for someone to pen down the DIY for hardwiring of front dash cam in a VW.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Fantastic DIY and very very clean execution!

What I like (usually) is that the final results do not hamper the originality of any aspect at all. Till you tell someone, they would never know what hides behind that VW logo on the hatch.

The step by step guide is immensely helpful and your drawings for marking the holes and making the bracket show the level of perfection that you wanted to achieve with this.

Thank you so much for the kind words Parag!

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Good job Ganesh
Never knew you had so many threads on DIY !
Congratulations!
Eagerly awaiting for your next one .

Regards
Dr. Kannan.

Thank you so much for the kind words, Dr. Kannan. Compared to your millecento project, these DIYs are very small

Originally Posted by redcruiser

Quite a good job Graaja. Have you installed front dash cam also in your GT ? Desperately waiting for someone to pen down the DIY for hardwiring of front dash cam in a VW.

Thank you for the kind words redcruiser. Yes. I do have a dashcam - Street Guardian SG9665GC in my Polo GT. I have documented the installation in this post.

However, I have wired the dashcam to the supply from the cabin light assembly. I am planning to wire this properly to the ACC signal when I do the installation of the OEM BiXenons in a month or so. I will document the procedure in detail at that time.

[akash_m]

Wow! Thats an amazing DIY. I will definitely do it on my Polo. Wanted to ask if the boot lid operation remains the same as original, i.e by pressing the logo. Also, wont the camera be spoiled with the fingers each time you do so?

[vw19d]

Man this is an awesome. I wasn't even aware that there was something called as "flip camera". This is so cool and must surely be a head turner when you reverse during driving. Fantastic job