[audioholic]

The Highline Camera Retrofit:
I had started this experiment close to a year ago. But had failed multiple times and due to poor homework from my end. Finally this was successful after lot of tries and some wasted cameras. The MQB A0IN cars in India come with a basic rear view camera. In technical terms its called as RVC Low or KA1. This camera is powered via 12V and grounded via reverse light, so turns on when reverse gear is engaged with reverse light. The resolution of screen is poor and the guidelines are static. So basically it's a dumb camera which just turns on when reverse gear is engaged and does its job. Its also offered in international variants as a cheaper option.

What is a highline camera?
The highline camera(RVC High or KA2) is available in many cars here and abroad in VW, Skoda cars also Audi with some changes to the interface. This is an integrated control unit in addition to the camera itself. Hence in addition to having a better image sensor and output, this camera offers multiple views, dynamic guidelines, can be turned on on-demand and even its video output can be adjusted. The low light performance of the KA2 is much superior. Also as a bonus, this camera offers live guidance for parallel parking, which is spot on in guiding you to a perfect parallel park. I will explain this in detail later.

Comparison of the cameras:
The cameras look identical and also fit in the same housing.


The real difference is in the back, in the camera hardware. The RVC Low on the right side has a thin body and extends outwards into the moulded cables. The RVC high has a larger body to include the extra functionality.


The video signal connector is the grey one which is common between the two. But the other connector is different.
RVC Low: +12V(Fused) and GND(reverse) which is used to power the camera
RVC High: +12V(Fused) and GND(Permanent) and in addition to that we have CAN Low and CAN High connections which go as a part of Convenience CAN network(refer to my earlier explanation).


This upgrade is quite common abroad, either from a non camera variant to RVC High or RVC low to high. Another motivation was the cheap cameras available abroad as well as from China. The following posts will explain the installation process in detail.

[audioholic]

Procuring the right camera:
It took three different cameras to arrive at the right replacement camera
Due to intensive part sharing between VW, Skoda, Audi cars, these cameras are a mad permutation and combination between different plastic housings, hardware and its software parameterisation. My first purchase from Aliexpress was an Audi camera which had the same shape as that of my car. I believed that the Audi camera could be easily recoded to match the Skoda and ended up purchasing it. It was only 30$ including shipping so I took the plunge

Little did I know that the crazy ride started from there. I tested the camera, its output would turn on but it was not so good in terms of clarity, the adaptive guidelines wouldnt work and the camera had problems shutting down and restarting. This was how the output looked like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFgH3j1aeSA

The camera would not accept any coding change and the static guidelines were not even matching the width of the car nor its orientation. After scratching my head about this issue, I arrived at the wrong conclusion - That the Chinese camera was faulty and due to its nature, would not accept coding and any adaptations. Then I ordered an original Audi part from a scrapped car via Ebay. This was again inexpensive and worth a try. Giving a blow to my assumption, this camera had the same behaviour of the Chinese camera with respect to the output as well as not taking in any coding changes.

Thats when I got to know about a concept called Parameterization. While the camera hardware and software remain the same between VW, Audi and Skoda for a given part, what differs is a layer called Parameterization which is one level below coding and adaptations. This commands the actual behaviour of the component and its boundaries of customisation via coding. You can code the camera to adapt to a manual/AT car but not change the version from Audi to Skoda etc. This needs to be flashed via ODIS engineering or a tool called VCP which is similar to VCDS. I even procured the VCP dongle and tried flashing parameters to these two cameras, and I somehow never succeeded in it and then got busy with personal life.

During my free time I intensively read about the right way to upgrade the camera and learnt there are the following requisites:

• A camera thats correctly parameterized to your car or at least manufacturer/body type/installation of park
• If a brand new camera is used, it needs calibration to be performed else wont work
• If a pre existing camera is used, its calibration might not be matched against your car and it will result in a poor output

Procuring ODIS was another thing I did, considering the long term benefits it has over VCDS even though the latter is far more user friendly.

The final camera(s):
Along with the PDC system I ordered from China, the seller was having stock of the exact camera I needed and I managed to get it at a rather similar price of 50$ which I decided would be the last bet, or I would live with a Optical parking system and the RVC Low. This attempt turned fruitful. Here is a link to one simiar camera(there are plenty of listings and cant point out to a single one) https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...Cquery_from%3A

[audioholic]

The final installation:
The plastic trim covering the bootlid from inside needs to be removed by unscrewing two screws and the panel can be removed as its metal clips will unlock one by one.

The stock camera just needs to be yanked out of its place using trim removal wedges. More than one is needed to complete the job successfully.

Stock camera and new camera side by side:




After removing stock camera, three connectors needs to be disconnected - 1. The power connector of the stock camera. 2. Signal connector which is grey in colour. 3. Boot lid unlock switch


Tapping of convenience CAN bus from the infotainment pin whose process I have explained earlier.


The CAN bus wire needs to be routed along the A Pillar, running board, rear seat and then the boot. The camera only needs power apart from the CAN connections and no other signal. Sorry I do not have pictures of this since I work single handedly and was not sure if this will even work

Apart from CAN, we need to power up the camera. Since the stock camera has its own fuse and wiring, we just need to route the +12V wire from the stock connector to the new connector like this:
1. Depin the power wire(red/green color) from the stock connector


2. The stock power wire will go to the place in the new camera connector (where the white wire has been depinned from).


After these connections are made and coding changes are done(explained later), this is the first result:


The new camera wont work without calibration, and some sellers push calibration values for random cars and send the camera, but its highly recommended to recalibrate the camera. In the next post, I will explain the coding changes and calibration process in detail.

[audioholic]

Coding changes/Adaptations for the Highline RVC to work:

Under module 19 CAN Gateway:
Enter secure access code 20103
19 - adaptation → Installation list - specified installations - Camera System Rear View → coded

Under module 5F Infotainment:
5F → adaptation → Car Function List BAP Gen2 VPS_0x0B → activated
5F → adaptation → Car Function List BAP Gen2 VPS_0x0B_msg_bus → Comfort data bus

For cars already having RVC low installed, the infotainment needs to know this is no longer active, else it will get confused
5F → adaptation → function configuration rvc-rear view low_rvc → not activated

Under module 10 Park/Steer Assist(Only if applicable)
10 - Long Coding - Byte: 02 → Bit: 4 → enable (camera installed)

Under module 6C Back-up cam
This module has to be detected by the diagnostic tool if the installation is correct. It need not be coded into gateway to see this new module. If its not present, then either the camera is not powered on or not connected correctly via CAN.

Also it must be noted that most cameras from Aliexpress/used parts come pre-coded with most of the parameters. If you use a new camera as an original spare part, it might need fresh coding:
6C → Long Coding - Byte: 10 → Bit 6 BAP for display data
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 00 → vehicle brand
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 01 → vehicle class and generation
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 02 → vehicle body type
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 03 → region
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 04 → Bit 1 Optical Parking Sensors (OPS) installed(if installed)
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 04 → Bit 2 ParkSteer Assist (PLA) installed
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 04 → Bit 5 DSG/Automatic Transmission installed(if applicable)
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 10 → Bit 5 Rollback recognition(Havent really figured this out)
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 07 → Bit: 0 → enable (standard 90° view)
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 07 → Bit: 1 → enable (parallel parking assist view)
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 07 → Bit: 2 → enable (towing view)
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 07 → Bit: 4 → enable (fish-eye/cross-traffic view)
6C → Long Coding → Byte: 08 → Bit: 2 → enable (manoeuvre light)

After this, clear any errors in various control modules. The Gateway will have a DTC if you code the camera in before connecting it, or vice versa both ways which can be cleared. The camera will have DTCs related to basic setting not done. Apart from this, other DTCs should not be present.

However, even at this point, there will not be any video feed from the camera BUT there will definitely be a black screen like shown above. The calibration process is something that will need ODIS(some people online mention its possible through OBD11 but I am not sure) you will have to coax someone with ODIS(like an FNG or if you can really do it with ASC ).

Calibration of the RVC:
The diagnostic interface through which ODIS which has a guided function for calibration will run:

Also, another important thing is that the calibration process needs a target board or a mat with a pre-defined pattern. This is mandatory else the process will fail. The mat has dots and a frame which is used by the camera to cut out the reverse video feed in the right perspective. Else the camera image will look wierd. The camera has a high resolution image feed out of which the various views will be cut out by the control module and for this, the results of the calibration has a direct bearing.

I got the calibration mat printed nearby at a printer on a flex vinyl for a meager 400 rupees and that did the job perfectly .

• The car must be on a dead flat surface and in a brightly lit area
• There should be no shadow of the car falling on the mat
• The mat should be placed centered to the car and roughly around 1.5m from the rear axle of the car
• The car steering should be straight and there should be no load in the car

The calibration process is started in ODIS by selecting the control module 6C Reverse Camera and under guided functions, we select camera calibration. The process is demonstrated in the video which follows.

Once the process begins or before it, there are two main measurements necessary. One is the distance from the center of the rear axle to the start of the calibration board. This should be measured on both sides, preferably with a laser measuring device or even a tape will work.

I adjusted the mat to get both readings accurate, or at least nearly equal since its in milimeters. You can see those values in the history of the device. But I would assume a 0.5cm accuracy limit should be sufficient.

The second measurement is the height of the camera from the ground. This is again something which is quite sensitive. For my car its 900mm roughly


The third measurement that the process will need is the height of the calibration board from the ground. The official VW tool uses a foldable board which has a certain thickness. Since I used a mat which is close to nothing, I entered a small value. The calibration process takes around 20 seconds after this step and after this, the reverse camera image is displayed. Here is a video demonstrating the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d34u0C_VSA

Voila, after this the reverse camera started working. The camera output is far better than what came as stock. However, there was one issue, the mat was slightly offset in the first try and I had not got the measurements to the best accuracy:

You can see that the image is slightly rotated and is not straight by the reference marks I have made


After recalibrating the camera:
The regular reverse view


The parallel park mode which I will explain separately


The towing assist mode which helps for closing in against a wall or so


Will update detailed demo of the camera in the subsequent post. Stay tuned.

[audioholic]

Here is a video depicting the various features of the camera and the parking assistance mode for parallel park. I need a better parking space to demonstrate the function but where I tried but could not shoot a video, the parking maneuver guidance was perfect and ended only after the car was completely parallel to the slot. This is an amazing party trick and once you get used to its function it also becomes quicker to use in daily life as well, since it allows us to estimate the parking slot length as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8syn7tzzn4

Also I find the rear cross traffic view to be very good in narrow spaces. See the difference in perspective now:




Very good clarity at night as well:


In traffic in presence of headlights its still clear, whereas the stock camera would glare out.


The towing assistant view which helps in moving close to the step seen here with a good perception of the depth of the surface

[CafeRacer16]

These are some next level upgrades, thanks for the detailed information.

Is the camera purchase link shared compatible with Taigun as well & how to purchase stuff from aliexpress since its show not deliverable in India.

[Aditya]

Highline Camera Retrofit in VW / Skoda MQB A0IN cars in India - Posts moved to a new thread.

[amit1agrawal]

This is next level upgrade. With every such change you are bringing it closer to Octavia
If you could do with $50 camera, Skoda could have done this much cheaper. I am shocked that though they priced this car at premium, they went to such an extent to reduce the cost! No surprise they are offering big discounts now.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by CafeRacer16

Is the camera purchase link shared compatible with Taigun as well & how to purchase stuff from aliexpress since its show not deliverable in India.

Its compatible. You can get stuff delivered but only via payment to seller via paypal which you should negotiate over messaging and not via purchase through app or website.

[Mickey1986]

Simply awesome job done.
Wondering why on earth skoda / VAG folks don’t offer this as a standard accessory as well when all these features are very well documented and know…

[punto_]

Amazing work!! The stock reverse camera quality is embarrassing and this looks just perfect! And to top it all off, you have documented the installation process wonderfully.
Much appreciated!

[Abhinav_2502]

Excellent Upgrade and a very well executed Install!

The stock camera really does feel inferior to what competition offer in the segment. Would love to know if this install and PDC would be possible on the 8inch MIB display as well. If available these would be the first DIYs to be done once warranty runs out on our Kushaq.

Originally Posted by audioholic

The final installation:

Stock camera and new camera side by side:
Attachment 2647789

PS. Is the Highline Camera the same one available in the Karoq with the camera washer as well?. It looked like the washer was present from this image. Would be a nifty feature to have but I don’t know if the efforts to route the plumbing would be worth it or whether it is possible in the first place.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Abhinav_2502

The stock camera really does feel inferior to what competition offer in the segment. Would love to know if this install and PDC would be possible on the 8inch MIB display as well.
PS. Is the Highline Camera the same one available in the Karoq with the camera washer as well?. It looked like the washer was present from this image. Would be a nifty feature to have but I don’t know if the efforts to route the plumbing would be worth it or whether it is possible in the first place.

Even the 8 inch version can handle both and AFAIK the 8 inch can also render vehicle path in the PDC display. Only difference is that in reverse camera mode it will just overlay the PDC status in one side of the video feed instead of having a separate section in the UI.

The washer you see is one of the Audi cameras I got. Skoda cameras I ordered didn’t get the washer since I opted out of it. Its possible to integrate it but the work v/s results didnt seem to be worth for me. The camera hardly gathers dirt.