Best Route for rearview camera wiring?

[RadarRider]

HI, Installing the N4 in a 2017 Prius. When wiring the rearview camera, is it better to go right along the roofline and back to the rear hatch... or down the A pillar on either the driver or passenger side and along the carpet then back up?

 

[Dashmellow]

If you run cable along the roof line you need to be careful not to interfere in any way with side curtain airbags because the cables and/or the camera can become dangerous projectiles if the airbag deploys.

Cable routing can depend a lot on the particular vehicle. In my pick-up truck I have the cable for my rear camera running under the trim along the side of the rocker panel, then behind the trim up the C pillar. then under the headliner over to the top of the rear window.

 

[RadarRider]

For now, wired it just tucked into headliner, under A pillar airbag, then along windows tucked into headliner behind airbags, then along rear headliner and out.. cable is hanging a little now because of the length needed to open the hatch. Would like to pull it through hose between roof and hatch, but that is going to be a boat load of work getting the hoses out.

 

[thomas-dash]

I don't have a Prius, but I ran mine down the A pillar, along the floor in a cable run next to the driver's side door, up the C pillar, through a grommet and down the back glass. The grommets aren't too hard to get out. Mine had four clips with each one located in the middle of each side. You just push it in with a small flat head screw driver and pull away from the surface it's mounted on.

Running the cable through is a pain due to the existing cables and friction with the rubber. I used a fish tape I bought for a previous job, but you could just use a metal hangar. I recommend spraying some silicone lubricant as it makes it a lot easier to pull the cables through. I used electrical tape to tape the cable to the fish tape, but it made a slimy mess. If I did it again I would probably go with some painter's tape or duct/duck tape.



I taped the end of the connector to try to prevent getting the silicone spray on it and inside of it.



Taped the cable to the fish tape to prevent it from sliding out while pulling it through the connector.



Cable pulled through and grommet replaced.



What I used to spray inside the grommet.

 

[RadarRider]

Thanks. Those plastistic pins are a biatch to get pushed in to pull them out... aren't they!

 

[thomas-dash]

I didn’t think it was too hard. I just used a small, flathead screwdriver to push each in. I did have a tough time pulling the cable through the grommet until I decided to use silicone lubricant though. I was following a Youtube video and thought I could skip that step, but the lubricant made a night and day difference.

 

[kamkar]

Fishing a cable thru something like that is often the best solution, but actually the 2 times i have gone thru such a rubber grommet ( back doors to B pillar with K2S system ) and on the rear hatch with the Viofo A139 rear camera, i was able to just push the cable thru and not needing to lube.
Of course i did have to loosen the rubber grommet in the ends to feed the wires thru, but then it was fairly easy.
The reason it was so easy was the K2S system have small USB C plugs and they are strait, and the A139 system use coaxial cable which are even smaller and easier to work with.
Also fewer cables in the doors at least as the window are not electric so only a speaker cable in there.