Toguard Backup Camera Replacement?

A year ago, I bought a Toguard 5" Android dash cam with a backup camera. Several months ago, the backup camera died. Here's a picture of the camera that came with it (from the Amazon listing):

The camera that came with the Toguard DVR mirror

I figured I'd search Amazon for a replacement camera. I found this one and thought it was the same.

Replacement backup camera

I plugged it in and . . . nothing. Then I attached the power wires on the new camera. Still nothing. So I did a quick resistance check and saw that they were not wired the same. That kind of upset me, so I took it out on the cameras - both of them. I had to take them apart and see how each was wired. So on the long-shot that somebody's looking for a wiring diagram for both of these backup cameras, here ya go.

Toguard backup camera, disassembled

The wire from the camera to the DVR mirror is a five conductor cable, with a foil shield.

Toguard backup camera plug

When checking the old camera, I found that it wasn't the camera that failed, but the cable. There were multiple breaks in the line, but nothing obvious from the outside.

As far as I can tell, here is how the original backup camera for the Toguard DVR mirror was wired to the 2.5mm four conductor plug:

Tip: Red wire labeled DC, 5.75V power
Ring: White wire labeled DM, Video (signal ground, maybe?)
Ring: Green wire labeled DP, Video (signal high, maybe?)
Sleeve: Black wire labeled GND, Ground/reverse signal
____________________________________________________________________________

The replacement camera appears to be wired as follows:

Tip: Red wire, camera power
Ring: yellow wire, video signal
Ring: +12V power and white wire to LEDs
Sleeve: Ground wire and black wire to LED ground

Comparing the two wiring diagrams, you can see that plugging this into my DVR mirror and connecting power to the new backup camera was a bad thing. That put +12V on the video input. Keep in mind that the Android tablet only runs on +5V. I think the backup camera input is now fried.

Replacement backup camera plug

Now, look at the above picture. Can you think of any reason why it would be necessary to connect +12V to any tablet device's input? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Replacement backup camera, disassembled

Replacement backup camera, showing the image sensor on the circuit board

 Although the outside and the plugs looked very similar, these two cameras were in fact, very different.

1998 Accord Won't Start - Why you should RTM

My friend brought his car over because he was having problems where it sometimes wouldn't start. I said I'd take a look at it and didn't see anything obviously wrong. The OBD-II scanner didn't show anything wrong either. So I told him to just wait until it wouldn't start again and then we'll troubleshoot it.

It didn't take more than a couple days before he said it wasn't starting again. He tested for spark in that wasn't the problem. I then told him to open the throttle about 1/4 of the way and crank it for about five seconds, then smell the exhaust. He didn't smell any gasoline. Starting fluid helped for a bit.

I had him get down by the fuel tank and have someone turn the key to the on position. He heard the fuel pump run for a couple seconds. Check.

Our task was to find why the fuel injectors weren't firing. I had my OBD-II scanner plugged in, but it wasn't talking to the computer. I didn't see any relays labeled for ECU or PCM or the like. No fuses were blown.  I couldn't figure out why the engine computer wasn't powering on. I was turning the key off and on, watching the LEDs on the OBD-II adapter and saw no signs of communication.

It was then that I noticed a little green light on the dashboard shaped like a key. When I turned the key to on, the light went on, then started flashing. "Hey, do you have a spare key for this thing?" I put the other key in and turned the key to the on position. The light came on, then went out and stayed out. "Hey, put that air intake back together under the hood." It fired right up.

And that's why you should read the owner's manual.

Picture credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpG3Sazz3GA