Furring Tech Support indicated that the compatibility issue is with the LED lights out circuit in the car.
“Good afternoon. Please see the link below for further explanation as it is a power issue with the Volkswagen product. This bypass adapter is needed to make the system work. Thanks in advance and have a nice day! https://www.etrailer.com/Wiring/Tow-...reviews”
It’s not a paring issue, because it wouldn’t work. It’s not a bad alternator because all the electronics in the vehicle would be affected and you would also hear a whining noise on the radio. The problem is the probably Bluetooth from your radio. Bluetooth from the radio works at 2.4 GHz and so does your wireless internet. Most cameras don’t have a very good IF filter and not shielded very good. So even if the channel is changed the filter is so broad it picks up the Bluetooth from the radio. The main problem is that the Bluetooth on the radio can’t be turned off.
Marky!
My Furrion works fine in my 2014 Tacoma, and the bluetooth connection to my cell phone does not interfere. It will be interesting to hear whether the bypass adapter solves the problem.
I haven't checked the thread in a bit and wanted to update with some more info I found out today. It was by pure luck as a co-worker overheard me talking about it for the first time in a while and he knew the issue.
A lot of newer vehicles use PWM circuits to power tail-lights. This allows a single-filament bulb to easily produce various light levels via software control. This is where the 'noise' on the 12V I was seeing was coming from.
This seems to be a different reason than a 'lights out sensor' conflict mentioned by DFlater but perhaps the solution is the same. My understanding about the adapter he linked to is that it provides some resistive load to the lights circuit so that the TV thinks there is are working bulbs attached. Maybe there is a capacitive element as well to smooth out the level.
DFlater, do you have the adapter already? Would you be able to measure DC and AC voltage with a multimeter across pins 1 and 3 of your 7-pin connector with and without the adapter connected?
I finally had a chance to dig out ye olde USB scope and have a look at the actual signal on the trailer wiring harness.
As you can see, there's a huge periodic drop in the signal which decreases to below 5 V (10x probe means actual scale is 5 V/div). The minimum camera operating voltage is 8V. The width of the drop looks like it's around 1 ms (2 ms/div).
Rather than to solve the noise for the entire trailer (the lights don't seem to care), I'm going to just filter the circuit to the camera. A diode and a cap that will store enough energy to keep the voltage drop less than 3V over 1 ms should do it (taking into account some diode drop before the cap). Per Furrion tech support, the camera draws 300 mA so roughly calculating C = I*dt/dV, I get 100 uF which is not a huge component at all.
If I go with something much bigger, say 2 x 470 uF, the voltage drop should be approx. 300 mA * 1 ms/940 uF = 320 mV. I expect the camera would work just fine with that.
I connected the adapter yesterday. It was an improvement, but not a complete solution, yet.
The unit boots up and provides an image. It disappears, with “no signal” after about 10 seconds, like before. Unlike before, it comes back, and disappears again. The timing is almost like it’s sequencing through the other three non-existent cameras, although the displayed camera number doesn’t change.
At the suggestion of Furrion tech support, I re-“paired” the camera and monitor. There was no change.
The saga continues!
Went with a little overkill and ordered 4 x 470 uF caps, a 3A diode and a prototyping board. With it all hooked up, the camera works just fine.
I ordered all the prototype parts from Digikey but that site suffers from the affliction of too many choices. Now that the proof of concept is done, I've ordered a 2nd set of parts along with an enclosure and terminal blocks etc. from bc-robotics.com. I'm so happy I stumbled upon their site, local company and the catalog is really geared towards hobbyists (e.g. they sell a specific proto board for the enclosure I ordered...good luck finding that on Digikey).
Couple pics attached of the protoype in situ and a scope capture of the unfiltered (yellow) and filtered (green) sides of the circuit.
Here are pictures of the final edition of the filter. I used Anderson power poles for the connectors to make it easy to go in/out (really wish Escape had an option for 'power poles everywhere' in the build sheet to make future work/mods/debugging easier). Was going to use velcro tape to stick it to the floor but went with 3m command strips instead.
So glad I got this all figured out. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to message me.
I’m having the same issue with my 19 escape and Mercedes Metris van. Just picked it up yesterday in chilliwack. I was told to go to the Mercedes dealership because it’s a 7pin issue. So far no luck. The solution you guys mentioned does not appear to be an easy fix is it?
It doesn't have to be difficult to be honest. I think I went overboard to keep the install clean. You could create the same filter with 1 diode, 1 cap, some electrical tape and connectors.
It doesn't really need to be in a case nor does it need to be removable.
I'll bet if you went to a decent audio installer and showed them this thread, they could do it for you with good quality.
Do you guys also have a problem with turn signals not responding on the escape? When I turn on my emergency lights, the escape will intermittently brake. Did you have this issue along with the wireless camera? I wonder if it is the same fix...
Do you guys also have a problem with turn signals not responding on the escape? When I turn on my emergency lights, the escape will intermittently brake. Did you have this issue along with the wireless camera? I wonder if it is the same fix...
um, you mean the brakes will actually engage ?? that suggests the brake controller isn't wired correctly.
the emergency blinkers should just be blinking the turn signals on the vehicle. there should be an isolator/converter between the vehicle brake/parking/turn signals and the trailer brake+turn and parking lights.
Can't say if this will work, maybe someone here knows how this device does the filtering.
I finally decided to work on this, had to crawl under the bed to find the wiring of the camera. I followed Chrisp35 but made a simpler build, I stuffed the filter into an old film canister mounted under the bed on the rear, driver side.
Linear Mode
