This is on a 2005 F-150 Lariat so it could be different for different model years. I looked on the forums for 2 days to nail down the location of this wire. I saw different posts some saying the wire was green, others saying it was black and pink. All posts agreed it was in the kick panel but they could not agree if it was on the passenger side or driver side.

I finally found my wire which when your truck is reverse and the key is on, becomes hot and will activate a reverse/backup camera and or the backup feature on your double din head units.

Mine was located on the drivers side kick panel. There is a grey connector secured with a bolt through the center. If you look towards the back of the connector (towards the firewall) you will fine a black wire with a pink... almost purple stripe. I probed the wire and determined it only becomes hot when the truck is in reverse and the ignition is on. I tapped into the wire, and then taped it off.

I took a few photos in hopes that I could spare someone else the trouble of probing a ton of wires "I must of probed 10 different wires combined". Hope this helps someone.

 

The truck's reverse circuit is black w/ pink stripe wire at the rear of the truck, and it changes to Dark Green w/ Yellow stripe wire at connector C405. In the driver's side kick panel the Dark Green w/ Yellow stripe wire splits off to the Park Aid module and to the electrochromatic mirror and back towards the source at the DTR ( Digital Transmission Range ) Sensor.

Both kick panels is the correct answer for the black w/ pinks stripe wire.

The wire you found is the output of the trailer tow adapter reverse circuit, after the trailer tow reversing lamp relay in the fuse panel on the passenger side.

This is why both the passenger and the driver's side is the correct answer for the trailer tow adapter reversing circuit that you are using in this case.
It is not wrong to use this, just be aware that if for some reason you pull the trailer tow reversing relay or fuse #10, the circuit you are using will be dead, and the truck's reverse lamps will still work.

 

Well I guess that solves it!. I tried the passenger side first and could not locate the black and pink wire but either way this should help people. Thanks for the info. I do not plan on ever pulling the fuse so I should be good to go.

 

Just wanted to clarify the confusion on the where.
By the fuse panel is not the easiest of places to find things.
To add insult to injury, the Dark green w/ yellow stripe wire is in connector C270B and the output of the trailer tow reversing relay is in connector C270E.
The circuit supplying power to the DTR is a Light Blue w/ pink stripe wire, also in C270B.

Also just looked at an electronic copy of the reverse lamps diagram, and it shows the trailer tow reversing relay as non serviceable ( i.e. soldered into the fuse panel ).
So remove that from the "what if" list above, it is now just the fuse.

- There is a bit of contradiction from electronic to print at time, depending on the revision of the print copy.

** I'm going to send off a PM to have this moved to the technical articles sub forum, they will clean up my BS'ing posts when they move it.

 

What is the purpose of finding this wire?

If you are trying to splice in a switch so you can power up the camera while not in Reverse, will it also activate the back-up lights?

 

He's trying to find this wire to turn the camera on while in reverse and off while not in reverse... and to answer your question about backfeeding... if you wanted to do what you were suggesting you use a relay to run the power source thru and couple that with a diode coming from the reverse wire banded towards pin 85 on the relay and power will only flow in the desired direction and not back feed...

 

Interesting. When I did mine I just spliced into the drivers side reverse lamp and ran the wire along with the cable to the camera.

 

I did the same thing however I had to manually activate the camera. I connected a green/white wire coming out of the head unit to the aforementioned black/purple wire and presto. Cam comes on automatically in reverse. I used a T tap on both ends in case I need to disconnect in the future.

 

My friend you just saved me a ton of time and work... Wire was exactly where you said and color is right (black wire with a pink... almost purple stripe).... Thanks

 

 

For me, the simplest solution was to tap the reverse lamp for power.......at the lamp. Just remove the tail light housing, remove the reverse lamp, and test to verify which wire gets power when you shift into reverse. Then use that for both the camera, and monitor. Some RCA cables have an extra red wire on either end, just for the purpose of sending the trigger signal back into your cab to trigger the monitor in your head unit. If you're simply installing an aftermarket monitor which clips onto the mirror or mounts onto the dash, the reverse lamp wire can power that also.

That being said on the last vehicle I installed a camera into, 2016 Ford Transit Connect, all the wires in the tail lamp were black.

 

From Haynes Manual

 

 

I am trying to this in an 02 ford escape and am having no luck I have tapped both wires from the taillight to the cluster and one works all the time and the other works except for when in reverse and I am connecting to an aftermarket stereo with backup camera option any help on how to set the activation cause I have no stereo with the options I have tried