Documenting for other 2008 H2 owners how to re-route the rear vision camera image to an OEM navigation unit when upgrading from the standard Radio/CD where the following are true:

• RPO code UVA - Radio/CD Player with Bose Surround System (standard on all 2008s so the wire harness on all 2008s for speakers is the same)
• RPO code UVC - Rear Vision Camera System

This would typically have been the 2008 Luxury H2 without Navigation. The addition of the navigation system would have replaced code UVA with UVB -- RPO codes are listed in the glove box.

Upgrading the OEM Radio/CD Player with an OEM Navigation system is the easy part:

• On Ebay, buy a navigation system
• Buy the OBDGenie programmer. It will synch the vehicle VIN with your new locked navigation system. Best $140 I spent... quick and painless.
• The following nav units should work: 25797978, 25846421, 15290453, 15882766, 15940102, 25797978, 25834541 - These units were used across GM, and will pop up the H2 logo on power up based on VIN
• The navigation unit is a direct plug&play for the Radio/CD player - Antenna + 4 connectors on the rear wire harness
• If you have SiriusXM, you need to add the navigation ID to your account and perform a refresh and you will be in business
• Test to make sure that the navigation system works.

After all that, two things will NOT work:

• The navigation system won't be able to locate you on the map, and the GPS symbol will appear with a red strike-out. The navigation requires one more antenna that the Radio/CD player did not have - the navigation GPS antenna that plugs into the blue plug on the back of the nav unit. This antenna is installed at the factory for RPO option UVB, but it is missing with RPO option UVA - see thread here to install part 25918632
• The rear vision camera image on the navigation screen when you go into reverse with appear black with no image. Vehicles with RPO code UVA (radio) have a different wire harness for the radio than vehicles with RPO code UVB (nav). The UVA wire harness does not have the wiring for the rear vision camera.

Vehicles with the UVA wire harness are missing the following on the X4 connector:

• Pin 5 = Vehicle Speed Signal -- We are going to ignore this for now as I don't think we need it. May need it for turn by turn instructions to function.
• Pin 6 = [White] Camera Signal +
• Pin 7 = [Light Blue] Camera Signal -

Interestingly enough, this means that the dealer never could have installed the navigation system with rear camera as a buy-up... if you wanted Nav and the rear camera, it would have had to have been optioned at the factory.

There appear to be three options to add the missing video signal while retaining the video in the rear view mirror:

1. Tap into the video wires as they come into the body on that huge driver's side wire harness behind the brake pedal and BCM as @HellHoof explained above.
2. Tap into the video wires as they head up to the mirror on the driver's side wire harness - which is much smaller, but densely packed and tightly wound -- I looked and did not find an easy place to do this.
3. Tap into the video wires at the rearview mirror and run the signal down to the navigation system - my choice
4. Install your own rear camera and run new video up to the navigation unit -- your only option if you did not have option UVC

I did not have the confidence that HellHoof did, and I avoided that huge wire harness out of fear. I am going with option 3, and will outline that here.

Option 3 Solution Overview:

NAV UNIT --> X4 pins 6&7--> 2 wire pigtail -> SMA Coax Pigtail --> 8ft RF Cable --> SMA Coax Pigtail --> MAGNA Mirror Connector Pins 1&2

To be confirmed, but I also believe that an H2 with the rear view video mirror with the pop-out screen (manufactured by Magna) has a different wire harness to the mirror than vehicles with the video in mirror option (manufactured by Gentex). I have the Magna mirror... and PIN numbers on the mirror may be different than vehicles with the Gentex mirror. ALSO - this write up does not apply to any vehicle without the UVC option for the rear vision camera. The only option for those vehicles would be option 4.


STEP1: NAV UNIT --> X4 pins 6&7--> 2 wire pigtail


The X4 connector is brown and here is the UVA wiring vs UVB:


Photo of the X4 connector and the PIN numbers for the bottom row are visible on the back. Top row is 1-8, and bottom is 9-16.


To add video to the stock connector we have to:

• Open the connector - this is actually not too hard
• Add two wires for pins 6 and 7 to provide video

OPENING THE X4 CONNECTOR:
The connector is straight forward to open. You need to pry from the rear while opening up the brown connector to release the white plastic wire retainer. I used a Leatherman leather punch tool to apply pressure from the rear, and two small screwdrivers to wedge open the brown plastic. Here are the steps to get two OEM wires and pins from the Silverado harness to reuse...




CREATING A VIDEO PIGTAIL
To add 2 pins to the OEM connector, I wanted to use OEM pins to guarantee that the pins would fit the X4 connector and fit like OEM. I purchased a used wire harness from a Silverado from 08. I could see in the Ebay photos that it had a connector just like the X4. I searched for Chevy Center Console Wire Harness. For some reason I could not find a cheap audio wire harness, but the connectors that plug into the center console rear climate controller are the same as this X4 connector. In the case of the Silverado it is Green instead of Brown. I bought this so I could pull the 2 wires and reuse for this video project. In the photo above, I pull the Brown and Brown/White wires and pins to reuse.



ADDING PINS TO THE X4 CONNECTOR:
Once the two wires with OEM pins are cut away from the OEM wire harness, I terminated them with a Molex 2-pin connector to allow easy connection to the rear camera wiring.



CREATING THE PIGTAIL
I wanted to preserve the signal so shielded wire was a must. Here I tested RG6 75ohm coax cable (standard cable) and LMR240 50ohm coax cable with an SMA connector (typically used for Wifi, Radio, Cellular). I found that the OEM video signal did not work using RG6. Worked perfectly with this thin LMR240 50ohm cable.I found all the parts needed on Amazon:

• 8ft XRDS-RF KMR240 cable with SMA ends - I could not find Male/Male... only Male/Female - 8ft is the perfect length to get from the mirror to the nav unit
• 2x Pigtails which were RG316 to go from SMA to bare wire to connect to the mirror and the pigtail coming out of the navigation system - I could not find matching LMR240 SMA to bare wire pigtails so went with RG316 which is close... both are better than the SiriusXM-style coax (RG174) that a lot of cameras use
• 1x SMA Female to Female Barrel Adapter - Cable Matters
• 1x EMI Shielding Tape - to wrap any unshielded wiring behind the navigation system and up by the mirror - called Faraday Cloth Tape
• 1x 3M Black Cotton Friction Tape to wrap the wiring and prevent rattles - this mimics how OEM wiring is wrapped
• 1x Molex 2-pin connector - small for 18-24 AWG wire - with crimp terminals

TESTING
To test and make sure the wiring is working, you need a video source, and I used a cheap aftermarket camera I had lying around that I got on amazon. Connect that video feed to this new wiring to test...

• Temporarily connect a test camera to the video wires +/-
• Disconnect the battery -- I found that the navigation system did not sense the new video signal until I did this.
• Plug the X4 connector into the back of the navigation unit
• Reconnect the battery and turn ignition to power on
• Shift into reverse, and if the wiring is good, an image will appear and you know this part is good

STEP 2: SMA Coax Pigtail --> 8ft RF Cable --> SMA Coax Pigtail

RUNNING WIRES FROM THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM TO THE REAR VIEW MIRROR
Now that the video input to the navigation system is ready, I needed to run wiring from the rear of the navigation system up to the rear view mirror.

Task 1 - Remove the OEM mirror

• Disconnect the rear-view mirror wire harness on the back
• Loosen the screw (should be a T20 Torx) on the mirror base that holds it to the windshield mount
• Slide up and remove - place in a safe place
• Save the wire harness cover that snaps into the top

Task 2 - Remove the overhead console with map lights.

• Carefully pop the clear plastic cover that is over the map lights - a small screw driver should work
• Under that you will see the two screws that connect the console to the headliner. Remove those.
• That will loosen up the front.
• Then the rear is held in place with two clips. Pull those gently down and out.
• The overhead console will then be held in place by its wire harness. It is strong enough to support the weight while the next few steps are done.

Task 3 - Remove the Drivers A Pillar Trim

• Pop the rubber out of the grab handle on the A pillar and there are two bolts holding it in
• Remove the two bolts and the grab handle can be pulled out - careful as it has small plastic guides that go into the sheet metal
• This is held in place by the door rubber seal. Pull that out so that the edge of the trim is loose
• The bottom of the A pillar trim is snapped into the upper dash panel near the windshield. Pull it forward while pressing down on the upper dash panel.
• It is also held in position by the wire harness to the speaker so it cannot be completely removed. It can be moved enough to get access to the wire channels in the A pillar

Task 4 - Pull the coax cable from the Mirror Down to the Nav system via the Drivers A Pillar.

• Tuck the cable under the front edge of the headliner with the end popping out right where the OEM mirror wire harness comes in
• There was an unused wire channel in the A pillar and this KMR240 cable fit in perfectly and securely
• Pop open the fuse box cover
• Optionally - pull the cover under the steering wheel off to have visibility to the path from the fuse box area to the nav system. This panel is called the knee bolster and does require you to remove two 7mm screws at the bottom + remove the hood release latch with one 8mm screw + pull two clips at the top edge + 1 clip at the bottom... pull the BOTTOM clip first as it cannot be removed if the top clips have been removed - pain to remove but gives better visibility
• Route that wire right alongside the mirror wire harness down under the fuse box towards the BCM... I followed the wire harness to the OBD connector... tied it to a wire harness on the steering column... and then it ended right beside an opening to the audio system

Task 4 - Connect the Cable to the Navigation System

Task 5 - Connect the Cable to the Rearview Mirror

• Here
  is a video on how to tap into the wiring on the mirror - Goto 12:30...

>> Stay Tuned - Next post will be about connecting to the Rearview mirror... I am working with a vendor to see if I can get a custom mirror wire harness to avoid any wire work at all... stay tuned. FYI the manuals do not correctly describe the mirror wiring for the 08/09 H2, so that has been fun.

 

Quick Update - I am working with a DashCam company to get a custom wire harness that will make it so there is no wire cutting. Just got the prototype, and pigtails are on the wrong end... so awaiting version 2. It did occur to me that this version is perfect to install the Gentex GENFDM3LN video mirror WITHOUT having to run a separate power line up to the mirror... will update that post shortly... Goal here will be to allow us to pull the video feed out of the OEM video mirror and route that down to the navigation system without touching a single OEM wire... plug the Mirror harness into one end of this, then the other end in the mirror... connect Blue and White wires (VIDEO) to the coax, tuck in the headliner and DONE.

This is the Video mirror pin out... I have pigtail wires for Video (pins 1 + 2 + 3) and Power (pins 8 + 13)



I plan to order a couple of these so if anyone else needs one I have some available.

I am trying to get them to create an integrated Dashcam for the H2 so that we get footage of the 4x4 trips - I have one of these for my other vehicles and it works great - see Mangoal

PROTOTYPE:

 

UPDATE: So while I am awaiting a new wire pigtail to send the video feed from the mirror down to the Nav system, I began experimenting with the Nav system. The H2s were built before the age of USB, and there is not an OEM option to add USB.
In 2010, GM introduced a USB port across the large SUVs, and the navigation systems have a rear USB port to support power and data to OEM installed USB ports. My question - is there any way to get a 2010-2012 navigation system to work in the 08/09 H2? The rear jacks are identical except for the USB port -- which uses a unique connector with USB-Mini connection.





So I bought two used ones off eBay, used the ODBGenie to program the VIN and they were bricked.

• They boot to the H2 logo - very positive - means that the H2 is still in the firmware even years after they were discontinued
• Then they go to a blue screen and no buttons function

I assumed that the firmware/EEPROM chip was on the main board, and I took the map DVD and CD/DVD components from the 2010 and moved them to a 2008 navigation system that I was testing that had a bad CD drive.

• I did not reprogram with the ODBGenie since the 2008 mainboard was already programmed
• It booted as expected
• BUT would not play audio
• And the standard play modes were missing: Normal, Driver, Surround
• So clearly it had a programming issue... is the firmware/EEPROM chip on the board under the map player and NOT on the mainboard??

Here you can see that all that shows up is TALK... which I have never seen before...



So on a hunch, I took the 2010 bricked navigation system, removed the map DVD and CD/DVD players, replaced those with components from the 2008 navigation unit, and drumroll...

• It booted and is FULLY FUNCTIONAL -- the 2010-2012 Nav system is working in a 2008 H2
• BUT, the USB port is not functioning, which was the whole point. BUT, it may be the cable I am using... I just ordered an OEM GM USB data cable... should have that in a day or two.

Could be the cable... but I think I need to also do programming with a TECH2... I see a FRONT INPUT under AUX that is greyed out... if that is the USB port, maybe I can update the programming to enable it... more to come.