avic f900bt

Vehicle - 2003 Ford Explorer

I am getting ready to put an Avic F900Bt into it and came across a few problems reading through the install. I have installed a ton of stereo systems in the past but I have never installed a Nav system.

Reverse wire - Pioneer says it has to be hooked up for the accuracy of the GPS, is this true or will the GPS work just the same without it?

Reverse wire location, according to this https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp~TID~61361 it is the BLACK/ pink wire and I can find it going into the day/night rearview. Anyone know if this is true, just seems strange to have a reverse wire going into the rear view??

Pioneer install also shows a resistor inline with the reverse light. I got the unit from a friend and am not sure if I have the inline resistor. What size resistor would I need.

Speed signal, again Pioneer says it is for accuracy of the GPS, is this true and if I do need it anyone know where it is located? I did not see it in the alarm or stereo wiring diagrams that are available here.

Thanks.

If you do not connect the reverse wire, the only problem you will have is when you are backing up, the nav screen will flip upside down because it thinks you are driving that way.  With the reverse wire connected, it knows you are backing up and it keeps the screen oriented properly.

The wire is probably at the mirror, if it is a dimming mirror and they know you are backing up, it will defeat the dimming circuit to make sure you can see as well as you can through the mirror.

Speed sense will help if you do a lot of driving in tunnels or parking garages.  If you lose GPS signal, it uses speed sense to try and help keep track of where you are.

The resistor is not needed, but if you want to put one, I am pretty sure they use a 1K resistor on their voltage sense wires.

Well I decided to poke around last night to get a feel for how everything will go on the install.

The first positive is that the VSS wire is right behind the radio in a plug that I would assume went to an upgraded radio that had speed sensing volume. Since the wire is right there I might as well hook it up.

I need to hook up the reverse light as I am using a reverse camera. I looked at the wires going into my rear view and did not see a BLACK/ pink one. I will check again but I guess if it is not there I could always just tap the reverse light, I have to run the camera cable back there anyways.

For the resistor, Radio Shack is about the only thing local that I can get them from. They are showing 1/8 watt, 1/4 watt, 1/2 watt, and 1 watt 1k resistors. I take it I want the 1 watt or is that not big enough?

I know this sounds like a remedial question but does the resistor need to be wired in any specific direction?

The OEM resistors are 1/4 watt.  Resistors can be inserted in any direction.   Diodes and capacitors have to be installed in a certain manner, resistors do not matter.

So as long as I get 1/4 watt 1K ohm I should be good. Would it make a difference if lets say they only had the 1/2 watt or 1 watt in stock?

Drivers door sill harness, any clue as to where that would be located exactly?

Thanks for all the help.

1/2 or 1 watt will be fine.  Remove the trim piece that covers the carpet and the door frame.  There will be a harness that travels to the rear of the vehicle.  The wire will be in that bundle of wires.

Thats what I figured I just wanted to be 100% sure. I worked for about an hour on it last night. I got the radio in managing to keep the wires fairly neat behind the radio. I also have the GPS antena mounted in the middle of the dash right around where it hits the windshield, the microphone mounted at the top of the drivers A pillar, and the iPod connection ran to the center console storage bin. I tapped the VSS wire behind the radio and it seems to be working as the GPS is dead on.

I still have to run the back up camera, the problem I am having now is the camera is a license plate frame, the license plate goes on the door which lifts. So now my problem is two fold, I have to route the camera cable through the rubber sleve where the factory wires go to the lift gate which is kind of small. Next problem is figuring out how to get the wire into the door to make that happen. I am going to look at it a bit more and if I can't come up with a clean way of doing it I might just buy a camera that can be placed close to the bumper rather than on the license plate.

Actually  the diagnostic screen lets him know the VSS is working with those annoying speed pulse beeeeeeps

How do you get into the diagnostic screen so I can figure out if the VSS wire is working as it should be?