Another TS member (1tundradude) discovered in a Toyota document that the supply voltage for the back-up camera is supposed to be between 5 and 7 volts.
I've been running it at 12v for the last four months without any problems but if the spec says it should be lower this will no doubt extend the life of the device.
Luckily, this is an easy fix - all that is required is a Voltage Regulator.
I had on hand an
NTE956 which is a generic version of an
LM317. This is an adjustable voltage regulator whose output is set with a simple voltage divider:
A couple quick calculations finds my resistor values (R1 = 100ohms and R2 = 420ohms) and I can solder it together. Of course it is rare to find the exact values for resistors so I had to put a 220 and a 200 in series. All these parts should be available at Radio Shack, BTW.
Works like a charm. Regardless of my input voltage, the output remains steady at 6.76v:
A bit of heat shrink to protect the contacts:
And solder it in line:
As an added bonus, much of the video noise I previously had on the display has cleaned up. Musta been pushing the video amplifiers too hard.