How To: Fit aftermarket Reverse Sensors

[Tonto]

Yeah that's all they want me to do as a final test as they seem to think it's a power fault and not a lot fault! So what would I do just press each wire to battery? I'd have to run a wire along out side of car though so not sure how this would help me...

[Rusty2009]

Leave the ground hooked to the chassis where it is and run a wire to + of the battery.

[Tonto]

Ok and when I turn car on do I just put it in reverse and it should do something or will I have to reverse to see if it beeps?

Also they did say to attach ground wire to - of battery

[Rusty2009]

Always take it off the chassis.

I would think you wouldn't need to start the car as the battery will give it power I guess they want to see if when you supply direct battery power if it will work or not.

If you have one of these it would save mucking around.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maplin-36W-Swi...5d535489cf

Or even a 9V battery may work.

[Tonto]

Huh I'm confused, leave the ground hooked to chassis or take it off? Also I'll just run cable to battery as I have 5m I got yesterday!

[Rusty2009]

Sorry meant always connect ground to chassis.

[Tonto]

Ok so don't attach it to battery like they said?? Only the red wire to +

[Rusty2009]

Yes mate

[Tonto]

Ok thanks I'll try that!

[Tonto]

@Rusty2009 which wire should I be splicing into?? As you can see I've had it on green but doesn't work, however just had it straight from battery and they work fine. Do you know what the purple wire is for?

[Rusty2009]

It should be the green IIRC unless they have changed it, I'll check in the morning mate.

[Tonto]

Yeah I had it on green :/ frustrating......

[tucpal]

my one was green and so was sheepy's it wont work till you select reverse
this must be so frustrating for you i would consider the ones sheepy got mate
and try a new there seems something very wrong here

---

you have used the left side for the rev light ??

[Tonto]

The sensors work perfectly fine when red wire is hooked to battery positive.. Yes mate definitely the left hand side, I can't really afford to buy anymore...

Yes very frustrating, but on a plus my footwell lights are working fine haha

[tucpal]

try this connect the yellow wire to the rev live and then ground the other in the back of the car then just run the red to the battery
positive and see if it works then if so the problem is that it needs a battery 12 volt worth a go

[Tonto]

its the yellow wire that needs to be attached to 12v. I tried that yesterday with the rear 12v socket (I believe its 12v, might need confirming) and it made no difference, if i connect the red to battery it will be on constantly.. red to reverse light, black = ground and yellow only if car has canbus (if sio it will need connected to a 12v wire). So unless the rear passenger socket isnt 12v then maybe thats why it didnt work, do you know where i could pick up a 12v wire easily enough from?

[Tonto]

Just been told j need black to ground red to reverse and yellow to at least 12v.. Or maybe connected battery! Dammit why this not easier lol!

[Rusty2009]

Right yes it's the green/white for rev light mate. (sorry I took a while just been doing the wife's brakes).

Well run a wire from yellow to battery red to rev light and black to chassis and see what happens.

Thinking about it mate I wonder if you could take power from the same place on the rear board as they did for my towbar.



I would advise an in-line fuse tho mate I would say the lowest you can get IIRC 1amp.

[Tonto]

Umm inline fuse lol, remember I'm a novice

I'll have a Google and see how difficult that is ideally get someone with a voltmeter to check its powerful enough.

[Rusty2009]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/In-line-blade-...460061e0bb

You may also want these mate
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100x-Blue-Full...4d2623c2d9

[Tonto]

Would I need the connectors? Thought his just splice the inline amp to that red wire ?

[Rusty2009]

You'll need the connector to fit into the fuse-board and TBH if you add a male and female to the wire it will give a better join as I bet your not soldering them.

[Tonto]

Nope just splicing and taping up lol! Ok I'll get them,

[Tonto]

This is driving me up the wall, popped in to asda and the sensors were beeping away when reversing, the when we got to the in laws I thought I'd have another go, they were bloody working again...

[Jj0063]

Looking at ordering some sensors & just come across this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HAWK-No-Holes-...4d306682e1

Anyone heard of this? Might give it a go, would prefer invisible!

EDIT:

Cheaper ones here too

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Invisible-Elec...27ff7e8941

[Jj0063]

Bugger it I've ordered the bottom link & will post how it goes lol.

[tucpal]

i have not seen them keep us updated it is worth a go

[pwheeler]

Excellent job sheppy1, and gave me the confidence to have a go at fitting some myself.

Had a bit of a head scratching few hours when I was doing mine as lost all power to the tailgate. Didn't realise until it started raining and I shut the boot, only to find that it wouldn't open again!! Managed to open it (eventually) using the manual override inside the boot, but just couldn't figure out what had killed the electrics, as I had only fed the new wire through to the tailgate ready to connect to the reversing light feed. Thought it might be a major fuse or a dodgy earth but in the end it turned out it was a connecting block in the boot pillar which couldn't have been connected properly. When I put my arm up the boot pillar to feed the wire through, I must have knocked the connecting block out. A bit awkward to join it back together blind but a big sigh of relieve when everything started working again.

Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else hits the same issue.

Thanks again for your brilliant guide

[djmaxi]

Great 'how to' Sheppy1.... ive got a quick question though, the wiring side isnt a problem, im pretty good with that kinda stuff...
what i wanted to know is what are the exact measurements of the sensors, measuring from the centre of bumper outwards to each sensor... i hope that makes sense.
That way the sensor can be marked and drilled without removin the bumper, and the wiring can be 'fished' through...

Any help from any1 who has fitted these would be appreciated.

Maxi

[sheppy1]

Hey mate!

No problem! Glad you're finding it useful and hmmmm wouldn't that be a tricky one to measure? Unless you've got a very keen eye I'm not sure how you'd be able to make sure that you're measuring from the centre of one to the centre of another...?

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[stigeye]

Easiest way to do that would be to run some white decorators tape along the front of the bumper and over the sensors and then mark the centre line of the bumper on the tape and the position of each sensor on the tape. Then peel it off and place it back on the bumper that you will be drilling, making sure the centre line on the tape matches the centre line of the bumper.

[djmaxi]

Hey, Thanks for your replies Sheppy1 and Stigeye,



This is what i was meaning!! - the sensors are in the centre of the little 'lip' bit above the number plate and below the contour line, which i can meaure and work out... its the distance between the sensors i need. See im about to tackle the project for my bro-in-law and he is a bit fussy with things ... and a bit wary bout me taking the bumper off!! lol.

Obviously Sheppy you have drilled the sensors in the exact locations marked on the 'underside' of the bumper, so if i duplicate the measurements on to his bumper they 'should' be in the same place - give or take a mil or 2!!

once i have them measuements, il mask off the bumper and mark it all up n then drill!

Thanks again for all the help - i appreciate it.

Maxi

[tucpal]

if you take the bumper off you will the marks for the sensors on the back of the bumper

[djmaxi]

Yes tucpal.. i get that bit... im tryin to do it WITHOUT removing the bumper!

Maxi

[Jj0063]

It's really not hard to remove the bumper, you're making life harder for yourself by leaving it on! You will never get it perfect without removing it.

[Tonto]

Even just running the wiring is going to be difficult with the bumper still on. So much easier to remove the bumper for this job.


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[sheppy1]

Yeah if have to agree you're better off removing it as the markers are already there... Only takes about an hour max to whip it off and that's if you take your time and have never done it before

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[djmaxi]

So, as the weather was boomin yesterday i decided to give this project as go for my brother in law, i followed the instructions as described by Sheppy1 and Rusty2009 - wasnt difficult at all...


Bumper removed - as Sheppy1 pointed out there was 2 screws behind the number plate which also had to be removed - apart from that it was pretty easy and straight forward enough...


Holes drilled and ready for sensors


Finshed job!!

I sprayed the sensors myself (colour code Z50B) - perfect match!

Massive thanks to Sheppy1 for the tutorial - made the job so much easier, and thanks to everyone else for their input.

Anyone in the Preston area who wants this done - give me a shout!! ;-)

Maxi

[Tonto]

Well done, looks very good!


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[sheppy1]

Nice work mate! Went all in too didn't you taking the wheels off as well! Those sensors look great too! Seem to sit just like the factory ones do rather than sticking out a little bit like mine.

More than welcome regarding the tutorial! Glad it was of use

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[djmaxi]

Cheers Sheepy1, if ur goin to do somethin do it proper - right?? Haha... yeh took wheels off as it made it so much easier to get to the 3 screws holding the bumper on...

The sensors are just some cheapy ones from ebay, have used them on other cars before... seem to do the job just fine...

Got a vectra to do next week too! ;-)

Maxi

[mart]

Just been reading through the posts on this thread as I am looking into adding parking sensors to my 2011 Astra.
Can somebody tell me if the sensors work OK with being wired to the reverse light feed. Not sure if you would have any issues with CAN-BUS. Do I have to buy sensors that work with CAN-BUS as I have seen some say there kits will not work with CAN-BUS.
Also I want to get a good colour match for my Astra, how easy is it to spray the sensors, Doesn't the paint stop the sensors working properly.
One other thing, I like the look of the sensors that are flush or don't stick out much. djmaxi red sensors look very neat where did you get them from (do you have a link).
Sorry if any of these questions have already been answered, I did have a good read through 1st tho.

[djmaxi]

Hi Mart,

I just wired mine to the reverse feed in the boot lid, and it does work perfectly, i didnt use CANBUS specific sensors, just some cheap ones of ebay - these are the same

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Parking-Re...lgo=origal

I sprayed them myself, got a local paint shop to make me an aerosol can with the exact match using the colour code from the label on door pillar. I sprayed a quick coat of grey primer first followed by 2 coats of the red and then a coat of clear lacquer - just light coats will do the trick and will not affect the way the sensors operate.

Hope that helps pal

Maxi

[mart]

Hi Mart,

I just wired mine to the reverse feed in the boot lid, and it does work perfectly, i didnt use CANBUS specific sensors, just some cheap ones of ebay  - these are the same

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Parking-Re...lgo=origal

I sprayed them myself, got a local paint shop to make me an aerosol can with the exact match using the colour code from the label on door pillar. I sprayed a quick coat of grey primer first followed by 2 coats of the red and then a coat of clear lacquer - just light coats will do the trick and will not affect the way the sensors operate.

Hope that helps pal

Maxi

That's the same type of parking sensors I have been looking at (curved inwards) don't look as big then I think.
What year is your Astra and what version e.g. SE, SRI etc.
I will take the reverse light bulb out to make sure it doesn't come up with anything on the dash to say the bulb is gone. That way I will know that the reverse light is not on the can-bus system if there is one or not.
Does the bumper fit back on OK, no gaps etc.
Any other tips or trick to help with this job

[sheppy1]

Even if the reverse light was on the Canbus system (not sure if it is) there would be no reason tapping into it would cause errors... Mine have never thrown up a single error and I've had them on for about 2 years now.

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[mart]

Also looking at this walk through guide, why do you tap into the reverse light positive wire in the boot lid by the bulb.
Wouldn't it be easier to tap into the same wire by the boot fuse box. That way you wouldn't have to feed the wire from the reverse light through the flexi hose all the wires go through to the boot lid. I know there will be more wires to go through to find the reverse wire but with a multimeter you should find it.

[mart]

I found a better place to tap into the reverse light positive feed. You don't need to tap into right by the reverse light and take all the boot trim off and feed wire through cable flexi hose.

Instead open the compartment on the left of the boot by the bot light and there are loads of wires and a connection box in there (see photo).



You will see a load of wires that come down from the rear pillar and it is taped into a bundle of wires (green and white wire). To make sure it is the correct one I put a pin into the wire and put a voltmeter on to check I got 12volts when in reverse

This will save loads of time, no need to take boot trim off, extend parking sensor live wire etc.

[mart]

I took the rear light cluster off yesterday to check the reverse light wire colour. When I put it back on I had a message on the dash saying Check left position light.
I must of knocked the rear left hand side light bulb or something as when I took it back off and messed with the bulb it disappeared again. However this morning the message is back again, must be a loose connection of something, any ideas ?

While I had the rear lights off I checked to see if I would get a message with the reverse light bulb taken out, but there wasn't. Seems strange that the rear lights are on the can-bus but the reverse light isn't.....

[mart]

It's ok now the error message has gone now, must of been a loose bulb or something.

Got my sensors this week and sprayed them up with silver lake metallic spray paint (see below). Will fit them this weekend it weather is ok.



Has anyone else sprayed there sensors with metallic paint?
Is it ok to use metallic paint, I forgot to check before I sprayed them?

Also should I spray with lacquer after?

[mart]

Tapped into the reverse light power today going to do the bumper tomorrow.

This is the wire i used behind the light in the boot compartment, so u don't have to run wires direct from the reverse light boot lid.
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