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Posted

I've just bought a rear parking sensor kit from Ebay. Looks very straight forwardbut an having a problem with the power. The instructions say to pick up power for the unit from the reversing lights. There are two wires and it says that the red wire should connect to reversing light live (positive) and the black light to the reversing light negative.

Now what i did was connect to the live from the lights but just connected the other wire to a local earth which I thought would be the same as the negative. When I did this the buzzer is on continuously.

Can anyone shed any light on this or has done it in the past.

Hope it makes sense.

Posted (edited)

Reverse light negative just goes to local earth so it should be ok.

I know this may be a bit obvious but does the buzzer sound when not in reverse?

If it sounds when in reverse then check the sensors, do you have a towball?

Edited by MADBAZ
Posted

Fitted some on mine a couple of weeks ago.

 

If you are fitting the unit in the o/s rear compartment (the one where the jack is stored) fix the red to the thick black/blue wire in the connector found just in front of the rear light cluster. That is the reversing light live on wire.

 

I just opened the connector, squished (technical term!) the wire in to the receiving side and reconnected.

 

Just fix the black to a screw or nut on the body work. There are plenty in the compartment.

 

Let us know how you get on.

Posted
Thanks for the replys so far. Forgot to mention a couple of things. I set up all the wiring before I actually fitted the sensors in the bumper so I just had one loose and not near anything when testing and the buzzer did turn off when reverse was disengaged. The other thing is that it is in my new S-Max (scandalous I Know) and I found the correct wire before it went into the tailgate loom using my volt meter. Well I think it is the correct one as I got a 12 volt reading on it when reverse was on and no reading when off so does that make it the right one?
Posted
Sounds good to me Dave ...... I know mine are activated by selecting reverse or if I push the parking switch to on. The front are also activated at the same time and all are automatically deactivated when selecting second gear. Question: .... would you want to manually deselect them?
Posted
When I still had my Gal Ghia, I never touched the manual switch and left them on the whole time. I've since spoken to the people I bought them from and they said that I should actually fit them all in the bumper before doing any tests. Not convinced that will turn the buzzer off but will give it a try.
Posted
Took the plunge today and actually fiited them properly (I did hate drilling the holes in the bumper) and lo and behold, they do work. Very pleased with them and was quite easy in the end. Buzzer could do with being a tad louder but I can always change that at a later date.
  • 8 months later...
Posted

Why bother with Parking Sensors, I can park within an inch of a wall or white line -----------

 

My trick is to look in the driver's door mirror - at the bottom edge of the rear mudflap.

 

When that bottom edge is in line with a white line, or the bottom of a wall, I am exactly one inch away.

 

Or lay a stick on the ground 2 / 3 inches in front of the trailer hitch, and I can stop exactly right to couple up my trailer, etc.

 

If you want to try it out, use an empty part of your supermarket carpart for a practise -- without hitting anything, or take an cardboard box as your target.

 

I tried it out at midnight !

 

Clockie

Posted

On reading this again - I would add that you of course do not park with the mudflap directly over the white line and you would have surely hit the wall.

 

What I mean is using the line of sight from the driver's door mirror to the bottom edge of the mudflap - when the bottom edge appears to touch the line or the bottom of a wall, your bumper is exactly one inch away !

 

You may have to double check with your mudflap - cos your mudflap may be a bit longer or shorter than mine.

 

Clockie

 

ps, Without my hearing aid which I do not wear when driving alone - I do not always hear buzzers etc -

 

so I think I would hit more things with a Parking Sensor, than my line of sight method

Posted

of course being able to judge distance correctly is a plus :lol: ..or just stop when you bump into something :(

 

your bumper may be an inch away., but what if you have a towbar that sticks out more than an inch??buggered eh?

Posted

If youv'e got a towbar - I'm fitting mine tomorrow - you simply judge where you have to stop before the line of sight mudflap reaches the line or wall.

 

When I've fitted my new towbar - I will be up Tesco's late evening for another practise in the car park, complete with a cardboard box.

 

I've driven lorries, giant combine harvesters, farm machinery, and all sorts of vans and cars - so have learnt a few tricks of reversing etc.

 

Great fun reversing four wheel farm trailers.

 

And can also reverse a Canal Barge/Boat without moving the rudder 1 $ !

 

Us lipreading hard of hearing people, have a lot more fun than you so called normal hearing people - traffic jams are a lot of fun - reading other people's conversations.

 

Lipreading makes you so much more observant, of all sorts of things - my passengers are always surprised at what I notice on my travels,

 

so judging reversing is very easy.

Posted

the word 'normal' has no definition, as what is normal?? must mean my daughter isnt normal then...and that is sooo not a PC thing to say!!!!

 

Lip reading is easy as i learnt to do it a long time ago.

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