Parking Sensors

[Nibbo]

When I looked into this (a few years ago) I was advised by a friend who was an installer (up north, so he had no financial interest in selling me more expensive ones) that I shouldn't touch electromagnetic parking sensors with a bargepole. He claimed that they do not work well in bad weather, like rain and snow - which is just when you need them most. I would be very interested in hearing how they work from people who have fitted and use them first hand!

Well I don't think they are that bad. As I said I get the odd false beep when reversing in the rain but it is still better than not having one.
I would rather it beeped when there was nothing there than not beep when there was!
It's not like it goes off continuously or anything it's just the odd beep.

It could be (as Marque pointed out) that the height I installed it was not correct or that it requires adjusting.
I just fitted it and went, did not bother to fiddle with the adjustments so it may even be possible to eliminate the false beeps.

 

[markymark1]

Hi have fitted a couple of reversing systems bought from ebay and found them good, the best one i have has a lcd display and gives distances to each of the sensors and spoken audio that can be switched off, the idea of the strip sounds very good but bumper removal and cleaning would be required the drillable ones once painted to the colour of the vehicle can look like original eqpt.
But if you are going to fit you might as well do a proper job all wiring taped and you will probally have to drill a hole and grommet to enable the wiring to enter the car. The unit on the basic one fitted to my daughters car has the beeping box in the boot is quite loud enough if mounted in the cab would be quite annoying.The led display on the more expensive unit from the website looks quite good but needs to be wired so will be quite time consuming (have seen some wireless ones where no wiring to the display is reqd) all depends how much time you want to spend or have it fitted for you. Not sure if the lamp monitoring works on the reversing lights? as this is where the power is from.
Regards Mark

 

[marty359]

When I looked into this (a few years ago) I was advised by a friend who was an installer (up north, so he had no financial interest in selling me more expensive ones) that I shouldn't touch electromagnetic parking sensors with a bargepole. He claimed that they do not work well in bad weather, like rain and snow - which is just when you need them most. I would be very interested in hearing how they work from people who have fitted and use them first hand!

Ive got one and it works really well, my bumper strip is exactly 500mm high and fitted nicely behind it I didnt have to take the bumper off just the strip and drill a 6mm hole through the bumper to get the cable back into the boot.

As soon as it goes into reverse it gives an audible tone but sometimes if the bumpers wet or really dirty it gives a sort of confused different tone and i know not to trust it 100%.But when its dry it can get you just a 1 or 2 inches from the object before a constant tone.Works well for me but i dont often use the car the wet and never in the snow.

 

[julesg007]

Thanks for comments and advice.

Well I have gone for the PD1 system and hope that it works OK - main reason for getting this system rather than the traditional sensors is that I didn't want to be drilling the bumper and the required colour matching.

Got it via eBay from the same company - Parking Dymanics (sellers name on eBay is parking-sensor-direct) so saved a few quid and the system does now come with 2 strips as standard.

All I need to do is work out how to get my bumper off my CLK cab!!!!

Will update when fitted and hopefully will be able to get some pictures uploaded.

 

[Dave Richardson]

I fitted the Parking Dynamics kit

Ok, To begin with I purchased the PD kit with the vision sensor from Parking Dynamics e bay site which made the kit a little cheaper in full knowledge that it came without any retailing packaging or frills.

The item was delivered promply in a strong padded envelope which when opened contained a kit with 3 pages of instructions within a plastic bag.

I will admit at this point to being a little concerned as the antenna tape appeared to be little more than a small role of silvertape of about 10mm in width.

Yesterday being good weather I went for fitting, reading the instructions indicated a short length of 2 core cable to be placed between the control unit (ECU) and the antenna although this had to be fitted to 1 small spade terminal, since placing two separate wires together seemed incorrect I telephoned the manufacturer & got an answerphone; I left no message yet within minutes a very helpful person returned my call asking if he could assist me ( he must have used 1471), he assured me that it was correct to screw the two wires together & fit into the spade terminal.

Great so out to the car (W203 Sports Coupe) where I removed the rear bumper infill strips by unscrewing a single screw to the rear of the wheel arch and carefully removed the plastic clip retained panels easy & took only a few minutes.

I mounted the ECU in the o/s back arch just 6" away fro a good earthing point & fed the short length of cable through a grommet & existing hole in the bumper. Then I cleaned the rear of the infill panel strip & applied the tape to the o/s panel & centre rear panel leaving a reasonable amount of tape for the n/s panel. I then covered the narrow silver tape with 2" black gaffer tape for added security before refitting & insulating the single spade terminal with insulating tape. I refitted all infill panels & connected the ECU to the nearby earth point & o/s reversing light cable, placed the display unit on the parcel shelf & tried it out. At this point it didn't work & I checked all the connections again I telephoned the help line & again spoke the friendly fellow whose name I learn to be Ian, it transpired to be my simple fault in that the long cable that fits between the ECU & display unit was still wound up in bundle & once unwound & straighten out it worked well.

This part of the job turned out to the be simple & took roughly an hour.

It took almost as long to thread the cable under the carpets into the front car, the instructions recommend fitting the display unit above the rear view mirror ( MB int light prevents this) so I decided to fit the display in the cubby hole beneath the radio and it took almost an hour to remove the centre dashboard panel & drill a small hole for the cable to the display.
At this point a can of Boddingtons assisted in easing my frayed nerves & the dashboard went back easily & the display unit stuck with the cubby hole.

On testing the unit worked well with clear lights & fairly loud bleep, I tested by reversing towards my neighbours wrought iron driveway gates success! I reversed towards my neighbours car again success! & finally it picked up a stone statue placed on my driveway.

In conclusion,

My need to telephone the help line was entirely down to my easily made mistake & not due the product or manufacturer.

The Parking Dynamics electromagnetic system works well without the need to drill the bumper. The kit arrived quickly including instructions and an additional roll of tape should you need it, Ian who answered my enquires on the help line was very pleasant & extremely helpful, & the kit was easy & quick to fit.

Without doubt the most time consuming part was threading the cable to the display unit to the dash board, if I were to buy another unit from Parking Dynamics I would most likely opt for the cheaper option of having just a warning bleeper which could be fitted quickly in the back of the car without the need to lift carpets & remove dashboard panels.

Yes I would buy another kit & attached are some photos taken of the unit & method used to fit.

Dave

 

[buccal]

Hi Jules,

Sorry didn't spot your question earlier.

I haven't made any decisions yet re sensors.

Got a couple of tyres to sort out and a few bits and pieces first.

Hope the bumper comes off ok!

 

[Dave Richardson]

Jules,

If your rear bumper is similar to mine in the above photos it's easy , there is a small screw T20 I think at the front of the infill panel then simply & carefullly pull away from body.

Above is of course if you don't need to remove the whole bumper

dave

 

[jaymanek]

We have fitted these and they are good... no issues so far.. but you are right, no idea how some silver foil works as an accurate antenna..

 

[Dieselman]

no idea how some silver foil works as an accurate antenna..

Because it's metal, just like a regular metal mast.

 

[mw2510]

fitted pd sensors to mine a couple of weeks ago,
work very well but they do pick up rain and steam from the exhaust when first started. they still work in the rain but at a reduced sensitivity. all in all very pleased with them.

 

[leemanuel]

I installed them on the rear of my clk, got a factory replacement rail and recessed the sensors all painted up and that was 12 months ago - set was a cheapo from e bay.

i wanted to do a front kit too but backed out

 

[Laters]

I’ve had an 8 sensor (front and back) led unit sat in the shed for the last 4 or 5 months.

I just can’t bring myself to get the drill out & drill the holes (there are no markings on the inside of the bumper, I looked), I know how bad they can look if the sensors are not all inline etc (there are a few like that locally).

I thought about one of the electromagnetic types but read a few bad reviews here and there on the forums so decided not to bother.

After reading all the positive things people are saying about the pd1 I thought I would give it a go.
Ordered it from eBay so should be here in the next few days.:bannana:

 

[A210AMG]

I wasn't keen on drilling my bumper hence went for a two sensor kit and fitted them in the flaps that hold the bumper in so if I made a mistake new parts were much much cheaper than a new bumper.


Have to say after 2 yrs with them they have been great.


With my wifes car I'm tempted to try this strip as her bumper I wouldn't want to drill into...

From the reports on here they look very good

 

[Laters]

Got round to fitting the PD1 parking sensor to my car.
Tried it with the single strip & it worked fine but it wasn’t taking the extra depth of the towbar into account & when it went to 2 red bars on the display it was nearly touching the bumper.

Took the bumper back off and tried with 2 strips as per the instructions.
It took a couple of goes to get the spacing right so it worked at the correct point for the tow bar.

Overall it works quite well. Can be a little sensitive to high kerbs (no big problem) & it goes to the alert tone (with 2 red bars on the display) when something is 20-30mm away on the bumper corners. It is set so at maximum alert the towbar is 5 or 6mm away from the object so good enough for me.
Next problem was where to mount the display. I decided on the left side behind the rear view mirror.