Reversing cameras and parking sensors

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Technofreak

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Topic # 150495 24-Jul-2014 17:07

Has anyone got any recommendations on after market reversing cameras?

Which brand?

Wired V wireless.

Mounting position of camera and how hard it is to get it mounted in the correct position to show the right area and then does it stay in position?

Also has anyone any experience in fitting rear parking sensors?

How reliable are they? How hard are they to get positioned correctly?

Any other comments?

Thanks

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Reply # 1095082 24-Jul-2014 17:30

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I have had three cars with factory fit sensors and two with after market. The after market frankly were terrible with inconsistent range, the beeps sometimes sounded like they had colds and the sensors struggled with bumper film. The factory fits were by a long way superior. After market in my union is not worth it.

I only have experience with factory fit cameras, I don't really like them.

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Coil

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Reply # 1095089 24-Jul-2014 17:38

A friend has some after market ones and seem to work quite well.
But as Mike said experiences may vary.

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Technofreak

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Reply # 1095122 24-Jul-2014 18:06

KiwiNZ: I have had three cars with factory fit sensors and two with after market. The after market frankly were terrible with inconsistent range, the beeps sometimes sounded like they had colds and the sensors struggled with bumper film. The factory fits were by a long way superior. After market in my union is not worth it.

I only have experience with factory fit cameras, I don't really like them.

Thanks. what you say is what I kind of figured might be the case with the sensors. Did you have them professionally fitted? Did you do them yourself, if so how fiddly/difficult were they to fit?

Sounds like they might be hit and miss.

For my money the cameras seem to be a better bet, for after market.

One of our cars has both the rear sensors and the camera as factory fits, they both work well though I don't bother much with the camera.

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Technofreak

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Reply # 1095123 24-Jul-2014 18:07

TimA: A friend has some after market ones and seem to work quite well.
But as Mike said experiences may vary.

Did your friend fit them himself or have done professionally?

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RunningMan

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Reply # 1095133 24-Jul-2014 18:32

Fitted a couple of sets of sensors - just cheapo type ones. Fairly easy to fit - just need to work out where you want the sensors (some cars have it marked on the inside of the bumper) and go through the bumper with holesaw, then thread all the wiring through and connect in to the reverse light circuit.

Wiring is the most time consuming, especially if you have a towbar and want the sensors to disable when towing.

Also consider getting sensors that are already the correct colour, or factor in getting them painted.

Technofreak

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Reply # 1095301 24-Jul-2014 23:21

RunningMan: Fitted a couple of sets of sensors - just cheapo type ones. Fairly easy to fit - just need to work out where you want the sensors (some cars have it marked on the inside of the bumper) and go through the bumper with holesaw, then thread all the wiring through and connect in to the reverse light circuit.

Wiring is the most time consuming, especially if you have a towbar and want the sensors to disable when towing.

Also consider getting sensors that are already the correct colour, or factor in getting them painted.

Thanks for that info. Did they work reliably?

The towbar issue will crop up, but with the system only being powered with reverse selected is that too much of a problem?

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Dynamic

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Reply # 1095310 24-Jul-2014 23:54

I had some cheapie sensors fitted to my Subaru wagon, and declined the LED readout they wanted to fit to the dash.

They are over-sensitive on all but the smoothest of driveways and noisy as hell, so I shoved some blu-tak into the noise-maker. Good volume now. I'm satisfied with the $100 spend, and now know when my rear bumper is 0.6m from an object (beeping turns to a constant noise) and when I am getting close to that object (beeps get faster). I now squeeze into parallel parking spaces that I would not have attempted in the past.

For me this makes the camera unnecessary though it would be a nice extra.

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richms

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Reply # 1095311 24-Jul-2014 23:56

I have used a couple of cars with them and found the camera hopeless. One of them had no view of the immediate behind of the car, just going miles and miles off, so you couldnt use it to get the towbar directly under the trailer hitch etc, the other had some view of the towbar but was at a weird angle so it wasnt actually directly below the camera, so it was hard to line up exactly.

Sensors are always wildly over excited at moderate distances and dont seem to have any resolution between 200-300mm of gap and oops I touched. Again I fail to see the point when the sensors start to go off when there is enough room to get a wheelbarrow thru the gap or more.

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Reply # 1095348 25-Jul-2014 06:53

You get what you pay more in terms of sensors - the cheap ones are perfectly fine, but don't seems to respond as rapidly as some of the newer factory fitted cars do - found them fine for tight parking spaces and that sort of thing when you are going slowly, but a bit less sensitive at higher speed (it's all relative though, you don't go that fast in reverse!).

As for towbar wiring, the standard solution is a trailer plug with a reed switch and magnet in the flap, so the earth circuit to the sensors is broken when the trailer plug is in use.

MikeB4

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Reply # 1095368 25-Jul-2014 08:17

Technofreak:
KiwiNZ: I have had three cars with factory fit sensors and two with after market. The after market frankly were terrible with inconsistent range, the beeps sometimes sounded like they had colds and the sensors struggled with bumper film. The factory fits were by a long way superior. After market in my union is not worth it.

I only have experience with factory fit cameras, I don't really like them.

Thanks. what you say is what I kind of figured might be the case with the sensors. Did you have them professionally fitted? Did you do them yourself, if so how fiddly/difficult were they to fit?

Sounds like they might be hit and miss.

For my money the cameras seem to be a better bet, for after market.

One of our cars has both the rear sensors and the camera as factory fits, they both work well though I don't bother much with the camera.

I had the after market ones professionally fitted.

Mike
Retired IT Manager.
The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

It's our only home, lets clean it up then...

Take My Advice, Pull Down Your Pants And Slide On The Ice!

Coil

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Reply # 1095378 25-Jul-2014 08:29

Technofreak:
TimA: A friend has some after market ones and seem to work quite well.
But as Mike said experiences may vary.

Did your friend fit them himself or have done professionally?

Came on car but from the finish of the job definitely looks professional.
His ones have a little car picture that will also flash on what side its detecting them on.

Factory fit ones usually get tied in with the surround sound, Hence working well. Those people that just throw one on each corner and just hear this bleep cant identify where they come from. His are only on the back so it doesnt give mixed feedback.

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Dynamic

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Reply # 1095380 25-Jul-2014 08:34

richms: I have used a couple of cars with them and found the camera hopeless. One of them had no view of the immediate behind of the car, just going miles and miles off, so you couldnt use it to get the towbar directly under the trailer hitch etc, the other had some view of the towbar but was at a weird angle so it wasnt actually directly below the camera, so it was hard to line up exactly.

That seems silly... having a camera to line up a towbar would be half the point of getting one if I decided to add one!

Sensors are always wildly over excited at moderate distances and dont seem to have any resolution between 200-300mm of gap and oops I touched. Again I fail to see the point when the sensors start to go off when there is enough room to get a wheelbarrow thru the gap or more.

I think it is to give a little 'reaction time' if you are reversing at any more than a crawl. Mine was handy a few weeks back when me and the person in the supermarket angle park exactly behind me both started reversing out at the same time - slowly fortunately.

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Reply # 1157881 19-Oct-2014 14:15

@Technofreak, did you progress this installation any further? I have to replace the rear bumper of my car after someone kindly backed into it with their towbar. So was considering getting reversing sensors fitted while the bumper was off.
I have seen after market reversing cameras for sale as well, including wireless ones. Does anyone have any comment on their effectiveness?
The car is not worth a fortune so don't want to double its value by installing an all singing and dancing setup. Just want something to stop me causing the same damage to someone else's car as was done to mine.

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richms

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Reply # 1157892 19-Oct-2014 14:40

Wireless ones are 2.4GHz and in the one I used it was constantly lighting up the screen because of all the interference from bluetooth and wifi looking like a signal. And when it was in reverse it was hard to see because of all the interference over it.

Richard rich.ms

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Reply # 1157911 19-Oct-2014 15:42

When I bought our new Honda 2 years ago, I had proximity sensors factory fitted as an option (they should have been standard equipment).
We had recurrent problems with flat starter batteries (replaced twice at Honda's expense).
It was eventually discovered that the sensors had been wrongly wired "always on" rather than only when the ignition was on.
The car was normally parked against a wall which the sensors detected, draining the battery (silently).
No problems since this was fixed.

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