Park Disctance Sensor

[geoz]

hi,

need a little help again.
i find the disco is a real nightmare to look out of during reversing. it is ok if you know what is behind you, and most things you'd reverse into would probably suffer more damage than the disco anyway, but there may be a kid there, too, and you'd never see that.
anyway, since my wife will be mostly driving the disco (no point in me driving it to work, no bloody parking in the city) i'd like to install a pdc system. there is a few around for little money, and they seem to be easy to install, too. has anyone istalled one in his car?
the thing i am still struggling with is how / where to run the cables from the sensors to the inside of the car, and where to put the control box.
i thought about placing the control box in one of the rear pillars next to the reversing light, is there an easy way to run the wires down the pillar? where do the wires for the bumper lights go out - that would probably be a good place?

thanks

georgie

[Blknight.aus]

fitted to the toyota torago, tarago, whatever. as an option is a mirror on an arm...

If yours Is a D1 you can fit that same arm to the left side body pillar where the spray nozzle for the rear wiper comes from, works like a dream for the bloke I fitted it up for..

In place of normal nuts and bolts I inserted the same nut tabs that a, for the life of me I cant remeber the name of right now and b, hold the door hinges on on a series/perentine. then drilled out the mount for the mirror to suit the larger bolts, Jobs done, convex reversing mirror that does the same as all the electronic gimmicky.

[ladas]

I have installed one in my D2, very easy - I mounted the controller in the rear qtr panel - behind the little vent - and I ran the cables under the vehicle (in a thin plastic/poly flexi pipe/conduit) to the engine bay, then through one of the main grommets into the passenger compartment (behind the fuse box under the steering col).

Took me about 3 hours. However I used surface mounted sensors - mounted to the underside of the bumper - I really didn't fancy cutting 5 holes in the plastic of the rear bar. and from memory there wasn't much space between the plastic and the metal of the bar.

[Larry]

Another option is a reversing camera.

In our Disco 1, I mounted the camera under the window brake light - out of the elements & cables are already inside. The screen is to the right of the centre mirror.

It eliminates the side blind spots as well (I have the display via the key so it's on when I going forward & backward).:angel:
When a car is coming up beside me, I can still see the rear of them in the screen as the front comes into view beside me.

When I bought it in August last year, I paid $399, a couple of months later the same shop had them for $299.:angry: Like most things, they get cheaper & cheaper all the time.

Larry.

[geoz]

thanks for the tips, i'd still like to stick with the simple pdc (beeping only, no displays or leds) solution for a number of reasons: simplicity and i figure it is a quite fast & unintrusive install.
since most pdc systems live off the reverse light i figure i position the controller & the beeper close to the reverse light, and then try to run the wires out from there. any ideas where the best place is to do so?
ladas, thanks for the tip with the distance between plastic bumper and steel, will have a look at that. i have no problem drillin ght eholes, i'll plug them up anyway. :)

cheers

georgie

[ladas]

If you just want the buzzer, then all you need is an extra live feed to where you want the buzzer.

On some Disco's there is a permenant live in the trailer socket wiring - also located behind the offside light cluster (offside = drivers side)

If you can't find a permenant live - it's easy enough to run a supply (fused) from the battery , underneath the vehicle an up into the 'void' at the back of the rear light cluster - there is a large opening from the void underneath. It is certainly big enough to get the five sensor wires up (even when fitted with BNC plugs and the power wire)

Of course the type of controller you use may not need a permenant live, then in that case you can just tap into the reversing light wire - straight to the unit, and that makes it a very easy job.


thanks for the tips, i'd still like to stick with the simple pdc (beeping only, no displays or leds) solution for a number of reasons: simplicity and i figure it is a quite fast & unintrusive install.
since most pdc systems live off the reverse light i figure i position the controller & the beeper close to the reverse light, and then try to run the wires out from there. any ideas where the best place is to do so?
ladas, thanks for the tip with the distance between plastic bumper and steel, will have a look at that. i have no problem drillin ght eholes, i'll plug them up anyway. :)

cheers

georgie