Guide To Fitting Rear Parking Sensors Focus Mk2.5

[jeebowhite]

well if your going in there anyway you might as well :)

[MarkR]

I'm at the stage of marking the spot to drill on my mk 2.5. I can see the circles behind the bumper, but I'm having trouble finding a way to mark it from the inside. Anyone any suggestions? Or measurements from the outside?

[Dee_82]

I got a caliper working out the measurements, then set a protractor to the same diameter and draw a circle on a piece of paper. The hole is your guide, line the circle up, us a pencil in the hole and ta daa, thats your guide, I used a knife to push outwards making the raised bump on the outside did the same on the outside to mark your drill point and off you go

[jeebowhite]

guestimate is enough. All I did was aimed for the centre of the circle and used a tiny drill bit to drill a hole from the back of the bumper through the middle and to the outside as a pilot gauge. then I just adjusted visually from the other side, so one or two of the holes where a little too high, I just moved the cutter bit a little to relflect it and go from there :)

It was easy and did a very good job, better than doing nothing at all!

[sonic113]

I did something similar to James. I got a sharp nail and pushed it through the middle of each circle from the back of the bumper (rear bumper still on the car) until i could see it starting to make an indent on the outside. Then i just drilled the indent from the outside right through with the correct size drill to suit the size of the parking sensor. My drill bit came with my sensor set.

[chubsy]

Thanks for posting this guide. I ordered the kit on Friday and fitted it in a couple of hours on Saturday thanks to the superb instructions in your guide. I have a factory fitted diffuser fitted at the rear and was expecting problems fitting the kit but your images and description led me through the process step by step

[jimimaseye]

HI chaps.

I have read every page of the 14 pages of this thread so far due to my keeness to install some of these sensors.

I had 2 questions to ask and have come up with further questions due to the lack of clarity in the reply, so maybe you guys can help me here. I'll explain:

I have a standard FOCUS 1.8 Titanium TDCI Silver 2008. I assume this means its the mk2.5, and 'moondust silver' is the official name of the colour. Please correct me if these assumptions are wrong.

First I wanted to know whether the BEEP BEEP sound comes out of the black box (control unit, going in the boot) or whether its actually from the LCD screen. So i contacted the supplier on eBay (as posted and referred to by Preee) who informed me that the sound came out of the LCD unit.

Quote:

"Hi, it is the display that does the beeping. The sound is not loud enough to be heard from the front if it was placed in the boot, as it's not designed that way.

We have a newly designed buzzer kit, and you place the buzzer in the boot and it's loud. See item number below:

370661224258"

I then decided that the LCD unit wasnt for me (no place for it, will 'clutter' the inside of my car, and generally like most of standard fitted cars isnt necessariliy necessary). So I would like to take the 'audio only' version. So reading this thread further it seems that the 'audio only' version does have a significantly loud beep to compensate being buroied in the back of the boot.

QUESTION1: Can you confirm this? Is the audio only version (without the LCD screen) loud enough to rely on without frustrations if installed and positioned where Preee has suggested? And where is the 'speaker' installed in such an occasion? Still in the boot at the side of the main black unit?

In the email you can see he pointed me to a 'new modern' model specifically for a CANBUS car (which is £3 more). I am not sure whether this is relevant to me (Im not fully understanding this CANBUS thing and whether my car cares regarding the reversing light. I do know a simple LED replacement bulb DIDNT work in my reversing light but did on an older car which I concluded it must be this CANBUS incompatibility thing). So has anyone else bothered with this.

So, QUESTION2: Am I safe to just take the 'non-canbus specified' version (such as http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230384815553) as maybe the rest of you have taken, or do I need this particular CANBUS version? (If you want, you could explain the relevance of CANBUs to me for future knowedge and discussion)

(Question 3: Is the 'silver' from these CISBO sensors really a good enough match for my silver 2008 focus, in your opinion?)

I hope this makes sense, thanks for your help.

[Dee_82]

QUESTION1: Can you confirm this? Is the audio only version (without the LCD screen) loud enough to rely on without frustrations if installed and positioned where Preee has suggested? And where is the 'speaker' installed in such an occasion? Still in the boot at the side of the main black unit?

In the email you can see he pointed me to a 'new modern' model specifically for a CANBUS car (which is £3 more). I am not sure whether this is relevant to me (Im not fully understanding this CANBUS thing and whether my car cares regarding the reversing light. I do know a simple LED replacement bulb DIDNT work in my reversing light but did on an older car which I concluded it must be this CANBUS incompatibility thing). So has anyone else bothered with this.

So, QUESTION2: Am I safe to just take the 'non-canbus specified' version (such as http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230384815553) as maybe the rest of you have taken, or do I need this particular CANBUS version? (If you want, you could explain the relevance of CANBUs to me for future knowedge and discussion)

(Question 3: Is the 'silver' from these CISBO sensors really a good enough match for my silver 2008 focus, in your opinion?)

I hope this makes sense, thanks for your help.

Q1 The Audio without the panels on is like a small bomb going off, with the panel on and the buzzer right in the back corner, you can hear it a plenty, put some music on as well if you like.

Q2 no idea, I cant for the life of me see why it wouldn't work, its just drawing a few mA more on the revers light, hell I have spliced on not only a second reverse light but also the wee ford badge and reverse sensors of it without any bother but im not an expert on these things. on second thoughts, doesn't the trailer light connector just run off those wires as well? if slapping a trailer on doesn't create a problem im sure this wont, I always thought that the problem was if the wire draws too little current, ie LEDs, it thinks its broken.

Q3 The silver is a spot on match, my partner thought id taken it to Ford to do and was giving me grief for shelling out £200 on it, I was sitting there beaming from ear to ear as she thought it was that good!

:)

[jimimaseye]

Cheers Dee for 'Darren'! I think your analysis of the current (and LEDs being too little) explains why the LED light bulb I bought simply doesnt didnt work (I gave it away). I will go for the standard audio-only set then and hope its all good. You hapy with yours? (The 'Bi-bi-beeeep' working well within the distances? Where did you get yours from (got a link?).

I suppose I am not the only one that thinks that sticking a single standard reversing light rather than a double, in the opposite corner, on a car with blackened windows, is just a ridiculous concept and made it practically pointless. At night, where I live and park on a communal yard, I have to turn on my fog lights when reversing to give that extra chance of not hitting the other cars. (I see the recent model of focus they have FINALLY realised and installed 2x reversing lights). To add my own insult into my existing injury I even paid to replace a faulty reversing-switch on the gear box in August just to give me that candles-worth of light. At least if I get these sensors that switch replacement will be more justified.

[Dee_82]

Im happy with shelling out 16 quid on it!

It isn't 100% perfect, if reversing down a slope it can get a bit excited, if its !Removed! down with rain it can sometimes get a bit "twitchy" in that it can have a moment or two before it sorts its self out, usually just beeps for no apparent reason, taking it out of reverse and putting back in again usually sorts it. the angle on the two side sensors is such that if your backing in to a drive with a hedge on the side its close enough to get it beeping, I don't think better units would handle much of that any better, perhaps the rain might not impact on it so much.

Anyhow, its a steal for £16 and have no regrets or thoughts of upgrading it.

The distances got me a little nervy to start with, but I think that's more to do with me only just getting a Focus, with its bigger back end it felt like I was getting way to close but on single beep your getting about 2.5-3 foot, progresses to single tone at around 20cm, never came close to hitting anything.

The second light is a god send, my drive is black at night and the rear of the car is about 15CM from a hedge on one side and the house on the other, I could see the hedge fine but the house was a problem and because of the hedge I cant rely on the reverse sensors. used to have to just line up on the hedge and hope to miss the house, so second reverse lamp went in, connected up a Cree to them both and its sorted, next job is to finish off the other side by adding a second fog light

[jimimaseye]

Im interested in hearing about this second reversing light. Perhaps you could explain to me how and where you got the lighting from and how you did it. (Maybe a PM to me so as to not diverse on this thread, or at least another thread). I have always wondered about doing it but couldnt understand what would then happen to my fog light. As it happens, I live in Europeland so buying a standard replacement clear reverse-light unit for the back-right isnt a problem (in Europe thats the standard reverselight side) but I guess this isnt what you have used. I have also been looking at brighter lights too (you mentioned CREE) but Ive seen varying opinions on whether they really are a lot brighter or just perceived to be. (Prices seem to be severe too). Question: have you ever been a victim of this weird craze of stealing Ford wheel caps yet? I have had 4 stolen on 3 separate occasions. So I made a slight adaptatino on the hope the foreigners are no longer insterested in mine (see Avatar)

[Dee_82]

Just follow Lennys superb guide here http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/29347-guide-fitting-second-reverse-light-ford-focus-mk2-mk25/page-1

Second clear lamp, chop the collar off the old lamp, cut a similar sized hole in the new (make sure the new has a bulb holder too!) glue it on, then its just the wiring, run a cable (2 if you fancy doing fog as well) from one side to the other, go down through the grommet, connect up a new plug an your done. Ive got my eye on another fog lamp going for a silly price of a couple of quid just now, i'll be getting that I hope soon, chop that collar off and hack apart the original lamp on the left side, that will allow me to fit a second fog light... just to keep it even of course :)

Compared to the original reverse bulb the two Crees are noticeably brighter, I can light up my back garden with it....from the front ;) the only thing im not happy about is one of them has a blue housing, in the day it tints the whole lamp blue from certain angles.

Never had any issues with the caps getting nicked, like the idea of sticking our flag on them but in where I live, they'll probably nick the whole wheel for having that flag on it! A union flag might have been safer until recently!

[SeanW]

Jim, if you've found the guide - mirror it. To do the 2nd reverse light on a LHD car, you'll need to source a reverse light for a RHD car

[Dee_82]

Jim, if you've found the guide - mirror it. To do the 2nd reverse light on a LHD car, you'll need to source a reverse light for a RHD car

Derbyshire drives on the right? !Removed! hell, been away from England for 15 years an its all gone backwards ;)

[SeanW]

...As it happens, I live in Europeland so buying a standard replacement clear reverse-light unit for the back-right isnt a problem (in Europe thats the standard reverselight side)...

Derbyshire drives on the right? !Removed! hell, been away from England for 15 years an its all gone backwards ;)

I didn't look at any profiles - just that lol

[Dee_82]

I didn't look at any profiles - just that lol

lol Aye I was wondering that myself....

[jimimaseye]

Hi chaps.

Derbyshire drives on the right? !Removed! hell, been away from England for 15 years an its all gone backwards ;)

:D Yeah, Devolution happened here yonks ago! :D No, I actually have a UK car (RHD an all), formerly 'live' in Derbsyhire but spend most time abroad.

Jim, if you've found the guide - mirror it. To do the 2nd reverse light on a LHD car, you'll need to source a reverse light for a RHD car

Got a RHD car, but being abroad LHD lighting fittings for sale are standard.

Yeah, I saw the guide shortly after posting my last post asking about it. Im not too confident in the 'drilling holes and glueing extra bits to fill the holes' bit or whether the slightly cockeyed angle of the resultant fog light will lose some of its *oomph* (if you know what I mean) due to the back reflector being half tilt to the bulb. So for now I will stick with the one and some sensors. (Its a shame some manufacturer dont actually mould up some proper replacement light replacements with this need in mind to save us rom bodging together such things. A unit with two buld holders or even a split lense (not as nice looking but....)).

[Dee_82]

I got some super fancy Chinese knock off LEDs for the fog lamp on the right side, to see how it would look, turns out, its so bright you cant tell its at an odd angle, it was one of the ridicules ones with fake cree LEDs in the end and about 12 SMDs around the housing.

ill see if I can get some pictures up later on the proper thread and some of the silver sensors for this one.

[jimimaseye]

Good man. And a link to where you bought them from (for curiosity sake, of course ;) )

[Dee_82]

Good man. And a link to where you bought them from (for curiosity sake, of course ;) )

just flee bay

fog light

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161340899903?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

reverse ight

http://www.ebay.com/itm/260937022273?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

oh and the reverse sensors

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CISBO-Parking-Reversing-Sensor-4-Sensors-Audio-Buzzer-in-Silver-colour-/370781171620?hash=item565447afa4

[Dee_82]

theres the sensors, the fog lamps have a LED in one side and a bulb in the other, ill post some pics on the other thread for some night shots

[jimimaseye]

Thanks for the links Darren. I have now ordered the sensors. Wont get them for a while though as they are being delivered to the UK and someone has to then send them out to me.

I looked at all your pictures. Good work all round! Going slightly of thread topic: I see the 3rd picture showing your reversing lights at night comparing the LED against the standard bulb. Other than colour I dont really see much benefit and in fact the standard bulb seems to have more 'flare out' of light (see how it spreads up the wall of your house and shines on the ground close to the car) whereas the LED barely reaches half way up the hedge and generally leaves a 2ft shadow from the car upto the light hitting the hedge. Im undecided. Of course maybe you confirm that actually its the photos that simply dont do the LED light and favours and in fact it is better than depicted.

Anyway, sensors ordered, you've convinced me on that. Cheers dude. Did you use the angle spacers (or whatever they are called)?

For sure Ill let you all know my fitting story and conclusion when fitted.

p.s Nice bow tie! (on the first 3 pictures)

[Dee_82]

Ha, cheers

Bit off an after thought after I uploaded them all, phtobucket has some basic editor built in

I didn't use the spacer, it angles it slightly but I think it would make it worse on slopes, as they are it sits at 90° to the bumper an seems fine, use the built in drill tool bit and the fit is perfect, cable tie the wires up behind the bumper (whilst your there take a look at the fog lamp an remove it to see what you'd be playing with

As for the lights, the camera doesn't do White light justice, yellow appears brighter because it picks it up better, in real life the flare of yellow is more colourful but less extensive, the white has better more extensive coverage but appears less colourful if that makes sense. I'll mabe try some along shutter speed shots, it'll be over exposed up close but might give you a better idea of overall coverage

[jimimaseye]

I will try to judge properly myself this issue with the angle spacers because I can't say I quite understand the influence of parking on a slope might make. If the road is sloping down from the back of the car then wouldn't the back of the car also be pointing down due to the front of the car being higher up (and vice versa with an upward slope)? Therefore the direction of the road should be more or less always be parallel to the car irrespective of what slope it is on (and the car behind). I guess I personally don't have the knowledge about what changes the angle spacers do (I assumed it was to compensate for higher fittings).

In any case I suppose there are enough of you that have reported back having fitted these without spacers saying all is good enough to suggest they are simply not required on the focus (the fitting height is fine).

[Dee_82]

Ah, sorry, I wasn't clear on that, what I was meaning is when I drive down my drive or up it for that matter, as you move onto or off the slope the angle of the road in relation to the bumper gets tighter, its at that point the sensors pick up the road/drive until as you pointed out the car settles on the slope. I think the spacer maybe for height or shaped bumpers, the spacer is a wedge shape allowing you to slightly adjust the angle, I can't see using it o the focus would make any difference, itmight make it worse.