Hi all

Given I'm now a magna owner, the Discovery forums have taken a back seat for a while. Anyway the wife wanted some reverse sensors and I was seriously contemplating a 25 dollar kit from Jaycar and upgrade the transducers x 2 to waterproof ones then I stumbled upon this ebay add and for 35 buy it now and 7 dollars express, I knew if it didn't work then no major loss.

*no ebay links*

This was the kit I bought and no need to cut into bumper bar and all is hidden from view. Well I must say I am impressed with this unit. Uses a long RF loop and once mounted inside on the magna sedan rear bumper inside 10cm down, I get very reliable figures from 40cm to 10cm range. It claims up to 60 cm but the safety bar above in the magna is sufficient to reduce the range. Tested agains plasterboard which is almost see through for this unit and go to 5cm before it raises the final sound to STOP.

I had a bugger of a time with mounting the loop inside and you can throw away the double sided tape and even with PVC glue, it just washed off so out with the metal weld, form of high powered glue for mufflers and yep, that did it. I mounted the small control box in that little cavity on left rear with the main led module zip tied under the parcel tray between speakers in the boot. So I can't see the leds but I can hear the buzzer at the various stages of distance. I wouldn't install the led module in the cab as not worth it and could look cheap too. But this is a winner if anyone is thinking of this. I of course pulled the blighter apart and no way could I even buy the bits for the cost on ebay.

Just to let all know, if you don't wan't the ugly look in the bars. This forum is sure a welcome change from my disco threads, not even a hint of oil leakage problems with the magnas!!!!



Cheers

Oops, sorry about the ebay link, I didn't know it was a no no. anyway the brand is called 'invisyguard' so you will have to search and if you get stuck PM me and I will be glad to help out.

Nice find and review. I'll consider one at that price!

wen i looked into it i'd heard of those non-drill options, but then only one i heard of was like $400! way too much for something that goes beep :P but for $35, it may just fit the bill for the rada... hmm nice review :) dont forget to update in a month or so, tell us if the glue holds up etc :)

oh, and even maybe on pic or 2 of where its mounted and where the buzzer and/or control box is? would be loverly :)


*Edit* couldfnt find the exat one ur referring to, but theres a $70 one from Brash's imports that seems similar, maybe a lil better and only comes with a buzzer (i dont want the leds either)...maybe the better option? sensor is an aluminium strip

Folks, sorry about the lack of pictures. However the RF loop is approx 1.5m of black/Brown automotive cable shield approx 12mil dia with 6 holders of the brown type that are commonly used in securing household copper pipe (fixing these points was the difficult part but as the shield has the cut through the middle to allow more cables, it can be put in later of course). The only thing in the plastic shield is two wires with two pair standard speaker type coming out from the middle of the tube which should enter the boot straight away. Black box controller is jiffy type with approx 2" by 1" by 1"

Point of note is the 12 supply and loop connector are the same so mark the box to id types, this was another minor neg I found. I copied the features below and I think I spelt his id wrong so should be 'invisyguard'.

Some folk may remember the AP150 Kmart cruise control which was an australian made product by a local pc board manufacturer with common variety electronics found at jaycar. Well this product is on similar lines with all common bits found at jaycar hence sometimes the aussie folk do come up with good ideas. No I don't know this bloke or have any connection but when its cheap, works its gotta be worth the write. Here is some of the sales blurb he wrote.

There are no visible changes to the exterior of vehicle when sensor installed.
The sensor is mounted behind vehicle’s plastic bumper and scans through
bumper.

The sensor will continuously scan up to 1.6 m the length of the entire bumper.
The sensor scans 180 Deg to ground level and approx 60cm diameter from bumper.
The sensor will sense round hollow objects e.g. Bull Bars and metal railings.
Distance indicated by a 4 stage light display and buzzer with a volume control
switch; loud, quiet and off.
Automatically switches on and scans area behind vehicle when reverse gear is
selected.
Maintenance free as unit is not affected when bumper is very dirty or muddy.
INVISYGUARD
INVISYGAURD patented reversing aid (patent No 2004100565)
C tick test (No N14069)
Note: Will only work on plastic or fiberglass bumpers ( NOT METAL ) which have no metal between sensor loop and bumper, but can be placed behind or near metal number plate.
Installation is either do it your self as only 2 wires have to be connected to Reverse Light bulb wires or at any Auto electrician / Alarm installer

Cheers Mousie, gotta hit the work button!

My dad used to work for a company that sold these type of reversing sensors, ones that fit behind a car's rear bumper so you dont get those bloody 4 dots on the rear bumper and they used to sell like bloody hotcakes, but as spackbace said they were (possibly still are) expensive (250+ from memory), but they fit it and all that jig. But 35 DOLLARS!!! you cant go wrong, even if it does crap itself in the head its 42 bucks, not a whole lot of money.

Off to ebay!

Cheers for the review mate!

Adrian.

Could you PM me the ebay link? or post the link in the ebay thread.

Sometimes the rules on this board seriously piss me off (like right about now), and when I think about whingeing about it, I then think of other boards that just have millions of threads of just crap, and suddenly I understand why the rules are here. Good ol' clean and organised AMC.

Could you PM me the ebay link? or post the link in the ebay thread.


Just put the following in the search criteria on eBay... invisible reverse sensors

Its sold by "invisyguard", and he has another product out there for power windows which I like. Basically if you lock your car and the power windows are wound down, they will automatically wind up when you lock the car with your remote control.

Has anyone done this yet to their Magna? Definite waaank appeal. :)

One big problem with these hidden induction loop ones is that it only detects things if
either the car is moving or the foreign object is moving which creates a shadow across the
induction field. Also, the detection range is very small.

One big problem with these hidden induction loop ones is that it only detects things if
either the car is moving or the foreign object is moving which creates a shadow across the
induction field. Also, the detection range is very small.

Mousie, maybe you can do some tests and verify if this is the case.

According to the ebay description...

The sensor will continuously scan up to 1.6 m the length of the entire bumper.
The sensor scans 180 Deg to ground level and approx 60cm diameter from bumper.

Which seems reasonable to me, if this is true. :confused:

Does it only work on metal/very solid objects? Wood or plastic sensed properly?

Mousie, maybe you can do some tests and verify if this is the case.

According to the ebay description...

The sensor will continuously scan up to 1.6 m the length of the entire bumper.
The sensor scans 180 Deg to ground level and approx 60cm diameter from bumper.

Which seems reasonable to me, if this is true. :confused:

I researched these ones before going for the traditional four sensor sonic ones and from
what I've read, it only detects objects if the car is in motion and/or if other objects are in
motion. Its much like how a PIR detectors used in home security works.
They actually have warnings to that effect.

The sensor strip is approx 1.6 metres long hence it only covers 1.6m of the width of the
bumper. Its megnetic field is approx 60cm in diameter and its only good point (besides no
bumper holes) is that it can detect low lying things near the bumper.

I researched these ones before going for the traditional four sensor sonic ones and from
what I've read, it only detects objects if the car is in motion and/or if other objects are in
motion. Its much like how a PIR detectors used in home security works.
They actually have warnings to that effect.

The sensor strip is approx 1.6 metres long hence it only covers 1.6m of the width of the
bumper. Its megnetic field is approx 60cm in diameter and its only good point (besides no
bumper holes) is that it can detect low lying things near the bumper.

So basically..u gotta move to find out if somethings behind u...not such a biggy start off slow and away u go :S

Hi folks, just home from the grind. Yep if your serious and don't mind drilling holes in the back of you bumber then these 4 transducer setups are the ticket, nothing comes close to a proper transducer for accuracy etc. However, I suspect in a few years transducers will be properly incorporated within the bumber bars, its just a matter of time.

Anyway as for testing this type. Here is what I have found so far.

Testing against a roller door, Unit commences the first of four beep tones and is always spot on within a cm but @ 38cm then the final beep tone is continuous at 15cm (15cm is within factory spec.) I have a standard TW with no towbar.

I got the same results above into a pure besser block wall at the shopping centre.

Reversing into my garage however sees the standard 13mil plaster and I did see a difference in that I got down to 5cm on final beep.

I originally tested with a switchmode powersupply and the 240 volt line drove the unit crazy and is mentioned in the instructions.

Yes, if your doing a long reverse, I found that your safe approach is to go all the way until say two of three feet, quick into neutral than back into reverse (wait the 1 second of course for the scan to complete) and finish. I've only had it in for a couple of days so I need to do the leg walking into the field to see how it goes with poles etc.

If you roar out the driveway like I then expect it to sound off due to the speed and changing road surfaces/distances. By the way there is a range of sensitivity but I have not fully explored this as one thing at a time. Pulled the control head apart and control box of course and somehow unless you really do something wrong, you can't break the circuit.

Basically if your into electonics like me, using traditional can caps rather than surface mount stuff etc etc means the average hobbyist can fix these. I'll post further hopefully by sunday evening.

Remember its about no holes and 42 dollars. If anyone else gets one of these, would be good to share in the sensitivity setup so all members can be better prepared.



Cheers Geoff

might consider the $70 one, see how the contrast is :)