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Parking Sensor Leads

E

Ellis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi

I am trying to fit reverse parking sensors to a Nissan Micra. There are two
wires on the unit that have to be connected to the reverse light circuit on
the Micra. One red and one black.

There are five wires feeding the rear lights unit on the Micra. Two are red.
One is black. One is dark green and the other one is light green.

I have to find out which ones are feeding the reverse light so that when the
car goes in to reverse, the digital display is activated.

I am going to use a multimeter to test the leads. I am going to switch the
gear of the Micra into reverse so that the reverse light comes on. Then I am
going to probe the leads so I can find out which wires are the ones
providing the circuit for the reverse lights.

Question is? What is the best way to probe leads?? Should I snick a little
hole in to the insulation so I can put the probe directly in to the wire??

Would I be correct in assuming that the two most likely wires are one of the
reds, and the black, (in the Micra)??

Grateful for any help. Dont want to do any damage to the Micra which belongs
to a friend.

Ellis
 
C

Chris Selwyn-Smith

Jan 1, 1970
0
I am going to use a multimeter to test the leads. I am going to switch
the gear of the Micra into reverse so that the reverse light comes on.
Then I am going to probe the leads so I can find out which wires are
the ones providing the circuit for the reverse lights.

Question is? What is the best way to probe leads?? Should I snick a
little hole in to the insulation so I can put the probe directly in to
the wire??

Would I be correct in assuming that the two most likely wires are one
of the reds, and the black, (in the Micra)??

Grateful for any help. Dont want to do any damage to the Micra which
belongs to a friend.

Ellis

why not access the light unit as if changing a bulb and see what colour
the leads are there or even connect into them at that point

don't forget however that there will not neccersarily be a negative wire
in your wiring loom as it most likely uses the body work as an earth
return

car wiring doesn't conform to the red and black principle

if you really want to test the wires by probing them with your meter I
would clip the negative to the body shiny metal and clip the positive
lead to a needle and poke about with that.

Chris
 
E

Ellis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Chris Selwyn-Smith said:
why not access the light unit as if changing a bulb and see what colour
the leads are there or even connect into them at that point

Will try that first. That would make life very easy.
don't forget however that there will not neccersarily be a negative wire
in your wiring loom as it most likely uses the body work as an earth
return

car wiring doesn't conform to the red and black principle

if you really want to test the wires by probing them with your meter I
would clip the negative to the body shiny metal and clip the positive
lead to a needle and poke about with that.

Chris

Needle sounds an excellent idea. Part of the problem (apart from my own
ignorance) is that the car is parked in the street and the weather has been
too cold and the light too poor to do much. I am hoping for a bright spring
day soon. Your advice is very helpful, Thankyou.

Ellis
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
Will try that first. That would make life very easy.

Needle sounds an excellent idea. Part of the problem (apart from my own
ignorance) is that the car is parked in the street and the weather has been
too cold and the light too poor to do much. I am hoping for a bright spring
day soon. Your advice is very helpful, Thankyou.

I guess you wouldn't want to be crawling under the car looking for the
reverse light sensor on the tranny, then. ;-)

What'd be slick is to go to the public library, if you have a really big
one near you, and look up the wiring diagram for your car - there might
be a reverse light signal accessible right in the passenger compartment.
But, I guess stringing wires through the trunk shouldn't be all that bad.
:)

Have Fun!
Rich
 
E

Ellis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Rich Grise said:
I guess you wouldn't want to be crawling under the car looking for the
reverse light sensor on the tranny, then. ;-)

What'd be slick is to go to the public library, if you have a really big
one near you, and look up the wiring diagram for your car - there might
be a reverse light signal accessible right in the passenger compartment.
But, I guess stringing wires through the trunk shouldn't be all that bad.
:)

Have Fun!
Rich

Went to the local library but no manual available for this car. Stringing
wires through the trunk is the way to go, according to the parking sensor
instructions.

Most parking sensors that I have seen have just two wires. A red one that
connects to the reverse light circuit, and a black one that is earthed on
the car body.

This one that I got off Ebay has a power connector with two wires, one red
and one black. It also has one connector for the reverse light circuit,
which is a single red wire.

The reason is it doubles up as a digital clock as well as a reversing
parking sensor. So I guess it needs two power supplies, one that activates
the clock and one that is activated only when the gear is put into reverse.

I don't need the clock so I am going to put the two red wires together and
connect them to the reverse light circuit. I have not figured out what to do
with the black one yet (until I do some probing with the multimeter).

I have connected both red wires to the positive terminal of a battery and
the black wire to the negative terminal and the whole thing works just fine.
(But it only works when the two red wires are joined together).

I looked at the reverse light socket today and it looks to just have one
terminal feeding the socket so I am thinking maybe the car body is used as
the earth return (as Chris suggested).

The car belongs to a friend of mine and when we checked the lights this
afternoon we, or rather I, discovered that one of the rear brake lights was
kaput, as well as one of the front side lights. These things the driver may
not be aware of (until it is pointed out to them by an officer of the law).

So some good has come of this enterprise so far. Just hope I don't blow the
circuits on the car fitting the sensors.

Thanks for the replies.

Ellis
 
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