Date:         Mon, 15 Aug 2011 08:58:52 -0700
Reply-To:     Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Subject:      '84 Westy Back-Up Sensor Installation
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I installed an Audiovox back-up sensor system in my '84 Westy yesterday:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003XM6KWE/sbw/

It works well, at least as far as I've tested it.  I haven't had to
back out of any driveways or parking spaces yet.  I hope it'll lead
to vastly improved peace of mind.

My extended family has had several bad backing accidents over the
years.  So I spent a lot of time investigating safety devices.  I
looked into cameras, but I think cameras are  too distracting.  I
tend to look at the camera instead of the mirrors, and the mirrors are clearer.

I've driven a Subaru SUV with a back-up camera that shows a much
clearer picture with color-coded range markings superimposed.  That
almost works.

But cameras are especially impractical for after-market installation,
because they need another screen on the dashboard.  I've already got
the GPS and the phone, and neither can take a camera input.  A third
screen, rarely used, would be a bummer.  A replacement mirror with a
built-in screen is available, but it probably compromises the mirror somewhat.

(Hmmm ... A Bluetooth app for Android/iPhone that listens to a
wireless camera?  Maybe.  But Bluetooth almost never works.)

I've also driven a Ford Escape hybrid with an audible back-up sensor
like the one I installed today.  That what convinced me an audible
alert the best approach.  It beeps faster as you get closer, then
goes to a continuous tone when it's time to stop.

My Westy has the stock bumpers, rusty in places, and with much of the
trim missing.  But most of the metal/chrome is solid.  Rather than
drill new holes, I enlarged four of the holes that normally mount
trim pieces.  The sensors use one-inch holes when mounted in a metal bumper.

The wiring in the Westy was quite a chore.  Each of the four sensors
has its own wire.  A fifth wire, for power, is spliced into the left
back-up light.  (Natch!  The system is powered only when you're in
reverse, get it?)

The sensor wires run through the inside of the bumper, then under the
body to join the power wire in the engine compartment.  Then they
follow the air conditioning hoses up into the clothes closet.  The
beeper is mounted just inside the closet door, where it won't get
muffled by clothes.

The kit came with wires of copious extra length, which I didn't
bother to shorten.  So there is several feet of wire bundled up
inside the closet.  If I ever get new bumpers, I'll either have to
withdraw all that wire and route it again (since the sensors can't be
removed from the bumper without removing their entire lead wire) or
cut and splice the leads.  It wouldn't be too much trouble to splice
the leads, but if I do that, I'll probably withdraw all the wire
anyway, to get rid of the extra wire bundled in the closet.

It only took a few hours, so I won't mind.  And you always to a
better job when you do it over, right?

I look forward eagerly to the first time the system warns me of
something I didn't see!