Retrofitting Parking Sensors

[mrhappy]

I have a 58 plate vRS CR TDI which does not have parking sensors, so I would like to retrofit them. Or rather, my wife would like them fitted!

 

I'm only bothered about having rear sensors, though if it's not much more effort to fit them at the front, I will.

 

I know that, at the rear, the sensors (x4) connect to a control module behind the nearside wheel arch.  I also know that my car does not have the wiring in place on the car body to connect the controller to.

 

Please can someone tell me if you can get the loom separately, or if it needs separating from the main loom running down the nearside of the car?  Where does it connect to at the front - CECM or fuse box?

 

What (other) parts do I need to procure for the install, by part number, please?

 

Is it possible or more complicated to fit optical parking sensors rather than standard ones?

 

Will they need coding in?

 

Urm..,anything else I need to ask? 😄

 

Thanks!

[J.R.]

It should just connect to the canbus and a positive feed, you should be able to splice into both in that area and make up your won loom to the sensors.

 

Then it will be a VCDS recoding job.

 

Just my thoughts, others will know better.

 

Oh sorry, there will also be a speaker required plus the wiring to the speaker also the correct VAG sensor module and sensors

Edited 27 June, 2019 by J.R.

[mrhappy]

If it helps, I believe I have the newer CAN gateway.  I have an aftermarket Xtrons headunit.

 

Is it even worth trying to retrofit with OEM parts, or is it cheaper and easier to fit an aftermarket kit?

[J.R.]

I dont know as I have the factory ones but I can say that they are greatly improved with the much better display on the Chinese head unit which probably would not display aftermarket ones.

 

Also for an unexplained reason they are working properly and 100% without any playing up for the first time ever since fitting the head unit. Nothing was disturbed on the system, the signals go via canbus to the new head unit instead of the Strem unit which the canbus gateway is still looking for and creating a fault code, its also now looking for a navigation system which the car never had.

Edited 27 June, 2019 by J.R.

[mrhappy]

Cool, that's good to hear JR, so it's probably worth the effort.

 

Maybe a silly question, but does the gateway reside, in order to connect to it?

 

Thanks

[J.R.]

Its behind the glovebox but you dont connect directly to it, think of it as a computer with an ethernet network, you just tap in to it where it suits you.

 

Except for you probably cant do that with an ethernet network, I know you can on an RS485 network.

[Eddie-NL]

On 27/06/2019 at 22:33, mrhappy said:

If it helps, I believe I have the newer CAN gateway.  I have an aftermarket Xtrons headunit.

 

Is it even worth trying to retrofit with OEM parts, or is it cheaper and easier to fit an aftermarket kit?

You don't need a new gateway for PDC, your current one will be fine

 

If you want optical display then you would need to fit oem PDC, which would require an oem radio or aftermarket that supports it

 

otherwise any pdc will work

[mrhappy]

On 29/06/2019 at 15:41, Eddie-NL said:

You don't need a new gateway for PDC, your current one will be fine

 

If you want optical display then you would need to fit oem PDC, which would require an oem radio or aftermarket that supports it

 

otherwise any pdc will work

Thanks for your reply Eddie (and sorry for the delay!)

 

So to go OEM all I would need is 4x PDC sensors, wiring from sensors to control module, control module and,crucially for my car, some wiring from the control module to... the CAN gateway behind the glovebox???

 

Do you know if the wiring can be split from the main loom running down the nearside sill and connected easily to wherever it needs to go?  I'm assuming of course that this is where the wiring goes.

 

Cheers

[J.R.]

You should be able to splice into the can data bus anywhere along its length, the controllers at the end of the bus will have termination resistors, probably the rear wiper.

[langers2k]

4 minutes ago, J.R. said:

You should be able to splice into the can data bus anywhere along its length

 

As long as it's the correct CAN-bus as there are more than one in the car

[mrhappy]

I'm led to believe that this is the connector from the main loom to the control module.  Looks like there's a whole bunch of wires here to splice in.

 

@J.R. how would I find the correct CAN-bus wire(s) to splice into?

[J.R.]

They are a twisted pair and a certain colour code, I think one might be orange from memory.

[Eddie-NL]

you will need

 

4x OPS sensors

4x Sensor Holders

Bumper Loom

Buzzer

Main loom

 

Probably best to buy a kit

 

Wiring would be

 

Main Drivetrain CAN (orange with Black stripe & orange with brown stripe)

Switched 12v

Ground

 

It probably would need to be coded

[mrhappy]

Thanks Eddie.  Where is the buzzer located?

[Eddie-NL]

I think the oem location is on the B-pillar

 

You can put it where you want

 

 

[Syracusa]

A few days ago I replaced the aftermarket PDC kit (OEM look, but with buzzer only) with a factory PDC OPS set. I ordered this months ago:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32844357247.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dhum3kd

It looks like OEM, I think it is... with a few small bug.  The wire of the buzzer was a bit short, it's reaches only the C pillar (Octavia 2 FL combi, LHW), but there was a nice free fixing point under the upper coverage. So it's OK. The sequence of sensors was wrong (dcba instead of abcd), therefore the four data wires had to be replaced. It was five minutes, not a big deal. The CAN +12V loom was one and a half meters longer (shortened), everything else is perfect.
The CAN connected directly to the gateway with the bypass-loom connector, power wire (15/12V) to the fuse 6 (5A). The controller is a 7e0919475k. At the gateway installation list the Park/Steer assist (10) must be set to installed. 2 or 3 hours work (boot, bumper, new bigger holes, wiring). Just the column B was a torture.

 

[mrhappy]

On 14/07/2019 at 11:00, Syracusa said:

A few days ago I replaced the aftermarket PDC kit (OEM look, but with buzzer only) with a factory PDC OPS set. I ordered this months ago:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32844357247.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dhum3kd

It looks like OEM, I think it is... with a few small bug.  The wire of the buzzer was a bit short, it's reaches only the C pillar (Octavia 2 FL combi, LHW), but there was a nice free fixing point under the upper coverage. So it's OK. The sequence of sensors was wrong (dcba instead of abcd), therefore the four data wires had to be replaced. It was five minutes, not a big deal. The CAN +12V loom was one and a half meters longer (shortened), everything else is perfect.
The CAN connected directly to the gateway with the bypass-loom connector, power wire (15/12V) to the fuse 6 (5A). The controller is a 7e0919475k. At the gateway installation list the Park/Steer assist (10) must be set to installed. 2 or 3 hours work (boot, bumper, new bigger holes, wiring). Just the column B was a torture.

 

Sounds good.  And you can vouch for the quality?  Are they OEM parts?  I'm sorely tempted rather than sourcing all the bits from a scrapped vehicle.  I assume it'll work with my 2008 pFL CR? 

[Syracusa]

Yest, I'm sure it's OEM. Maybe for cars manufactured in China, but OEM. I checked the pcb and the sensors, surely they came from a VAG supplier, the sensors are certainly original.
But the older parking aid controller (to the MY 2008, ie->Nov 2008) is different from the new (FL, after Nov. 1 2008).  The new uses the CAN-drive network while the previous installed to the CAN-convenience and also a bit different the power supply.
The change was in November, 2008 (Facelift start of production date), so then the Gateway was also replaced.  Well, I'm not sure it would work or not with an older gateway and radio.  Maybe yes, but the radio is an other question.

 

[mrhappy]

I assume I have the older CAN gateway:

 

From Carista:

CAN network gateway
Part #: 1K0907530Q
Coding: E9807F060002022303 (hex)
Component: J533__Gateway

 

Can anyone confirm whether the above kit will work?  TIA.

[Eddie-NL]

40 minutes ago, mrhappy said:

I assume I have the older CAN gateway:

 

From Carista:

CAN network gateway
Part #: 1K0907530Q
Coding: E9807F060002022303 (hex)
Component: J533__Gateway

 

Can anyone confirm whether the above kit will work?  TIA.

CAN gateway is fine

 

If you buy the correct kit then it should work

[mrhappy]

On 28/07/2019 at 21:14, Eddie-NL said:

CAN gateway is fine

 

If you buy the correct kit then it should work

 

I'm looking at obtaining all the parts from a 2010 vRS TDi. @Eddie-NL can you confirm it will work? I believe the sensors are optical. Thanks

[Eddie-NL]

2010 facelift will have ops

[mrhappy]

Ok. Will the setup work with my car?

[Syracusa]

On 14/07/2019 at 12:00, Syracusa said:

A few days ago I replaced the aftermarket PDC kit (OEM look, but with buzzer only) with a factory PDC OPS set. I ordered this months ago:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32844357247.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dhum3kd

It looks like OEM, I think it is... with a few small bug.  T

 

 

Update.
After a few months, I noticed that there was a non-erasable fault at the instrument cluster (17),  "Function Restricted due to Missing Message(s)". This is a classically stupid error code, it's hard to figure out why and where is the problem.

But it's did nothing, everything worked fine. Except that the PDC shutdown seems to be a bit slow, but I didn't feel it until the exchange.
I looked through the parts catalogs and the HW/SW versions, and I decided to replace the controller (7E0919475k ) with  an 1Z0919475B. Just for fun.
The error disappeared immediately and the shutdown also became faster, so I think there was something wrong with the sw version. Maybe a missing electronic handbrake, or something with the CAN protocol.
 

Plus, I checked the two panels.  Very interesting, the "new" panel (right) lacks the circuitry of the first sensors (as the software), but the Chinese contains these, just the sw dumber there, the program simply does not use the middle connector (front sensors I/O).
Unfortunately there is no external eeprom for further play, and the Chinese Motorola processor has 256Kb eeprom, while the 1Z0 has only 128. I have an interface for the MCU, but it's not worth going into it in depth. The circuits, parts and the panels are very similar, there are only a few small differences, some design changes.

 

[mrhappy]

On 08/07/2019 at 21:46, J.R. said:

You should be able to splice into the can data bus anywhere along its length, the controllers at the end of the bus will have termination resistors, probably the rear wiper.

 

Hi @J.R.  It's been a long while and I still haven't done this, although I've got all the bits sitting in a box in the garage.  Are you able to advise where might be the easiest most accessible place to tap into the CAN wires, bearing in mind the loom runs down the passenger cill towards the glovebox?  Cheers!