[kinmanc]

As promised, I am posting some photos showing the Poron Car Reversing Aid that I installed on my MDX. Please also read the posts in Accessaries section for more details.

The is the back of my MDX showing the 3 sensors underneath the rear bumper.

 

[kinmanc]

A close up of the right sensor, near the exhaust.

 

[kinmanc]

The same sensor at a different angle. The sensor is attached to a plastic clip. The angle and the orientation of the sensor can be adjusted. There are double sided adhesive that can be used to stick the plastic clip to the plastic underside of the bumper, I used 2 screws to attach the plastic clip the the bumper.

 

[kinmanc]

The same sensor from the back.

 

[kinmanc]

The main control unit. I attched it to the side of the floor comparment behing the 3rd row of seat.

The flat cables on the left connect the 3 sensors. The wire with a plug goes to the speaker. The red and the black wires are connected to the car reverse light and the ground, respectively.

 

[kinmanc]

Picture with the rear tailgate sill removed (need to remove just two plastic retainers on the side of the cargo compartment, wiggle and pull). The flat cables and the red and black wires go into the grommet that covers a hole in the bumper. I cut a small piece out of the grommet to let the wires thru.

 

[kinmanc]

With the cover of the controller unit open, showing the connection of the sensor cables. The connector is like a telphone plug.

 

[kinmanc]

This is the left rear light assembly. The red and black wire from the main unit go thru the hole behind the bumper. The red wire is connected to the wire for the back-up light (green with black line, the the right), and the back wire can be connected with any ground. I used the wire connector (the blue plastic thing) supplied. No cutting needed.

 

[kinmanc]

This shows the red and black wires that go into the left rear light assembly. It also shows the back of the left sensor.

 

[kinmanc]

The 3 flat sensor cables and the 2 wires all go through another grommet that covers a hole on underside of the car,
close to the bumper, on the left side. This hole is also very close to the hole from the cargo compartment, which makes it easy to get the cables and the wire through.

 

[kinmanc]

I placed the speaker on the floor on the left of (and behind) the 2nd row seat. I may stick it on the side of the pillar later. The wire is tugged into the cracks between the plastics and the carpet. The shinning circle is acutally a quarter. I just put it there to show how small the speaker is.

 

[AtlantaMDX]

Kinmanc,

Great how to write up and shots. Now that you've had it in place for a while, what do you think? How exactly does it let you know how close to something you are? Do you set the distance?

Thanks for the info,

 

[kinmanc]

AtlantaMDX,

Sorry for the late replay. I was touring China and was completely off-line for a couple of weeks.

The Poron works great, though I must confess that I haven't been using it very often. It is most useful in parallel parking, which I don't do very often. I installed it as a safty device. It gives me some peace of mind not have to worry about backing into a garbage can in the dark.

The Poron lets you know about how close your MDX is to an object by a voice and beeps, either or both can be turned off. A female voice announces the distance like "Five feet, five feet, three feet, two feet, one feet, Crash!" The beep picks up the frequency and intensity as the distance gets shorter. The specs says the range is 1 feet to 8 feet, though I always hear "five feet" first. I wish it can tell me distances less than 1 foot, especially when I park in tight spot. No, I cannot set the distance.

Poron also have another model that include a LED readout for distance instead of the voice.

There was another thread in the Accessory section on Poron. You should do a search on Poron for more discussions.

 

[TheWorm]

My experience is the same as kinmanc's, who was an immense help in getting it installed since he went first

I, too, find it most useful for parallel parking and alerting me to the occassional garbage can. Mine also triggers around 5 feet, tho on rare occassion it will trigger at 8. When I get down to 1 foot, if I want to be REAL close, I'll keep backing slowly til she yells "crash" then stop before I actually do. YMMV of course.

 

[Crem de la SUV]

Be aware that those "blue plastic connectors" are not really appropriate for under-car use and will allow the wires to corrode over time. The connection will fail, and possibly create HEAT at the connection, if used to carry a higher electrical load. This effect is accelerated up here in the Northeast, where salt is used on the roads in the winter. If you use them, it is best to coat them with "Liquid Electrical Tape", or at least give them a generous wrapping of electrical tape to help avoid future problems.

 

[TheWorm]

Good tip, Crem. They often work their way, loose, too. I used "snap in/inline" connectors from the stereo shop instead -- more durable (did require splicing/crimping). FWIW, tho, there are no external connections on this setup -- they're all inside the rear taillight housing and not outside the car unprotected...

 

[Crem de la SUV]

Worm,

I saw the dirt in the posted picture of the connectors, and figured that they would probably be exposed to moisture, too.

 

[TheWorm]

Oh, yea, I see what you're talking about...I never bothered to check if it gets wet back there -- certainly some humidity/fog-type issues but I doubt direct contact from a driving rain (or, at least I hope )

I just wrapped my inlines with heat shrink and then electrical tape over that -- more to avoid the inline connectors from working loose (tho I couldn't even pull them apart when I tried) than the H2O concern. I hope that's good enuf but I s'pose time will tell, and I'll know where the problem is if/when one occurs.

Oh, and I had to order a bag of 100 of them, so if anyone else is undertaking this project, shoot me an email and I'll send you a few...

 

[marne]

Puron digital monitor

Following the wonderful instructions above from kinmanc and The Worm, I too installed a Mini3LV Puron system. I did just exactly what was described above, with two mods. My middle sensor is mounted to the bottom side of my hitch receiver, and I have the digital monitor mounted on top of my rear-view mirror.

I wanted the monitor above rather than below the mirror because I've very jealous of my window space. I was unwilling to cede the 3/4 inch below the mirror to the gadget.

I used self-adhesive velcro to mount the monitor to the mirror. While the included mounting gadget was ingenious, it also was very delicate. More important, it would not produce a good fit in the tight space above the mirror. It probably would be fine for mounting the monitor below the mirror.

I am delighted to say that after installing everything, the Puron device worked the first time, every time. I'm thrilled!

Here's a picture of the digital monitor taken while my 'X was parked inside my garage. The monitor shows 1.1 because I pulled forward enough to leave about a foot's space behind the car. (In my usual parking position, the monitor registers 'HIT' due to the sub 6-inch clearance.)

FWIW, the odd white object behind and to the right of the Puron digital monitor is my FasTrack transponder, allowing me to breeze through the toll gates at the many Bay Area bridges without stopping.

 

[TheWorm]

Hey, Marne...nice install -- I like the mounting of the display. Kinmanc and I have the Micro series (no display -- beeps and talks only) so there wasn't anything to mount up front.

Does yours beep and talk, too? I assume the control unit is in the rear compartment? Where'd you run the wires from there to the rearview mirror?