Description

The Backstopper™ CA-5025 is a combo front and rear impact warning sensor system designed to aid the driver when pulling forward or reversing into a parking space or if there is wall, parking poles or any other obstructions in front of their vehicle. The system uses eight 18.8mm ultrasonic waterproof sensors that are flush mounted into the front and rear bumpers that send out sonar pulses which reverberate off of any object or mass and alerts the driver with an LED display and audible tones from a built-in buzzer. As the vehicle approaches closer to the object, the tones will get faster and faster until to tell the driver the distance is closing.

This sensors are controlled by one central module but are activated just like the other systems. The rear sensors are activated when the vehicle is shifted into reverse and the front sensors are primarily powered by the vehicle ignition and then fully activated when the brake pedal is depressed. When the brake is pressed, the system is fully powered on and the sensors will immediately detect anything in front of them. When the brake pedal is released, the system goes into standby mode and waits until the brake pedal is pressed again to give another reading. The CA-5025 system will continue to give a reading from the front sensors even when the vehicle is reversing as long as the brake pedal is pressed. This way, the driver can get a reading from both front and back sensors when reversing.

The eight sensors are installed on the front and rear bumper (four front, four rear) between 1½ ft. to 2½ ft. from the ground surface and the wide detection angle will alert the driver of any small children, pedestrians, animals or small unseen objects such as bicycles or parking poles and the sensors will start to pick up anything in front of the vehicle at three and a half feet and anything behind the vehicle up to eight feet. This makes it very convenient for parking in a parking garage or if there are parking poles or walls in front of the bumper. To make the installation more appealing to the eye, the sensors can be painted to match the color of the vehicle. There are alternate sensors available in different finishes and sizes as well such as chrome, matte, glass or raw depending on which type the vehicle owner wants. Once the sensors have been installed, the system has a self-test function that can be enabled to make sure that all sensors are placed and working correctly. If a sensor is not working correctly or is damaged, the system will indicate the error with an audible tone.

The CA-5025 uses a windshield-mounted (suction cup) LED display with detailed icons to let the driver know how close their rear bumper is coming to any object. The small size of the display allows it to be mounted on top of the dash board or the steering wheel column shroud. The icons of the display will give the driver all kinds of information including and numeric distance read-out (in feet and meters), a front and rear matrix layout showing the detection range of all eight sensors, a voice alert icon and damaged sensor indication. The display’s built-in buzzer has an adjustable volume setting on the top side of the display and a selecting button to turn the voice alerts on and off.

When it comes to vehicles that have spare tire racks, bike racks or tow hitches that protrude off of the back of the vehicle, parking sensors can sometimes be difficult because they will pick up the protrusions and mistake them for something behind the vehicle and give the driver a false alert. Fortunately, the CA-5025 has “Intelligent Detection” which will allow the system to adjust the sensors and make them start their detection further out from the bumper so they will not pick up the protrusions. This will eliminate any false alerts from being giving to the driver when the vehicle is shifted into reverse. The Intelligent Detection setting can be adjusted by a small pin switch located on the side of the main control module.