Rain Sensing Wipers (Not equipped but have the part)

[Georgf]

Has anyone tried to install a rain sensor on a truck that does not even have wires or a connector behind the mirror? Today I specially checked that there is no sensor or wiring in my Lone Star.

 

[mophead]

I'd say it's a sure thing but nothing ever is. However, I'm confident itll work fine. I've actually gotten a lot of use out of mine since I put it in.

I guess one good thing about the non-nav systems is they update pretty much instantly so I didnt have to wait.

Of a more long term review:

When it's barely raining, turn it off completely. One rain drop in the right spot on an otherwise completely dry windshield and itll turn the wipers on for a pass or two. I just turn the switch off and turn it on/off whenever theres enough water to warrant it.

Same with light rain, it tends to wipe more than it needs to. It does take speed into account, when you are stopped it doesnt wipe as much. Its not as bad as when it's barely raining but can still be somewhat annoying.

When it's actually "raining" it does well. The harder the rain the faster they wipe, really nice for that intermittent rain where it's raining hard then let's up some, then hard again, etc. You dont have to constantly fiddle with the speed.

I find myself leaving it in auto on the lowest sensitivity most of the time and only take it out when it's that light drizzle.

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FWIW, Described exactly what my Mazda 6 with Rain Sense does. So sounds like it's working as designed. I don't care for the slow speed, light rain, but LOVE the hard- medium transition. Very little need to fiddle with adjustment under most conditions. usually turn it off in very light rain.

I'm finding things I will miss when I finally get back in a truck (real soon I hope). Appreciate all you hackers out there allaying my anxieties. Thanks!

 

[mophead]

It's good to see that we have options for enabling some of the features these trucks have, besides paying a dealership huge sums of $$ to enable them. My Laramie came with rain sensing wipers and auto dimming headlights. Love the wipers, not as fond of the headlights.


I have mixed feelings about the auto dim headlights. They work great if there are no road signs or houses with bright lights near the road. And I was really excited to get a truck that has the option. After using them all of last winter, I've identified a few problems with them on my normal 25 minute work commute, which is 90% highway. There are quite a few road signs which reflect enough to dim the headlights. There are also two separate houses with bright exterior lights, which also cause the headlights to dim. I've also found that if a car is approaching around a corner from an elevated position, my lights dim very late. The approaching cars will often flash their lights at me before the lights dim. And lastly, having the option in one vehicle, and not in the other means that if I get too used to the auto dimming feature, I might sometimes forget to dim the lights in my car without that feature.

I agree. Like the wipers the auto highs not so much. I'd prefer going back to the old floor switch. My foot isn't as busy as my hands. I like the flashing feature with a stalk, otherwise not so much.

 

[Str8Ripon]

Installed the sensor today and used Alfa to add the setting. It showed up but the wipers don’t seem to be working with a squirt bottle. Also had the yellow P with an exclamation point pop on dash - this seems to be related to parking break per owners manual.
Any ideas?

 

[vincentw56]

Installed the sensor today and used Alfa to add the setting. It showed up but the wipers don’t seem to be working with a squirt bottle. Also had the yellow P with an exclamation point pop on dash - this seems to be related to parking break per owners manual.
Any ideas?

Did you turn it on to intermittent? Also, did you enable the setting in the radio? Mine works pretty well. I can cover the sensor with my hand and it will kick on.

2020 Bighorn Night Edition, 5.7 Hemi w/eTorque

 

[Str8Ripon]

Did you turn it on to intermittent? Also, did you enable the setting in the radio? Mine works pretty well. I can cover the sensor with my hand and it will kick on.

2020 Bighorn Night Edition, 5.7 Hemi w/eTorque

Yes appears to be on via radio. Only hiccup with the install I believe may be the gel in place getting damaged slightly. From what I can tell that’s the only thing that I see as not working properly.

Will see about the new parking brake light being on, have an oil change coming up and will have the dealer look.

thanks

 

[dnelso2]

Auto high beams next?

Yes. Need this now

 

[securityguy]

I have the rain sensing wipers and HATE them...never use them in any of my cars. Not worth it to add IMPO.

 

[aswain511]

Did this tonight and you guys crushed it! It was raining during the install so the test was easy. Just need the update to propogate to the Uconnect. Will it show in Apps or Controls? Thanks again, team!

 

[vincentw56]

Did this tonight and you guys crushed it! It was raining during the install so the test was easy. Just need the update to propogate to the Uconnect. Will it show in Apps or Controls? Thanks again, team!

It will be under wipers in Uconnect.

2020 Bighorn Night Edition, 5.7 Hemi w/eTorque

 

[smonska]

Just did this mod on my Bighorn. Ordered sensor 68298334AA for $62 shipped. In Alfaobd, enabled "Rain sensor present" and "cust menu rain sensor" (or something very similar).

Installation notes: to remove the rear view mirror twist it clockwise 30ﾟ. Have some alcohol or acetone to clean the gel between the old sensor and windshield off, make sure the glass is spotlessly clean. Don't touch the front of the new sensor as it comes with the gel already on it and you don't want to get a fingerprint on it. To reinstall the rear view mirror you'll put it on clocked at a 30ﾟangle, then turn it counterclockwise to be vertical again.

The plastic covers around the mirror have 3 little rubber insulators that touch the glass to prevent the plastic from rattling, they fall out very easily be careful you don't lose them.

 

[Greggvh]

Part Number: 68298334AA

Just a few pics that might help.
1. Back cover with tabs on each side. I was able to squeeze and get a small screw driver in.


2. Inside image of the front cover. The clips are not the same side to side. If found the driver side I was able to pull towards the door some and down and it popped out but then the other one I just had to pull down on the cover but there is a chance that may be able to get a small screwdriver inside once the first cover is off and push it to the side to release it?


3. Unplug The sensor. You want to pop the little metal clips off. Everything you see is not the sensor there is a mount that goes around the sensor so you don't want to pry it off you want the sensor sitting inside of it. I used the plug of the sensor to put a screwdriver in and pulled it down. It may have helped the truck was sitting out in the texas heat for some time. But it was still stuck on good.


There was no gel on my sensor. I looked at the gel that was left and it did not appear damaged so I just stuck the new sensor in making sure the metal clips clipped in. They do sell the get pad separately.

I do need to go back and look and see if I lost the insulators as mentioned because the covers seem a little loose. but other then that go in reverse and install.

Pics of the Security Gateway. And I know there are other options for this but this seemed very simple.

Bypass that I use:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082PTBZ6K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1. So this is an image of a mirror sitting on the floor looking up on the drivers side of the footwell. you can see the two plugs that need to be unplugged.


2. Plug the two cables into the bypass. I thought the bypass would plug into the box but no it plugs into the cables you disconnected.


3. Plug the OBD reader into the bypass and then onto AlfaOBD.

OBD reader I use:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073XKQQQW/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=d1c67a2ba51c02cb1feff481365be47d&hsa_cr_id=7909879790801&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=beb943da-8b99-4491-ad62-5c5199e10cb9&pd_rd_w=e9Jbp&pd_rd_wg=pMwFw&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0_img

Enabled the following in AlfaOBD:
VehConfig 2-Rain Sensor Present
CustSetMenu 1-Rain sensitive wipers CSM

The wipers seemed to start working right away. The setting in the app did not show up tell the next morning.

 

[KNGSNK11]

After I installed the rain sensor and turned it on with Alpha it worked pretty good I always left it on the lowest sensitivity and on occasions it would swipe on its own with no water present.
So a couple months ago I was at the dealer having other work done and asked if they could calibrate the rain sensor I was told there was no calibration but just replace the sensor and gel pad, so after they replaced the sensor and put on a new gel pad it stopped randomly swiping so it looks like replace both the sensor and pad when doing this mod and you should be good to go.

I was at the dealer on Friday and I guess they left the ticket open to replace the sensor even though they already did it but service advisor forgot about having it done a couple months ago which is understandable since it been months, but this time the new sensor was defective, I had a service rain sensing wiper message pop up on the dash when I was fixing to leave the dealer so I went back in and asked if they messed with it and the advisor said Yes and I told him they already did it a couple months ago and that's when he remembered and forgot to close out the ticket because he ordered other parts and was going to close it all out at the same time.

So they took it back into the shop put the old sensor back on but did not replace the gel pad and now I'm back to square one, its randomly wiping with no water present, so it looks like to me its best to change the sensor and gel pad at the same time to prevent the random wiping.

I may just tackle it myself again and order a new gel pad and sensor because my dealer is an hour away and not sure I want to mess with going up there again just for this.

 

[phoneman]

I did this mod on my 2021 3500 and the setting comes up on the radio, when I’m in alpha OBD and read codes I get u0321, lost connection with rain sensor. It has never worked for me. I did the install about 3 days ago. Any thoughts?

 

[smonska]

I did this mod on my 2021 3500 and the setting comes up on the radio, when I’m in alpha OBD and read codes I get u0321, lost connection with rain sensor. It has never worked for me. I did the install about 3 days ago. Any thoughts?

What part number sensor did you install?

 

[aswain511]

I was checking the fault codes from another project and am pulling P0070. A little online research says that its from the ambient sensor. Is this because the connection was lost I pulled the old one when I did this?

Thanks in advance

 

[PapaJon96]

A little revive here. I did this on my 2019 Ram 2500. I got the correct part, super easy to install. However the wipers always wipe on initial start up, as well as just randomly otherwise. They do detect water as they should (I feel like it's a little slow but I've never had rain sensing wipers before either). The gel pad was reused and there was some damage done to it from removing the humidity sensor. What is causing the consistent single wipe on start up, and this random wipe other times?

 

[vincentw56]

A little revive here. I did this on my 2019 Ram 2500. I got the correct part, super easy to install. However the wipers always wipe on initial start up, as well as just randomly otherwise. They do detect water as they should (I feel like it's a little slow but I've never had rain sensing wipers before either). The gel pad was reused and there was some damage done to it from removing the humidity sensor. What is causing the consistent single wipe on start up, and this random wipe other times?

Get a new gel pack. That's what fixed my issue. They installed a new windshield and a new gel pack. It works great now.

 

[PapaJon96]

Get a new gel pack. That's what fixed my issue. They installed a new windshield and a new gel pack. It works great now.

This fixed both issues? Just to be clear, I don't need a new windshield, just a new gel pack, right?

 

[Ldc2335]

Mine wipes at initial turn of the switch, but not randomly.

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