Forscan: 360 degree camera calibration

[themishmosh]

Sooner or later, the parking lines on the 360 degree camera will not align and a calibration is needed. This used to be available only with FDRS. Then the F150 was able to do it with Forscan, but Explorers could not. I am happy to report that with the current latest version of Forscan 2.3.66, the 360 degree camera calibration is available in Service Procedures.


First, find an empty parking lot with clear parking lines. You will need about a minute of actual driving with the steering wheel pointed straight and a slow speed. The data collection will stop to allow you to turn into an adjacent area with parking lines where the data collection will resume once the steering wheel is straight and the speed is slow. So, what you want is a parking lot with lines that will allow you to go straight, turn around into an adjacent set of lines and turn back around--like a race track--until the data collection is complete. Here is where I did mine:

First, start Forscan on your laptop (I am using Win11 on a MacBook Boot Camp, Mongoose Plus adapter). Run a diagnostic to make sure there are no IPMB codes. Then go to Service Procedures and run IPMB: 360 degree Camera Calibration.

Pay attention to the following instructional pages that will appear.

When the second instructional page appears, put the car in Drive, press the Camera button on the console. The 360 camera display should be replaced by the following graphic:

On the left is the steering angle, the center is % completion of data collection, and on the right is the speed. Drive slowly and straight and the graphic should be all green as in the picture. If you accidentally drive too fast, the graphic will disappear (just like the camera view would when driving forward over 15MPH)--simply slow down, hit the camera button and resume. When you run out of parking space ahead of you, turn to the adjacent parking area (the data collection will pause because of your steering angle). Once you are steering straight and speed is slow, data collection will automatically resume. When the center % is 100, data collection is complete, as in the picture below:

At this point, keep the car in drive but hold the brakes. The graphic should remain on the screen. You can also drive to a safer nearby location, but make sure the above graphic is still there, with car in drive and brakes held. Click "OK" on the second Forscan instructional page and the computer processing will commence. Be patient as it will take 5-8 minutes. Once successfully completed, you will see this screen:

The calibration is now complete and you can check the result. On my vehicle lowered on Steeda springs, the front alignment is perfect, the rear is still slightly off but better. YMMV. Also, on my Explorer ST, an IPMB error code U3000 (general memory fault) afterwards, which you can safely clear if the camera system is functioning normally. Judging from past experience, this is something you may want to do yearly as my camera alignment was off (1st picture of post) about a year after I did the calibration using FDRS.

Final Note: the graphics look a little janky but rest assured, this is the exact same graphic and procedure if you were to use FDRS.

 

[SClark08]

This is almost exactly what I am looking for. Can I use this diagnostic to recalibrate a backup camera? Mine came with the 360* Camera credit.

 

[themishmosh]

This is almost exactly what I am looking for. Can I use this diagnostic to recalibrate a backup camera? Mine came with the 360* Camera credit.

Not sure. So yours only has the rear camera? No side cameras? Not sure what you would be calibrating. This procedure meshes the front camera with the sides and also rear camera with the sides.

 

[SClark08]

Yep, I have all of the cameras but only the rear is programmed/functional. I installed a lift and now my trajectory lines are off - I end up crooked when I back into parking spaces. But I’m perfectly straight when I eyeball it/use mirrors only.