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Old 12-27-2016, 10:51 AM
cowboybilly9mile cowboybilly9mile is offline
Ford Ranger Driver
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 4,897
Default Re: Explorer Auto-dim mirror wiring

Your 96+ autodim mirror with auto and delay off headlights will have five wires. They are as follows:

LT GR/YE --> +12V at all times
RD/YE --> +12V at start/run
BK/PK --> +12V in reverse
WH/VI (or, WH/PK) --> relay ground
BK --> ground

These colors are noted at the connector on the mirror itself. Moving on, I'll provide some info on how to wire it up; I'm not sure where you're at as far as this goes or your skill level, so take what you need from the following and ask if I leave something out.....

For autodim mirror operation, you need to connect the LT GR/YE, RD/YE (causes autodim to only function when vehicle is in KOEO or KOER), and BK. The BK/PK cancels the autodim when the vehicle is KOEO or KOER AND when it's in reverse. Not connecting this wire mean, no cancel of autodim. So there's the basic three wires to get the mirror up and running, and the fourth if you like it. FWIW, I wired up the BK/PK and between looking before backing up and having a backup cam, I've never derived benefit from the cancel in reverse feature.

The fifth wire is WH/VT and this is needed for the auto headlights. In a nutshell, what happens is the parking and the headlight circuits are each wired to the contacts of dedicated relays (ie, two relays) and the contacts of each relay circumvent the need for the light switch on the dash for enabling exterior lighting. A really great place to tap into the wiring and mount the relays (headlight relay will matter most) is close to the connector for the headlight switch. This is because, a short wire run and of the correct size minimizes voltage drop on the headlights when the autodim is operating. The relay coils themselves are wired with one side hot at all times and the other to the WH/VT wire. FWIW I used a 40A relay for the headlights and a 25A relay for the parking lights (visually, the one that's half the size of the 40) and for tapping into the wiring at the connector, each pin was extracted from the connector, adequate insulation removed, physical tap/connection securely made, soldered, then sealed and insulated with marine grade shrink pipe, and reinserted into the connector. The original wires where never cut (reliability). No store bought wire taps, ever and all soldered connections to ensure durable, reliable connections.

On the OHC, one way to ID the approx year is to look at the lens covering the display (*hopefully nobody changed it out). Blue = Y95-97 and green = Y98-01. Tell me what you've got and I'll ID the wiring for you. From what you've said, I can tell you is that the GY/BK is attached to the VSS circuit (probably circuit #679 on yours) and missing from your list is the LT GR/OR (probably circuit #705). The LT GR/OG is the battery saver circuit, timed at 30 minutes, and it runs the map lights on the OHC.

I'll stop for now. Pics possibly available depending on what you want to see.
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