Autolamp/autodimming Mirror

['96explorereddiebauer]

For the sensor, remember to get one that is the same year as your overhead console. If you get some other years, you'll get some very wrong reading. There're no interior temp sensors. The only sensor you'll need is the one in front of the radiator. As for the temp sensor that sits behind the little grill in the dash, you need automatic climate control. I don't believe you have auto climate control so don't worry about getting that.

 

[vbtruk]

Thanks, so my question now is will the overhead console tell me the inside temp or just the outside???
thanks again.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Just outside.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Oh yeah...forgot. Here's a pic of the wire loom.

Dead Link Removed

The W/P wire is in that jungle of wires. The wire is toward the lower left corner of the picture, where the wiretap is.

 

[vbtruk]

thanks heaps billy

 

[vbtruk]

Can anyone please tell me the part number for the air temp sensor that sits in the headlight housing used by the overhead console????? ASAP if possible.
FORD here have no idea and believe me i have tried exhastingly, i might just have to find a limited and check it out.

 

[RiverRat]

On my 96 there is no part number on the ambient temp sensor. I have purchased these before and the parts man had no problem finding the right part.

Originally posted by vbtruk
Can anyone please tell me the part number for the air temp sensor that sits in the headlight housing used by the overhead console????? ASAP if possible.
FORD here have no idea and believe me i have tried exhastingly, i might just have to find a limited and check it out.

 

[vbtruk]

it's ok we found a temp sensor!!! Anyway i just looked at the auto dim mirror and it has 5 wires comming out of it, i can see the purple-white one which i splice into the RAP but what do the others do and which ones do i hook up to get the delay on the lights working????
Thanks again.

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

I got the power from the overhead console. Go back a page and you'll find out which wire to tap. And I believe there's one wire I didn't tap into anything. I don't remember which one so...

 

[vbtruk]

OK OK OK! so i think i got it but why do you splice both the mirror power wires into the one grey/yellow console wire. RIGHT?
THANKS heaps!!!!!!!!

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Well...I tried just one power wire and it didn't work so I was scratching my head. Then I kept reading and found there's another power wire, but I think this one is hot at all times so I wired that one to the same power wire and it worked.

Now comes to think of it, I probably know why my autolamps don't have a delay. It's because both power wires are connected to the one in the overhead console instead of a continuous feed.

 

[vbtruk]

cool i'll give it a shot, which mirror wire needs the continueous power feed do you think? and which goes into the console???
Also i just got the bracket and it's so small it looks like a black square with 2 holes i figure for the screws and two slots that the console goes into and a small lip at one end! does this sound right as the bracket on ranger sport looked like a rectangle silver thing!
thanks again billy your a champ!

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

I believe it's the LG/Y wire. Try to wire it to a hot wire at all times such as the cigarette lighter. When I get home in a few weeks, I'll do that and see if it'll work. But then again, you'll be working on it so report back if it works.

 

[vbtruk]

Ok BILL i'll be starting it next week or the week after and give it a shot! also i was looking where the temp sensor goes and found a plug siting on it's own with no sensor on it near the radiator is that where i plug the temp sensor in and where would i find the wires for it or should i just use new wires????
also what do you think would happen if i put the mirror wires on to a constant hot wire i mean how can i definately find which one from the mirror requires the hot wire as i dont want it to short or anything.
thanks billy

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Thanks for working on it because I have no way to do anything other than school work here. As for the temp sensor, it won't hurt trying but I don't think that'd be it. Ford has vehicle option-specific wiring harnesses but try it out. Good luck!!

 

[vbtruk]

i hope it is for the temp sensor as when i bought the sensor from ford it didn't come with the bottom half plug only the top bit.

 

[Hoppy]

Well guys, I have the mirror, and I am diving in!

Lets see if i can get the autolamps to work!!!

Hoppy...

 

[vbtruk]

hoppy please let me know and if you do then let us know the wirring directions

 

[Hoppy]

'96explorereddiebauer,

I just picked up an autolamp/dimming mirror out of a 96 EB explorer yesterday from a wrecking yard. I have a couple of questions for you or who ever else may be able to give me some insight to this.

1. Before even attemting to install the mirror and hard wiring it into my truck (97 Explorer 4x4 XL) i bench tested the mirror in my basement. The dimming option of the mirror works great. Not a problem with that, but when i tried the Auto Lamp the button's green light came on and the yellow or orange light came on just beside it. Now, you said that the white/purple wire just links into the w/p RAP lead on the truck. Fine. But when I bench tested it, I had hooked a test light up between the w/p wire and to the positive battery post. When I did this the test light along with the yellow indicator light on the mirror began flashing. I tried hooking up the light to the negative post on my bench battery and nothing happened. So I tried with the positive again and it flashed again. I put a flashlight on the photo cell that would face the windsheild and the yellow indicator light and test light went out. So, I beleive that is operating properly, but I cannot figure out why the output is a negative pulse. The way I see it is you need some kind of module to make the lights stay on for a determined period of time. If not, the w/p wire will just flash the lights on and off as long as it is on. Any insight on this at all?

2. On the forward part of the mirror just next to the 6 pin wiring plug there is another 2 pin plug there. The 96 EB explorer that i pulled this mirror out of did not have another 2-wire harness built into the wiring harness that was there. Maybe someone cut it out of the truck before i got to it. Is this plug just redundant? Maybe this is the lead that I need to make the autolamp feature work???

And, lastly,

3. The wiring colours and where they go. I realize the Black is Ground, White/Purple is supposedly to go to the lighting circuit, Black/Pink is to the reverse lights but the two power wires have me baffled. Where does the Red/Yellow line and the Green/Yellow lines go to? The mirror dim feature and the autolamp feature do not do a thing unless I apply power to the both of them.

I thank you and anyone else who can give me some insight on putting this puzzle together!

Thanks,

Hoppy

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

Hoppy and vbtruk, I figured it out!! I don't know the mumble jumble but it works perfectly now. I have the delay and everything. There's no need for a module to control the lamps. Apparently, the mirror controls the delay for the headlights too.

What I did when I first wired the mirror was that both the power wires (LG/Y and R/Y) are connected to the power wire in the overhead console, which is only hot when ignition is turned on. So when I turn my truck off, the mirror turns off also so the delay is not there. I finally figured out that one of the power wires is hot at all times (LG/Y) and one is only hot when the ignition on (R/Y). The LG/Y wire is the one that powers the delay.

So...I rewired the mirror this weekend by taking the LG/Y wire out of the power wire from the overhead console and brought it down to the cigarette lighter since the cigarette lighter is hot at all times and VOILA!! It worked. The delay works. The delay can be set between 2 seconds to a full 3 minutes. It's awesome!!

As for the W/P wire, all you have to do is bring it down to the instrument panel and it should control the lights because it's the same wire RAP uses.

So the wire colors, 5 wires. R/Y and LG/Y are power. R/Y is hot at ignition and LG/Y is hot at all times, that's for the delay to work. BK is ground, W/P is lighting control, BK/PK is to the transmission range selector.

Like I said above, R/Y connects to the power wire in the overhead console and LG/Y is ignition wire or a wire that's hot at all times.

I don't know about the plug. When I got it, the harness has one plug, and that's the plug for plugging into the mirror and the other end is open wires so I can't help ya there.

I hope I explained everything as clear as possible but if you guys have any questions, just reply or send me an email. Good luck!!