Ashpoint

I have arranged to talk toJumboJake during your morning (and our evening) today. The wiring loom for the diesel version of the IS range has always been slightly different to the normally aspirated car. Why? – I don't know. The difference appears to be in the circuitry for the central locking system. I would suggest that last three cables are the ones that we need to focus on in our experiments. Miochael

Yes, the Po-40 Folding Mirror Kit is still available at $AUD101 post paid to European cities. Transit time from Sydney to London,, Paris, etc seems to fluctuate between 6-10 work days. Be aware that in some areas, there could be an import duty applied that you need to budget for. Some postal areas seem to be more aggressive collecting the duty than others - bit of a lottery there! The Po-40 comprises a universal module and a wiring harness. The module works in many cars from the Ford Ranger to the Camry, Lexus, and many more. The harness is the link to the universal requirements of the car and module. I don't wish to stray from the ideals of the forum by discussing commercial issues, so if you want additional information (install sheets, how to pay, how it works, etc) - send me an email (MichaelR@ashpoint.com.au) and I can send the "stuff" to you. Best regards from down Under (Sydney, Australia) Michael

Geoff, you're going to have to stop saying how easy the job is <grin> I recall that the <Lock> <Unlock> wires were different in the diesel models. Actually on a scale of 0 to 10, I rate getting the door liner off at 7 and wiring of the mirror harness at a 5.5!. Here in Australia I have one dealership that will install the Po-40 Folding Mirror Kit for you and one or two of the enthusiasts in each city can usually be relied on to offer assistance as well. Commercially most our auto electricians are charging about two hours to do the installation. I used to be able to do an installation in about 45 minutes. The forum is not capable of accepting the installation manual but if you send me an email address (to MichaelR@ashpoint.com.au) I can send you the sheets that will enable you to work out whether it's in your capability or not. I'm pretty sure you can rustle up a friend who will give you some moral courage and work shoulder to shoulder with you. At the end of the process you will get that warm inner glow that comes with doing something difficult all by yourself. Best wishes from Down Under Michael

Just adding to my reply and noting that you want to test the control module via the hole where the door Control Panel sits. That should be an okay method provided the control module stays connected to the harness. Use a very fine point on your multimeter probe so you actually make contact with the Po-40 wires. Take care not to bridge accidentally any of the wires. Having said all that, your safest and best possible result will be when you take the plastic liner off the door.. Also you comment About the motor working after a downpour. I wonder if you are not getting enough voltage to the mirrors and the water just acts as a lubricant and making less demand on the available current?? I quite often source the 12v from the car's blue cable that goes to the puddle light instead of picking up elsewhere

Ahhhh, I'm pretty sure you'll find that one of your clippy things will not be making a firm contact. This is often the case where the two wires are of slightly different gauge. The clip then seems to make a firm contact on the thicker wire and a dodgy connection to the other. It always causes a controversial exchange of messages but I like the old-fashioned solder and soldering iron and actually don't support any other method for joins in our kits. If you read through our various threads a common factor in miss-wiring has been the clips. I fully understand your reticence in diving into the door liner. The car is so finely engineered that you feel that the liner will break because of the force you're applying to get it off. However, if you want the kit to work properly, you are going to have to bite the bullet and pull off the liner. BTW, I've never broken one of the speed clips so far. Please report back to the thread with your results. I'm sure others will be interested to know how you get on. Michael

Hi… Allan's suggestion has merit. I am presuming the car is working correctly. I would check every Po-40 connection for a bad and solder joint and whilst doing so have a multimeter at your side and check the following. You should have continuity between the black wire and the car chassis. You should have constant 12v at the red wire When you lock and when you unlock you should see a very quick 12v pulse. In other words it will go from 0v to 12v and back to 0v on the white and blue wires. If, after doing the tests the system is still not working, let me know and I will send you a free of charge exchange control box. Best regards from Sydney, Australia Michael

The most amazing thing to contemplate is how Lexus get the car to work! Just in our little electrical corner of folding mirrors, we focus on three connectors in the door. In our installation manual we refer to connector A, connected B and connector C. When we devised the Installation manual for the IS250, we discovered that there are four different types of connector A, two different types of connector B and two different types of connector C. Not only that, but there are different combinations of each three. It must be a nightmare keeping inventory of all of those separate and distinct wiring harnesses. As to BillNick's issue, a brief explanation. We rely on a "flash" pulse from the central locking system (in other words, a quick 12v with a return to 0v). The original wire in the car was not returning to 0v quickly enough. Oh, MadAsAHatter asked the transit time from Sydney to Europe. I'm finding that the trip takes little more than 6-8 working days. I pride myself on shipping kits out within the next working day after receipt of payment. Best regards from Down Under, Michael Ph: +61 418 229 934 (just watch the time zones) Skype: Ashpoint, Sydney

Nine Nine pins in Connector A means that I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that you will be able to use the T-quick harness. The T-quick harness means that you will only have to merge three wires for the whole job. You will find there is a plug and socket on the harness which receives and replaces the existing nine pin plug. All the magic wiring changes are done inside the harness and almost guarantees a 100% error free installation.. The bad news is that I don't believe I have any inventory of the T-quick harness in my UK storage. (I will ask them). This means I'll have to send you the Po-40 Folding Mirror Kit from Sydney which will take 7-10 working days as against almost next day delivery from London. Prices the same as previously quoted. I believe you've already had a copy of the installation manual and you will be able to read about the T-quick harness in that manual. Let me know if you need any other information. Best regards from Down Under (Sydney, Australia), Michael

Readers of this thread may be interested to know the results of testing to date on the control module and harness that John retrieved from his car and submitted to the manufacturers in Bangkok. We anticipate a further report when the engineer investigates the performance of the units in freezing conditions. I test the unit and harness that you send back to Thailand << visual inspection >> from outside the box no melt , burn , rust , liquid leak or any sign of problem for both control unit and harness << input impedance @ room temp (24-32 C) >> blue vs black wire --> OK white vs black wire --> OK blue vs white wire --> OK << input current @ room temp (24-32 C) >> blue wire --> ok white wire --> ok red wire --> ok orange wire --> ok pink wire --> ok purple wire --> ok << manual testing @ room temp (24-32 C) >> lock input --> ok unlock input --> ok fold input --> ok unfold input --> ok << auto testing @ room temp (24-32 C) >> 10 cycle / 60s --> ok 30 cycle / 180s --> ok 10 cycle / 600s --> ok 50 cycle / 600s --> ok 5 cycle / 1800s --> ok 10 cycle/ 1800s --> ok no short circuit report no over current (2000mA) report after this testing i will test for longer period and try to find the way to test @ temp near freezing point (may be i will put the control unit on the ice and test it)

The 1st thing you can do is easy: Send me your email address so I can make sure that you have the latest copy of the installation manual. The 2nd thing you can do is equally easy: Go to the car and lift the windows/mirror Control Panel on the driver door and count the number of wires going into the top connector (we call it connector A). Let me know the count. A Skype connection is rather convenient at the moment at least until we each reverse the summertime settings. 6 am here (Sydney) is 7 pm your time. Look for me in the Skype directory as Ashpoint Sydney. Between us we will get rid of the cobwebs in your boot/trunk :) Best regards, Michael

It is not quite is simple as the earlier installations Geoff! My son and I installed the Po-40 Folding Mirror Kit into our first version of this car some months ago. Unfortunately the car happened to belong to my ex-wife and it's now no longer accessible to me <sad>. Whilst we were able to map the connections, we didn't get any photographs of value that would enable me to create an Installation Manual of the quality you would be expecting of a commercial product. I do have a working document that covers the installation but I consider it as "under construction" pending further work. I don't think this is a job for an amateur DYI and would prefer to restrict the sale to competent folk and/or auto electricians until we have built up a history on the car. This means that Lebon is going to have to consider the trady's price for installation (1-2hours @ £££?) as a compelling reason to take a pass on the kit. I'm rather hoping that the next several installations will be done with me being on-site (in Sydney) and/or via Skype. Whilst we have yet to discover a Po-40 Folding Mirror Kit that has failed in service, the owner needs to bear in mind warranty issues in fitting our kit into your shiny new car. Michael PS: Geoff, I recall with considerable pleasure, your installation (hard to believe that was nearly 3 years ago). You never recover from that warm inner glow when you've "done it myself!"

Firstly, can I thank John for creating this thread and particularly also to the very considered specialised knowledge laden responders. It has been a wonderful educational adventure.. For readers of this thread who might never have seen a Po-40 Folding Mirror Kit in the flesh, it might be useful if I give a tour of the physical Po-40. See the photo attached. The area of blackness seen on the right of the wiring harness is a built-in fuse. The fuse should be either/or/and protecting the car/control module. South of that "landmark" you can see a few of the shrink tubes that you are encouraged to use to cover the 3 wires that need to be spliced. BTW the harness shown in the photo is what we call the Universal Harness which enables the Po-40 to connect to different styles of cars. John should have used the T-quick harness that I sent him where he would have only had 3 wires to splice and two ready-made plugs and sockets to be swapped. All the rest of the "smart stuff" is in the 6cm x 6cm x 2.5cm component box and embedded in epoxy. There's not a lot of chance that we could have even an occasional short to +12 V or to ground in that environment. That's history now and the only difference in the end between the T-quick and the universal harnesses would have been the additional work he had to do. The overall result should have been (and was for 6 months) a working folding Mirror system. .

It is <ahem> hidden in the fuse box located in the engine compartment. Then again it is a liberty to call it a "tool"