TheArcticWolf1911
Gunslinger
Joined: Sat Nov 4th, 2017
Posts: 426
Name: Cameron ... Occupation: Process Technician ... Interests: Firearms & Ammunition, Ford Rangers, electronics ...
Reputation Points: 426
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Footnote. Passenger side seatbelt had it's mount hole moved over a ways, but otherwise mounts up the same way. Driver's side required no modification.
A file quickly opened up the hole into a slot and it mounted in just fine.
The expo bezel got a bit of work. Wiper switch replaced with 12v port, and cigarette lighter replaced with 12v port as well, just as they were in the Ranger bezel. The 4x4 legend from my Ranger bezel was swapped in easily. The explorer legend didn't quite match up with what would actually happen, as there is no 'auto' mode in my setup anywhere.
I thought about getting a friend of mine to make up a stencil so I could make it say 'SAFE - SEMI - AUTO' for fun, but obviously decided against it later. Blacked out the wiper switch legend.
To swap the legend badges, all I did was break of the sonic weld, leaving the posts in place. New one slid on, superglue on top the posts to hold them back in place. That's about as good a result as I think you could get from this. Radio mount just swapped over with no issues as you'd expect.
Keen-eyed viewers may notice that my old Ranger bezel had no rubber coating, as it was kinda shot. I thought about removing this coating too, but it's in such good shape that I opted to leave it alone.
Oh, and the glossy back panel on the cab appears black, but it's carbon fiber wrap. Thanks, Dad! That plate is metal, actually. I expected plastic, found it was metal. Owned this truck for 5 years and didn't know that. Go figure?
Probably goes without saying that the module was wrapped in electric tape after all was done. Also, I did not use the screw terminals for the heat output, which is key power. I left the terminals in place, but soldered to the lugs on the board directly instead.
The board is always on 24/7, tapping into the cigar socket circuit (close proximity), but the actual heater power is keyed. Yes, I should have made the board key-power too. That said, it draws so little current as to not make any difference that you'd ever see without cracking out a current meter and doing some serious math. I think my LED dome light draws more current by a factor or two, let alone the stock incandescent dome in my F150.
With the key off, and the heater switch pressed, you can hear the relay trip, but it of course does nothing and the LED in the switch does not illuminate. Yep, I also wired up the indicator LED to work. You didn't expect me not to, did you?
It's a rather simple switch, actually. If you look at the schematic, it's a little hard to understand how it works at first. Typically, illuminated switches are fed power, then the switch itself activates it's own indicator. Not so with this.
This switch operates on the ground side of things. It pulls the activation pin on the GEM to ground, and is only fed power for the legend illumination. Believe it or not, the heater on indicator is powered by a separate wire entirely. Not internal, like the fog lamp. If you're wondering, I just picked up instrument illumination off the fog switch harness.Last edited on Fri Aug 21st, 2020 02:18 pm by TheArcticWolf1911
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1999 Ford Ranger XLT - 3.0 V6 4x4 - Loaded (Totaled) 143k. Rest in Peace, Gold Dust.
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