Can the Stock Rear View Mirror be Replaced w/ Auto Dimming & Homelink?

I cant stand my auto dimming mirror in my '07. Ive tried every trick to get it to darken as much as a normal day-night mirror

Im gonna velcro a replacement glass out of a normal day-nite mirror to it to get something that darkens like it should.

 

I bought the Gentex GENK41A mirror off Ebay for $169. This is the same mirror I have in my 2004 Prius, with three garage door buttons and auto-dimming mirror, no compass or backup camera, athough versions with this are available at a higher price.

My 2010 Prius is the Prius III with navigation only.

Installation took a couple hours, but I went slow and steady, could have been faster and it was 100 degrees today.

It requires about $5 worth of parts (wire splices, connectors and wire). Removing the mirror was surprisingly easy, there is a tab underneath the mirror base that you release with a small flat screwdriver and it slips off. The new mirror slips over the button and is anchored with a small screw requiring a #20 torx screwdriver.

Next, I popped off the plastic cover for the sunglass holder and the domelights, just used my fingers. Remove the white wire harness from the dome light (there is a small tab in the back that releases it). Using a multimeter, identify the "always hot" wire (I believe it was the white wire top right looking up at the harness in its installed position). I used the wire splice connector that came with the mirror.

There are three wires that need to be attached, a ground, an accessory and an "always hot". I ran the ground and the accessory wire under the ceiling panel, down the side pillar and under the driver side dash. I attached the ground to a nut on the parking brake.

For the accessory (ie only on when the car is on) I removed the power port cover underneath the radio (it just pops out, I used a plastic pot scraper to avoid scratches) and pulled the white coupling off the power port. Surpringly, the black wire was the hot wire, but double check with the multimeter. Because I wanted to have that power port always on to charge my cell phone, I cut the power wire (which is only on when the car is on) and ran a wire to the previously identified "always hot" wire on the dome light as decribed above. Now I am able to keep my cell phone charged even when the car is "off" (in 6 years I've never drawn the battery down in my 2004 Prius using this method). I attached another wire to the accessory wire and ran that to the appropriate wire for the mirror using wire connectors and I attached the wires under the dash using plastic ties so they cannot be seen.

Works well, looks good, saved a lot of money.

 

I have a '10 w solar / sunroof.
The dealer (Gilroy, CA) quotes $875 for the mirror alone. He said that was for the auto-dimming mirror with the homelink - no camera & no compass.

Additionally, they absolutely refused to install the mirror under any conditions. The mechanic said there was no documentation for the installation of that mirror in that ('10 with Sunroof) car - so they didn't want to be held liable in case it didn't work.

I think this would be an easy install on a NON-sunroof car - I have no doubts about it. I would be willing to bet the connections and wiring are already up there - in a NON-sunroof car.

But - I want this mirror in my '10 sunroof equipped car - and the dealer is scared to do it. That tells me it isn't as easy "plug it in - the connector is there".

Is there anyone that has done this in a '10 Sunroof equipped car?
That makes me worried.

 

It should be easy for you to install the mirror in a moonroof model. I would just tap into the wires for the sunroof switch since it powers on when you turn the car on only. You would just have to find a constant source for the homelink part of the mirror.

 

Here's the installation guide: http://toyotapart.com/PT374-47100.pdf

 

The moonroof install should be even easier as you have your dome light for constant on along with the moon roof switches for ground and accessory power.

 

I picked up a used 2010 Prius mirror, wire cover. I also got a short piece of the wiring harness and the plug, but I have only about 4" of the wiring harness (it was cut to splice to the better mirror) and the wires are not identified. Do you happen to know which color wire does what?

Many thanks in advance.

Tom

 

On my Toyota dealer's website, they advertise the auto dimming mirror with Homelink for $270 installed. I plan to order it soon - I'm tired of fumbling for my garage door opener.

 

you added in the power port conversation, but I don't know why..

u need 3 wires,
power, ground and switched power.. 2 can be had in the overhead console.. power & ground.
switched power is not there..

there are conflicting reports about whether the wires for the mirror are present (minus plug) or not, and the mirror instructions http://www.toyotapart.com/PT374-47100.pdf clearly indicate NOT (cause they have u run the harness as part of the install)..

so, you only needed to fish the one wire, switched power, down to under the dash..

right?

Sam

 

about to do this but, yes you are correct...

 

ok, wired my homelink/utodimming mirror up - the instructions make it seem way more complicated than it is -- both ground and constant power (red) are in the overhead map light panel - switched power is down below, they have you tap into the sideview mirror control wires (grey wire).

I didn't take the visor and trim pieces apart, its just 1 small wire that needs to routed down there and its pretty simple to do.

 

dumb question, what is the switched power lead for? cant you get by with just the power and gnd or is something always powered up and will drain the battery. tks

 

always on power is for the homelink, so the programming portion will be retained.
switched power is for the auto-dimming

 

I wired my self dimming mirror to the cigarette lighter which is activated by the key. Works great! The ceiling panels came out easy.

Joseph Heyman

 

Does the 2010 Pkg III have the harness or did you have to purchase that separately?

 

I'm in the same situation, dealer won't do it, etc. I've spoken with one of those custom stereo places that has installed mirrors on other cars and says it'd be no problem. But I wonder why Toyota refers to this part as a conflict. Did you get yours installed?