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DIY JDM motorized automatic folding mirrors

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by GCPExit12, Jun 19, 2012.

  1. GCPExit12

    GCPExit12 Member

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    The thread on the folding mirrors was running a bit long so I decided to start a new one and assemble all of the vital information on the very first page. I would like to thank everyone who commented on and followed the old thread. I am especially grateful to GoldPianoGarden, sfv41901, and civicsky for their generous contributions of advice, expertise, and general know-how. This project was difficult for many reasons, but together we triumphed.

    Materials Needed
    If you are attempting this project, I assume you have procured the following items:

    mirrorsdiy01.jpg
    The folding mirrors can be from a JDM or Euro-spec Prius or the JDM Toyota Wish. This particular DIY is for the Toyota Wish mirrors so specifics may differ depending on what kit you buy. You will need a new mirror adjustment switch with a mirror fold/unfold button. I hear the Toyota Tundra has a part we can use for this. You will also need a control unit if you want to add the auto fold/unfold with car on/off function.

    STEP ONE: Removing the side mirrors

    Refer to CivicSky's excellent mirror lights DIY for instructions to remove the side mirrors.

    STEP TWO: Swapping the non-motorized hinge with the motorized hinge

    Once you have the mirrors off the car, you can swap the stone age spring loaded hinge to a modern day motorized hinge. All the wires from the mirror run through the hinge, through a hole that is not big enough to fit the harness connector, so you have two options:

    The more straightforward approach is to cut all the wires, swap the hinge, thread the wires through the new hinge, and reconnect them back to the harness one by one. The more elegant but time consuming approach is to remove the connectors, thread them carefully out through the old hinge, replace the old hinge with the new hinge, and thread them carefully through the new hinge.

    It goes a little something like this:

    Start with the mirror heater wires, these two are the easiest. Then remove the mirror adjustment motor by removing the four screws that hold it to the housing

    mirrorsdiy04.jpg

    Now go for the four wires going to the mirror adjustment motors. If your wires are the same colors as the ones you see here, bring your laptop/ipad/mobile phone with you and use this image as a reference to reconnect them later on:

    mirrorsdiy02.jpg

    Once you pop off the covers with a flathead screwdriver, the other side looks like this:

    mirrorsdiy03.jpg

    Remove the two pins by pulling vertically away from the backing plastic gently. You will need to reposition them back in the plastic piece later on during reassembly. If you have the regular mirrors without the turn signal, puddle light, and other shenanigans, these are the only six wires that should be in your mirror. pull them through the hole in old hinge and remove them from the mirror assembly.

    Now remove the metal base of the mirror from the plastic main assembly by removing these three screws. Note they are star shaped.

    mirrorsdiy04b.jpg

    Now remove the plastic structure holding the housing to the hinge by remove these two screws:

    mirrorsdiy05.jpg
    mirrorsdiy06.jpg

    Swap the hinges. The standard one is on the right and the motorized one is on the left:

    mirrorsdiy07.jpg

    Now the hard part: threading the wires through the new hinge. Because of the motor, the hole is much, much smaller. I found it helpful to bend the terminals to help them get through the tiny opening.

    mirrorsdiy08.jpg

    Through they go!

    mirrorsdiy09.jpg

    Be very careful to thread them through the mirror components in the right order, otherwise it's going to be a real pain to remove and rethread. The correct order, from the harness end is (1) rubber surround, (2) metal base, (3) mirror housing, and (4) motorized hinge. If you have wires from your turn signal etc, you have to thread those in the reverse order because you are starting from mirror and threading towards the chassis.

    mirrorsdiy10.jpg

    Once the wires have all gone through, reassemble the mirror assembly and reattach it to your car. If you did it my way, you don't have to replace your door harness. There are just two wires from the fold/unfold motor. Thread these through the tubes of wires going from the door panel to the junction box by the driver side kick panel.

    Once both mirrors are in place it is time to connect the new mirror switch.

    Use splice/tap/electrical tape/ etc to splice all the wires from the car connector that came with the kit (top image) to the mirror adjust connector actually on the car (bottom image)

    mirrorsdiy13a.jpg
    mirrorsdiy13b.JPG

    After you remove the first green wire (illumination +) and the last white/black wire (illumination -), the rest of the wires on the stock mirror adjustment switch harness match in order with the new mirror adjustment switch harness. More specifically, starting with pin 3:

    (new switch harness->stock switch harness)
    orange->grey/white
    black->white/black
    pink->dark green
    yellow->blue
    purple->red
    brown/white->pale green
    black/white->yellow

    At this point, you can connect the blue and green wires from the new mirror adjustment harness to the blue and green wires of both mirrors and you will have mirrors that fold/unfold when you press the button. if you have the control unit, proceed by connecting the red wire from the control unit to a constant 12V source and the white wire from the control unit to the positive door lock actuator wire.

    The wiring diagram:
    mirrorsdiy14.png

    The finished product. Sorry for the poor lighting, I only have time to work on the car at night.


    Late night test run. Instead of the standard 0.25 drag coefficient, I'd say I was getting it down to at least 0.24999999999 by tucking in my mirrors. again, sorry for the poor lighting
     
  2. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    Nice. U took a different approach with a few things, but the end result is still the same. :D
     
    dimatwist likes this.
  3. SoCalBPrius

    SoCalBPrius Active Member

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    Good work & very nice write-up(y).
     
  4. genetiix

    genetiix Member

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    I didn't see what the big deal is with folding mirrors.. But after seeing them in action with the leds I want it... Awesome job and great write up.
     
  5. Steve Type-4

    Steve Type-4 Trading HP for MPG

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    Sweet write up :D
     
  6. SoCalBPrius

    SoCalBPrius Active Member

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    FYI, u can get just the LED w/cover as a lot of us have that mod without the folding mirror:).
     
  7. CivicSky

    CivicSky Member

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    Nice & very detail write up indeed!
     
  8. ucsmfu

    ucsmfu Senior Member

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    which way is easier ?

    thanks
     
  9. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    That's hard to say since im not 100% sure how GCPExit12 joined the controller harness to the OEM harness. Either way they will prob be about the same.
     
  10. ucsmfu

    ucsmfu Senior Member

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    haha, I think I will still do my road trip to get you to help me install :p

    just ordered ><
     
    GCPExit12 and sfv41901 like this.
  11. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    I'll be here ready & waiting (y)
     
  12. GCPExit12

    GCPExit12 Member

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    good luck! this is definitely one special mod.

    You should go with sfv's configuration because the resistor connected to my controller burned out, so now the mirrors don't fold/unfold automatically with lock/unlock anymore. Either my setup is somehow inherently flawed or maybe it was the record heat we got this summer, or the non-Toyota resistor the seller used could not handle the fold/unfold cycles (i'd estimate about 200-250 fold/unfold cycles assuming 2 to 3 cycles per day since I finished the install in June). Anyway, I've decided to rewire it so the mirrors fold/unfold just with the push button. Will update when I have a solution.
     
  13. ucsmfu

    ucsmfu Senior Member

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    good luck :)

    thanks, so far I know 2 people have this mod done in N. A haha :p
     
  14. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    Man thats not good.

    Have u verified that the controller still works?
     
  15. ucsmfu

    ucsmfu Senior Member

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    hey Sean, do you have the part number of the Lexus white foot well LEDs ?

    thnx
     
  16. GCPExit12

    GCPExit12 Member

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    yeah it works though it must be a miracle as it was so badly assembled. When i opened up the box there were glue/soldering residue fingerprints patterns all over the board and components. I might just build my own box when i get the time.
     
  17. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    Here u go:

    [​IMG]
     
  18. sfv41901

    sfv41901 Masta S

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    So if the controller is working & the switch is still working, what's failing?
     
  19. EngMarc

    EngMarc Member

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    I recently finished installing the JDM folding mirrors. I had some needed help from sfv41901 and looked a lot at the blog (DIY: How to install JDM Prius power folding side mirrors | Balancing Act) which shows a detail of having to assemble various configurations of the JDM folding/non-folding mirrors.

    The mirrors I received were indeed JDM style OEM mirrors that folded and had ONLY an LED turn signal with heated mirrors. So there were fewer wires than the mirrors with LED puddle and parking lights. Once I did the initial install, I ordered from MITAccessories on eBay ( mitaccessories1) some triple LED lights and popped off the outer shell and put in the new triple LED’s in place of my single LED lights. This gave me the full LED Turn, Puddle and Parking lights that I wanted (here’s the lights on eBay: MIT TOYOTA PRIUS 2010-2015 LED outside door mirror turn signal light lamps | eBay). Total cost for JDM plus new LED’s was about $400 ($250 mirrors, $115 new LED’s, various connectors and clips). Hours to install, first time was about 1.5 to 2.0 times as long as it would be for a second install so initially about 4-6 hours, second time around would be 2-3 hours if I had all parts.

    I first installed the JDM LED folding mirrors (questions please ask as I haven’t really done a write-up nor photos but could do that later if there is interest). Then I swapped out the LED’s to get the triple LED and updated the wiring.

    1) Mirrors checked out to mount on my 2013 Prius Model 5 (Not C nor V) site with the same angle as production mirrors
    2) There’s a small plastic retaining clip that basically holds the mirror to the car while bolting it down or if the bolts break. This clip is shaped like ‘<-|<‘ and snaps into the grove on the mirror and then snaps into the similar grove in the door. I was able to get one of them out but the other mutilated. Checked with Toyota and they aren’t available from the dealer (or dealer doesn’t know how to get them).
    3) Dismantled the stock circular five wire connector from the production mirror and reused it on the JDM mirrors for the basic production features (mirror adjustment, heater leads). This meant I only had to worry about a connector for the additional wires (Fold mirror motor, Unfold mirror motor, LED turn, LED puddle, LED parking, (+), (-)). I purchased the Toyota wire ends in sizes 0.020 and 0.050 (didn’t use the 0.050 as they were too big) from Eastern Beaver Company for a fraction of the cost Toyota wanted (e.g. $0.10/ea versus Toyota $6.00/ea). This made building the connections easier (still haven’t mastered this technique but it is possible).
    4) Tapped into the relevant sources on the car: Alarm arm, Alarm disarm, Ignition on, Driver turn and parking lights, Passenger turn and parking lights, (+) and (-) and blue wire (ground switched) above the A-Pillar for puddle light activation.
    5) Ran some new wires from Mirror mount through the door boot to just under the driver’s side dash are behind the mirror switch (ran this from both sides). Note that the source wires from the Passenger turn and parking only run from the passenger’s foot well out through the door boot and to the passenger’s mirror assemble (they don’t run the width of the car). The wires that run the width of the car are: fold, unfold, (+), (-) and puddle ground switch.
    6) In each door, tapped onto the active (+) feed for the puddle (+) line (note that the puddle lights are switched ground so they need a constant (+) source) from the door lights which come on when you open the door (also ground switched).
    7) The switch I ordered with the mirror Fold/Unfold button has EXACTLY the same connector as the production switch EXCEPT there are two blank pins which are used with the new switch. I simply used my Eastern Beaver wire ends to make two new pins and put them into the production connector. These two new wires run to the Folding mirror controller (marked from and to switch). Order doesn’t matter at this point. During test you may need to reverse them for desired position.
    8) I then connected up the controller to the sources (Alarm arm, Alarm disarm, Fold, Unfold, Ignition on, (+), (-), switch fold, switch unfold).
    9) Before going any further, I checked EVERY single lead wire coming from a spliced connection (e.g. parking light, puddle light, turn signal, ground, (+), Alarm arm/Alarm disarm (both of these are 12v pulses), Ignition on). I checked these because initially spotty things worked. I found splices that hadn’t penetrated the wires and eventually once all connections were verified a BAD CONTROLLER which had to be returned to the vendor. I did receive a new controller and it worked like a champ.

    Now I have the nice welcome LED at night lighting up the sides of the car and the parking and LED turn signals. The mirrors fold when I arm/lock my door and unfold when I unarm/unlock my door and they fold/unfold with the new dash switch which is also lighted.

    Post all of this, I ordered replacement LED interior lights which I love. They are cleaner, brighter and much cooler than the stock resistance lighting (even though my Prius has the LED head/tail lamps!). I ordered the LED interior lights from a guy on Amazon (
    ).

    I know - I need to upload pics and video. I will and if you want to encourage me a bit feel free - maybe that will motivate me!

    Questions let me know
     
    sfv41901 and mrbigh like this.
  20. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I'm not sure I'll ever feel a desperate need for auto folding mirrors, but I would be interested in mirrors with a memory for aim. Does anybody know if there is a system of that kind that can be retrofitted into a Gen 3?

    -Chap