Adding smartkey door handle (rear or pass side)

Wow, this speaks volumes! It is actually *just* the antenna, not the oscillator and antenna as in the Gen2. The ground is not needed, only the 2 wires. Since this is the case, this adds another wrinkle; If the addition of a second antenna in parallel creates problems for the signal, you could also try it in series. (you'd have to pull a pin from the Cert ECU to do this, but it's easy with a safety pin - no cutting needed!)

The good news is that it's very possible to wind your own antennas. No need to pay Toyota for it. In fact, I bet you can pull the ferrite from an old AM radio. So a possible low-cost hack would be winding your own antennas, then adding the auto-unlock hack so no additional switches needed at the door.

I'd also love to see the insides of the Certification ECU. I'm curious if it's different hardware, or just a software thing. I'd be grateful if you could snap some ones of both sides of it's PCB.

Yes, your conclusion was right; that plug is where the wire would exit the body if so equipped. Unfortunately that pretty much confirms there is no wiring back there.

 

I'll see what I can do. Last time I had things open I spent a little time trying to get the Certification ECU out of it's slot because I wanted to see if the pins for the passenger side SKS handle actually went anywhere on the PCB, but I wasn't able to figure out how it was attached and I didn't want to break anything trying to pull it out. It was starting to get late, though, and I still had to button everything back up, so I didn't try for too long. Below is a pic I snapped of the connector end of the ECU, but it doesn't really show much. The Certification ECU is the blue one on the right side in the picture.

 

Guys, I appreciate all your work. There will be a lot of us that make this mod when you get it workings. 95% of the time I get in the car I open the rear driver door first to put something in the back or get something out.

 

Here's TIS instructions:

 

I saw one like this under the cap holder of the center console, maybe could help:




Many of us are behind this post, hoping the mod can be done.

The more pics you can take and docs you can post, the better.


Regards.

 

This is the front antenna that lets the smartkey authorize start. Without it, you will not be able to start your car with the smartkey.

I chose the rear for experimentation, because it's easy to get at, and it's only purpose is to make sure you don't lock your key in the cargo area. (the car will still start w/o it!)

 

It works... it works I'll post more shortly... I want to get the car buttoned up again, but everything works. I connected the oscillator in parallel (and it doesn't seem to have reduced the range of the driver's side one at all) and left it outside the car on the passenger side. It now recognizes my key when I walk up to the passenger's side and turns the lights on. I can also leave my key on the passenger side and touch the sensors on the driver's door and it will lock and unlock the car.

Furthermore, I connected wires in parallel with the lock and unlock trigger wires, and as pEEf predicted I can lock and unlock the car when I connect those wires to ground.

I think we're definitely going to be able to get this working

Brett

 

OK... the car is back together and everything is still working, so that's a good sign

I take back what I said about no reduced range... it definitely did reduce the range when I had two oscillators connected in parallel. Somehow I just missed it when I was doing my testing. Unfortunately I got it all buttoned up again before I realized this, so I never tried connecting them in series, however, even with the reduced range the system is definitely still functional, so I don't see that as a big issue.

I was in a garage when I was testing, so I was very close to the side of the car as I was walking toward the driver's side door. But with only one antenna connected it detected me as soon as I got to the back edge of the rear door. With two antennas connected I had to get to the middle of the rear door before it detected me. When I get my parts and actually put this together for real I'll try connecting things in series to see if that helps prevent the range loss.

But, like I said above, the exciting news is that it definitely worked and I was able to lock and unlock the doors by grounding the sensor wires as well, so once we get the parts and get everything wired together I think everything will work fine.

As far as the rear hatch switch goes, I believe that the wiring is in place for a two button switch. The connector that connected to my existing one button switch had three conductors... green, white with black stripe (ground) and grey. But only the ground and the grey wire were used. I suspect that the two button switch uses the green wire. I have no idea how far that green wire goes, because it doesn't make it all the way up to the ECU. Looking at the diagram posted above, I would guess that it gets dropped at the junction block in the rear headliner where the hatch wiring harness connects. Again, like the wiring in the door, getting it out of the hatch would have been the difficult part, so running another wire from the headliner up to the ECU shouldn't be too painful.

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the ECU PCB... I tried for some time, but I couldn't get the thing out... I saw the two latches holding it in, but you need something very long and very thin to push back there to release them... everything I tried that was long enough was too thick to get back there and everything I tried that was thin enough to get back there was too short.

Since this post has been pretty long I'm going to make another post with my plans and the part numbers we need to track down.

Brett

 

OK... this is what I'm planning to purchase and what I'm planning to do with it. As near as I can tell, this should get those of us with one door SKS as close to three door SKS as possible... hopefully without spending too much money.

Parts needed:

-SKS enabled exterior door handle for passenger side door
-Wiring harness that goes between that handle and the connector in the passenger door.
-2 button hatch switch for rear hatch
-Outside rear oscillator (with bracket?)
-connector for outside rear oscillator
-various pins, wires, wire taps, zip ties, etc.

(If anyone is able to help me find part numbers for the above parts that would be great)

For the passenger door I'll replace the existing handle with the SKS enabled handle and use the wiring harness to connect it. The SKS wires from the passenger door end at a junction block in the passenger footwell. I'll need to use wire taps or add pins and wires to one of the connectors to get the 5 SKS wires from that location to the certification ECU and use wire taps to connect them in parallel with the driver's door SKS wires. This will enable SKS on the passenger side.

For the rear hatch, I'll install the new external rear oscillator behind the bumper and run wires up to the certification ECU and connect it with the two other oscillators. I'll install the new two button switch and locate the end of the green wire for the second button and run that up to the certification ECU and connect it to the other 'lock' sensor wires. That will get the lock button working. The grey 'hatch open' button currently runs up to the main body ECU. I'll leave it connected there, but tap into it and also connect it to the 'unlock' sensor wire. I did some experimenting and I discovered that if you hold the hatch button down while the doors are locked it doesn't release (obviously). If you unlock the doors while you're holding it down it still doesn't release, but if you then let go of the button and press it again it will release. So unlocking from the hatch will be two presses... the first for the SKS system, which unlocks all the doors, and the second to actually release the hatch.

Do I need a diode or something in there to prevent the hatch from releasing if someone touches one of the unlock buttons on the front doors?

This should work with the following caveats...

*The system will think that you're at the driver's door no matter which door you touch. You'll need to configure the system to unlock all the doors when you touch the driver's handle otherwise only the driver's door will unlock when you try to open the hatch or the passenger door. (This can be done without taking it to the dealer and the directions for this are in the manual)

*The system will allow any door to unlock the whole car no matter where it detects the key. On the factory system if you stand with the key at the driver's door someone else won't be able to touch the hatch or the passenger door to unlock the car. This probably has a down side and an up side... it could be a potential security risk... if you walk up on the driver's side with the key then theoretically someone could touch the passenger door to unlock the car and get in... but I don't think that's terribly likely to happen. The up side is that if your wife or girlfriend beats you to the car, as long as your key is within range she can still use her handle to get into the car before you touch your handle.

*The hatch will require two press to open it from a locked state... one press to unlock, then a second press to actually open the hatch. I believe the factory system allows you to unlock and open the hatch with one press. I have a couple of thoughts about how it might still be possible to get it to work in one press, but it might require some experimenting to see if we can get it to work. Either way, I don't think this is a show stopper.

*The system may have a reduced key detection range. In my testing with two oscillators I found that I had to get about one foot closer to the car before it detected my key... when we connect three oscillators it will probably reduce the range even further. It may be possible to connect the oscillators in series to avoid this side effect, but I'm not totally sure if that will work. Even with the reduced range the system should be functional... I really think the only downside is that it won't turn the interior light on quite as quickly as you approach the car... it should still have no problem detecting your key before you are able to touch the handle.

Finally, for those of you wanting to get SKS working on your rear doors this should work for you as well... you would need to get SKS enabled handles for the rear doors and somehow run the wires out of the doors and up to the certification ECU. From my initial testing you might be better off not connecting the oscillator in those handles... I think the oscillators in the front handles will be able to trigger the key when you're standing at the back doors and then you wouldn't have to worry about reduced range... although by having two oscillators on the same side of the car, even with reduced range you may still have a better effective range. I guess you'll need to play with it a bit.

Brett

 

Better don't touch it, then!

Great! I hope you post a lot of pics

The best solution would be to have the same ecu than the 3 sks prius.
Connecting in parallel two sensor worked, but detection range dropped.
Connect a third sensor could make none of them work since the current wouln't be high enought to activate...



I think connecting in series will not work, the voltage would be less.


I hope you post a LOT of pics of this great mod. This would be one of the best and useful mods for our base model prius ever made.

Regards.

 

I've been searchinig for the parts I need for this and I've been reasonably sucessful. I started my search at toyotapartscheap.com. I know nothing about the company, but the prices don't seem too bad and they had some good diagrams that helped me identify the parts. Unfortunately, however, they don't list any part numbers, so we still need to get those.

However, as far as prices, this is what I've found...

-SKS enabled exterior door handle for passenger side door. List $205.05, TPC $164.05

-Wiring harness that goes between that handle and the connector in the passenger door. List $54.30, TPC $43.44

-Outside rear oscillator (with bracket?). List $86.94, TPC $69.55. From the diagram it looks like it includes the bracket.

-connector for outside rear oscillator. Haven't found yet.

-2 button hatch switch for rear hatch. Haven't found yet.

I'm hoping that the hatch switch will be under $100, but so far I haven't had much luck finding it at all. I'll keep looking.

Given that it'll be a bit over $200 for the front passenger door (for the handle and the wiring harness) I'm debating whether it's worth doing. The hatch is definitely the first priority for me... it's rare that I need to get into the passenger side of the car first, so I might just skip that entirely. We'll see if I can find the part cheaper elsewhere and how much money I have when it comes time to order the parts. The other thing that I noted is that it has each door handle color listed seperately, so I'm assuming that means that they come painted, so that is a plus.

Also, they have the certification ECU with a list price of $665.05 and their price of $532.04. They only have one certification ECU listed, though, so that implies that adding the other doors is a programming thing and not a totally different ECU.

If I have too much trouble finding part numbers by searching the parts web sites I'll probably give in and pay another $15 for another two day TIS subscription.

 

I haven't been able to do what I promised to do. My vacation off from work has been spent hanging out inside. It's been pretty cold these past three days, add the wind chill I've been finding the couch a comfortable place.

I'm hoping I'll have a few warm weekends coming up if you still need my help.

 

As you probably noticed, we've definitely made a bit of progress while you've been trying to stay warm. After the tests I did I'm quite confidant that this will work, however, we still haven't tested it with two SKS enabled handles. So, if you do have some time to do the test I think it would still be very helpful.

At this point, though, I'm feeling comfortable enough to move forward and order parts for this... Assuming I can find part numbers. So, depending on how long it takes me to place the order and get the parts and find time to install them you may still get it tested before me.

Let us know if you find the time for this

Brett

 

I've been continuing to search for the parts I need and I still haven't managed to come up with any part numbers, but I have figured out how to find the parts in the parts catalog that most of the parts web sites seem to use.

I've also found cheaper prices at parts.com than the site I posted at yesterday. As of now, here are the cheapest prices I've found...

-SKS enabled exterior door handle for passenger side door. $141.77

-Wiring harness that goes between that handle and the connector in the passenger door. $37.55

-Outside rear oscillator (I believe this includes the bracket). $60.11

-2 button hatch switch for rear hatch. $55.80

-connector for outside rear oscillator. I still haven't found this and I haven't really had much luck finding individual connectors on the parts web sites. At this point I think I'll just wait until I get the parts and then just take it to my dealer and see if he has a connector that will fit it... I imagine that might be the type of thing the parts department has just laying around.

So, the grand total from parts.com is $295.23 plus shipping.

I've placed the order from parts.com and I'm not sure how long it'll take to get here, but I'm hoping that once it does I can find part number on the parts or the packaging to make it easier for you guys to find what you need.

If anyone needs help finding the parts before then, let me know as I can tell you how to find them in the catalog on parts.com.

Brett

 

My two orders with parts.com went very well. Hope you have the same experience.

Good luck with the project! I would be most interested in the trunk sks.

 

BrettS,

If you can provide the part numbers or SKU numbers of each part that would help our search in parts.com.

I wish you have great success on the installation. I am interested in the same change to my 2010.

 

Like I said, I haven't been able to find any part numbers or even SKU's... but I can tell you where to find the parts in the catalog if you want to order them yourself.

First, go to parts.com, then on the left side under "Automotive Catalogs" click on "Toyota". Choose the year "2010", then click on "Prius Parts"

Now, for the SKS enabled handle, click on the following...
Front Door | Lock and hardware | Handle outside | W/smart key
Then find the handle that matches your exterior color

For the wiring harness for the passenger door, click on the following...
Electrical | Electrical Components | Harness
Then pick "Harness Right - Keyless entry components". If you're trying to do the rear doors or you live in a RHD country then you might want to pick "Harness Left - Keyless entry components"

For the outside rear oscillator, click on the following...
Electrical | Electrical Components | Antenna assy | Type 4
Then pick "Type 4 - Keyless entry components"

For the two button switch for the rear hatch, click on the following...
Electrical, Body electrical | Liftgate | Switch
Then pick "Switch, prius, w/smart entry"

Now, just as a disclaimer, I only found these parts based on the descriptions and parts catalog images, however, I am still 99% certain that these are the correct parts (certain enough that I did order them for myself). Once I get my order I'll post here to confirm, but until then, don't blame me if you order them and they turn out to be wrong

As a second confirmation that you got the same parts that I did you can make sure that the prices you are seeing match the prices I posted above for parts.com

 

It might be possible to mod the SKS ECU to provide additional outputs for the other antennas. I'd love for someone to get me some good high-res pix of both sides of the board.

 

I'll try again to get it out this weekend... You wouldn't think it would be so hard

Brett

 

I have to say thanks to all who are trying to figure this out. It's amazing how difficult Toyota made it. It's also amazing that they went so cheap as to not just include it on every Prius. I had an 07 Nissan Altima that had the sensors on both front doors and the trunk. it was really nice.