ok, well i was working on the micro relay method described by jdm fan as of course the relay didnt come with my folding mirrors. now i got the relay functioning correctly, (push fold button, mirrors fold, let go, mirrors open) but what bothers me is the constant positive power applied while driving the car, (mirrors being continually asked to stay open). wont this wear down the motors and actuators very quickly? what methods have you used to bypass the need to cut power once the mirrors are fully extended...or did you just say "fawkit" and lived happily for many years without having to worry about it?
thanks.

 

its really confusing..just like whats going on with my moonroof...it CANT have constant power or it just makes noise and will burn out.

it should always be OPEN no power...and power ONLY when being closed..so power only goes to the switch when being closed.

 

well the JDM relay has a built in timer, so i may have to wire up some sort of little breadboard with a timer circuit.

 

for some reason, i can't get to jdmfan.com right now so i don't know what they've said to do. but i would that that a relay hooked up to the button would allow you to have an open. they relays i've worked with, you apply power to it to make it close, not apply power to have it open. so the button would be hooked up to that part of the relay which would close the contacts actually supplying power to the mirrors closing them. and then once you let go, the mirrors would stay there....i would guess. i don't know how they work in that respect since i've never really seen them. hope even a little bit of that made sense.

 

jdm fan had a hardware failure.

anyway, i followed his instructions, what happens is when you press a button it applies + power to one wire, (closes mirrors), when you let go the relay switches and applies + to another wire (open mirrors). the mirrors are not spring loaded: they require power to open and seperate power to close.

i am currently working ona 555 timer i can mate with the relay, and hopefully ill be able to go into business making replacement JDM relays for what it cost me to make ( :jerkit: )

 

so they only stay closed while you hold down the button? seems pointless to me. i figured they should stay closed, and once they're all the way down, then open (by pressing the button again). oh well.

 

right, well im working on a circuit involving a 555 timer, but i just explodicated the only timer i had, so i gotta go back to radio shack. ima have to do a little mroe research, that shitty little timer is confusicating.

 

All the relay does is fold the mirror in/out automatically so you don't have to hold the button, right? If so, can you use the same pricipal as an automatic power window? If I remember correctly, when you push the switch to automatic down, the window goes down, via relay, then a circuit breaker trips and mometarily cuts power to the relay, allowing the relay to open(ie no power to motor). Will this work for the mirrors as well? How do the mirrors opperate, are they like a window?(motor goes one way and it it folds out, motor goes the other way and mirror folds in) Or do they opperate in a different way?

 

the JDM relay, (not included in what i bought) has an internal timer that times how long it should take to open the mirrors and then stops applying power.

the instructions that are provided by jdm fan leave you with a system that is continually forcing the mirrors open with 12v power on whenever your finger is off that button.

 

h: :dunno: then