Topic: Soup's adding fully automatic Up & Down to your power windows mod (whew!)

[TomatoSoup]

As mentioned in a previous post/thread, and sick of having the auto-down (only) on the driver window (only) I found the following pre-built auto window control module: Amazon.com: Install Essentials 530T Window Automation System.  Given it was only $50 and already built and tested, I bought one.  What follows is a mini-review and a photo how-to of my installation. Note these modules are advertised at different stores as both "Install Essentials" brand as well as "Directed" brand, but these are actually the same manufacturer.

One caveat here... if you do as I did and mount/wire the module inside the driver door, it is a far easier install (no running wires around the car and into the doors), but it means the auto-function is only available from the driver-side switches.  The passenger-door window switch will still work, but as manual up/down only. 

OK, so before I get into the installation, let me talk about operation and a quick review.  Bottom line, I am extremely happy with how this works and can thoroughly recommend it.  Simply tap a switch (up or down) and that window will open/close all the way. Tap the switch again (in either direction) and the window will stop.  If you auto down (say) the passenger window and your passenger pulls their switch up, it will override the auto control.  Finally, if the module senses over-current (i.e. the window has gone all the way, or there's an obstruction) it will stop the motor.  This has the nice side effect of giving you anti-pinch functionality!

NEXT POST: Installation

[TomatoSoup]

Installation

Disclaimer: I have to state that I take no responsibility for this thread, or you, messing up your car when, or by, following these instructions.  This worked for me, but different build date cars may be different and it is up to you to verify that these instructions and steps will work for you and yours. (Other legal disclaimers pending )

OK, so first thing to do is remove the driver-side door panel.  There are other, more detailed, posts on how to do this (such as: Kappa Specific Sound Deadening Kits). But, basically, you unclip the small panel behind the chrome door latch, and undo the screw there, then undo the screw at the rear edge of the door panel.  Then unclip the triangular panel under the main door pull handle and undo the two 7mm-head screws there.  Then un-pop the panel with a panel puller, or your fingers, along the bottom edge of the door and slightly up the curve at the rear.  Once, the panel is loose, lift the inner panel up off the top lip and lock post.  Hold in place with one hand while you unclip the three electrical connectors and slide up and pop off the latch cable from the inside door handle.  Carefully set the inner panel aside.  (Actually, this is all easier to do than it sounds!)

OK, next step.  There are functions (and wires) in the 530t module that I didn't want/need to use (remote window control and aftermarket alarm hookup).  If you too don't need these, you can either cut these wires off; loop and tie them out of the way; or, do as I did and just use a dental pick to pull the wires and their pins out of the connector.  This shows the three wires I mean (gray, orange and pink/white).




This is a diagram I prepared to show how the module wiring connects to the door harness, as shown from the rear (wiring side) of the connector that goes into the window switches.  You should confirm that your wiring looks like this before proceeding - if any wire colors are different, note the changes.  The dotted lines and lower-case italics denote the car harness wires and colors.  The solid lines and upper-case colors denote the 530t module wiring.  Note that some wires in the harness have to be cut, whereas others (ground and 12V) are joined.  Also note that there are three ground wires in the module that are all joined to the ground wire in the harness (No, I don't understand why this wasn't done internally in the 530t!):




Next, find a place to mount the module on the door.  This is actually harder than I thought, due to the wires, wire anchors and various moldings etc inside the inner panel.  I found the ideal position (for me, anyway) was to place it where the bottom right corner of the module was one inch to the left and one inch up from the panel clip hole shown - see the yellow lines/arrows in the following photo.  You can drill holes and use screws to mount it if you like, but I just used sticky-back velcro. Please note my door interior will probably not look like yours... I have "SoundDeadenerShowdown" sound insulation installed (the gray mass-loaded vinyl and beige foam), puddle lights (the dangling brown and red wire pair) and Alpine SPR-17S speakers in place of the stock ones.




I chose to cut/splice the wiring at the yellow circle above, above the wire anchor.  Strip off a 3"-4" section of the binding tape and cut the wires at different positions so there won't be a big bulge when spliced and taped back up.  The following shows the wires cut and stripped - the gray wire is the only one not touched.  Note that I just stripped a small section of insulation off the ground and +12V wires where I could solder to.  If you are not comfortable with soldering, you could use clamp-on and butt connectors instead.  Looking pretty scary here:




Here are all the wires soldered together and heat-shrinked.  I used liquid tape painted liberally around the ground and 12V wire joins. Just as verification, the thinner (switch) wires from the 530t module are attached to the connector-end of the cut wires, while the thick (power) wires from the module are connected to the 'speaker' side of the cut harness wires:




Finally, all taped together and ready for the door panel to go back on.  But before you actually do that, see the next post!




NEXT POST: Optional Modification

[TomatoSoup]

Optional Modification

An optional (but highly recommended) step to perform is to disable the standard auto-down function in the Solstice.  First, I would be very worried about the two auto-circuits 'fighting it out'.  But just as importantly, if you don't do this, it disables the 'tap-again-to-stop' functionality of the 530t module on the driver side auto-down.  The downside, is that this is modifying the core functions of your Solstice, and makes it a bit more difficult to "return to stock", should you ever want to do that.

OK so, let's gird our loins and proceed!  Go find the inner door panel you so carefully set aside, and locate the inside of the window switch module.  This was mine, complete with a complimentary piece of black duct tape from the factory!




Peel back the tape (if you have it too) and insert a pry bar along the top edge of the white casing to lever out the bottom panel of the switch module.  Here it is loose, you may just be able to see the three clip-tabs in the photo.  Note that this bottom panel is clipped into the overall, black, switch module, which is clipped in turn into the white door molding.




Now you can remove the bottom panel, and the circuit board will fall out (no clips or screws):




Here is the top of the circuit board, showing the gray driver-window slider switch.  I would've preferred to be able to cut a trace to disable the auto function, but the PCB is a multi-layer board, and the trace is hidden.  So instead, you have to cut the metal strip from the switch into the board.  This is the thin metal strip identified by the yellow arrow:




Pry the metal strip a little bit away from the switch body with a dental pick or thin screwdriver (already done in photo above) and then snip it with a pair of wire clippers.  Bend the two ends apart to ensure they don't make accidental contact, as shown here:




If you do ever need to "return to stock" you can re-bridge the two ends of the cut strip with some wire and solder. 

Now place the circuit board back into the switch assembly (first make SURE the tab on the gray slider switch is in the central position - align it with the silk-screened mark on the PCB).  Then clip the bottom plate back on and re-tape if necessary.

NEXT POST: Testing and Final Reassembly

[TomatoSoup]

Testing and Final Reassembly

The final stage is to make sure you connected everything right, and also make sure the dip-switch settings on the 530t module are correct for your car.  These dip-switches control the over-current detection circuitry, and may need to be altered for your particular car windows.  In my case the factory settings worked fine except for the passenger window-up operation.  For some reason my passenger window is sticky apparently and I had to adjust the settings to HIGH to get it to close without stopping (dip switches all off).  Your settings may not be so problematic, but if you have any issues with windows stopping in mid journey, go up a level setting at a time until it works OK (the DIP settings are covered in the small printed manual that comes with the 530t).

So, find a cardboard box about 7-8" inches tall and place it under the door.  Rest the bottom edge of the inner door panel on it and re-connect the (modified) harness to the window switches.  Turn the car on (a helper would be nice) and test the window operation [NOTE: the roof should be up to test the windows against the resistance of the weatherstripping].  If all works fine, you're good to go.  If the windows work, but stop in mid-flow or don't close completely, then adjust the DIP switch settings as noted above.

Once all is working, you can go ahead and replace the inner panel.  Connect the rest of the wiring connectors, and lastly the door latch cable.  If you don't know the 'trick' this step can be a royal pain, so I'll pass this on to you as it was passed on to me at MMM6 (thanks Bryan!).  When you pulled the cable off the door latch handle at the start, it will look like this:




Before you try to attach it back on the latch handle, push the hammerhead cable-end up into the circular molding as shown here:




Now when you slide the cable end molding back down onto the latch, the hammerhead will automatically release into place in the door handle.  It's truly magic!

Lift the inner door panel onto the ledge at the top (and over the lock-pull) and clip and rescrew back together.  You're finished!

[HAMMER DOWN]

Very nice. Great job.

[Sly Bob]

Yes, that is something that would be handy and something that I would like to do in the future.

If it was possible to do it remotely that would be ever better. There was once a module if I remember correctly that would put the windows down with a double click of the lock button and up with a double click of the up button.

It wouldn't work in our cars though. Would be a great feature.

[BigSal]

Soup,

    Awesome mod!  I think this will be one for the fall for me. Great job with the documentation and pictures.
Thanks,
Sal

[NormSky]

Thanks for the write up!  Just ordered from ebay for $61.99 shipped.

[DeepBlueGXP]

Great write up.

I thought this was going to be the window module that auto drops your windows with the Key fob. 

[TomatoSoup]

Great write up.

I thought this was going to be the window module that auto drops your windows with the Key fob. 

Thanks!  Yes, that's one of the functions of the wires I removed, but as you noted before in the other thread, you'd need an aftermarket remote system to provide the signal to this module to be able to do that.

[Brad Kenny]

Nice write up and great system.  Might want ot try it, but looks rather daughting with all the wiring without knowledge of how it all works. Guess maybe a good thing to try at a Mod Meet with assistance from someone who has completed it successfully.

TS, you are a modding king!!! You keep me chasing you all the time.

[kennysabarese]

Really nice. Lindsay's 08 Mustang has auto up and auto down. I'm jealous of that.

[TomatoSoup]

Nice write up and great system.  Might want ot try it, but looks rather daughting with all the wiring without knowledge of how it all works. Guess maybe a good thing to try at a Mod Meet with assistance from someone who has completed it successfully.

Actually, it's pretty straightforward and simple to understand.  From the factory, there are two wires out of the door switch module to each (driver and passenger) window motor and these wires normally rest at ground.  Let's say the driver window is up.  If you press the driver-down switch, it switches +12V to the "down" wire of the window motor, leaving the other wire at ground, thus the motor turns, moving the window down.  Similarly if the window is down and you pull 'up' on the switch, it switches the "up" wire to 12V leaving the "down" wire at ground, the motor turns in the other direction and the window moves up.  Easy!

This 530t module just sits in the middle of these wires - between the door switches and the motor.  It detects activation of the door switches by sensing if any wire has 12V switched to it.  It then latches 12V power to the relevant window motor wire, but detects over-current (or possibly AC noise) across the motor, so it can stop the power when the window reaches the end of it's travel.

So, just 2 wires to each motor, 2 wires from each switch (total 8 wires) plus ground and +12V for the power.

Hope that makes sense!

[Treeman]

Really cool!  Will have to add it to the to do list.

[NormSky]

I just installed auto up/down according to TomatoSoup's well written instructions, especially the pictures.  Everything worked out well except my dip switches all ended in the up position when looking at the numbers.  I did not do the override feature but did leave the threes wires that would attach to the remote control/alarm in the event there are any new discoveries. 

Thanks for your work on this as it made it really easy to assemble by color of us non-EE types.

Norm

[JRinKY]

How do the remote control inputs work ? Could you use them with a switch in the trunk to potentially simplify top up/down ?

[TomatoSoup]

I just installed auto up/down [...]

Thanks for your work on this as it made it really easy to assemble by color of us non-EE types.

Woo Hoo! You are most welcome and thank you for commenting.  Sometimes these things just seem to go into a black hole, so it's nice to get feedback that my documentation time wasn't wasted

Although I've only had this mod in for a few days, I find in far more useful than I even thought.  Very happy I did it, hope you are/will be too!

[TomatoSoup]

How do the remote control inputs work ? Could you use them with a switch in the trunk to potentially simplify top up/down ?

That's an interesting idea!  There is the "Aux" input on the 530t (pink/white wire) that may well be useful for this.  I cannot find a good description of how it works (doesn't say in the manual) but I think that it will roll all the windows down if you ground it and then, maybe, roll them up if you toggle it to ground again - but this is a guess.   I didn't think to test this while I was installing, so if someone else could that would be great!

Anyway if this works as I assume, you'd have to run a wire all the way from the trunk to the front of the car and then into the door to this wire and just use a push button switch to ground in the trunk.  Note however, this will only work when the ignition-accessories is/are on, so your key would need to be in the ignition - and if that's the case, it would be easy enough to tap the window switches down while getting out anyway.

[JRinKY]

TomatoSoup : That's an interesting idea!  There is the "Aux" input on the 530t (pink/white wire) that may well be useful for this.  I cannot find a good description of how it works (doesn't say in the manual) but I think that it will roll all the windows down if you ground it and then, maybe, roll them up if you toggle it to ground again - but this is a guess.   I didn't think to test this while I was installing, so if someone else could that would be great!

Anyway if this works as I assume, you'd have to run a wire all the way from the trunk to the front of the car and then into the door to this wire and just use a push button switch to ground in the trunk.  Note however, this will only work when the ignition-accessories is/are on, so your key would need to be in the ignition - and if that's the case, it would be easy enough to tap the window switches down while getting out anyway.

Thanks. I was hoping the manual would be a bit more explicit, but that is better information than I had.

My plan is to override the RAP relay control so that it will stay on under certain conditions. I was considering the addition of manual up/down switches in the trunk for both windows, but this module might be a bit easier.

[TomatoSoup]

Thanks. I was hoping the manual would be a bit more explicit, but that is better information than I had.

My plan is to override the RAP relay control so that it will stay on under certain conditions. I was considering the addition of manual up/down switches in the trunk for both windows, but this module might be a bit easier.

Even if the Aux input doesn't work the way I assume, you could always add a couple of isolation diodes between the "down" switches and 530t input wires, then a 12V-switched wire diode-isolated & ganged to both inputs from the trunk.  This would at least allow you to drop the windows when putting up the roof (provided you also did your RAP mod).  Just a thought.

By the way, the background for my 'assumption' on the Aux input operation comes from this info in the manual (note, this assumes integration with an aftermarket alarm with and "aux" channel... may be different to direct operation of the aux input on the 530t).  So caveats aside, this is what it says:

   To vent the windows:
   At any time, press and release the auxiliary channel. The windows will vent about two inches.

   To roll the windows down:
   At any time, press and hold the auxiliary channel for three seconds. The windows will roll all the way down.

I saw an implication in another forum writeup about the toggle-up function, but really not sure about that.  

[TomatoSoup]

OK, found another tidbit of info for the (possible) "JRinKY mod".  This was from: http://www.p71interceptor.com/windowmodule/

Note #3: If an alarm or keyless entry system is installed in the vehicle, an unused channel can be used to remotely control the windows. When the Red/White wire is held at ground, the windows will automatically roll down. When the Orange wire is held at ground, the windows will automatically roll up. Some car owners connect the orange wire to the alarms ground when armed output so that whenever the alarm is armed, the windows rollup. Rolling the windows up each alarm arming cycle increases wear on the window regulators and motors, especially if the alarm system passively arms. For remote window control the window module must be supplied with a constant +12volts, not +12volts switched on/off through the ignition switch.

[JRinKY]

TomatoSoup: OK, found another tidbit of info for the (possible) "JRinKY mod".  .,...

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

Thinking about it, and triggered by your comment about being able to reach the door switches, it occurs to me that I only really need this function when putting the top up after stopping the car, which really simplifies the problem.

The windows are powered though the RAP relay, which keeps them energized for some length of time after the ignition is turned off, or until the doors are opened, whichever comes first. I am thinking about a circuit that would bypass the door switches if the RAP relay is on and the trunk is open. It would only take one relay, powered by the RAP circuit and actuated by the Trunk Lid Ajar switch. The Door Ajar switches would be wired through its normally closed contacts. Wiring would be simple, as all needed connections are at the BCM.

To use: Shut the engine off, and open the trunk before opening either door. The relay energizes to open the door switch circuits. Open the door, get out of the car and put the top up. Close the windows and close the trunk. The relay will de-energize to close the door switch circuits. The BCM will see the doors open and shut off the RAP relay. Close the door.

[Sly Bob]

TomatoSoup, one of the guys on the Malibu forums hooked the remote windows to his 2009. Would anything in his post translate to our vehicles?

http://www.chevymalibuforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=38378&postcount=1

[Sly Bob]

It really would be handy to roll the windows up or down with the remote. Are we complicating things though? Would it not be easier to simply but an inexpensive alarm to handle the interface? If you were to do that though I suppose you would be carrying another remote around with you and that would be far from ideal.

[crappa]

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

Thinking about it, and triggered by your comment about being able to reach the door switches, it occurs to me that I only really need this function when putting the top up after stopping the car, which really simplifies the problem.

The windows are powered though the RAP relay, which keeps them energized for some length of time after the ignition is turned off, or until the doors are opened, whichever comes first. I am thinking about a circuit that would bypass the door switches if the RAP relay is on and the trunk is open. It would only take one relay, powered by the RAP circuit and actuated by the Trunk Lid Ajar switch. The Door Ajar switches would be wired through its normally closed contacts. Wiring would be simple, as all needed connections are at the BCM.

To use: Shut the engine off, and open the trunk before opening either door. The relay energizes to open the door switch circuits. Open the door, get out of the car and put the top up. Close the windows and close the trunk. The relay will de-energize to close the door switch circuits. The BCM will see the doors open and shut off the RAP relay. Close the door.

Hey JR, did you ever get this mod working?
I just noticed this post a few days ago. I have always had the habit of putting the keys in my pocket before rolling up the windows.
Last summer I did a mod that lets me operate the windows with the drivers door open when the key is not on using two relays. Works slick, I think I will start a new howto post, so has not to get off topic on this one.