Toyota Signal Mirrors

Congratulations on your mirrors; I know you will feel much safrer as you drive around now and change lanes and make turns; I sure do.

 

Thanks to everyone for their great info about this upgrade... couldn't have done it without your help! I spent most of my sunday getting my mirrors upgraded so now I have signal mirrors! I'm happy with the mirrors over all but a few comments.

I opted for the cheaper 'ebay' mirrors. The good news is that they were available in Seaside Pearl. When I got them I didn't get any harness... just the covers with 2 wires coming out of them. Do I need to put a fuse in there somewhere? I wasn't real happy with the quality. They didn't fit that well on my old housings. There were spots where the 2 didn't match up that well and there are small openings between the 2 pieces. Also I was hoping they would have more LED's in them. The whole front part of the mirror doesn't light up (should it?) . It seems to get some light from the LED's on the edge but I had hoped it would light up entirely. Does the Sigma mirror have LED's in the front?

I wondered if Doc or someone with the 'factory' signal mirrors could take a closer picture? I wondered if the seam is perfectly smooth or if there are gaps like on mine. Also if they are brighter/have more LED's than ours. I think I counted 6 LED's on the side.

Running those wires was not an easy chore. Also the factory wires that you have to tap into are quite short so there is not alot of room for mistakes. My wiring job wasn't that great but they seem to be working so that's good. After going through all that work I was wondering to myself if I should have gotten the Sigma mirrors as they would look better?

thanks for everyones contribution... great help! I'm going to take a better picture soon...

-Peter B

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(vinny @ Nov 19 2006, 05:11 PM) [snapback]351801[/snapback]</div>

Several of us in the Long Island Prius Group installed the Ebay mirrors. The came with a harness that was, apparently, made for the Japanese right hand drive version of the car. I guess that the distributer decided to omit the harness to avoid confusion. The only part of the harness that was useful was the part shown in earlier posts on this thread - with the 2 fuse holders. Again, as illustrated, we used ScotchLok press on connectors to join the wiring.

Getting the wire thru the boot was definitely a Pain, but by the 2nd car, I had it down to about 10 minutes for each boot

As far as the fit, we saw no difference between the old covers and the new ones. The 6 indicator LED's are in the forward corner of the cover. At night, the entire area lights more than sufficiently. I would have liked the light to wrap around a little further back like the more expensive units, but it's no big deal.

If you have a chance, take a picture of the area that doesn't fit well. I will compare it with mine.

By the way, I would put a fuse in each of the lines, if I were you.

 

It definitely got easier as I went along. I even had the 2nd wire fished and realized that I forgot to run it through the hole in the door so I had to re-fish it again but it was only took me like 10 minutes. Do you know what kind of fuse I should install? I'm not sure what would be needed to protect the LED's (or is it to protect the car?). I'll try to post a Close up picture of the fit so we can compare.

thanks,

-Peter B

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prberg @ Nov 27 2006, 11:21 PM) [snapback]354695[/snapback]</div>

Peter,
I would say just make sure your covers snapped into place and secured with the screws. I had to play with mine a little bit to get them to fit correctly but they did snap into place and appear to fit as good as the factory mirror backs did. I really do not know if you actually need the fuse since these are LED lights and use very little power. Good luck.

 

Here are some examples of the fit of the new covers. Not sure how well you can see but they don't seem to line up quite right. I did play with them for awhile trying to see if I could get them to snap together. It's not a huge deal... at night they look great.. but during the day you can see that they are not quite as good as the factory mirrors. Just wondering if I should have gone with the Sigma mirrors.... oh well.

 

Well in looking at your mirrors they do not seem to fit as tight as mine do. Although I admit that mine do not fit as perfectly as the factory ones did. Were this other than my daily driver, I would have likely gone with Sigma, assuming those are original factory Toyota mirror backs. Don't get me wrong, I love myPrius and take excellent care of it. But I am not going to lose sleep over the minor fit imperfections. If someone ever whacks my mirror off the car and I have to have it replaced I will try the Sigmas. Smile, the signal mirrors are very cool.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prberg @ Nov 28 2006, 09:45 PM) [snapback]355082[/snapback]</div>

I haven't paid such a close attention to the AFTERMARKET replacement covers installed on my car like you pointed out but t, I think that the most important key in this is the paint color matching and finish of it than a very narrow fitting gaps around, most noticeable with a magnifying glass at 1 inch, including the scraped black plastic frame probably damaged trying to remove the original cover.

Be happy, these look great! a foot apart and add an economic safety feature to our precious cars. My 2 cents

 

I just installed the mirrors today. It took me about 3 and 1/2 hours. The hardest part was pulling the wires through the door into the cabin. But I managed. I did do something that might help the rest of you. I was concerned about the fit. So what I did was place some grease on the tabs of the new outer shell. By focusing on the top of the mirror (the part easily seen) I was able to snap the tabs into place leaving no gaps. So for those of you who were not successful, you can pop out the mirror and take the two screws out and see if the shell comes out easily. If so it was not locked in place by the tabs. I would add a bit of grease or vasiline and try again. Both my shells snapped into place with a loud noise. The top tab is a very tight fit. Well just my two cents. I really love the signal mirrors and highly recommend the mod.

Manny

 

I have a few questions:

1 - Am I right in understanding that these wires you're tapping into are the original turn signal wires?

2 - Can anyone give electrical specs like the voltage, amps, watts of the lines cut into before mods, after mods, and what the LED mirror signals themselves use?

3 - If someone were to buy a badly made eBay knockoff is it possible to draw so much power that the turn signals don't work anymore or you blow a fuse somewhere or something equally bad?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Silver Phoenix @ Dec 15 2006, 04:09 PM) [snapback]362928[/snapback]</div>

IMO, the biggest danger would be in doing sloppy connections, and causing a short. I bought and installed the kit from Ebay, and the fit is very nice. It takes total rewiring and I have them fused, and have never given it a second thought that I would melt my signal wires or cause other problems.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Silver Phoenix @ Dec 15 2006, 04:09 PM) [snapback]362928[/snapback]</div>

1- these are the original wires from the wire harness.

2- You do not cut any wires, only splice the connections on top of these 2 wires, you can twist the wires together and use electrician's tape or use Scotchlock connectors that will do the hard-electrical splice for you. Just present the wires inside the scotchlock and press with some pliers. Does it.!!

The electrical spec's are basically, you will handle 12V, others values are unnecessary to splice these wires.

3- these are not knockoff, are unique replacement components not available anywhere else and at a very good price with a prompt service. Since my order placement, I received mine in under a week from China. I'm not rice nor an advocate from the company, but they provide me and others with the right product. Try to order and get something from CoastalTech in Florida .....

If you do not make an electrical short circuit while doing your install, wont happen; these components will not even be recognized into the electrical service of the car because the low milliamp consumed while at blink state.

Do a search for the install pages posted by me and others for help.

 

The purpose of the fuse in the turn signal lines is not to protect the lights, it's to protect the wiring in case of a short. There is about 2 -3 feet of new wiring going thru the doors and an additional amount going behind the dash from the wiring block to the right side mirror. If a soldered connection breaks, or a wire gets pinched somewhere, wiring without a fuse could lead to a wiring fire. Of course the fuse for the regular turn signals might protect the wiring, but why take the chance.

As far as the fit of the Ebay sourced mirrors, we did a detailed examination last Sunday at the LIPOG meeting, and they fit as well as the originals. There are no gaps, or misalignments at all. The mirrors illustrated by Prberg need to be refitted, allowing them to snap into place before securing the screws. For some reason it looks like someone got between the cover and the frame with a screwdriver. Maybe they were defective.

 

Regarding the sloppy fit of the new mirrors... I did play with them for about 15minutes trying to get them to 'snap' into place. It felt like I was going to break them if I tried to force them into the grooves any more. Either the instructions should be more clear as to how to get them to snap in... or mine might have been made outside of spec (I'm sure these guys don't have Quality control like Toyota does). I might try to take them off some weekend and try the grease trick that Manny talks about.

Regarding the wiring.. I was a little nervous with the wiring since we are tapping into the factory wire and there is so little slack to work with. I went with the scothlock connectors which work great. But there just was so little slack on those wires it made it pretty tough to get a solid connection. I feel pretty good that there won't be any problems but by modifying the wiring down there there is always a chance of something going wrong.

-Peter B

 

Adding the grease makes the plastic snap in place. It is a really tight fit, so without the grease you really have to squeeze hard. I found that by aligning the top (which is critical to a visually good job) that the bottom automatically fit. There is a tendency to fit the bottom first but then that makes getting the tab through more difficult. Doing it on the car should make it easier as the mirror stays put and you can put your weight into it. If you try putting the mirror against your chest then with your hands bring the back towards you.

Manny



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prberg @ Dec 15 2006, 05:42 PM) [snapback]362959[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrbigh @ Dec 15 2006, 04:00 PM) [snapback]362952[/snapback]</div>

That depends on how you splice. If you want to do it properly then what you should do is cut the wires, strip a little from both ends, twist into a cap with the new wire, and tape the cap on to be safe. That way it's safe, lasting, and easy to undo. Not to say there aren't a million money and time saving shortcuts or other ways to skin a cat for that matter, but proper is as proper does.

Personally I'd rather slip a pin into the socket or use a passthrough connector if one could be found so that you're not screwing with the factory wires at all.

Further, while Scotchloks are easy to do and work pretty well, I'm not sure I'd even remotely begin to trust them for long-term use in a high vibrational environment like a car. Chances are one day your mirror lights stop working and then you have to tear the dash apart again just because of a small amount of mechanical slippage.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrbigh @ Dec 15 2006, 04:00 PM) [snapback]362952[/snapback]</div>

To splice the wires, no. You don't need any electricity to splice a wire. To ensure that whatever end product you add into the line doesn't bugger the system however requires knowing an awful lot more than just that it's a 12V line.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrbigh @ Dec 15 2006, 04:00 PM) [snapback]362952[/snapback]</div>

First of all I didn't specify any particular product. Anyone can make and sell anything on eBay. The ones you got seem okay. So far. (Long-term quality has yet to be established.) But Joe Blow could glue two halogen bulbs onto a mirror housing and sell that on eBay. And John Doe could easily make a LED system but solder a short. On eBay you never know what you're going to get. So at the very least I'd suggest testing these things on an independant power supply before wiring them into your car so that you get no surprises damaging your baby.

And second of all, uh huh. Yeah. You don't think "unique replacement components not available anywhere else" sounds a tad like used-car salesman talk? From China? I mean not to pick at China since an awful lot of manufacturing is done there these days, but I hardly see a Toyota stamp of approval anywhere on them. Nor for that matter any reliable names from the eBay parts.

I'm not saying they don't work. I am saying caveat emptor. And I'd like to know the exact extent of the damage that could be caused.

Heck, for the price, I'm half tempted to just dremmel a hole in my mirror casing to run to a clip of LEDs I solder together myself. The only real roadblock at the moment is that I don't know how much draw I could add to the line safely. And for that matter no one has even definitively said what lines exactly these are that you're all using. Are they to the front lamps only, or to all of the turn lamps? Are they even to any of the existing lamps or are they lines that were meant for adding another signal to that you just couldn't find the actual connector for?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrbigh @ Dec 15 2006, 04:00 PM) [snapback]362952[/snapback]</div>

You're not in the slightest bit concerned about initial quality control, internal breakage, water, etc.? How nice.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrbigh @ Dec 15 2006, 04:00 PM) [snapback]362952[/snapback]</div>

And I have your word as a certified Toyota mechanic on that?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrbigh @ Dec 15 2006, 04:00 PM) [snapback]362952[/snapback]</div>

I don't need help. I need answers. And I most certainly don't need BS. Just because they're a neat wiz product doesn't mean they're blessed holy relics from on-high. I just want to treat this matter scientificly with facts. And it'd be nice to give people sound advice on how best to avoid damaging their vehicles. Do you agree?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Silver Phoenix @ Dec 18 2006, 04:03 PM) [snapback]363913[/snapback]</div>

I have done this LED signal mirror mod, as well as several others.
In case you don't know, mrbigh (Horacio) has just completed a several months long mod making his prius PHEV, so he knows a thing or two about the electrical system.
This site is used by many to share ideas and knowledge they have gained.
Someone with the attitude you express seems will only be content by bringing your car to your local Toyota dealer for your oil changes. If you are at all interested, you can obtain the technical specs (including all the wiring diagrams) from Toyota, as I and many others have, and check out these wires for yourself.

Good luck with your car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Silver Phoenix @ Dec 18 2006, 04:03 PM) [snapback]363913[/snapback]</div>

You're coming on kinda strong don't you think? I think your questions were answered, and no BS given.

You've given some advice or ideas without doing any research. Like using a rear defrost repair kit to 'rear defrost' the backside of the mirrors (how much current would that take, O' certified Toyota mechanic?) or using home solar panel systems, or 100lb 12v batteries, etc, etc. Give some "sound" advice on mods you have done, other than by accident.

 

wow, they look really nice. are those mirrors heated, and can you get them to fold in automatically?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(YodaddyAlex @ Dec 20 2006, 12:11 PM) [snapback]364657[/snapback]</div>

The kit that we purchased (LIPOG members) was basically the outer cover. You use the original glass, so if you have the heated mirror option, yes they are heated. I think earlier in this thread, or another thread on this subject discusses the Sigma mirrors. They come complete with the glass. I'm not sure if it was determined that they have the option for auto folding. DocVijay I beleive has them - you can check with him.