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Home made power window controller for 90 something cabby

10K views 6 replies 2 participants last post by  CajunSpike 
#1 · (Edited)
Tolusina has posted a diagram of how to create a home made power window controller. I have the photo of it.
Can I please get an english explanation of where each wire goes? I skipped electronics 101 in school.

Since whatever controller is made must switch both positive and negative at the same time to get the windows to go up and down, I just goes over my head how that diagram he posted does that.

I can see how a single lead gets turned on or off with the toggle switch..but both leads must be switched simultaneously as far as I know.
If you only apply positive to the left wire, to go up lets say, what grounds the right wire?
And if you apply positive to the right wire to go down, what grounds the left wire?

Help please?

Image borrowed from tolusina, I take no credit for it.
 
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#2 · (Edited)


It takes two relays per window.

You will connect the switch up so that when you depress the switch up, that engages the relay on the left.

Since the relay on the right is sitting on ground, the window motor goes up.

If you depress the switch in the down position, the relay on the right engages.
Since the relay on the left is sitting on ground, the motor reverses direction.


You will need to Fuse the main power to the motor via pin 30.


The Blue and Green wires are the motor feed. The pick for the solenoid comes from pin 85 to 12v the other side to ground via the switch.

And you tie 87A to ground and pin 87 to 12V

Since there are hard stops, physically to the window motor, you can't over drive, the window...
 
#3 · (Edited)
That might be part of the problem. I have 4 connector relays, contacts normally open. Looks like the relays in this diagram are 5 connector relays? 87/87A are two separate contacts?

Thats the part I totally missed, that the default was ground and activating the relay changed it to positive.

Is there a part number for the right relays I can look for?

After all I've learned, wiring still makes me nuts.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Went to auto zone and got a couple of relays. Wired it up just like the diagram and installed it into the door cavity.


Voila, power windows work again(at least one side for now).

I used the power plug from a driving light to connect to the power window motor plug..so didn't have to cut anything original to the car. Put the window switch into the door tweeter speaker housing since the tweeters were long disconnected.

Tolusina and Brian, thank you.
 
#6 ·
I think you are the first one to do this, as most folks get a new controller or take theirs apart.

So, what are you going to fill the holes in the knee bar with or just leave non-functional switches there?
Since the door does get wet, did you use any water proofing on the relays to divert water away from them?
 
#7 · (Edited)
The way I did it, no original wiring was damaged or tapped into.

I just made a substitute input power system to the window motor, leaving the stock system intact.

Should I find how to fix the original controller, I can just swap the window motor power plug back to the built in power plug and be back to the factory setup in minutes.

Original switches will be left in place.

I hung the relays in the door cavity up in the top/front corner.

Since the triangle front door glass there is the sealed in type, I don't expect much if any water intrusion that high up in the door. I routed the incoming power wires inside the stock wire bundle. You can't even tell anything was changed. The relays themselves were heavily wrapped in electrical tape, with the wires facing down. The water would have migrate upward to invade the relays themselves. All electrical connectors were the fully insulated type, so theres no chance of neighboring plugs touching and shorting out.

The switch itself fits in the plastic pocket where the tweeter electronics would be..so its protected from water as well.

Since the tweeters were bypassed when we installed the stereo, I gutted the tweeter plastic cover and used that as a switch holder.



As a semi interesting side topic, I installed some seats out of a 90 Jetta into this cabby. They were in such great condition, couldn't pass it up. Front seats were slide in except for seat belt modifications.


The rear seats were much more work. I lifted the cover and foam from the jetta rear seat and put it on the cabby seat frame, both top and bottom.
 
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