wiring a switch to activate a factory e-locker?

[dirtanddogfur]

Originally Posted by Fork-N-Road

. . . .There is also some discussion on the various potential methods of doing 12v for 30 seconds and then stepping down to 5v.

This is called a 'hit and hold' circuit. They are used frequently in electric valves, etc. I know I have seen canned versions of these. Might want to check Digikey to see if they have one that might work.

If not that, DC to DC would be the way to go.

The primary concern is the coil overheating.

[bet on black]

Originally Posted by dirtanddogfur

This is called a 'hit and hold' circuit. They are used frequently in electric valves, etc. I know I have seen canned versions of these. Might want to check Digikey to see if they have one that might work.

If not that, DC to DC would be the way to go.

The primary concern is the coil overheating.

As I stated above, a poster on the pirate 4x4 forum left 12v supplied to one for over a month straight and it did not burn out.

I will likely still follow up with a hit and hold kind of circuit stepping the voltage down to prolong the coil life.

[carringb]

Rear VSS is for ABS and without it you also lose electronic brake biasing.

[bet on black]

oh yeah, no abs functioning here at the moment. hasn't been an issue for me at all, but i know some like to have ABS. i was thinking about trying to use one of the rear wheel sensors to replace the vss signal to get it working.

[mgmetalworks]

I've wired them up with just 12v applied and not had a problem. In some technical info I found from Eaton (can't remember if I saved it or not), it never said anything about needing to step down the voltage but it did recommend a voltage suppression relay to help mitigate voltage spikes. I bought some through Mouser or Digikey...

It's not 12v that kills them, it's big voltage spikes.

[Fork-N-Road]

Originally Posted by bet on black

Did anybody catch the polarity of the two wires? I'm going to wire up a switch for it and not sure which is (+) and (-).

I read that black with white is the ground, but I don't see anything but black on both of my wires.

When the connector is plugged in, can anyone tell me if the wire towards the front is the ground or the one closer to the rear? Thank you.

[winnievan]

For other people doing this swap and didn't get the pigtail with their axle -- it looks like this is used for the "hood ajar" sensor on Ford Explorer and Ford Focus....

I doubt that's a high ticket item in the salvage yard -- so I'm going to check the pick-n-pull before I drop $50 (!) on a new pigtail.

I'll grab a couple if I can find 'em.

[winnievan]

Well I dug into this as well... and have a few things to add based on my read of some Eaton resources:

1 - The diode supression for the Eaton unit is actually there to protect your chassis wiring since the voltage spike is going to come FROM the E-locker disengaging. It is basically a giant coil.. so it will create what is called "flyback voltage" when it disconnects -- this is the circuit you want a "flyback" or "freewheeling" diode on so it doesn't feed this high voltage into other--perhaps sensitive--things on your chassis wiring:

From Eaton:


Wiring Diagram:


Probably all the more important on the F-Series -- since the E-locker is controled by a computer with sensitive electronics.

This begs another fact -- the diode supressed relay suggested here isn't going to give this feature since the flyback diode on that unit is on the coil side of that relay -- not on the contacts.

The relay coil will create its own "flyback" voltage when you turn it off -- but this is a different "flyback" voltage than the one coming off the e-locker.
Thus -- by all means -- use a diode supressed relay -- but to do this right -- one should also install a diode as in the Eaton diagram attached.

Sources:
https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/produ...cker-faqs.html

https://www.eaton.com/content/dam/ea...-schematic.pdf

Also -- it seems this unit isn't an Eaton (nor GKN) -- but is made by Sterling for Ford directly:

but now I'm just being nit-picky -- I'm sure all of these units use the exact same mechanics and are probably built to almost identical spec!

[rescuejg]

Best price ($25 shipped) I have found for the pigtail:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/25429122602...cAAOSwz21dJLNf