So many of us have battled the Tilt/Reach malfunctions that I wanted to share this one with all.

First I should level set for my car before I installed this circuit. Memory and "Auto" move the wheel and both work perfectly. In my car I have pretty much lost the ability to move the steering wheel with the switch on the steering cowl.

To get some sort of adjustments I had tapped directly into the two motors with a seperate 12volt battery source and moved the motors to all the way in, all the way up, then programed this into memory 1. Then moved them to: all the way out all the way down - programed that into memory2.

Now I had 2 positions tied to memory buttons. But as far as adjustments go, this only allwed me to adjust up/down once the steering wheel is all the way out; or In/Out once the wheel was tilted all the way up (this last one was useless for me).

Let me explain what limits those adjustments: the memory routine for extension first executes the reach ( Out) cycle. Then it executes the tilt (Down) cycle. The car's routine for retraction first executes Tilt (up) then executes In. You MUST finish executing the first routine before using the second. If you follow the logic on this one, you will realized one can only retract the wheel with the tilt all the way UP.

This is way better than nothing but I've been wondering if maybe I'd like the wheel in a bit more(?) or something.

Oh, and don't foget, I should mention that neither the memory, nor the button functions work with the car in Drive. I had to slip her in neutral to move the wheel around regardless of speed.

Finnally I had it, I wanted greater control. Thought about it, then took off the lower cowl to do some measurements on the tilt motor. It turns out that in rest, both leads to the Tilt motor are at Ground. The Body Processor Module (BPM) makes one or the other of these leads 12volts to move the motor one way or the other. In retrospect I wish I had measured current at this point (more on why later) but let me post this for your future reference: The motor draws no more than 1 amp.

I decided to tackle the tilt motor first as a test. Sat down with a pen and paper and mapped it out - turns out I could control the motor without any interferance to the BPM connection with two DPDT relays!

[Technical Point: As I said earlier, the BPM connections are a ground until the BPM "tells" the motor to move. I neither have the diagram nor the guts to use the non hot lead for the circuit ground. I decided that my solution must completely disconnect the BPM connection and provide a seperate ground path, which it does]

Went to an electronics store. Note: Radio Shack just doesn't have the components you will need, except for male (blade) / Female (slip on) connectors.

I purchased two DPDT Relays (here's where I wish I knew the current, 10 amp relays are much larger than ones that can easily handle 1 amp, oh well that's what tests are for right?)
An (On)-Off-(On) momentary switch [Note the parenthesis around On, during this visit I learned that this () is how companies indicate momentary switch postions, so don't waste time looking for "mom" on the label!]
16 guage wire [don't choose 1 color like I did. Seems OK in your head, but you are connecting 12+ wire segments, it gets mind boggling if they all are the same color!]
A fuse & fuse holder
Male / Female wire connectors (Radio shack's light blue transparent are the same size as the male on the motor and the female on the BPM connection for Tilt Motor).
One pair of wire connectors for 12guage wire (ground wires bundle to form a large wire connection)
One Crimp on Connector that looks like an O or a ring for the ground connection to the body of car.
Lots of Heat Shrink (regular size for wires to relays, then 1 inch for switch (covers connections & wires) and 1 1/2 inch for relays (not to confuse you 1 1/2 inch size fits 10 amp relays. Like I said above buy 5 amp relays, much smaller)

Took a couple of hours and carefully soldered the wires then I was ready to go.

Guys this works perfectly. With switch in "Off" position, BPM is connected to motor just like the relays were not there. Everything from Jaguar works as it should. Put the switch in momentary position 1, tilt moves up; position 2, tilt moves down. Of course I used an Ignition power source for this, I am just thrilled.

Now that I know we are dealing with 1 amp, and everything works perfectly without interfering with anything else, I am going to build another one for the reach motor, and change from the big 2 position switch to 4 tiny mom switches to be located on the steering cowl. One for each direction and for easy access.

I figured this will help some of us out. Just ask me if you want more information, I'll be glad to help. It makes a BIG difference to be able to adjust the position of the steering wheel depending on your attitude, seat position or whatever you like even while driving. I didn't realize how much I missed it.

John

 

Hi John!

Interesting journey you're taking over there - lol.

Question: Isn't the little steering column joystick, just four momentary switches? Why not plumb your new system into that switch and forget the four separate little switches on the cowl?

Good luck! Keep us posted.

 

Thought of it but last i looked it uses the auto on off voltage suppy, and despite its appearance only bridges that voltag through one of 4 resistors (1for each of the 4 directions) to one output that connects to the bpm.

So not as ez as it seems but good idea. I plan to look into it from this perspective. Now I just have to find that spare switch i took apart.

 

Just checked the switch. 4 terminals 1 pair is for on/off Auto. The other pair sends the circuit through one on 4 resistors each diff value, to direct up down in out. Oh well it sure would have been easier.

John

 

Wow, .... Talk about complicating a bowling ball! That's crazy.

Well, I guess that's you get when using a data-bus philosophy.

 

If you have programming skills that match your soldering ability, you could use an Arduino microcontroller to read the resistance values and switch your relays. It wouldn't be a major undertaking.

 

Hmmm Arduino mocrocontroller, I'll have to check it out - Thanks.

 

Alternatively, you can take the 5th wire from the flux capacitor and spice it together with the 7th wire of the fribus and 3rd wire of the franzus and plug them all into the discombobulator--voila!

Doug