AMP Powerstep and possible remote operation if I can find a reverse ground signal

[Timmy]

Timmy- one question. When you disconnect the door harness and remove the doors- the dome lights don't work- so how will they power the steps? I just unplugged the door harnesses and tried it. Nothing. Could this be due to them wiring to the door switch and the dome light circuit simultaneously?

What you are describing is not my experience. My dome lights still work even with the doors off. When I press the unlock button on my key fob, the dome lights come on with all the doors off. When I turn the toggle switch on my light stalk to turn on the interior lights, my dome lights come on, and then when I turn the switch off, my dome lights go off. When I open my rear tailgate, my lights go on and when I close the rear tailgate, the lights go off after a certain amount of time.

It is possible that if they wired the door signalling in with the dome lights to the same relay, that it might have really foobar'd something. Who knows, maybe it actually blew a fuse?

Seattle eh? I was over there with my Jeep just a few months ago. Do you ever make it over to Spokane?

I see you sent me PM. If you'd like, I can send you my email address via PM, though I suspect this discussion is worth having posted publicly to help others.

[Jacob]

Stupid question but this is driving me mad!! I have gotten the passenger side to work, but cannot seem to get the drivers side to work. Did you tap into two separate yellow wires (one on the passenger side and one on the drivers side?) If so, where is the drivers side wire located?

[Timmy]

Stupid question but this is driving me mad!! I have gotten the passenger side to work, but cannot seem to get the drivers side to work. Did you tap into two separate yellow wires (one on the passenger side and one on the drivers side?) If so, where is the drivers side wire located?

Well for starters, you can control both steps at the same time from one relay switch. So if you have the relay switch working on the passengers side, just attach the drivers side amp control cable to the same part of the relay that you did with the passenger side. You don't have to mess with putting a relay switch in on the drivers side like I did. Looking back, I should have just wired mine with a single relay switch that controlled both steps of the LED footwell light.

As for your actual question. You tap into the 12v lead to the LED footwell light for your signal for the relay switch. For the AMP step, you have to pull the driver's side signal cable over from the wire loom on the passenger side to the drivers side just like the AMP manual shows. In other words, get the entire system working according to the AMP instructions. Once you have done that, swapping from the signaling from the door signaling to the LED lighting signaling just uses the directions I've already posted.

[JeepLab]

Can we have a video?

[Timmy]

Video



Told Joe @ AMP about this, he actually indicated they might consider this as a future factory option. I'm not sure how they'll get past the legal issues of the steps retracting based on a timer (might crush a babies leg/arm, not strong enough to injure anyone larger) or the steps going down while traveling. I'm sure if they get creative that they can link it to just the key fob and not the interior dome lights.

[JeepLab]

That is fantastic.

are the hinges below the step? That truck looks like you wheel it. Are you concerned about damaging it on a rock?

[Timmy]

That is fantastic.

are the hinges below the step? That truck looks like you wheel it. Are you concerned about damaging it on a rock?

Yep, hinges are below. In all honesty, even with the hinges, these actually do not really hang down any more than the original OEM Sahara steps. Certainly for the steps themselves (ie. not the hinges, or what AMP calls "linkages") they are actually higher than the OEM steps.

Yep, I wheel it a bit. I don't have a ton of rocks around here, so I'm not as concerned about rock hits. The actual power rock steps from another company can take a real hit, but the thing I didn't like about them was A) the price (they were like $1900) and B) the SLOW extension speed and noise. I really liked the AMP ones because they are FAST and pretty quiet, and obviously cheaper. Bestop has a line that looks similar, but their "wired" version has cheaper parts. Bestop's new NX line is nice because it uses wireless technology for the signal and it appears to use the same linkage as AMP (they used to be one company) but the motor is positioned differently and I'm not sure it's a Bosch motor. Of course, if it uses wireless, then you can do this cool remote key fob mod ;-) It's worth noting too that everyone has said AMP tech support is great, and I would agree. They emailed me back quick, and I swapped maybe 5 or 6 emails with a sharp tech there on a number of topics (not just the remote key fob idea.)

[Rexx19]

This is a very nice look.

Girlfriends around the world will thank you....

[Timmy]

Just a long-term update on this as I just had someone from the Interweb contact me requesting more info, so it got me thinking I should post some additional thoughts.

First... Yes, this still continues to rock. I can open up the back tailgate, steps go down, dump stuff in back and close tailgate and walk up to the front and get in before the steps retract. Girlfriends the world over have been coming up and thanking me, just as Rexx19 predicted

Second... I like that it is linked to the dome lights, as it helps you to remember if you accidentally left the steps down after driving off (if you use the manual operation of turning on the dome lights.) When you're driving down the road, even with the doors off, you can't see the steps are down unless you lean out, so you might have them hanging down and not know it. However, you will clearly notice if your dome lights are still on, which is a good reminder, so you'll turn them off thereby retracting the steps.

Third... I was originally going to replace the "loud" relays with quieter ones. As more time has gone by, I've learned to love those loud relays. It provides a nice audible input that the steps are about to be retracted. When you hear the relays kick in, it means you have 2 seconds to get your butt in, or get off the step, before they attempt to retract. The steps have a safety feature that ANY resistance at all and they stay down. So a few times I heard the relay go, then the steps tried to retract while my kids were still trying to get in. No harm done, the steps stayed down, and I just manually cycled them down and then back up and we moved on our happy marry way.

Fourth... When using the key fob, you have plenty of time. When opening up the back tailgate, it is a mix. I've noticed if you open the tailgate for a brief time, the dome lights don't stay on very long and thus the steps retract quickly. If you open the rear tailgate for a while (say more than a minute) then the dome lights seem to have a longer timer on them, and the steps stay down longer. In either case, if you need more time, just press the unlock button on your keyfob and you go into "bonus" time ;-)

[MrWayneD]

Thanks Tim, I did call AMP and though he really couldn't help with a diagram, he stated that I would have to use diodes ( Ok above my pay grade) as the steps uses a negative ground to operate and taking it off the dome would require positive activation and that you would have to prevent back feed. Suggestion also was made to use the door locks as power. I just wish there was a clear diagram as to wire this and I agree with a SPDT lighted switch