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

[WhiteRavenRR]

Nicely done!

[Timmy]

Here's my quick right-up for anyone that has AMP powersteps and wants to do this when you take off the doors.

(I'm borrowing pics from all over the Internet so I don't have to go back out and take pics, please forgive me...)

Total install time after you have the parts is maybe 15 minutes.

Parts/tools required:
1) Electrical Relay for each footwell from auto parts store. Can be a 4 prong or 5 prong. At O'Reilly auto parts, they actually had a nice little packaged kit for $12 that included a 4 prong relay plus a by-pass switch, plus a number of different wires with the connectors on them already that slide on to the posts of the relay, have an end to attach to ground post, etc. (Blazer International - Relay Wiring Kit Part # MM510)


2) If you didn't purchase the relay kit with wires and instead just a basic relay, then obviously you'll need some electrical wire and a way to attach them to the four posts of the relay. You could solder them on, or buy wires with the connectors on them.


3) Qty 4 or 6 - Wire taps - to tap into the hot of the LED lights, and to connect the grounds together more easily. (Probably the red size is best, the blue's seem a little too big for the gauge wire used.) Depending on how you want to attach the AMP Powerstep door sensor wire, you might want to just tap it, or put a new connector on the end to connect to the posts of the relay (ie, this might be wire taps #5 and #6 if you chose.)


4) Screw driver, ratchet, wire cutter.

Install

1) Remove the AMP Powerstep fuse if you still have it in. You don't need the steps extending on you while your working incase you prematurely ground the wire.

2) Located the LED lights under the footwell.


3) Place a tap into the yellow cable shown in the picture (this is the hot wire leading to the primary LED light.)

4) Mount the relay on the 2nd ground post in the footwell area with the posts of the relay pointing up so they stay out of the way.

5) Place a wire on the 1st ground post in the footwell.


6) Connect the hot wire from the LED light that you tapped to post #86 on your relay (all relays seem to have these numbers on them.)

7) Connect the ground wire on to post #85 of the relay.

8) Connect another wire on to post #30 of the relay and tap this on to the ground wire coming off post #85 (you could run this to the ground post in the footwell as well, but why run two wires, this way it stays nice and clean.)

9) Connect the "door sensor" wire from the AMP Research powerstep to post #87 of the relay. You could just tap the AMP door sensor wire that you already have into the door wire of the Jeep, but that'll probably get goofy when you put the doors on. I decided to simply remove the tap from the Jeep's door wiring for now and put a new end on it to connect to the post of the relay. (AMP includes a nice tap device that is a screw-on, so you can simply un-screw it, leaving the original tap on the main wire but pulling of their wire so you can re-attach it at any later date.)

10) Re-insert the AMP Research fuse.

11) Either push the keyfob unlock button, or turn on the interior dome lights via the switch on the turn signal stalk and see if the steps perform as expected.

Install Notes / Less Learned

- One thing I found helpful was to use a circuit tester at various points to confirm if the relay was working correctly ($9 part at auto store.)

- The el-cheapo relays from the auto store make a goofy vibrating noise when the LED lights dim at the end of their timer. Since a relay has a magnet in it with a spring, my assumption is that the magnet goes a little crazy as the voltage drops to zero. I think I'm going to research for either a solid state relay unit that is silent, or another mechanical relay that can better handle the decreasing voltage during dimming. Fortunately the powersteps still perform just fine as they have a built in delay, so it's not like they sit there and retract/extend/retract/extend until the voltage is at zero.

- I need to find a better way to deal with different wire taps for when the doors are on vs. being off. I could just leave the tap on the LED light like I have, however, that means both steps will extend when any door is open, whereas AMP has it setup so only the steps on the side of the door that is opened will extend/retract. For now though, since it's the start of summer, I don't really care as I plan on trying to leave the doors off for as long as possible

If you try this and have any questions, just ask. Probably not the best write-up in the world, and it was my first, but at least it is enough info to point you in the right direction.

[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 ;-)

[Charlie]

Timmy could you enlighten me as to how you connected your relays? I assume that the steps works when the doors are connected and also work when the doors are off.

[Timmy]

Timmy could you enlighten me as to how you connected your relays? I assume that the steps works when the doors are connected and also work when the doors are off.

I'm not sure I follow exactly on your question? I thought my write-up gave enough detail on the relay I used, the wiring I used, the connectors I used? Happy to help, but maybe get a little more specific if you would.

And yes, this solution will work with doors on or off. The problem with this solution when the doors are on is that AMP distinctly designed their solution to lower the steps only on the side that the door was opened on, and to retract as soon as the door is closed. By connecting to the dome lights, this solution will lower the steps on both sides whenever any door is opened (including the rear tailgate) and they will stay down until the dome lights go off. So as such, when you have your door and top on, it might appear the operation is a little goofy compared to what most people are used to seeing, however, the actually usage will still operate at the right time when you need them down to step on them. If you get the right type of splice though, it would actually be a snap to swap them from the relay solution here back over to using the wire for the doors. AMP included a nice wire tap that I had not seen before, that if utilized for both solutions (you'd have to buy more of course,) would allow you swap rather quickly, OR, you could get really fancy and put in a toggle switch that flip/flops between which solution you would use, that would be SAWEEEEEEET! Shoot, I may just do that. In fact, I may go so far as to put the button in the center stack set of buttons. If you did this, then in theory you could get away with just installing a single relay switch to control both steps instead of the two that I used (one on each side) and instead put your effort into installing the button. Ooooh, oooohh, ooooh, even better, you could get a lighted button that lights when the steps are down when used with the relay, then you'd have a nice visual (in addition to the dome lights being on) that your steps are down.