Auto Dimming Mirror With Compass

[NMJeff]

My opener is in the armrest. Not much else fits in there anyway.

This page contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated. As an eBay Partner, and Amazon Associate I may be compensated if you make a purchase at no cost to you.

 

[TBirdBoy]

sounds like I need to get some velcro

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Premium Black w/Red partial
VIN - 1FAHP60AX2Y113877
sq#4044
build #14004
Delivered 3/29/02
2000 Chrysler Sebring Conv.
1988 Pontiac Fiero Formula

 

[jawill2000]

My '98 Lincoln Continental has the auto dimming mirror with what Lincoln calls map lights (cabin lights?) in addition to the interior lights and a compass. The wires are neatly covered with a plastic channel. The visors have the home-link and the vanity mirrors are lighted (2 levels yet). The other feature that Tbird could use is the computer to calculate mileage etc. The hardware is available at Ford so the cost must have been a factor, a few ounces of weight wouldn't have mattered.

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Jim Williams
red/red/std blk premium #2 of 2 VIN 1FAHP60A62Y111592
Mass. tag JWBIRD

 

[WJR1007]

TBirdboy

The good news is yes. I have a key fob garage door opener for my bird as well as my truck which gets parked in the driveway.It sells for 29.95 each and is programmable for just about any brand door opener.
The bad news is that I'm at work and dont remember the car magagzine that I ordered them from, but,when I get home today (3:00pm cst).I will look for it and post the info for you.


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Blue/Blue Premium
Full Interior Accent
Production #3944 VIN#103847
" Gotta Love It "
TX Lic# " BLUBRD "

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[whvt01]

Thought you might find this comment of
interest on the mirror.

I mentioned to a Ford salesman at the
dealership (not the one we used) that
the mirror was of the wrong level for
me to see to the right clearly.

He said just twist the mirror around
180. (Yeah that would do it now the
lights point to the ceiling.)

He was serious not joking. All said was
OK I'll think about it. Maybe on some
cars this will raise it up some.

 

[Gobird]

whvtO1, Is this guy allowed to sell new cars???

Sounds like the used car dealer that my dad bought my 1955 Studebaker from.Dad told him that the trunk leaked. His answer, Just drill a couple holes in the trunk pan and that will solve the problem.

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02 T-Bird 9293
69 Vette
73 MGB
97 F-150 4x4
2-Seadoo Jet Skies
Live Long and Prosper!

 

[BotNew56]

I have been looking into replacing the rear view mirror. In my Tbird the mirror is made by Donnelly and is connected to the wiring harness with three wires into a 7-pin connector. It measures 9-3/4 wide by 2-1/2 high.

Donnelly (www.donnelly.com) makes and sells mirrors with auto dimming, compass, outside tempurature display. Their model 21000 ($219) has the autodimming mirror with compass and lights. The very helpful sales person at Donnelly emailed me a pin diagram for that mirror. It also connects with (apparently) the same 7- pin connector as the existing mirror. I believe that connecting the existing connector into the this new mirror would cause it to act just like the original as far as the lights are concerned. To activate the auto-dimming I think it would be sufficient to connect a wire between pins 7 and 1 on the connector. However, it might be useful to run the cable supplied to the fuse box because you could attach the pin 1 wire to the ignition power which would turn off the dimming circuit when the car is off. Also, there are some other optional connections to the auto-dimming feature. How those are used was not immediately obvious from the diagram.

Running the cable from the mirror to the fuse box does not look too difficult.

However, there is a problem which may be troublesome; size. The 21000 mirror is 10 in. by 3-1/2 in. That additional 1 inch in height may be too much. I taped a 1 inch piece of paper to my mirror and went for an 80 mile trip, city and freeway driving, both daylight and night. It really did not bother me, but I am not sure I wouldn't sometime be in a situation where that increased blind spot might be bad.

This may be the reason this mirror is not supplied with the car. I wonder what the size of the mirror with the Jag convertible is and who makes it. TBirdTim has connected new stuff into the fuse box. Perhaps he could give us some guidance there.

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VIN 106587 White, White, with chrome hood scoop bezel

 

[TbirdTim]

In answer to the question to me about connecting stuff to the fuse box...the only thing that I have hooked up to the fuse box have been my heated seats. I probably spent 2 hours (of my total 6 hour installation time for the seat heaters) just trying to find a place to connect at the fuse box, including the fuse boxes in the engine compartment, the one in the trunk and the one inside the passenger area. It was a BIG challenge. I couldn't find a fuse that would cut on and off with the ignition switch. I tried almost every fuse and finally found that the fuse going to the wipers were the only easy one that did turn on and off with the ignition switch. This was important because you don't want to have to worry about leaving something like seat heaters on while the car is parked. You would probably have a dead battery very quickly!

 

[KYbluebird]

Three wires go the t-bird's mirror, a hot wire (interior fuse 2.31, goes dead 30 minutes after the car is left alone), a ground wire, and a wire that's grounded whenever a door is opened.

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Ron

VIN #7729, seq. #7505
partial blue premium, no top

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[BotNew56]

That's good to know. I thought the hot wire (pin 7) might be from the battery saver circuit. Seems it would be OK to connect the mirror dimming power (pin 1) to that same wire. Still, there are those other dimming controls, don't know yet what they provide.

Does anyone have words of wisdom about replacing the existing rear view mirror with one which is 1 inch taller?

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VIN 106587 White, White, with chrome hood scoop bezel

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[DBBird]

Just curious...I contacted Donnelly yesterday and have not received a reply yet. I happened to stumble across their website before I searched this forum.

Has anyone replaced their mirror yet with an auto dimming from this company? (or any other?) I had some concern on whether it would be to big, and whether or not you can utilize the existing wiring?

Let me know, any information appreciated.

Thank You

 

[DBBird]

I no more finished posting above and received this e-mail from Donnelly. Thought I would share this with you. I will keep you posted. Again if any on here has done this, let me know....

From Donnelly:
"We have in fact sold a number of these to T-bird Owners. We know they work
but we arent sure if the lights are capable of dimming after door closure.
I referred a customer to an installing dealer for that. I will contact him
to find out what happened.


Best Regards,

Dave Breslin
National Sales Manager - Consumer Products
Magna Donnelly"

 

[BotNew56]

I am the Tbird owner Dave Breslin referenced in his note. I expect a local auto add-on installer to have one of the Donnelly mirrors early in December and plan to check it out.

Donnelly does make a mirror which we could purchase to replace the existing Donnelly mirror which came with our Birds. It even uses the same connector. It has the map lights, the auto dimming mirrors, and compass. You can also get one with the outside temperature as well. These extra functions do require some additional wires, but I have looked at that and it doesn't look to bad to do, at least running the wires down to the fuse box.

The question I had, and Dave didn't have the answer, are the map lights capable of honoring the controls which we presently have which dim and slowly raise the lights in certain circumstances (such as unlocking the door remotely), or are they just on/off capable? I hope to resolve that by getting one in hand and trying it out.

For me, the only other issue with this replacement mirror from Donnelly is that is it about 1 inch taller than the existing mirror (That additional space holds the compass display and the map light switches). I have concluded that that is not much of a problem.

 

[jimjet]

Please repost that Link; I would like to see that auto dim/compass mirror

 

[BotNew56]

If it is the Donnely mirror you are referring to, it is
http://www.donnelly.com/shopdonnelly/complightedmirror.asp

 

[DBBird]

BotNews56:

Thank You for the information!

You obviously have the same concerns. Thanks for doing the research.

Please let me know what you find out when you get your mirror. I was hoping to get this as a x-mas surprise, but I think this one will have to wait.

Thanks again!

 

[jimjet]

Did I read the Donnelly web site correctly? You can either have an auto dim mirror with the compass and Thermometer or you can get you an auto dim mirror with map lights and a compass, but no thermometer. If you are going through all this effort; it would be nice to have,compass,thermometer, and Map lights......


'03 Vin 00192
Mountain Shadow Grey/Saddle

 

[BotNew56]

You know, I had been looking primarily looking at the CompLighted mirror (with map lights, compass and dimming), since we already have external temperature capability . I had thought that the one with the temperature sensor also had the map lights, but now I am not so sure.

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VIN 106587 White, White, with chrome hood scoop bezel