Painless Convenience Module Installation

With the module mounted on the passenger side of the box, and the power and ground wiring headed toward the engine compartment, the remaining wiring, which Painless gives you generous lengths of, is routed toward the driver side of the dash. The first connection we'll come to is for the radio delay circuit. The red wire coming from the convenience module must be connected to the radio's key-switched power. This allows the radio to stay on for up to 15 minutes with the key off, or until the door is opened. We'll be using one of the kit's Posi-Taps for this. The base of the tap is slid over the radio's switched power wire, as shown here.

The main body of the Posi-Tap is now threaded onto the base, securing the wire and piercing it at the same time. The Posi-Tap can be easily reused or repositioned simply by unscrewing it and then reassembling.

The red wire from the module that will feed the radio 12-volts after the key has been turned off is then stripped and inserted into the end of the Posi-Tap. Tightening the threaded collar secures the red wire for a no-cut installation.

The one situation where you will have to make a cut to your wiring is if you do not wish to have the radio delay circuit back feed into your fuse box's accessory circuit and power up other accessories. In this case Painless provides a diode (a device that restricts electrical flow in one direction). To install it, simply cut the stereo's key-switched power feed and install the diode so that it is between the Posi-Tap and the fuse box of your car, with the diode's stripe facing toward the stereo. You can see it installed in the previous caption.

The module's wiring comes tape flagged to aid you in grouping the wires together during installation. Plus, like all Painless wiring products, the wires are labeled every few inches with application and circuit number. The instructions even tell you what circuit to connect the wires to if you already have a Painless harness in your car. The bell chime is a simple two-wire connection that requires shortening the wiring to length, and installing the supplied ring terminals. You can drill a mounting hole for the chime, or tie-wrap it to a dash brace or existing harness for mounting. We opted to make a simple aluminum bracket for it that will attach to the base of the dash, allowing easy access to volume adjustment via the rotating cover.

The light sensor for the automatic headlights needs to see ambient light (or lack thereof) and can be mounted somewhere around the windshield area or even the rear glass (though headlights from cars behind you might give a false daytime signal). Test the area before permanent installation). We're going to mount it behind the rearview mirror like a late-model car, so to route the wiring we need to pull off the hardtop's A-pillar trim pad for access.

The two wires for the light sensor are extremely long (to allow mounting in the rear glass if desired) and are pre-terminated in a small connector. We found just enough room to pass the connector through the end of the dash and then carefully tuck the wiring in the windshield gasket. Do not cut these two wires and shorten them. Any leftover wire needs to simply be spooled up and secured behind the dash.

The light sensor comes with a mounting ring/socket that can be installed for surface mount applications (through the dash pad or the package tray for example), but since we were placing the sensor behind the rearview mirror, we left the mounting ring off to keep the installed size small. The few inches of exposed wires will be wrapped in electrical tape or PowerBraid. We got lucky with the alarm's shock sensor retaining the light sensor for us, but you could just as easily tie-wrap the sensor to the rearview mirror stem too. Another good location for the sensor is at the corner of the dash where it meets the A-pillar.

For the turn signal reminder chime, the module simply needs to tap into the turn signal feed wire between the flasher unit and the turn signal switch in the steering column. This purple wire senses the flashers are still flashing, and after 90 seconds, the module sends an output to the electronic chime to let you know the signal is still on. This saves you the embarrassment of driving down the road for 15 minutes with your left turn signal on.

Since LED turn signals do not produce a strong enough voltage to trigger the module's timer, you will have to connect the purple wire directly to the output side of the turn signal switch, and to both left and right signal circuits with the same type of diodes as used for the radio delay circuit. Painless sent us an updated diagram, shown here, and two diodes to wire it up. The diodes and this instruction sheet will come in future kits now, as LED lights are very popular today.

There are three wires that need to be connected to your headlight switch. One wire powers the headlights for the automatic lights, one wire is used for the "headlights on" warning chime, and the third is used for the dome light circuit, which must be modified. There are two wires on the Ford headlight switch that require mods as well, if you wish to have the theater dimming/delay and the dome light work from the headlight switch. This is well documented in the Painless module's detailed instruction manual. Since the Ford headlight switch turns off the front parking lights when fully extended, make sure you connect the Painless module's brown wire to the rear taillight circuit, which is the R terminal on the switch (remove the connector to see the letters on the switch body).

The only circuit left to hook up is our dome light and door pin switch. You can either rewire your factory switches, which are positive side controlled, to negative side controlled like GM and Chrysler, or you can install the supplied GM-style door pin switches. Either way, you'll need to remove the doorsill plates and kick panels for access to the door jamb wiring.

If you decide to use your factory switches and perform the necessary rewiring (all detailed in the instructions), you'll have to provide separate ground wiring for all interior lights (Ford lights are case grounded). The owner opted to skip the upgraded dome light modification and the required rewiring, but the radio delay and headlight warning still requires a signal that the door has been opened. We opted to simply add one of the included GM door switches. A pilot hole was drilled just below the factory door switch.

A step-bit is then used to make the required 5/16-inch-diameter hole for the self-tapping door pin switch.

The module's door pin trigger wire is routed across the dash, down to the door jamb, and through the just-drilled hole, where the supplied non-insulated crimp connector is attached to the end of the wire. The hardware kit includes several extra terminals of each type used throughout the project. This non-insulated crimp connector fits into the GM-style door pin switch, though it is a tight fit. We recommend pliers to fully seat the connector into the door pin switch.

Once the module's door pin switch trigger wire is connected, the switch can be threaded into the door jamb. As noted, it is self-threading and might take a little pressure to start cutting the threads in the door jamb. Verify that the door closes properly and fully disengages the door pin switch, then test the module's operation as outlined in the instructions. You'll be well on your way to enjoying your classic Ford that much more the next time you drive it.