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ISIS Multiplex Wiring System InstallationWired Up! From the February, 2013 issue of Modified Mustangs & Fords By Mark Houlahan
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When we talk to car owners about what parts of a project they enjoyed tackling, and which ones they hope to never touch again, it always seems that wiring comes out on the top of the "never touch again" list. While some owners cringe at the thought of doing something more basic like wiring in new gauges, it's the complete re-wire of a project that gets most of them shaking from bad memories. Blown fuses, hunting down problems, and generally just getting everything looking neat and safe can often be a hair-pulling experience. Wiring doesn't have to be this black art that many think it is. Even a couple of hours with some basic wiring books, or looking over the shoulder of a more experienced friend, will do wonders in helping you to understand things like how basic circuits work, load capacity of a specific wire size, properly protecting circuits, wire routing/covering, and more. 1. We’re still figuring out... 1. We’re still figuring out some fine details on lighting and dash switch gear, but we do have the back of our fastback locked down with LED lighting from Mustang Project. The company’s LED backup light kit worked perfectly in our fiberglass valance. Over the years, we've done it all; from a single add-on circuit to rewiring a complete car from scratch. Wiring a whole car is still a chore, even for experienced builders. And even with an aftermarket chassis harness, you'll easily spend a couple of weeks routing, connecting, and terminating the wires. Since these harnesses are universal in nature, you may not have every circuit needed in the harness and you'll still have to add on wiring. Lastly, wiring from a central fuse box/location out to your loads (switches, lights, and so on) usually means there is a large quantity of wire running the length of your vehicle. However, due to modern wiring technology found in most new cars today, you can minimize the bulk of this wiring while adding flexibility to your electrical system. This is exactly what the ISIS multiplex wiring system can do for your project. The ISIS system uses modules called cells to break the vehicle up into powered zones. The Mastercell is the brains of the outfit, and all inputs (headlight switch, ignition switch, turn signals, and more) are wired to the Mastercell. The ingenious thing here is the Mastercell is ground switched, so all switches in your dash, console, and so forth that are wired to the Mastercell have no power going through them. This allows the switches to last longer (how many of us have replaced a Mustang headlight switch or ignition switch that failed due to excessive current draw over time?), and also creates a safer vehicle with no battery voltage coursing through all of your dash switches. The Mastercell connects to one or more Powercells situated throughout the vehicle. Your typical build will usually use two Powercells; one at the front and one at the rear of the vehicle. The Powercells are controlled by the Mastercell via a multiplex CAN Bus system. This is a simple four-wire harness that connects the cells together so they can communicate. The Powercells are powered directly from the battery through proper circuit protection (included) that gives each Powercell the power for that zone's outputs. For example, the front Powercell will often power headlights, front turn signals, horn, cooling fan, ignition, and wipers, while the rear Powercell will power taillights, fuel pump, trunk release, brake and turn signals, and so forth. A default program is included in the system to control common systems like those just mentioned, however, custom programming is available to control just about anything you can think of. 2. For taillights, we’re using... 2. For taillights, we’re using Mustang Projects’ 230-LED, “bat-wing” design LED brake/turn signal modules. We sourced new taillight housings, gaskets, and satin finish bezels from Mustangs Unlimited. With standard features like push-button ignition start, built-in LED taillight control, and more, the ISIS system is perfect for a classic Ford restomod build like Generation Gap. Since we're still finalizing some aspects of the interior (gauges, audio, A/C, and more), we'll not be able to wire every circuit in our fastback just yet. However, our plan of attack here is to get our ISIS cells mounted and the majority of the wiring roughed in. We'll be tackling a few odds and ends as we get to those portions of the build (wipers, audio, gauges, and so on), so you'll be seeing more of ISIS in the coming months.  3. Bolting the assembled taillights...  3. Bolting the assembled taillights into the fastback was the easiest part of our wiring project, but you still have to be careful and remember to tighten the bezel retaining hardware in stages to draw everything together evenly.  4. While we’ve had our Ford...  4. While we’ve had our Ford Racing Control Pack engine management wiring for a while now, there was really no need to install it until we had the rest of our wiring figured out. We mounted the PCM in the battery apron area after cutting a hole for it. The black box is the Power Distribution Box, or PDB, which will be mounted on the inner fender as shown for easy access to the fuses and relays.  5. No electrical system is...  5. No electrical system is going to work without a source of battery power, and Optima’s famous Redtop gets our nod for project cars around here. The Redtop 34/78 is our usual choice, as the dual-terminal configuration makes connecting additional power needs easy. We’ll be mounting it in the trunk as shown, however, we haven’t chosen a battery box/bracket yet.  6. The ISIS Powercell handles...  6. The ISIS Powercell handles the electrical loads. In the three-cell kit, one is placed at the front of the car and one at the rear (with the Mastercell in the interior). This is our front Powercell with all connections plugged in. Top and bottom connectors are the load outputs; the yellow connector on the left is the CAN Bus cable, and the two red cables on the right are the battery leads.  7. Determining the best location...  7. Determining the best location for the Powercells is the first step of the installation. For the front Powercell, it is recommended to mount it on the firewall if there is room (as some wiring will pass through the firewall back to the dash). Barring a clean spot on the firewall, the next best spot is the inner fender. Here, we’re marking the mounting screw locations with a center punch.  8. Once the four mounting-hole...  8. Once the four mounting-hole locations have been center punched, a 1⁄8-inch drill bit is used to create the mounting holes. We used #10 Phillips head screws to secure the Powercell, but you can use through-bolts and nuts if there is access to the backside of the mounting surface.  9. For the rear Powercell,...  9. For the rear Powercell, it is typical to mount it in the trunk area, as this unit will control the brake and taillights, and other circuits at the rear. Our plan is to customize the trunk with carpeted panels to hide our battery, wiring, and more. As such, we made a few cardboard templates for our trunk, and we’ll be mounting the rear Powercell on the left panel as shown here.  10. As shipped, the Powercells...  10. As shipped, the Powercells are programmed with the same address codes, so it doesn’t matter which one is installed initially. Once the Powercells are mounted, however, they must be programmed as Powercell one and Powercell two. This is accomplished by moving the address headers on the Powercell itself per the detailed instructions included.  11. The Mastercell is mounted...  11. The Mastercell is mounted inside the passenger compartment, most often under the dash area. Since our ’68 has a sealed cowl and no fresh-air vent on the driver side, we have plenty of room on the cowl side panel to mount the Mastercell in the same manner as the Powercells.  12. Once the Powercell and...  12. Once the Powercell and Mastercell locations are finalized and the cells have been mounted, you connect your loads/outputs next. The included instructions show generic wiring for basic circuits such as lights, horn, and so on, and the ISIS online library has more specific diagrams you can print out for specific items like Ford EFI, Mustang headlight switches, and more.  13. Since we have not fabricated...  13. Since we have not fabricated our headlight or turn signal mounting brackets yet, our front outputs are simply routed to their final connection point and coiled neatly for the time being. Here, white is low-beam headlights, blue is high-beam headlights, and yellow is parking lights.  14. Each Powercell load connector...  14. Each Powercell load connector has a ground wire (black). Connect these grounds to a solid chassis ground. We prefer to use non-insulated crimp terminals with a small section of black shrink wrap for a more OE look versus the blue, red, and yellow connections all over the engine bay.  15. The same process at the...  15. The same process at the rear Powercell will wire our brake/tail/turn lamps, backup lamps, and center high-mount stoplight (CHMSL). At the rear Powercell, the violet wire is right turn/brake, the brown wire is left turn/brake, the yellow wire is parking lights, the white wire is backup lamps, and we’re using the light green wire for the CHMSL.  16. Once all of the outputs/loads...  16. Once all of the outputs/loads have been connected, the Mastercell input harness can be connected to the Mastercell and the inputs/switches connected. As we mentioned in our opening text, all switches now make a ground connection. For instance, your typical standard brake light switch would have power going to it, and when the switch is closed (you step on the brake pedal), it completes the circuit and feeds that power all the way to the rear of the car to the brake lights. Shown here is how the ISIS system now handles brake lights. The yellow/orange and yellow/green wires come from the Mastercell and the opposite side of the switch is grounded. When you apply the brakes, the two yellow wires are grounded, telling the Mastercell what to do. The reason there are two wires on the brake light switch is because one controls the regular brake lights and the other is for the CHMSL in our decklid.  17. Once you’ve completed...  17. Once you’ve completed connecting your inputs (headlight switch, ignition switch, window or door lock switches, and more), the front and rear Powercells need power to turn on the outputs/loads when requested. Each Powercell includes two 8-gauge power cables that plug directly into each cell. The third connector gets a sealing plug.  18. Included in the ISIS kit...  18. Included in the ISIS kit are these MEGA Fuse holders. Mounting them as close to the battery as possible is recommended to limit the length of unprotected 4-gauge power cable (included). The ISIS kit includes all ring terminals as needed to connect the fuse holders.  19. The CAN cable comes pre-terminated,...  19. The CAN cable comes pre-terminated, and it was just the right length for our fastback and where we mounted everything in the car. Custom cables can be made if you need a custom installation solution. The CAN cable is connected to the Mastercell under the dash first.  20. From under the dash, the...  20. From under the dash, the CAN cable is passed through the firewall (use grommets for protection) and connected to the front Powercell. A dummy CAN plug is installed in the Powercell’s remaining opening.  21. For the rear Powercell,...  21. For the rear Powercell, the CAN cable’s connector is too big to run in the door sill (it’s possible it could be carefully de-pinned, but we didn’t attempt it). However, the cable is only a few wires and will easily tuck against the rocker when carpet is laid down. A scrap of wire is fished over the left wheel well to help pull the CAN cable back to the trunk area.  22. The rear Powercell uses...  22. The rear Powercell uses the remaining CAN plug, which has a built-in resistor (note the R on the plug). With the CAN cable routed and connected, fuses for all finished inputs/outputs can be installed and the clear covers replaced.  23. With power applied, the...  23. With power applied, the ISIS system comes on board in just a few seconds. You should see the telltale “heartbeat” indicator—a blue LED—on the Powercells, with CAN HI/LOW lights on the Mastercell flashing. The backlighting on the Mastercell’s inSight module can be turned off if the screen’s illumination becomes an issue.  24. To test the input functions,...  24. To test the input functions, simply close the input/switch you wish to test and the inSight display will show you input, the target cell, and the target node (output/load number). Diagnostics, error logging, and more are all available through the inSight display.  25. As a test, we grounded...  25. As a test, we grounded the input wire for the taillight/parking light circuit (blue/black stripe at Mastercell input connector) and the Powercell’s output number six LED lit up and our LED taillights illuminated. Success!  26. Now, to test an actual...  26. Now, to test an actual switch! With our taillights still on, we connected a standard 12-volt test light to our light green CHMSL wire that had been routed into the trunk lid. A quick application of the brake pedal shows the LED brake lights illuminated, as well as our CHMSL (which is also LED, but not installed at this time). We’re looking forward to hooking up the rest of our ISIS system as we move forward with our dash switches, gauges, and lighting. Got the Motion?
We don't have our power windows or door locks installed yet, so we couldn't get too far with one of ISIS's newest options—inMotion. With the inMotion motor controller add-on cell, you can easily control any reverse polarity motor or actuator, simplifying wiring to your doors for power windows, power locks, door poppers, sunroofs, and even power tops. The inMotion controller allows easy integration with the ISIS system's inputs (And even the optional inLink remote controls) to allow you to raise and lower your power top or windows, or lock/unlock your doors all from a keychain remote. Once we begin working on our interior and are installing things like power window switches and door lock actuators, we'll be wiring up this inMotion controller. Look for more on this later in the project.
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