How-To: One Touch Auto-opening Moonroof

(Can a mod move this to the how-to forums, or better yet, give me rights?, thanks)

Hey folks, time for another how-to:



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<HR>This modification allows you to open your moonroof with a "one touch" press of the open button.


I recommend that you first apply my always-on modification located here: (Click Here)



<HR>The tools needed are:

• Soldering iron, preferably cordless
• Wire cutters
• Solder
• Wire

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This modification involves simply adding a timed relay to the existing OPEN button on the moonroof control assembly.

The relay is closed when you press the open switch.

The relay self-latch's and stays on, as long at the Capacitor is charging.

Once the capacitor reaches full charge, there is not enough current to keep the relay closed, and therefore the relay turns off. The 1200ohm resistor determines how long the capacitor takes to charge. It also limits the amount of drain on the car battery. This circuit consumes 10mA.



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First the relay:

All you need is a simple cheap 12volt Single Pole, Single Throw relay.



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The other two electronic parts needed is a 2200uF Capacitor, and a 1200Ohm resistor.

These are the values I used, different values will give you different timed openings.

The capacitor needs to be rated at least 24volts.



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The soldering iron I used is a RadioShack Butane soldering iron.

If you use an electric iron MAKE SURE AND DISCONNECT THE CAR BATTERY



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First locate the control box. (This should be easy)



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Get your fingers under one side of the controls an pull down.

If you need to use a tool, make sure it won't damage the plastic, or the fabric.



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The control box should pop out with some wires attached.



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Disconnect the control and power wires.



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Once removed, view the wires on the back.

It should be noted, the Ground wire (highlighted above) should be to your RIGHT.



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The terminals are labeled with numbers. We are interested in terminal 2 (Open switch) and terminal 5 (Ground)

Sorry for the messy look, as when I first did this mod I accidently hooked up to the close switch.



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First we need to prep the relay.

Bend the end wire straight out, and leave the other wires as they are.



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Apply some superglue to the relay.



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Then glue the relay with the straight pin touching terminal 5 (Ground), and the bent end terminal touching terminal 2 (Open) The other two wires should not be touching anything.



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Solder the two end wires to the terminals they are touching.

Be careful not to de-solder the already attached wires.



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To drive the relay we need +12volts.

We can get this from the power wires running to the lights.

The blue power wires meet in the middle, and have tape wrapped around them.



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Remove the electrical tape to expose the bare wire.



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Cut a piece of wire and solder it to the bare power wire.

If you did not disconnect the car battery, you could blow a fuse if you touch the power wire to a ground connection.

Once soldered wrap this connection back up with electrical tape.



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Solder the other end of this wire onto the lower of the two free wires on the relay.

Be careful that the wire is not loose, or the wire could cause a short while driving.

Once you complete this modification, I recommend applying high temperature hot-glue to all the new connections to prevent any shorts.



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There is one more free wire on the relay. This will connect to our capacitor.

But before we can connect it, you first need to know that large capacitors are polarity sensitive, like batteries.

Their negative side is marked with a minus sign running down one side of the capacitor.



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Connect the positive side of the capacitor to the free wire on the relay. (The side without the minus sign)

Use superglue or hot glue to keep the capacitor in place.



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Now we need to attach our resistor to the negative side of the capacitor.

If you want to be able to tweak the trimming you can replace the resistor with a 10K Potentiometer.



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The other end of this resistor attaches to terminal 2 (Open) on the moonroof control box.



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Capacitors can carry their charge for a long time, making the moonroof not able to close right away.

If you experience this you can put a resistor directly between the positive and negative legs of the capacitor. This resistor should be at least 4 times larger then the timing resistor.

I used a value of 27,000 ohms.



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Your circuit is now complete.

(The drain resistor was added after this photo)



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You can now attach the cables, and test the circuit.

Your moonroof should open fully, at normal speed.

You should be able to close the moonroof with-in a few seconds of it being fully open.

As long as the capacitor holds a charge, you can open or close the window like normal, once the capacitor drains, the circuit is reset, and pressing open will fully open the moonroof.



If you want more exact timings, use a Variable resistor (potentiometer) instead of the static timing resistor.

But note: Changes in humidity and temperature can affect the timing slightly.



<HR>Here is a movie of my moonroof after I did this mod: (825kb)












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coool do one for all the windows...

Note: For a second after the moonroof is open, if you try to close it you may hear a clicking noise. This is the relays fighting, and will not cause any damage to the relays, or motor. To prevent this you can tweak the timing resistor.

This circuit will also work to take the window from tilted-up, to fully open.

The exact same circuit will work to auto-close the moonroof, just wire it to the CLOSE terminal.
Note: Automatic-closing can be dangerous, as there is no way to stop the window from closing on an object.

Thanks to Poseur for the info on getting the control box out.

Another great How-To!

You are truly aptly-named. (thumb)

Very nice job. Gonna have to do this one!

Zap's a superstar...

I kinda thought it would be morethan JUST a plain relay. butyes VERY welldone man, You are my hero and then some... Nowthen, I'm assuming that an alarm's momentary grounded output would simply need to be added to Terminal 2, correct?Most of these things don't really have the ability to handle a HUGE amount of current, but I'm assuming it really wouldn't take much seeing as this is simply triggering the relay, and nothing else, correct?

Any grounded pulse at terminal 2 will activate the relay.
These connections are not handling the window motor, just the control relays, so there is very little current involved.

SenorCorwin said:

coool do one for all the windows...

Click to expand...

I already designed it:



That is the circuit for making the passanger window auto-role UP.
To make it role down, just rewire the OPEN side, rather then the CLOSE side.

It would be the same for the back windows (minus the driver's side circuit)

It is more complicated, as you have to install your own limit switches, and due to the existing car design you have to re-wire the windows switches.

Here is how the passanger side is wired:

Resistor question,

I don't have any 1.2kohm resistors in my stash, would a 1kohm or a 1.5 work as well? I'd assume these would change the open times, yes?? Also for the discharge capacitor, again, no 27kohms, I'd assume going bigger would be the safest?

Poseur said:

Resistor question,

I don't have any 1.2kohm resistors in my stash, would a 1kohm or a 1.5 work as well? I'd assume these would change the open times, yes?? Also for the discharge capacitor, again, no 27kohms, I'd assume going bigger would be the safest?

Click to expand...

A 1k, or 1.5K would work.
I find I can't close mine for about 2 seconds after it is fully opened.
With a 1K, I can close it immediatly, but it opens a few inches short.

The discharge resistor simply drains the cap to reset the circuit, really any value will work.

Issue...

Okay, so I Actually tracked down a 1.2k resistor seeing as that is indeed optimal.

Nowthen. I was noticing that I do, however have a problem. When I use the tilt function and go to close it, it doesnot stop at closed, it continues on through to sliding the sunroof open. Does yours do this too? I checked everything, it's all as it should be. makes sense in a way seeing as it's a single motor, but I would think that whatever normally pauses it inbetween would again be doing this in this case.

Yes, mine does this.
It is because the DOWN and OPEN are wired the same, only that the down has a limit switch.

VERY NICE, congrats on another stellar mod and how-to ZapWizard (yippy)

That is an awesome how-to...

I was wondering about the auto window DOWN... are you planning on doing a detailed how-to on the windows as you have with the moonroof??? I understand your diagram, but I don't know which wire is which... I'm just a dumb newbie.

Any help would be great.

NVanP5 said:

That is an awesome how-to...

I was wondering about the auto window DOWN... are you planning on doing a detailed how-to on the windows as you have with the moonroof??? I understand your diagram, but I don't know which wire is which... I'm just a dumb newbie.

Any help would be great.

Click to expand...

I have thought about how I want to do the auto-window down.
What I now plan on is making it so that when I use the Auto circuit, both the driver's and passanger's window's role down.

That way I have normal control over both windows, but with the added auto-down function on both windows.

Okay, that sounds cool... either way works for me

What I was hoping to do in the end is make it so when I hit the panic button on the stock remote key-less entry all the windows roll down and the sunroof opens... that way I can let all the hot air out before getting in. I figured I would just have to rewire the wire going from the key-less entry to the relays in the window...

you don't happen to have a diagram off hand of the exitsing window wiring, do you? That way I could compare them and see what I need to add. Or is there somewhere I can find this info? - what do you guys use when figuring out what wire is what - like you did for the sunroof?

Thanks for the help

ZapWizard said:

The discharge resistor simply drains the cap to reset the circuit, really any value will work.

Click to expand...

1. As long as it's a minimum of 24 Volts, right?
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ZapWizard said:

Solder the two end wires to the terminals they are touching.

Click to expand...

2. What kind of solder would you recommend for such a small electrical job?
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ZapWizard said:

Once you complete this modification, I recommend applying high temperature hot-glue to all the new connections to prevent any shorts.

Click to expand...

3. Would epoxy be alright or should I just stick to the high-temp hot-glue?

Thanks!

wow . . . you are a bad ass.

I have one question, hough. Would it still be okay to do this mod without the "always on" mod first? Because I like the idea of a one touch button, but have no need for the switches to work when the key is not there. Thanks!

NVanP5 said:

you don't happen to have a diagram off hand of the exitsing window wiring, do you? That way I could compare them and see what I need to add. Or is there somewhere I can find this info? - what do you guys use when figuring out what wire is what - like you did for the sunroof?

Click to expand...

You could make your keyless entry work the windows.
I will PM you the link you need

holokaustos said:

1. As long as it's a minimum of 24 Volts, right?
2. What kind of solder would you recommend for such a small electrical job?
3. Would epoxy be alright or should I just stick to the high-temp hot-glue?

Click to expand...

1: Yes
2: Any normal radioshack solder works, normaly it is a 60/40 blend.
3: Epoxy would be even better, I am just lazy.

aceP5 said:

wow . . . you are a bad ass.

I have one question, hough. Would it still be okay to do this mod without the "always on" mod first? Because I like the idea of a one touch button, but have no need for the switches to work when the key is not there. Thanks!

Click to expand...

This mod would work without the alway-on just the same.
But my normal thing now before I start the car is to press the auto-down on my window, and now the auto-open on the moonroof.

Thanks, Zap. I'll let you know how it turns out... (hmm)