Illuminated pony Proof of concept.

[HuntingPudel]

<snip>
I’ll let everyone know. Even those that think I’m crazy. (Anyone in that camp can rest assured that I agree with you).

Nah, you ain’t crazy. Crazy is hunting 26 pound geese with an 18 pound dog. At least some of the guys at the duck clubs used to think so.

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[markboris]

Rob, I cannot find any wiring in the front end of the car that you can tap into to allow your illuminated pony to light up with the welcome lighting. You would need to run a wire into the passenger compartment under the glove box and tap in there. For now, I would just tap into the Brown/Blue wire at the left headlamp connector and your pony should light up when the headlamps are on.

Side note, there is an overload protection circuit that will cut down on voltage and blink the lighting circuit if it sees an overload or a short. Hopefully your lighting uses very little power and won't activate this protection circuit.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

@markboris Your ability to read wiring diagrams astounds me. The brown/blue wire DOES supply sufficient power to run the EL around the emblem without causing problems. And only when the headlights themselves are on. Not when the park lights, or welcome lights are on. I believe the EL wire was pulling too much from the parking light wire because I was occasionally getting flashes on start from those, as you describe in an overvoltage/ short scenario.

This will do for now as the EL wire isn’t bright enough to see during the day anyway, and my headlights are kept on auto. So anytime it’s dark enough to see the EL wire, the headlights will be on anyway. Thank you so much for your invaluable help. If you are ever in need of my Nursing expertise, look me up. It’s all I have to offer to as repayment in kind.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

For anyone else still reading this thread, I will say… DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. I will not be doing this with the wife’s car

While I have a lighted pony emblem, it is FAR from perfect. I invested WAY longer than I wanted to in accomplishing this project and couldn’t do it myself, as I initially thought I could. By the time I superglued the EL Wire to the pony, there was no going back so I HAD to see it through. Or buy a new emblem.

What I will be doing for the wife’s car is exercising some patience and waiting for a real aftermarket solution made by someone with better tools and better knowledge. Whenever we have a real aftermarket lighted pony emblem for the Mach-E I’ll put one on her car, and most likely my own too.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Thanks for taking the plunge to save us from trying it.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Thanks for taking the plunge to save us from trying it.

You’re Welcome. Glad I could help. I was THAT kid that couldn’t resist a dare. ?

 

[TRP]

You’re Welcome. Glad I could help. I was THAT kid that couldn’t resist a dare. ?

To be fair, it was a "double dog dare"........you really had no choice ?‍

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

finally drove my car in the dark so I had to pull over and see how things look. Pretty happy with how well the emblem shows when it’s actually dark. Still wish it came on with the park lights… but it’s pretty cool as is.

 

[markboris]

finally drove my car in the dark so I had to pull over and see how things look. Pretty happy with how well the emblem shows when it’s actually dark. Still wish it came on with the park lights… but it’s pretty cool as is.

Rod, it's brighter than I thought it would be. I think it looks great for all the work you put into it. Next week when I have my car home, I'll look further into a power source in the frunk area for but from what I have seen on the wiring diagram, you most likely will have to run a wire inside to under the glovebox for that. I'll keep you informed.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Rod, it's brighter than I thought it would be. I think it looks great for all the work you put into it. Next week when I have my car home, I'll look further into a power source in the frunk area for but from what I have seen on the wiring diagram, you most likely will have to run a wire inside to under the glovebox for that. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for the assist Mark. I looked at trying to get a wire into the glove box area and didn’t see a good way to do it short of disassembling the dash. I’m happy to run the wire through the firewall (can we even call it that anymore?) but I really don’t want to have to pull the dash off to get behind the fuse box where the wiring harness comes through.

 

[markboris]

Thanks for the assist Mark. I looked at trying to get a wire into the glove box area and didn’t see a good way to do it short of disassembling the dash. I’m happy to run the wire through the firewall (can we even call it that anymore?) but I really don’t want to have to pull the dash off to get behind the fuse box where the wiring harness comes through.

It is very easy to run a wire to the inside. This is the power wire I ran going through the firewall (from the battery to the cargo area for the sub amp) and you can see there was a spot for it. I did have to make a little cut in that round area to push the wire through. It comes in behind the dash above the steering column and easy to get to from the inside. You don't need to take anything apart to get to it.

 

[RSH]

finally drove my car in the dark so I had to pull over and see how things look. Pretty happy with how well the emblem shows when it’s actually dark. Still wish it came on with the park lights… but it’s pretty cool as is.

I don't understand what you're trying to make better with this. Very cool! I thought it might be a little gaudy but it isn't. Love it.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

It is very easy to run a wire to the inside. This is the power wire I ran going through the firewall (from the battery to the cargo area for the sub amp) and you can see there was a spot for it. I did have to make a little cut in that round area to push the wire through. It comes in behind the dash above the steering column and easy to get to from the inside. You don't need to take anything apart to get to it.

I saw that spot in the firewall and could tell it was made to get more wires through (Very forward thinking of Ford IMO). What I couldn’t see was where it would come out behind the glovebox. Looked, to me like it would probably be behind the fuse box. I took the glovebox out and couldn’t quite find that opening inside the car. But I’d be happy to run that wire. Could you remind me what little fuse extender you used in order to not have to splice wires?

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

I don't understand what you're trying to make better with this. Very cool! I thought it might be a little gaudy but it isn't. Love it.

I just want the emblem to light up with the park /welcome lights / daytime running lights. Basically anytime the car is powered, I’d like the pony to light up. As it is, it only lights when the actual headlights are on.
Beyond that, I am very happy and I thank you for the compliment.

 

[markboris]

I saw that spot in the firewall and could tell it was made to get more wires through (Very forward thinking of Ford IMO). What I couldn’t see was where it would come out behind the glovebox. Looked, to me like it would probably be behind the fuse box. I took the glovebox out and couldn’t quite find that opening inside the car. But I’d be happy to run that wire. Could you remind me what little fuse extender you used in order to not have to splice wires?

That area is on the drivers side not passenger side. There is one like it on the passenger side that you saw but it comes into an area you cannot get to easily without taking half the dash apart. The one on the drivers side comes through just above the steering column and is easy to get to. You then would have to run the wire across to the passenger area under the glove box.

I checked the wiring diagram of all the fuses in the frunk area and none of them will work for what you are looking to do.

Right now you have your emblem coming on only when the head lamps are on. There are three other ways I see you can wire up your emblem.

1. You can have it illuminate anytime the car is in the ON position. However it will not illuminate when the head lamps are on (unless the car is on) or with the welcome lighting. This can be done by tapping into a fuse under the glove box.

2. The pony can illuminate with the welcome lighting and anytime the head lamps are on but NOT while the car is on (unless the headlamps are on). For this you need to tap into either the Green/Orange or Brown/Yellow wire coming off of the center Black connector of the BCM.

3. Your pony can illuminate anytime the daytime running lights are on which is pretty much anytime the car is on. It will also be on when just the headlights are on and with welcome lighting. For this you have to tap into the Gray/Blue or Violet White wires again coming off the center black connector of the BCM.

I have not actually tried any of this yet as I am still without my car but will do the first of next week when I get home. You may get to test these connections out before I do. Again, like I said before, if your LED lighting pulls more current than the system likes, It will start blinking and give you a head lamp system fault warning.

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