Jacob Sheppard Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 2015 Titanium. I'll update as I go. I'm installing a 13 inch screen on the headliner between the front headrests. First exploration today went fine, front headliner dropped easy and only a few minor things will be needed to mount it. I just wanted to share my first surprise. Above the front headliner there is a wiring harness that's glued to it so I had to take the wires out with it. They lead to the dome lights and sensors for the headlights and wipers. No problem having those out I thought for a few days. Well to my surprise with that out the dash doesn't come on at all! Engine and exterior lights are fine but no speedometer, gas gauge, dash lights, blinkers, warning lights, nothing! I can't believe those sensors would be tied to so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Sheppard Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 Pictures will be put here.https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=FDAFE154BA683A20!6345&authkey=!ALYn86NrEQ3Tk00&ithint=album%2c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtn Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Do the dash lights come back on when you reinsert the sensor plugs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Today's car wiring is done Remotely , the switch you push tells a module that something needs to be turned on. The software can make inputs from lots of sources control the components operations . The fact that you have an Titanium model gets you even more computer input. You are dealing with the software engineers Ideas of what is important. Nice Post Looking forward to the whole install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Sheppard Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 Hooked back the wiring harness and all is working as normal. I took it off the headliner and clipped it to the body. Who knows why ford did it that way to begin with. Probably an assembly thing. I added a few pictures of the supports for the screen which is now up and fits well. I also found an easy solution for turning on the rear domes with the front switch. Only tricky thing there is that it's a switched ground so the area to tap into is just a tiny area between bulb and switch. More to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Sheppard Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 A few notes on the supports. When measuring for the supports I was looking at the existing holes in the crossmembers. I used the sets of square holes and they are perfectly spaced apart. I was going to use some of the round holes but some don't lignin up from one crossmember to the other. I wasn't sure about the square ones until I saw those body clips over my head. They are used for the grab handles and are hardened steel so I knew they were strong. The best thing is I could assemble it and pop them in place and there are no visible holes and no need to drop the rear headliner. I actually got the extra clips from a junkyard for free. They were from an expedition but they're probably used for any newer ford. Note that once clipped in there's no coming out of the crossmembers. In the grab handle location you can squeeze them from behind. To make the bars was a 3foot piece of steel. The risers are 1inch vinyl and I used a pipe cutter to shorten them by the thickness of the steel. In all it needs to be about an inch to meet with the headliner. All of this was from Lowe's. I pre-drilled the runners for the mounting plate with self tapping screws then just clicked them in place after measuring from the end for the screw hole location. I did hsve to use scissors to cut a line in the insulation that is above the headliner. You coul probably just compress it too but it was catching on the screwheads. Once they were in place i just used a screwdriver to punch up through the headliner then the 4 plate mounting screws snugged down easy. I cut some notches out of the front edge of the headliner for the wires but it'll all be hidden once the front goes back up. More to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Sheppard Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 (edited) For the dome light bypass i used the brown/black from the center light which is the ground normally switched by the doors. Yes it is the ground. The power is constant to the bulbs and different things ground to turn them on. By running that to the front and tying it in with the grounding circuit for the manual-on switch now all 3 rows come on with the front switch as long as theyre in the center position and you can still individually turn on the rears like normal. Turning them to off means off no matter what. The front switch only has a tiny area to tap though. Pushing the spade terminal in where I did works well. I'm not sure I can even get it out so it's definitely secure. Only other way I could see working is soldering a terminal or wire to that spot. This also means I'm drawing 1.5 amps with the 3 bulbs through the tiny 24 gauge which is about its limit but I've got led lights on order just to be sure it's safe. My screen also has led lights on it that I can tie in with this since it can do positive or negative switching. Edited April 16, 2016 by Jacob Sheppard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Excellent information nice pictures, waiting for the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Sheppard Posted April 19, 2016 Author Share Posted April 19, 2016 (edited) Today I made the head unit mount using the center shelf. Took some cutting with an angle grinder and used silicone caulk to make them one piece. If i felt like spending extra for black silicone i think it would have looked better but i just used what i had. Looks pretty nifty if you ask me and grafting it in also provides for a secure mount. This will still clip on just like before and there is just enough room above the sunglasses holder. At first I was looking at somehow screwing it to the shelf but really this way is perfect. Wasted space no more. Only real reason I went with the head unit dvd is reviews of lowspec integrated players seemed spotty and I will like being able to see and control what's playing up front. Edited April 19, 2016 by Jacob Sheppard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Sheppard Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 Finally done and all is in-place. Pictures added to link above. If I would have done anything different, it would have been to mount it about an inch rearward. It was kind of a pain getting the front headliner back in place and I had to trim it in several places to go around screw holes and the wiring. Had it been back so the screen was right at the line, I wouldn't have had to do that. All that really means is if I need to take it down or replace it that there's a bigger mess hiding. To go back to nothing would mean replacing both the front and rear headliner. Either way, the screen is bright and plenty visible from all rear seats. The custom adaption of the overhead console and mounting the screen were really all the hard parts. I didn't take any pictures of the wiring other than the small auxillary fuse box I ziptied up behind the glove box for the constant/fused power. I figured if you don't understand how to wire these up a few pictures of wire aren't going to help, just double check know which wires are constant/switched and it's fairly easy altogether. I used a line ran back to the rear fuse panel by the taillight, with an add-a-fuse to get the switched power for he head unit. I didn't bother with removing any rear trim, I just tucked it along under the panels and all the way to the passenger footwell, then up the a-pillar like the other lines. The head-unit then provides the switched power to the screen when turned on. The power lines are all ran along the edge of the rooflines, behind the passenger a-pillar, to behind the glovebox, following the factory harness and using the same clips. There's plenty of room in the existing clips due to them being like alligator mouths that you just stuff the wires into. I ran the RCA video cables around the driver side. A 2m length cable is just perfect length to go around and leave enough to connect. One product I can whole heartedly recommend after never using it before is cloth wire tape "Tesa Black High Heat Wire Loom Harness Tape" It sticks like a madman and because it's cloth I don't have to worry about it rattling against the sheet-metal like with regular pvc electrical tape or even shrink-wrapping. In one of my last pictures where I tacked up the factory harness to the front crossmember, there is really plenty of room there for wires without worry. The headliner sits a good inch or more back from that area. In one of the last few pictures, I show that there is very good access to the wiring with the main shelf installed, but with the filler-plate that is in front of the sunglasses-holder removed. This let me fully insert the head-unit into it's sleeve, hook up the wires, then lastly, slide the whole head-unit and clip-in trim back and clip it in to place. I did only have it up with 2 screws, one at the far right front and in the driver grab-handle. This let me flex it a little to get it back and in position before clipping it down. Note though that you need to remove that filler plate first before having the head-unit up because you need to unclip it from the rear to get it out but it goes back in easy after clipping on the microphone, which is the only thing behind it. Links don't seem to be working for me today, but my parts list, some from Amazon, some from Ebay, just depended upon pricing for each item. Power Acoustik PD344 DVD Receiver - Not top-quality, mostly with the wiggly RCA ports on the back, but is fairly fast and reads dvds which is all I really wanted. I had monster-brand RCA cables with the spiral cut connectors that grip very tight and it actually pulled one of the jacks out of the back of the unit. I got it back together with some glue but with this unit definitely avoid tight cables. I slightly opened up the monster cable ends and they were fine after that though. I'd highly recommend the Ugreen brand cables as well, used them for plenty of things in the past. Xtrons 13.3" 1080p screen (CM133HDGrey) - Good quality, but mine has a defect where the FM transmitter only outputs left-channel audio. they said I could send it back, but it's already installed so I'm not going to bother. 90% of the listening is done over the IR headphones and the kids don't care about only left-channel audio. It is plenty loud, and only has minor static. The IR headphones also have minor static but I haven't had a setup with them that didn't. Metra 99-9000 Universal DIN Mount PSZACCEPS051H Fuse Box Mini-Fuse Add-a Circuit 2m RCA Video Cord ( I bought a component video cable as they were very cheap compared to ones branded for A/V) 8 gauge wire and various wiring terminals and a 20A inline fuse holder to the engine. 14 gauge wire from Fuse Box and Rear Aux to accessories, appropriate fuses. A few extra wire ties/body clips for running lines from A-pillar to overhead console. Let me know if you have any questions. airmengarrettm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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