How long should it take?

Another common question that we get is: “how long should it take to install ISIS in my car”? This is an important question to ask. You need to budget you time as you work through your project. Also, if a shop is going to install this for you, you need to get a feel for what the labor costs will be.

However, asking how long it will take to wire your car with ISIS is no different than asking how long it will take to swap an engine or how long will it take to do a paint job. There are three factors that will ultimately determine how long it will take to install ISIS:

1. How complicated is your job?

2. How well did you plan in advance?

3. Do you have the right tools and extra parts?

First, one of the most significant drivers for time to install is how complicated the job is. Just as the metal work involved chopping the top on a car is much more than just patching a little rust, the more things that you want ISIS to control will take longer to install. We always tell our customers that wiring your car with ISIS can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. The simplest is just opening the 3-Cell Kit box, and following the standard front-engine configuration line by line. At the same time, if you want your project car to behave like your late-model daily driver with a lot of custom functions, we can do that. It just takes more time.

Another thing to consider related to the job being simple or complicated is how you are connecting your MASTERCELL inputs and your POWERCELL outputs to your switches and accessories. The simplest and quickest way is just to splice our wires into pig-tail connectors. The more involved way is to put proper connectors on the inputs and outputs. This is the more reliable way. It will take you more time, but it will save you tons of time in the future when you need to maintain your system.

Second, proper planning up front will save you tons of time as you wire your car. The first thing we always tell guys to do is to read the manual. Do this before you dig any deeper into the box. There is a lot of basic information there. You can download a copy of it here at this link.

Familiarize yourself with the terminology, the different connectors and the way that the inputs work. Twenty minutes invested in reading the manual up front will pay dividends as you work through the process.

Also, spend a few minutes roaming through our Reference Library on the website. We are continuously adding new content here based on customer questions and feedback. You can get to the reference library at this link.

Lastly, take a good long look at the configuration sheet that came with your kit. We have spent a lot of time laying out all of the basic functions in the car. Things like the headlights, turn-signals, ignition, starter and one-button start functions are already laid out in the configuration installed on your MASTERCELL. Everything is tied back to the input and output wire colors. This link will take you to the standard front-engine configuration. This is the road map to installing ISIS in your car. Sit down with a list of the different switched functions that you want to have in the car. Mark up your configuration sheet to make sure that you have the capacity on the cells to do the job that you want. It is better to figure out that you need to add another POWERCELL before you start than after you have things mounted and wire routed through the car.

Once you familiarize yourself with the manual, the reference library and the configuration sheet, spend some time mocking up the system in your car. Figure out how you want to run your input wires, your output wires, your power feeds from the battery and your CAN cable. Good planning and thought during this step will save tons of headaches later. Think about serviceability and troubleshooting when you layout the locations for mounting your cells. The best time to mock things up is before you finish your metal work, before paint. That way you can fab whatever mounts that you need for the cells while the car is in metal.

Lastly, make sure that you have the right tools to do the job. This includes everything that you need to mount the cells and make whatever holes are necessary to route harnesses. It also includes wire strippers and crimp tools to make solid, reliable electrical connections. Investing in a few simple, quality tools will save you time in the process and dramatically increase the reliability of your car over time. Give our technical support team a call if you want recommendations on which tools you need and where you can get them.

In addition to tools, do you have the right extra parts that you will need for your project? These could include extra terminals and connectors, looming for your finished harnesses, grommets for where harnesses pass through metal holes, heat-shrink tubing to protect splices and anchors to stabilize runs of wire. Thinking through all of the nuts and bolts of the install and getting them in advance will keep the process smooth. One of our favorite places for these kinds of parts is Waytek. They have all of the little wiring accessories that you would need to complete your job. This link will take you to their website. Likewise, call our technical support guys if you need additional recommendations.

The time that it takes to do any job on your car is tough to predict. Understanding the scope of the job, doing your homework and making sure that you have the right tools will make the job of installing your ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System simpler and smoother.

Now I know that a lot of guys are going to read this post and say that this is all common sense. You didn’t really answer the question. Let me give you an example from an install that I helped with last week. We’re working with the technical editor of a major magazine to help him install a standard 3-Cell Kit into his car. The car is painted and the drive train is installed. The dash is on the bench and the interior is out. This was the perfect state to be in to wire the car.

Between the two of us, we had everything wired after about 10 hours. This includes mounting the cells, running the CAN cables, the primary power feeds, connecting the inputs to the switches and the outputs to the loads. A significant amount of the time that it took involved putting Delphi Weatherpack terminals and connectors on all of the output harnesses. For example, the owner can undo one connector and remove each tail light assembly. This took several hours up front, but will save him tons of time if he ever needs to remove these in the future.

In these 10 hours, we spent more time than we should have mentally routing things through the car. We also anguished over things like locations for ground lugs and fuse holder locations. The owner of the car wanted the cleanest install as possible. We also had to make two trips down the road to the car parts store to pick up supplies.

We did have the advantage of having the car on a lift. This made running wires and accessing the bottom much easier if it was only on the ground.

The next day involved a few hours of looming the harnesses to make them look clean. After that it was about an hour to power the system up, test the input and outputs. That was it.

Another Really Unique Car...

Okay Guys,

I've said this before.  One of the most common questions that we get here at ISIS Power is "will ISIS work for my insert name of car here?"  Our canned response is: "if you have something that rolls or floats, has a 12-volt DC system (24-volts for the other side of our business) and you want to turn things on and off, the answer is Yes". 

As you can see from this blog, our customers have installed ISIS into a pretty broad range of of cars and trucks.  Mike O'Neill just finished installing a 3-Cell Kit into a Birkin.  I have to confess that I had to look this one up.  Think of the Lotus Super 7.  You can learn more about it here. 

Here's the car...

This install is a great example that even a small car without a lot of electrical functions can benefit from being wired by ISIS.  Here's a shot of the dash before...

Here are some shots of where he mounted his MASTERCELL and POWERCELLs. 

Thanks to Mike for sharing these with us.

Enjoy!

New Project...

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the silence for the past few weeks.  We've been swamped with customer activities and a few new expansions to the business.  Watch for a few new announcements including an addition to our sales team. 

I spent Thursday of this week on the road, picking up our new ISIS Power mobile.  You going to really like this one.  We've been looking for the ideal vehicle for a while.  We wanted something that would highlight our ISIS Power system and help to educate customers on how we can help to simplify wiring in your car. 

We're kicking off a series of videos that will educate you on everything related to wiring in the car including fusing, proper routing, crimping and most importantly, tips and tricks on installing our ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System. 

Keep watching our blog and our Youtube account for more details.

Jay

How to wire the Ron Francis Pull-To-Start Switch into the ISIS MASTERCELL...

Here's the answer to another recent customer question. 

They want to use the Ron Francis IS-17 SYNERGY SERIES Pull to Start Switch and connect it to the ISIS MASTERCELL to start their car.  This is pretty straight forward.  This link will take you to their instructions for the switch and the descriptions for the terminals. 

This is a very slick switch that can add a unique touch of elegance to the way you start your car.

The “B” terminal should be connected to ground. You can use one of the black wires on the MASTERCELL or just connect it directly to the chassis.

Input 3, the white wire with the blue tracer on the MASTERCELL A connector should be connected to the “I” terminal. Input 4, the white wire with the yellow tracer should be connected to the “S” terminal. If there are any inputs that you want on with ignition, but not when the engine is cranking, connect these inputs to the “A” terminal on the switch.

When you pull the switch out to the first position, the ignition output on the POWERCELL will turn on. When you pull the switch past the first position, the starter output on the POWERCELL will energize and the engine will crank. After it turns over, you release the switch and it will pop back to the first position and the engine will be running. Press the switch back in to shut down the engine.

It is pretty straight forward, actually it wires a lot like a traditional ignition switch but it offers a unique touch to starting your car.  The added benefit with using ISIS with this switch is that you can add our inLINK RF upgrade to get security for your ignition and starter.  You can completely eliminate any keys for the car and use your car fob to immobilize it. 

How to Wire the C5 Corvette Column for a GTM with ISIS...

A few people have asked this lately so we'd thought that it was best to have this up on the forum. 

For all of those guys building a Factory Five GTM with the C5 Corvette steering column, here is how you connect the ISIS MASTERCELL inputs to the column harness. 

Connect these pins to the MASTERCELL inputs:

• Pin D - Connect to ignition switched Ground
• Pins Z, X & W - Connect to Ground
• Pin V - Horn input to MC
• Pin R - Park lights input to MC
• Pin L - Low Beam input to MC
• Pin K - High Beam Input to MC
• Pin G - Left Turn Input to MC
• Pin F - Right Turn Input to MC

Depending on which turn-signal style you want (1-filament vs. multi-filament), refer to your configuration sheet for the specific wire colors.  You can download the ISIS GTM Configuration Sheet by clicking here. 

Many thanks to Shane Vacek at VRaptor Speedworks for sending us this information. 

Pratt & Miller Valiant Cleans up at the Cleveland Autorama...

We posted before about the 1962 Valiant that Pratt & Miller built for a customer.  This is a truely unique car that completely cleaned up at the 2011 Cleveland Autorama last weekend.  They won first place in:

• Street Touring Class

• Outstanding Street Machine

• Outstanding Engineered

• Outstanding Interior Street Machine

Check out the video that they just posted. 



We've worked on the car with them and it deserves all of these accolades.  Their ISIS install is pretty straight forward.  They're using our 3-Cell Kit with inLINK with a few simple code changes. 

Watch for this car to be featured on the cover of the June issue of Hot Rod magazine. 

Read ISIS Coverage in the May Issue of Car Craft...

Okay guys,

We posted the article that Car Craft did in the April issue on the 99 Tricks Camaro that Muscle Car Restorations built in Chippewa Falls, WI. 

There is a great article in the May 2011 issue that actually documents the install of the 3-Cell Kit and inMOTION in the Camaro.  You can read it here and see the pictures at this link. 

Many thanks to Mark Ehlen for writing the article and shooting the photos.