I had fun installing a cruise for a friend - my first since Steven of Smartieparts installed mine at the Prosser, WA gathering.
The installation went well but the one thing that came up as uncertain for me and my installing partner was how the wires are oriented.
Once you know the pins and how they're intended to work within the connectors, it's easy to get a solid install.
When you look at the pins closely (left) there are two tabs that splay out on opposite sides. It's these tabs that keep the pin retained in the plastic housings on a plastic "ledge" within the connector. Since these female pins connect with flat male pins in the mating connector, each female pin's slot (fuzzy image, right) must align with that flat male pin. In the case of both the ECU connector and the Area451 wiring harness connector, the slots line up along the longest dimension of the connector face as in the ECU connector in the bottom photo.
Extraction took me a few minutes (primarily because I didn't have one long white "pin lock" block pushed in far enough) because I didn't realize where the tab was from the instruction descriptions online. When in the connector, each pin's tab is directly inside the extra opening notch opposite the white plastic "pin lock" blocks - see the bottom photo to understand what I mean by the "notch." Pushing the special wire included in the Area451 package along the center outside edge of the pin though that notch easily releases the single tab on that side. As for installation, the pins can go in successfully at either 0 or 180 degrees though they will try unsuccessfully to go in at the errant 90 and 270 degree orientations, too. It took me a while to get 2 improperly rotated pins back out of the ECU connector so I could finish the pin swapping. The red connectors in the Area451 wiring harness simply won't grab if the pins are mis-rotated making a mistaken insertion there much easier to deal with. But
please make sure the colors in the red connectors are correct because getting those pins back out is even more of a challenge since the tabs on both sides grab onto plastic ledges inside the part.
For a solid installation, verify all the pin slots are lined up in both the ECU connector and the red Area451 wiring harness connector. A tug on the red connector wires would easily dislodge a mis-rotated pin. Without the check, a mis-rotated pin in the ECU connector will cause problems sliding the "pin lock" blocks back into place and mis-rotation in the red connector will simply push the female pin out of the proper mating position.
I hope these added tidbits help erase any last doubts when installing this fine piece of electronic joy.
