Help: Russ Thompson w/ American Autowire HWY 15 harness and IDIDIT

[kmseddon]

Reposting to the correct forum

First off, I want to thank everyone on this forum for the effort you put into posting and answering questions. Particularly Paul(edwardb), John(Fixit), and Fman - you guys do amazing work and are great teachers.

For reasons not worth explaining, the person I ordered my kit through (and who ditched me after it arrived) convinced me to go with the American Autowire Hwy 15 plus harness instead of the Ron Francis wiring harness. It's been fine until now, and I don't want to switch back since I have the engine running just fine and half the gauges working. I also have the Russ Thompson turn signal indicator and the IDIDIT headlight module. I was planning on using the button on the RT turn signal level for flash to pass.

I am struggling to make the needed modifications for this setup and have some questions:

1) On the standard RT wiring schematic I assume in my situation the block I circled in red here is not really a connector, but more of just an electrical schematic to show what wires are connected to what. In other words, terminal #1 is only electrically connected to #2, and #3 is only electrically connect to #4, etc. Correct?

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2) This is the American Autowiring drawing. My FFR kit cam with LED rear tail lights with three wires: Ground, one for running lights, and the other for Brake/turn/hazzard. How do you connect up the brake light from the brake switch so that you don't get feedback? I mean if you have the turn signal on and you brake as you turn, is there a risk of either a short or the indicator lights on the dash going solid?

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3) How do you connect the brake light wiring to the rear tail lights?

Thank you in advance for you help! Stay safe!

Ken

[edwardb]

Thanks for the shout-out. Try to help whenever I can. Can't help with the specifics of the American Autowire harness. But two things that hopefully can steer you in the right direction. (1) Ditch that schematic that came with the RT turn signal assembly. It's primary purpose is to provide a relay operated low-high beam function and flash to pass. You said you're using the Ididit headlight module. It does the same thing and is all you need. Hook it up per the provided instructions. (2) With the 3-wire LED taillights, you need a mixing module, sometimes called a trailer tail light converter (may have other names), provides the brake/turn signal/hazard function with those fixtures. I haven't personally installed one, but have seen them referenced on here multiple times. My understanding is Factory Five provided them with kits using the newer LED rear lights. Hopefully someone with actual experience can weigh in and provide more detail.

[kmseddon]

Thanks for the shout-out. Try to help whenever I can. Can't help with the specifics of the American Autowire harness. But two things that hopefully can steer you in the right direction. (1) Ditch that schematic that came with the RT turn signal assembly. It's primary purpose is to provide a relay operated low-high beam function and flash to pass. You said you're using the Ididit headlight module. It does the same thing and is all you need. Hook it up per the provided instructions. (2) With the 3-wire LED taillights, you need a mixing module, sometimes called a trailer tail light converter (may have other names), provides the brake/turn signal/hazard function with those fixtures. I haven't personally installed one, but have seen them referenced on here multiple times. My understanding is Factory Five provided them with kits using the newer LED rear lights. Hopefully someone with actual experience can weigh in and provide more detail.

Thanks Paul - To clarify, don't I still need the diodes in the circled part of the RT diagram? I just ditch the bottom half of the diagram, right?

[edwardb]

Thanks Paul - To clarify, don't I still need the diodes in the circled part of the RT diagram? I just ditch the bottom half of the diagram, right?

I'm a little bit violating my own rules by offering advice for things I don't have experience with. I haven't used the American Autowire harness. From the schematic you posted, plus a brief look at their instructions, looks pretty straightforward. But that's about all I want to say. Diodes are often used with the Ron Francis harness depending on how the indicators are wired. It's possible for them to backfeed into the turn signal/hazard wiring and the diodes prevent that. IMO using the RT schematic (only the top half) is perhaps needlessly complicated. But up to you. The bottom half is for the headlight high/low beam, which the Ididit switch takes care of as I mentioned before. Best I can tell you also still need the tail light converter for your 3-wire LED lights. But again, that's without any direct experience. Your best bet is likely American Autowire customer support. Don't know how many on here have used that harness.