Door Handle - Electronics

[Fanel]

Hey I was just wondering if anyone had any clue on the electonics in the door handle (outside), was thinking of having the door handles shaved?? Did a bit or research on the forums and net and haven't come across a lot.

Also aftermarket body kits, Lexus wont touch it and neither will there approved repairer, I'm in townsville but am willing to travel to the gold coast/brisbane area if I have too. Whats involved with the electronics, sensors and the like?

Any and all help would be appreciated

Thanks

[LEX51S]

what do u mean by shaved??

[k2sty1]

what do u mean by shaved??

i think he means, basically have them taken off so the door panels are all flat

like this

[Fanel]

Yes exactly like that, you can still open the doors, there is an automatic popper that pushes the door open so that you can get in, and you have a manual popper hidden near the mirror or your place of choice for just incase, its big in the mini truck scene

[k2sty1]

yeh man, it looks HOT like that

i think queenstreet did a car with suicide doors in the rear aswell

my mate has em done on his LS400, so funny because people walk up the car and look for the door handles, LOL

oh, and sorry, but i dunno anything about electronics, so i'm no help :(

[Lexus Nerd]

Fundamentally, most of it should be simple, but I'm only guessing this (VIP250 knows I'll let others try this first :P ):

Without door handles, you no longer need the touch sensor on the inside of each front door handle, nor do you need the push button lock switch on each front door handle. Each "switch" is normally open, and there are connectors for each device between the handle and a wiring harness, so you should be able to disconnect these without the need to cut wires or short two or more wires.

On the driver's door assembly, there are six wires connected to a wiring harness by a single connector. Two of the wires are for the lock motor, while four of them are shared between the key switch and the "unlock detection switch". The door assemblies for the other three doors have four wires: two for the lock motor, and two for the "unlock detection switch".

The unlock detection switch involves two wires whereby the connection is closed, and therefore a signal sent to the ECU, when the door is found to be unlocked. I suspect this circuit is independent of the motor, so that the ECU knows when the door has been forcibly or otherwise manually unlocked. Without knowing anything about door poppers, I suspect the popper circuitry will connect between these wires, detect when the door is unlocked (detects a certain voltage or low resistance across the pair of wires) and (perhaps after a short delay, to ensure the mechanical door lock is fully open) trigger the popper.

The only tricky thing is the key switch. The key cylinder is slightly raised above the surface of the door panel, and it's built into the door assembly; so making it flush, recessing and covering it, or relocating it could prove difficult.

[Fanel]

Yeah I love the smooth euro look, but also love the stance/vip/hellaflush look so looking to go for a mixture of the two. Each to their own however.

Haha ok then.

Thanks for all that info, helped out heaps. Is it possible to squeeze all the sensor's into the door or will it be another of those price you pay for looking good sort of thing?

Well I'll ask around and see what I can come up with, cheers for your help

[Lexus Nerd]

Even trickier still.

The connector to the door sensor is actually a connector to a "door oscillator". That is hooked to the sensor, as well as a wiring harness to an antenna - which is actually the door handle. The oscillator senses the presence of your remote control key, as well as taking an input from the door handle sensor.

My guess is that you would replace the existing door sensor with whatever sensor is provided with your shaved door kit, allowing you to touch the door (perhaps even the window - so I've read) and trigger a signal. As the door handle is currently the antenna, it would either:

- Be obscured behind your door panel - which I suspect would dramatically reduce the range of the antenna

- Be replaced with the entire door panel as an antenna. I don't know how well this would work - if you've ever tried replacing rabbit ears on a TV with a sheet of metal, you know what I mean.

The simpler way (perhaps as a Stage 1?) is to only accept door unlock/open requests from your remote control, and forego the door sensors.

[Fanel]

Yeah fore going the sensors sounds like my best bet, now just need to find someone willing to do it!

[Fanel]

Quick net search got me this:

http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/c/shave_door_poper/2008_Lexus_Is250

Seems ok, will look into it further