Ok, I wanted to start this thread out with the following...

I have been running my tow mirrors from 1AAuto.com on my 2001 Super Duty now for about 10 months with ZERO issues. These mirrors are power adjustable, heated, telescoping, folding and have smoked running lamps/turn signals built into them. On my particular vehicle I did not have to use the adapters. HOWEVER, my brother owns a 2001 excursion and he DID have to use the adapters. Neither one of us has had an issue with our mirrors or the adapters. I want to preface that my brother bought SEVERAL different mirrors off of amazon/ebay and they were garbage!

There are a few things to note. Due to the model year of our trucks they do not come with a pre-wired turn signal or a wire to turn on the heat elements in our mirrors. (some select limited edition models could enable the heating element by pressing the defrost button)

Below are things to note.

Pros
Plug and play, the mirrors come with adapters if you need them.
Glass is EXCELLENT! No wavy glass at all, I would EASILY compare these to OEM glass.
They are power adjustable, heated, and have turn/running/parking lights built in, depending how you configure them. (I will get to that shortly)
They come with an extra set of paintable covers in case you wanted the covers to match your vehicle color.
Manual Telescoping Mirrors and foldable

Cons
You have to take a knife or dremel and cut off little tabs on the mirror bracket that mounts to your truck in order to get the mirrors to seat/align properly. Takes all of 1 minute.

This section will contain instructions on how to add a heating wire from your truck cab to your new mirrors as well as also showing you how to make your parking/running lamps work

You first need to decide what you want your tow mirror lamps to do...


Question: I want my bulbs on the back of my tow mirrors to come on all the time much like running lights when my headlights are on, how do I do this?

Answer: You can do one of the following. A) Tap into an existing wire that is already hot on your existing wiring harness on your mirror connector from your truck and run a jumper wire to your new tow mirror wire that controls the lighting bulb. B) Run a separate wire from a switched power source when Key On Engine On is initiated. Look in your manual, there are MANY choices here.

Question: I only want my mirrors to act like blinkers, how do I do this?

Answer: Unfortunately you HAVE to run two separate wires for this. (One wire per mirror) You would find the turn signal wire located in your truck. Once found you would need to run a wire that taps into your tow mirror bulb wire, run it through your door panel grommet wiring into the cab of your truck and tie into your blinker circuit. This can be done by either tapping into the turn signal bulb wire up front or closer by your PCM.

Question: What if I want my tow mirror lamps to act as daytime running lights but also act as turn signals?

Answer: You would need to do both methods above.

Question: How do I get my heating elements to work if my truck is not provisioned with a way to turn them on?

Answer: A) The easiest method would be to tie into one of the power sources already existing in your door panel tow mirror connector on the truck truck side.(However, this means the heating element would be on all the time) B) Run a separate wire to your heating element wire on your tow mirror, tap into a switched source KEY ON ENGINE ON and then add a switch in place so you can manually turn the heating element on/off. You would have to run a wire to both mirrors of course. If you wanted to get fancy you could run two separate wires from your defrost switch button on your truck to each mirror. This way when you hit the defrost button it would defrost your mirrors as well. (This method only works on select models, IE: limited edition)

I will include pictures for those who are curious how I went about doing the above methods. Hopefully this helps others out there who are on the fence about these mirrors.

 

Sounds like they have improved their mirrors over the years. I had some 03-07 mirrors that I purchased from them back in the 08-09 time frame and ended up returning them because the mirrors shook like crazy. I ended up putting OEM 08 mirrors on that truck.

Great informative write up and review.

 

I have the 08 and up mirrors from 1aauto.
I like them.
I connected my turn signal wiring above the multifunction switch.
I am still muddling my way through the heater wiring.
I will use a switch and a Time Delay Relay, along with a separate relay for each mirror (per someones suggestion).
What is the amperage draw per mirror?

 

Just a suggestion...

If you do not have a separate defrost button in your truck (Excursions had it for their rear window defrost) and you want to use a time delay relay this is what I would do...

Purchase a Time Delay Relay (Interval On Interval) Upon application of input voltage, the output is energized and the time delay (t) begins. At the end of the time delay (t), the output is de-energized. Input voltage must be removed to reset the time delay relay.

Place that on each mirror circuit. This would basically defrost your mirrors upon startup and then not come back on.

That would be the easiest method and not require a separate switch.

 

I already have the Hella Time Delay Relay.
By using a switch, I can turn it back on, without having to restart the truck.
I'd still like to know how many amps the heaters draw.

 

I have no idea how many amps the heaters draw... Easiest way would be to purchase an amp clamp device, hook a power wire to your mirror heater wire. Use your amp clamp device around the wire and you could determine the amperage it pulls. My brother has an amp clamp.... Let me see what he is up to today, I might be able to provide you with the information you need.

If you want the timer to reset, you could just use a Repeat Cycle On 1st relay.. Upon application of input voltage, the output is energized and the time delay (t1) begins. At the end of the time delay (t1), the output is de-energized and remains in that condition for the time delay (t2). At the end of this time delay, the output is energized and the sequence repeats until input voltage is removed.

That would basically allow you to heat your mirrors for 5 minutes, delay 5 minutes, heat 5 minutes as an example and then it would stop once the truck has been turned off.

I would rather not have a switch personally, keeps it looking like the truck was supposed to come with the heated mirrors/factory type appeal.

Just throwing out ideas.

This may do what you want as long as the circuit doesn't pull more than 5 amps...

https://www.amazon.com/Timer-Delay-R...2v+relay+timer

 

I wanted to thank you guys for the support and the great feedback. I'm heavily involved in the development and working with the manufacturer to create a great product with these tow mirrors.

If there's anything that you would like to see in a tow mirror such as a function, let me know and if there's enough of an interest we might be able to make it a reality. We love to create cool new products too.

Tony

 

I used this one:

Hella HD :: Adjustable Control Time Delay Unit

 

How about showing the amperage draw, in your listing.
Also, small LED's in the side of the mirrors facing the driver, would be a good feature to add.

 

I've had the 08+ style mirrors on my 2004 f350 for quit a few years now, they are heated/power/running and turn lights and I've had ZERO issues with them. They don't shake at all, they are built just as good if not better than the OEM tow mirrors I took off. Also I had no problem with fitment, they bolted up just like OEM and the fit is perfect