Do you really want to cycle them just to unlock the truck to get something out then fold them back in when you re lock 30 sec. later?

 

thats what i was getting at.

if i am away from the car for less than about 2 minutes, i wont bother to lock it because i am probably right next to it, like at an ATM

if i go to the grocery store, then it will surely take more than 2 minutes, and for most trips it will be more than 10 minutes, thats all.

you have to assume that at least 10% of buyers will fold the mirrors in EVERY TIME THEY PARK the truck.

honestly though, if you are so concerned, then dont modify your truck
personally, i have enough faith in ford that i wouldnt have any doubts.
after all, in the spring and fall, i cycle my windows up and down each time i drive.
do i cross my fingers that my window motor doesnt burn up?

its all about personal comfort in the end.
if you are un comfortable with the risk, then keep it the way it was designed.
but i can tell you that i came to own an F250 because my car was totalled in an accident.
and with that car, i would have done it (and many other modifications) in a heartbeat.
it seems like superduty owners are hesitant to modify their trucks beyond the typical 4" lift and 35" tires
anyway, do what you are comfortable with.
if you cant afford or dont want the the hassle of having stuff break, dont modify it from what it was designed to do... simple as that

 

actually this is the exact logic that i followed.
every welder, soldering iron, air compressor, ect i have ever owned is measured in minutes on per 10 minutes.
i was attempting to say that duty cycle was the incorrect term (i cant help the fact that i am a smartasss)

total number of cycles is what i would be concerned with
obviously you wont overheat the motor, but you may exceed the number of cycles that it was rated for.

if you wanted to be really tricky, you could wire in an on-off switch for your circuit.
this would allow you to only have the mirrors auto-fold in when the switch was on. otherwise, it would require you to hit the button.

however i really do feel that the motor will not be adversely affected in any way.
i have done some work in engineering design, and one thing that we do is estimate the number of cycles to failure.

when you do these kinds of studies you are aiming for one of two things
1) extend the cycles-to-failure beyond what the average consumer will ever accomplish
2) bring the cycles-to-failure number as close to the end of warranty as possible, so that you can save $0.002 per piece of equipment

since the folding mirrors have not existed long enough to establish a solid trend on failure rates, we have to assume that FORD pursued case 1 and designed the mirrors so that they will not fail

of course this is all built on a simple assumption, and i could be completely off base.
in this case, see my previous post and do what you are comfortable with.

 

If I were doing this, I would set them up to fold in whenever you lock the doors and fold out whenever you start the engine.

 

Agreed 100% but congrats to you, sounds like you have 2 keepers.

 

If you get that to work let us know. I would like it that way. Or even just fold when you lock and I can manually unfold them.

Now if you lock your truck they fold in, but if you unlock it then lock it again without starting the engine will they unfold?

 

Thanks to all for your replies. I like the idea of having the mirrors fold in when the doors are locked and then unflod when the engine starts. This should cut down on the number of cycles.

Does anyone have any detailed suggestions on how to pull this off?

Thanks again!

 

I would need some more info on how they work before I could come up with a way to do it.

Are there separate buttons for the "fold out" and "fold in" operations?

Do you have to hold the button down to make them fold in/out? If so, how long does it take for them to fold in/out?

A wiring diagram for these mirrors would be great.

 

Same button (joystick like), same action on it. Pull backwards (toward rear of truck) to make them go in and out. No extended time needed, just hit the button backwards once.

 

It takes about 4-5 seconds for the mirrors to fold and unfold. Seems like more time to unfold. But you just pull the **** back for both ways. You must have the **** in the neutral position, meaning can't be to the left or right, in order to move the mirrors in and out. I have a video I will post in a little bit to show you how they work, just got home from work myself.

 

aah, in that case, you can do away with the time delay part all together.
just trigger the one side of the joystick with the lock solenoid and the other side with the unlock side of the solenoid.

use a diode to isolate the mirror folding motor from feeding current back to the door locks

I WOULDNT use the engine start as a trigger.

 

Just a note , My wife bought me a 2011 F250 King Ranch.......she read this thread.....

Any way, each time i pull into my garage I have to fold my mirrors because they stick out to far, and the drivers side has stoped working, Folding that is, some times...its like of and on so I would agree with the fact that if you keep folding them every day they will burn out....because mine seems like it did....

 

I've folded/unfolded mine 8-10 times a week for the 4 years and 10 months I've owned my truck. No problems at all. The way I see it, if you go months at a time without folding them, then you'll have problems.

As far as modifying them to fold upon locking, then you would have to disable the auto locking feature. Or else the mirrors will fold when you put the truck in drive and start to move.

I didn't know how much I would appreciate the power folding mirrors until I had them. It is so easy to just pull the switch back and fold them. Now even that seems inconvenient to some folks.