Remote Power Hatch on a P5

[zcast]

Hey all,

Okay, so I have been toying with this for a while and would like to start this project, but I thought I would ask around to see if it had been done by someone else. Now I know it CAN be done i think, but mostly I have seen it done on the front doors and not the hatch. Here is what I have planned. I was planning on purchasing some linear actuators from autoloc.com and replacing the stock hatch shocks with them. I am not too familiar with the power needs and wiring for them, but I would somehow run a switch to a free port on my alarm, and program it into an aux channel for the remote. I not only want it to open the hatch, but also to close it and lock it. anyone seen this done or have some advice? I would appreciate it!


thanks


z-cast

 

[kidkorrupt]

damn, crazy.

they sell solenoid kits for cheap:

http://www.a1electric.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AEOS&Product_Code=TK01KIT

but they just use magents to pop open the hatch by yanking on the lock mechanism.

opening and closing the hatch would be crazy but hey, its possible.

good luck =D

 

[zcast]

yea, but the problem is that even if you just "unlock" the hatch with a solenoid, it doesn't "open" it. you still need quite a bit of force to open the hatch, or at least to get it going. I would still need to put new shocks if that was the case.

Z-Cast

 

[eepr5]

I don't think just replacing the shocks with actuators would work. the angle is probably too much. The actuators would be just as likely to rip off the mounts than lift the hatch. Imagine a triangle with the hatch hinge, the body/shock mount and the hatch/shock mount being the corners. When the hatch is closed, the angle between the shock/actuator shaft and the hatch would be almost zero. At that angle, most of the force exerted by the actuator is directed back to pulling on the hinge, not causing the hinge to move. As the angle is increased (closer to tangent to the arc of the hinge) more force is directed to moving the hatch instead of pushing on the hinge. Thus, you would likely get better results if you recessed the body/shock mounting location farther into the body of the car, increasing the angle and making the movement easier to perform. as to locking and unlocking the hatch, just use an unlock mechanism like they do in shaved doors (without the popper) connected to a limit switch and relay. when your alarm opens the lock, the switch closes the relay, allowing the actuator to move (vast oversimplification, but point is to only allow the actuator to open the hatch if the lock is opened)

sorry, engineer mode kicked in

 

[zcast]

(omg) (scratch) (uhm)


yea...what u said!

 

[eepr5]

perhaps this might explain the jist of it (sorry for the pic, hard to find what I was looking for

 

[zcast]

okay i understand, but i would still need to rplace the stock shocks with actuators correct? I guess what is more important about this project is having the hatch be able to both open and close. So you are just saying, to get the most force and leverage to open the hatch, re-locate the position of the actuator so it pushes from the bottom->up instead of how the stock shocks sit now and push from the top->out. Is that about right?



Z-Cast

 

[eepr5]

you got it

 

[zcast]

u also mentioned recessing them into the car body....what will that gain me? instead of them being mounted flush against body like the stocks are? What i am picturing now is that the actuator is now pushing the hatch upward near the top 1/4 of the hatch and as it opens, it extends out a little from the body and up. Recessing them would mean I would have to have a rediculously long actuator to push through the recess in the body. Unless there is a significant cut-out for the actuator to pivot with the raising of the hatch. Am i following this correctly?

Z-Cast

 

[eepr5]

yes, but you may not have to recess the arm too far into the body, perhaps only a few inches. or be creative and use two

 

[ELEmental59437]

I thought about doing this, even bought a solenoid.. but to do this on our cars requires too much modification to it and I dont like screwing with something that could turn out horrible.

 

[alexlitov]

You can go to a Dodge or nissan dealer and see what their vans have. Get inspiration from there...

 

[eepr5]

good idea