AMP research power running boards?

There have been a few members who reported bad OBD connectors and/or bad controllers. AMP tech support can help.

 

When I couldn’t get the steps to come down I re-attached the post-taps and pushed all the plugs into the controller under the hood with a pair of needle nose pliers.

 

I thought we had a couple members here with '24s and the steps worked, but IDK for sure. I do know that we have had several members who got defective product from AMP, either their OBD connector or controller, and had to get those replaced. But it seems to be a hard thing to diagnose.

 

Mine is a '24 and works fine and there were a few others with '24 that worked before I did the install. May want to try the attached activation steps.

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

My problem came from the Posi-Taps. This is a common problem with these. A lot of people think it is the OBD so they have them send another one which requires you to disconnect the Posi-Tap and reconnect it. When they do that it will start working sometimes not because the OBD was bad, but because the Posi-Tap got replaced or moved enough to make a good connection. In my case I never could get the Posi-Tap to connect. The one they sent me was for a 20-22 gauge wire. They make a Posi-Tap for a 24 gauge that would have probably worked for the Tundra wires.

I want to list a few things that might help with anyone installing on a 23/24 Tundra.

The Posi-Tap is a bad idea for smaller size wire in the Tundra. If you are going to use them you need to strip the wires back enough to get the probe to make contact or put a piece of stripped off wire without the copper in it behind the wire you are trying to probe. I decided to strip the wires back and solder the wires. You have to be careful doing this and not apply too much solder. You want to be sure it still reads the voltage correctly.

I have had better luck with the T Tap Wire Connectors. You may want to try them if you are no comfortable with stripping the wires.

The correct wires to tap into on the 23/24 Tundra are the blue and White and you will use the white off the OBD to connect to the blue on the Tundra and the blue off the OBD to the white on the Tundra.
They are in the #5 pin slot coming from the end with the gray and white wire.


Be sure and follow these steps after the installation.


If the wrong step drops for the wrong door you will need to switch the two purple wires going to the OBD.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for your observations!

 

Finished installation of the Amp steps following much of the advice found here and everything is working as expected with no issues. Thx

 

Sorry for the late reply to this particular post, but using the search button, and trying to gather intel before posing questions that have already been asked (if you want to get an earful, go on the Jeep forums and ask about tire fitment .., those babies fire back like their back hurts from that go kart size wheel base (and kidding.., loved my Rubicons)).... So...., to the question, is this common, have others had the same issue, should I be worried about the OBD and impact to the factory wiring system?

Thanks in advance, cheers!

 

BigRedz was the only case like this I have seen and most of us have not had any issues. Some of the other instances where folks had problems with "bad" AMP OBD or controllers might have been bad wire tap connections or somesuch. It is really hard to know for sure. I also have the AMP extension cable and I have a ScanGauge2 hooked up to my OBD connection along with the AMP Powersteps. No problems. Having said all that, I would have preferred that AMP offer a non-PnP version but for some reason they didn't for the 3rd gens. If that is really important to you the GoRhinos might be an alternative if you can live with their terrible ergonomics.

 

Thank you @raylo, much obliged.., appreciate the insights.

 

Posted in another thread as well:

For the life of me I can’t figure out how to get this ring terminal into this fuse box without some serious drilling.
Once inside I still need to get down to the bolt to mount it. Can anyone with a hybrid send me a picture of your passenger side fuse box with the red wire installed? I have sent my question to Amp Research but no reply yet.

 

Not sure what you are trying to do. Just hook that up to the + battery terminal. Unless maybe you have a hybrid?? I am not sure where the battery is mounted in that case.

 

I wish it were that simple. Yes it is a hybrid. Amp’s instructions show it attached to that terminal with the fuse box cover installed but it’s just a basic black and white diagram. They don’t show how it enters the box. That connector is special and is part of the box.

 

Hi to all, just looking for a bit of clarification.... If I buy the Amp power step pass though harness, do I still need to tap into the individual wires or is it a true "plug and play"?

 

Still need to tap the wires. The harness just gives you a spare OBD socket for another device.

 

I just had my Amp Powersteps "installed" last week. Unfortunately, either the install or the electronic parts are defective. The steps only work intermittently. Sometimes they open, sometimes not. Sometimes they close, sometime not... Now there's a bunch of back and forth between, installer, retailer, manufacture, and myself. Your typical Nightmare install.

 

When I installed mine I had a similar problem when I tested them. I went back and rechecked (wiggled and tightened) the wire taps and everything has worked since. Although every now and then I will open the door and the drivers side doesn’t extend. After I close and reopen they work fine.

 

Keep us updated in how it goes. I really want to order these for my Pro and see if a shop can make it work plug and play style.

 

These will NOT work 100% PnP. It's baked into the AMP controller to need those tapped wire inputs.

 

That’s what I was trying to explain to the installer, that there may be a different procedure for the hybrid. But they kept telling me the installer has been putting these power steps in for years and knows what he’s doing. It’s understandable that the new 2024 hybrids are a different bird, but sometimes these installers and shops do not want any input from their customers.

 

LOL. Yes, last gen they DID have a full PnP version. He must not have worked on a 3rd gen yet. And I am pretty sure that the hybrid is not different in this regard. It's just the door switch interface we are talking about, not the powertrain.

 

Wow, this thread is full of great info! I just bought my AMPs from RT and, after reading this thread, I opted to pay to have one of their approved installers do the work, haha. I do have one question for all of you. I REALLY want to use the OEM override button (TPN #84890-0C010) on my 1794 and place it in the correct open spot in my dash panel. I think this is possible since the OEM has the same functions as the AMP switch (out, auto, in), but I was wondering if I needed to still buy the AMP kit to get the rest of the wiring. Has anyone done this with the OEM switch yet? Thanks!

 

Has anyone found tri-mode power steps like gmc’s that fit a tundra? If you haven’t seen them, look on YouTube. Very slick, after deployed you can hit a button and they move to rear of truck so you can get into the bed.

 

I was originally planning to get the switch... I actually clicked to order it, but it was on backorder... but after using them for a couple of weeks I quickly realized that it made little or no sense. Remember that placing the boards in the up or down positions with the switch "times out" after awhile (I don't recall how long) and they put themselves right back into auto. Meanwhile it is very easy to have a board stay down by holding it with your foot as you shut the door. Yes, that also times out and goes back to auto. Also goes back to auto as soon as a door opens or closes.

 

Yeah, I thought about that, but I still want it for the off chance I want to use that feature. That being said, did you find anything saying it should work?

 

I thought about it too, and honestly couldn't think of any situation where it would be beneficial. If it had a persistent position that didn't time out I would have gotten one for sure. But the time out thing makes the switch irrelevant.

 

Replying to Bigredz350-

Experienced the exact same issues with AMP XTreme on 2024 Tunda 1794. Measured white-ground voltage = 2v, door open or closed. Measured blue-ground voltage = 2v, door open or closed. Measured purple - ground 12v with door open or closed. Measured purple/black- ground 12v with door open or closed. Verified posi-tap connection in to correct connector. You said it took you three OBD connectors to finally get one that worked. Were there any other issues that needed to be corrected associated with the $3k repair bill? What exactly did the dealer do for $3k? Very frustrating. thank you.

 

Cdpar2000

They wires broke from the multiple times of attempting pierce it as instructed to and this happened to be a the edge of the connector. Trying to repair the connector failed as the resistance was off and the modules would detect and shut off. Long story short both the connectors had to be replace and wire was added and shielded where needed to get correct reading to work. This was the route taken versus replacing the entire wiring harness. It was just a damn mess but the steps are working properly now and AMP completely ignored my messages sent. They were great to help troubleshoot but once the problem became this they went silent.

 

Regarding AMP Research power step board on a 2024 Tundra 1794 gas, issue no response from steps. Has anyone measured the voltage from the connector Blue and White wires with doors closed and open while the AMP OBD plug/play connector plugged into OBDll port (my measure 2v's, from the AMP OBD connector side, no change with door opened or closed)? What about voltage measured on Purple / Purple-Black wire from OBD plug/play connector (my measure 12v, no change with door open or closed? Performed AMP controller reset, no change, removed/re-installed fuse, no change. The last thing I wan to do is to mess around with the posi-taps on the thin blue/white wires on the connector. If those wires break this will lead to a bricked truck!

When I follow the trouble shooting steps of grounding the purple wires, the steps deploy, ungrounded they retract. I'm assuming I have a bad AMP OBD plug/play connector. Give the comments above, does it seem like I have a bad AMP OMD plug/play connector. I've triple checked the blue to white, white to blue wiring on the white connector. I am 100% certain I have the correct wires.

Trying to follow up with Real Truck support, but long wait time and no reply to my email. I wish the trouble shooting guide would provide some voltage references to assist.

 

Got off the phone with AMP tech. He told me the white / blue wires from the Tundra connector are CAN buss signals (low voltage, not 12v). They trigger the OBD connector to send the purple wires from 12v's to ground. Once the purple wires go from 12V's to ground the steps deploy. When the doors close the CAN buss signals change and the OBD connector changes the purple wires back to 12V's, retracting the steps. Regarding my issue (2024 Tundra 1794), the tech is convinced the issue is with the posi-tap connections. I will double check those connections by doing a continuity test between wires from posi-taps to the female pin of the white connector. If continuity is good on blue and white wires, tech suggested another 11 step key cycle, which he claims will not throw a code or brick the truck. If this fails, then I am 100% sure the issue is with the AMP OBD connector. If continuity is bad on either posi-taps, I'll try to reinstall them, hopefully not breaking the thin blue/white wire from the white connector! Stay tuned!