Anyone know what this little black box is?

Danarch

Danarch

JK Addict
Supporting Member
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2021
Messages
1,321
Location
Orangevale, CA
The Sahara we just purchased has this little black box attached just under the steering wheel area. I am wondering if anyone knows what it is. Looks like it may be tied into the purple / lavender wire. The green button does push, so not sure what it does though. Any ideas appreacited
CD6FB57B-5F54-46FE-837F-303F77AB9342.jpeg
E61C8C76-CBB3-4CFD-8408-AD146D09F9B7.jpeg
EA7DAB9F-0EE3-4D75-B998-5B8F1C25398A.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrjp
Thanks everyone, been out working in the yard all. I don’t think its the ESP kill switch as I’ve hit the button and nothing happens, and It is tied into the violet wire by the drivers door. I did some quick checking last night and removed the panel under the steering wheel and from what I could feel it is connected some wires behind the metal plate. I took the Jeep in for an alignment and asked our mechanic if they might have any idea. They said one of their mechanics said it may be a remote kill switch installed by a dealer, but I don’t think so. But I am checking with them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrjp
Well still not sure, the bad thing is I realized today (well actually in the middle of last night) it is tapped into the door side of the wiring harness, so can’t remove the doors! Who would do such a thing?
 
is the button a toggle one? like a retractable pen or caps lock key or is it like a door bell that springs back up after you push it?

The fact that it is tied into the door wiring limits what can be going on. It could be related to the heated / power mirrors if you have them (You didn't mention what year you have) Power windows, or locks, or the circuit that tells the jeep when the doors are open. So push the door with the doors open and when closed, may be a difference.

It is possible that it is some sort of security thing that reacts to door being opened I guess... It would be a very strange place just to get power from.

It appears to have a quick disconnect, so you could try and remove it and see if anything goes wrong. Or disconnect the door connection and see what happens. I will guess that nothing will and you are missing the other half of whatever it does. garage opener or something.
 
MacGuyver said:
is the button a toggle one? like a retractable pen or caps lock key or is it like a door bell that springs back up after you push it?

The fact that it is tied into the door wiring limits what can be going on. It could be related to the heated / power mirrors if you have them (You didn't mention what year you have) Power windows, or locks, or the circuit that tells the jeep when the doors are open. So push the door with the doors open and when closed, may be a difference.

It is possible that it is some sort of security thing that reacts to door being opened I guess... It would be a very strange place just to get power from.

It appears to have a quick disconnect, so you could try and remove it and see if anything goes wrong. Or disconnect the door connection and see what happens. I will guess that nothing will and you are missing the other half of whatever it does. garage opener or something.
Click to expand...
The button is like a doorbell button, it just pops back out. It is a simple push button. It doesn’t push in very far.

The Jeep has power heated mirrors. I believe that is the circuit it is tied into.

Why is it sometimes it takes someone else to point out the obvious? I’ve been thinking thinking about cutting the wire to see what happens. Never crossed my mind to just unplug the door harness and see what happens. In fact yesterday my wife even asked me “when can I (you) take my doors off?” I replied “I can’t yet till I figure out what that wire is for as its connected to the door side”, duh, just unplug it!
 
BLACKJKU said:
Does that wire have a stripe on it or all solid color?

2009 - Google Drive

drive.google.com drive.google.com
Click to expand...
The colors is solid violet. The wIring diagrams are pretty confusing (and a lot of them), but based on my research and conclusion I believe the circuit circled in red is the wire since it is for power mirrors and in the door harness seems to make sense. Also included the complete diagram.

12B00178-CA99-4528-B22C-BEF18AA7316A.jpeg


FB6057AE-4C3E-4C04-9235-114206525596.jpeg
 
MacGuyver said:
It appears to have a quick disconnect, so you could try and remove it and see if anything goes wrong. Or disconnect the door connection and see what happens. I will guess that nothing will and you are missing the other half of whatever it does. garage opener or something.
Click to expand...
So this morning went out turned the ignition to on, all dash lights etc. came on (as expected) unplugged the door wiring harness and nothing seemed to change. Started up the Jeep and all seem to run fine. Didn’t take it for a drive or anything, but everything seemed normal.

Thanks MacGuyver for pointing out the obvious quick test method!
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrjp
It's hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like there is a quick disconnect as part of offending wire. If not you can give yourself a couple inches on said wire from the door tap in order to be able to reconnect it in the future and cut it. seal the open wire with some electrical tape.

Jeeps have a much higher chance of unidentifiable previous owner mods.. I have something behind my glove box that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter port... no idea what it does. Accept that you may never figure out what it is.
 
MacGuyver said:
It's hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like there is a quick disconnect as part of offending wire. If not you can give yourself a couple inches on said wire from the door tap in order to be able to reconnect it in the future and cut it. seal the open wire with some electrical tape.

Jeeps have a much higher chance of unidentifiable previous owner mods.. I have something behind my glove box that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter port... no idea what it does. Accept that you may never figure out what it is.
Click to expand...
You were right, it is a quick disconnect. I was thinking it was the kind of attachment that wraps around the wire and then when pushed down ”spliced“ into the source wire. It took some force to get it off, but ended up sliding right back on. Sounds like for the short term I will disconnect it and see whaT, if any happens for now. if nothing happens since it is sort of botched up I’ll put some wire loon around it to clean it up. That should look better then seeing all the wire like that.

From what I can gather that wire is always “hot” so petty sure wherever the wires of they were connecting to it for a power source. Assuming the above works some day I will remove the panel then the metal plate behind the panel and see what I find. From feeling around it feels like they are tapped into some other wire(s). And whatever it is can’t be much as not that big of wire to carry enough voltage. Thanks again!
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacGuyver and mrjp
Well back for more help / advice. I took off the panel metal panel under the steering wheeL. The button is connected to the box circled in red with a wiring harness. The box has a green dial and the box says “min” and “max”. The two thick orange wires go from the box to a harness, also circled in red. Does anyone know if the box is standard Jeep equipment? Seems like it is aftermarket but not sure. The Jeep has remote start, not sure if this is part of that or not. You can see a little green wire towards the lower left, its about 1/2” long (max) but it doesn’t appear it goes anywhere. Wondering if it serves as an receiving antenna.

The wire that goes to the door harness has been unplugged for about week and there hasn’t been any issues. Everything seems to work normal.

3F2CB4E4-D915-4949-A832-43D4BF415DBC.jpeg
 
This is 100% aftermarket, it is possibly a remote activation switch of some sort. I'm guessing the min / max is for how long the button is active / transmitting when it is pushed. Though that is quite a few wires for a remote something.

That is just speculation though.

Also, according the the sticker in this picture, you have a 2011 JK. The Frankenstein of jeeps. Not a bad year, just you have the older 3.8 engine with the updated interior, meaning the electrical is specific to that year, as in 2012 all jeeps received the new 3.6 that are still in wranglers today.
 
MacGuyver said:
Also, according the the sticker in this picture, you have a 2011 JK.
Click to expand...
Well this is interesting as the Jeep is a 2015. If I run the VIN the build sheet comes up as 2015 Sahara. The build sheet matches the Jeep. The enigne is the 3.6L. I hadn’t noticed the sticker at first.
 
MacGuyver said:
This is 100% aftermarket, it is possibly a remote activation switch of some sort. I'm guessing the min / max is for how long the button is active / transmitting when it is pushed. Though that is quite a few wires for a remote something.

That is just speculation though.

Also, according the the sticker in this picture, you have a 2011 JK. The Frankenstein of jeeps. Not a bad year, just you have the older 3.8 engine with the updated interior, meaning the electrical is specific to that year, as in 2012 all jeeps received the new 3.6 that are still in wranglers today.
Click to expand...
I agree it's aftermarket, but I don't see what you mean about the sticker...

@Danarch about the only way to be certain is to trace out the wires that are on the "receiver". Perhaps if you disconnected the behind the dash unit and opened it up, you might get some useful information, like a manufacturer FCC ID or name. An ID could be looked up on the FCC site. I would disconnect the battery first since it is an unknown electrical device, but that's just me. But the easiest is to trace the wires and see what it connects to. Something like this can be very helpful for this sort of task...


71Zl1BTZLML.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrjp
Top Bottom