Isis Power System Automotive Wiring Systems - New Digital Wiring From Isis Power

Here is the beauty of the system. Let's say you step on the brake pedal. The brake light switch grounds its connection to the Mastercell. The program in the Mastercell senses that small current flow and then tells the rear Powercell via a small CAN (controller area network) cable to supply power to the locally grounded brake light circuit. Since this car is using LEDs for the taillights, the system eliminates the need for a flasher relay (the blinking rate can be programmed to any speed) and a circuit resistor that would be needed to load the relay enough to work with low-power LEDs.

Here is the beauty of the system. Let's say you step on the brake pedal. The brake light s

Building a muscle car? The wiring should be no problem unless you're planning to add some modern upgrades such as computer-controlled fuel injection, ignition, and timing controls. Then throw in a major-league sound system and install power windows and locks that weren't there before. And how about some LED lighting? And of course you have to have a security system. You can see how quickly you can run into the limitations of the factory wiring. You end up having to piggyback new circuits into a wiring system that wasn't designed for them or even overlay your own custom harness on top of the factory one. Things can get complicated and even heavy in a hurry.

What's been needed for some time is a better mousetrap, so to speak. And that's exactly what the guys at Muscle Car Restorations found when they went looking for a wiring solution for their high-tech '69 Z/28 project. "We were looking to bring new-car electronic features such as theater-dimming interior lights, soft-start and delayed-shutoff headlights, express-down power windows, and LED taillights into a 40-year-old car," says John Balow, MCR's owner. "When Jay [Harris, President of Isis] demonstrated his multiplex system, we quickly realized that we could add any electronic feature we could think of."

The Mastercell also allows multiple inputs to control the same output. Brake lights are a great example. The same bulb could be used for a brake light, a turn signal, or as part of the four-way flashers, depending on which switch is activated. The Mastercell's program will tell the Powercell to do different things to the same circuit (steady on or flash in this case) depending on the function desired, so the bulb only needs to be wired to the Powercell once.

The Mastercell also allows multiple inputs to control the same output. Brake lights are a

At the heart of the Isis Power system is a completely new paradigm for automotive wiring, so for the moment at least, try to set aside your current understanding of what's involved when wiring any car.

The brain of the system is a completely solid-state unit known as the Mastercell. It accepts the actual On and Off switching of each electrical function and is fully programmable. It can receive input from as many as 50 different switches, sensors, and the like. The Mastercell in turn signals up to five Powercells that control the actual distribution of power.

For you ultrahigh techies out there, Isis has a touch-screen controller called inTouch Max that can control any function you can program into the Mastercell, so it's possible to build a car with no mechanical dash switches at all. Imagine using a touch screen for starting, lights, power windows, fuel pump, stereo, and so on. Talk about your ultimate security system. And if that's not cool enough for you, Isis just released inTouch Mobile so you can control your Mastercell, meaning your entire car, from your iPod, iPhone, or iPad.

For you ultrahigh techies out there, Isis has a touch-screen controller called inTouch Max

Each Powercell is a localized hub that can be placed in the car as needed. One in the front, somewhere in the engine compartment, and another hidden in the trunk will be adequate for most applications. Each Powercell is wired with two eight-gauge, 60-amp, fused leads from the battery and can supply power for up to 10 different functions. The obvious benefit of this arrangement is that the taillights, fuel pump, trunk popper, stereo amp, or whatever don't have to be wired all the way from the dash but only to the local Powercell in the trunk. There are no battery voltage leads connected to any of the switches. Mastercell current to each switch is less than 1 milliamp. With that little bit of power you couldn't start a fire under the dash if you tried.