Has anyone in Alberta ordered the AMP Research Power Steps? Preferably around Calgary. From my internet searches, it looks like they all ship out of California to continental US only. If there's not a local dealer, does anyone have a suggestion for a good online dealer?

Thanks

 

I purchased mine from ElectricStep. http://www.electricstep.com/eshop/pc...p?idCategory=3

At the time I made the purchase they offered the lowest price along with free shipping. Their price was lower than both AMP and Geno's garage.

FYI these steps are the cats meow. As is noted in the reviews you have been reading they are head turners. As to the quality of this product it is what you you would expect to see on components used on the space shuttle. Since I work for the major US defense contactor I'm not making this statement out of ignorance. In my conversations with the AMP folks I was told that these steps are now being offered as an option for the Mercury Mountaineer and Mariner.

A word of caution. Hardware installation is a piece of cake. However the electrial hook up is not for the weak at heart. The sensor wire tie in to the truck's wiring harness is very difficult. It takes patience and a few extra arm joints. When I finally made the connections and tested the step operation I breathed a huge sigh of relief. In fact the difficulty of this task promted me to call AMP to see if there was an alternate connection point that could be used.

One final note. Although the installation instructions are at best OK, they pale in comparison to the guality of the steps. Even the packaging material used to ship the steps was superior to anything I have received in the past. No quesion the steps are made in the good old USA. The instructions... Probably from China

 

Just got a quote from a place in Edmonton for $2495.00 (Canadian $) . I think I could do better if I bought them over the internet, but I have to find someone to ship to Canada.

 

I have a question about the operation of these AMP steps.

It says on their site that the steps retract if/when any door is closed. Does this mean if I get in quicker and close my door, that the steps will begin to retract while my wife is still standing on them? If so, this feature could indeed be very useful!

 

Wow, your brave!

Another thing you could do is wire her step on a separate switch, that way when she makes you mad you could turn hers off and watch her get out only to find the step missing. "wow honey are you OK, that dang step must have malfunctioned again!"

 

jerryk,

Does each side of the truck operate independant of the other side?
If you open the passenger side, does the drive side go down? And vise versa?

 

when i was reading this i thought you were going to say you want the passenger side to stay down for your wife....but then you said that and i laughed pretty hard....one of thsoe wierd laughs becasue im here all alone and laughing out loud......

 

The control box wires into the dash with the 4 purple wires that tell the dash which door is open. In other words, either right door will control the right step and either left door will control the left step. They move very quickly, so there is no way a person could open a door and not have the step in position when needed. I paid about $1100 for mine. Took an hour to install the steps and another two hours to install the wiring. This is an excellent product that wows yourself and your friends every time you open a door.

 

timcasbolt,
That's just the info I was looking for......thanks!
Looks like I will put a set of these on my "wish list".

 

If you stand on the step while closing either the front or rear door (depending on where your standing ) the step will stay down until the either door is opened again I find it works well for washing the truck...

 

As to the operation of the steps, I hate to say it but I did have a problem with them after approx three mos operation that required assistance from AMP to resolve. During the TS session I learned how the control system operates. First the wiring. The four wires from the AMP module that tap into the truck wiring are themselves tied together (one pair each side tied to the individual doors). I have a Quad Cab. The left door pair and the right door pair are in turn tied together and connected to the violet wires that lead to the connecter on the back of the control module. Thus to make a long story short the control module itself is fed by only one cable from each side of the truck. OK enough about wiring. How does the control module work? Every thing the follows assumes that one of the right side truck doors is being opened or closed. Opening either of door grounds the control circuit. The AMP module reads this ground connection (via the Violet wire) and runs the step motor, out comes the step. Now if you think about it, if the only signal that is fed back to the control module is a ground signal when a door is opened OR closed how does the control module know if the door is open or closed? It doesn't. It simply assumes that when the steps are out the next ground signal should be the closing of the door and up comes the step. Although this is how it really works. There are any number of conditions under which the control module will never know the starting position of a step. Also what happens if you get your foot stuck on the step when it’s closing? Broken or crushed toes? Nope. The control module very carefully monitors the current being used by the drive motor and if it exceeds a certain level the step reverses direction. But what about the case where the step is extended but the module thinks its tetracted. Thinking it’s retracted the module will attempt to extend it. But the current draw due to the stalled drive motor tells it that it must in fact be extended and it immediately reverses direction thus retracting the step and synchronizing actual step position with the module.

OK, whether or not you made it through the previous operational description here are a few very practical troubleshooting tips. In my case I noticed that the passenger side step was becoming intermittent in extending when the door was opened. Thus prompting a call to AMP. The AMP support tech spent approx an hour on the phone with me first walking me through the operation as described above and then the hands on troubleshooting. Here is a summary of the troubleshooting techniques.

1. Disconnect the control module connector and verify that none of the connectors have been pushed back such that they were not making contact.
2. Probe each of the violet wires in the back of the control module connector with a pin attached to short piece of wire that is connected to ground. I repeat, connected to GROUND NOT 12VDC. Each time one of the violet wires is probed the associated step will operate. Probe it a second time and the step will operate again in the opposite direction. (In my case the passenger step would not operate however this also ruled out the possibility that one of the 4 wires connected to the door circuit had broken)
3. Physically remove the drive motor from the step gear box and try to operate the step using either the probe method or actually opening the door and listen to see if the drive motor spins.(In my case the motor started right up and stopped afer several seconds.
4. Disconnect the gear box from the step and check to see if the step is binding. (In my case the step simply fell down)

Gearbox was confirmed to be causing the intermittent operation. BUT here is why this is a potential problem that you need to know about. AMP confirmed that this problem has been reported before. Aside from an actual gear box failure which is very unlikely there is another condition that will cause the step to begin to operate intermittently. If a door is only opened/closed infrequently the step drive gearbox sits in the same position for extended periods which can cause the nylon drive gear to develop a flat spot where contacts the brass drive gear due to contact pressure. Very similar to what you experience when a vehicle sits for an extended period and the tires develop a flat spot. In my case the solution was to simply slide off the nylon gear, reindex it and reassemble the gearbox. Works as a champ, but does point out a potential design flaw on a system that is otherwise bullet proof.

One final note. If you are reluctant to probe wires and the like, but would like to verify my operational description of how the steps work. Try this. Open and close any door as quickly as you can. If you catch it just right, the step will extend but not retract when the door is closed. Now the door is shut, the step is extended and the control module assumes it is extended but it also assumes the door is open as well. Open the door and notice that the step does not retract. It will stay extended until you shut the door at which time it will retract. This behavior is triggered by the current draw based on the direction the drive motor attempts to turn and the control module logic circuitry.

Merry Christmas to all and good night.

 

You would think that they would do away with the TAXES between the US and Canada since we are just one big happy family.

CRIS

 

It has not been mentioned but Dodge will pay $750 towards the step if you have a disability that requires them . I know most do not apply but for those who do it is a great help in there purchase .

 

I've enjoyed mine for almost two years now and they've been trouble free. Hope you find a good place to buy and install them. I bought mine from the dealer, it's in their accessory catalog. They price matched a local shop and did the install. The dealer had never seen the steps before and were curious. They took pictures and showed several people before I drove it away.

 

jerryk,

Great write up!
Thanks for taking the time to list your experience. I've cut and pasted the info into word for when I get my power-steps. Hopefully, I won't need it but it will be handy just in case.