neutral safety Archives

This blog post will show you the connections that you need to make between your Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit and the Dakota Digital GSS-3000 Universal Gear Shift Sender. The GSS-3000 is designed to drive the gear selector indicators on your dash from any automatic transmission. Their kit has a rotary potentiometer that connects to the shift linkage on the transmission. It learns the position of the different gears and sends signals to indicators on your dash to show you what gear you are in. It is a simple and clever product. The Dakota Digital GSS-3000 has contacts that are designed to drive your back up lights when you have the transmission in reverse. It also has a set of contacts for a Neutral Safety Switch. This sends out a signal when the transmission is in park or neutral and it is safe to start the engine. Your Infinitybox system can take in these two signals to easily drive your back up lights and manage your Neutral Safety Switch. Keep reading to learn more.

Before you go any further, it is important that you read and carefully understand the instructions for your Dakota Digital GSS-3000 Universal Gear Shift Sender. You can download these instructions from their website by clicking here. This blog post is only going to cover the ignition power to the GSS-3000, the neutral safety signal and the connection to the back up lights. Please follow their instructions for the rest of the wiring to the module. This picture will show the wiring diagram for the connections to the GSS-3000.

Picture of Infinitybox Wiring Diagram for the Dakota Digital GSS-3000

First, you need to provide key-on ignition power to the module. When the key is in the run position, the module will get its power. You’re going to tap into the ignition output on your front POWERCELL. Check your configuration sheet for the wire color for your ignition output. You can splice into this wire directly or you can use one of our Splice Saver Kits to make a simple and clean connection for ignition power.

Next, you can take their Back Up signal and use it to control the back up lights in the back of you car. The advantage of doing it this way is that you’re running less wire. The signal will come from the GSS-3000 in the front of the car and connect to the MASTERCELL, also in the front of the car. The back up lights will get their power from the rear POWERCELL. You are not running a wire all the way from the GSS-3000 in the front of the car to the back up lights in the rear of the car. The GSS-3000 puts out a positive signal for the back up lights. You need to use one of our inVERT Minis to flip this to a ground signal. See the details in the wiring diagram for how to make these connections.

Lastly, you can use the Dakota Digital GSS-3000 to send the MASTERCELL the signal for the Neutral Safety Switch. The MASTERCELL needs to see a ground signal through the input for the Neutral Safety Switch. Check your configuration sheet for specifics on the wire color for your system. This blog post will get you more details on the Neutral Safety Switch input. In a lot of transmissions, there is a switch built into them that will give you this signal for when it is safe to start the engine. If your transmission does not have a built-in safety switch, you can use the signal from the GSS-3000. This is a ground signal from their SAFETY terminal. We recommend wiring a 1N4001 diode in series with the MASTERCELL input to isolate the MASTERCELL from the GSS-3000. This blog post will get you more details about wiring this diode in line. When you have the transmission in the park or neutral position, the MATERCELL will get the signal that it safe to start the engine.

The is an important consideration here regarding using the GSS-3000 neutral safety signal and the Infinitybox built-in One-Button Start feature. This feature will not work if you are taking the neutral safety signal from the GSS-3000. Since the GSS-3000 is getting its power from the ignition output from your POWERCELL, the module will not trigger the neutral safety signal in time for the MASTERCELL to process this. You will need to use an external neutral safety switch if you want to use our One-Button Start feature and the GSS-3000.

You can download a PDF version of this wiring diagram by clicking this link.

Our technical support team is always available to help you wire your car or truck with our Infinitybox system. Click this link to contact our team with any questions.

A lot of people have seen a video from one of our customers starting his car remotely with an iPad. His iPad is connected to the inTOUCH NET module in his car. This lets him control everything including lights, windows, heat & A/C and locks. It also lets him start the car. Starting a car remotely can be very dangerous. If the car is started with the transmission in gear, it can launch the car forward potentially injuring, maiming or killing someone. In our Infinitybox system, there is a neutral safety switch input that must be wired before the engine will start. This is true for starting it with a keyed switch, our one-button start or remotely from inTOUCH NET.

Some people call these park-safety switches, clutch interlock switches or neutral safety switches. Regardless of what you call them, they are used to detect if it is safe to turn the starter. They either detect that the transmission is in park, the transmission is in neutral, the clutch pedal is depressed or your foot is on the brake. This is a standard input on all of our systems that must be wired correctly for the starter output to turn on.

The neutral safety input works like any other MASTERCELL input. It must be connected to ground to work. When you try to start the car, the MASTERCELL checks the state of the neutral safety input. If it is not grounded, the MASTERCELL will not let the POWERCELL turn on the starter output. The MASTERCELL must also see the neutral safety input change periodically. If the input is tied directly to ground or if the switch fails, it will not let the starter crank.

All safety switches essentially work the same way. If there is continuity through the switch then it is safe to start the engine. Most transmissions have switches built into them that close when it is in neutral or park. That is the case for our customer’s 1967 Mustang. They are using a Ford AOD transmission with the built in switch. In other cases, you may have a switch on your clutch pedal. When you press the clutch, this closes the switch. You wire the MASTERCELL input to one side of the switch and ground the other side. You can also have a switch built into your shifter. This switch is closed when the selector is in the park or neutral position.

If your car has none of the options above, you can wire your neutral safety input from the MASTERCELL to the brake pedal switch in parallel with your brake light input. When you step on the pedal, the MASTERCELL will see both the brake light input and the neutral safety input. The brake lights will turn on and the MASTERCELL will allow the starter to crank. You simply connect both MASTERCELL inputs to the same terminal on the brake pedal switch. This diagram will show you how to do this.

Image of wiring diagram showing how to use your brake pedal as a neutral safety switch

Going back to the Ford AOD transmission, there is a connector on the transmission for both the neutral safety and the reverse lights. We’ll talk about reverse lights in an upcoming post. This picture shows how to wire the MASTERCELL input for the neutral safety to the connector on the transmission.

Wiring diagram for Reverse/Neutral Safety switch on Ford AOD transmission

The neutral safety input from the MASTERCELL will connect to Terminal 2 on the connector. Terminal 1 will connect to ground. See our warnings in previous posts about good ground connections. When the transmission is in park or neutral, the switch closes. This connects the MASTERCELL input to ground. You can download a PDF of this wiring diagram by clicking this link.

Starting issues related to the neutral safety switch are probably our number 1 technical support call. Most guys just don’t read this in the manual. Your call will not start unless you have this MASTERCELL input wired properly. Please click on this link to contact our technical support team with questions.

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