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    door trigger wiring

    I have some red neon lights sitting around doing nothing from a computer project I did a while ago, and it occured to me they might look nice mounted underneath the dash of my 92 protoge DX. So I started poking around, seeing where it might be feasible to mount them, and it looked doable enough. My only problem is the wiring: I know basically nothing about car electronics. I considered just tapping the cigarette lighter's wires, since they're the right voltage and it would be really easy to run the wires to where they need to go from there. But then I'd have to turn them on and off with a switch, which wouldn't be nearly as much fun as having them hooked up to the door switch.

    I looked at the Car Alarm FAQ above and found a little bit of information about the location of the door trigger, which is what I assume I'd have to tap (and possibly put a relay in) to get this to work. Unfortunately, "red/white wires at the fusebox" isn't really descriptive enough to reassure me that I'm not going to get the wrong ones: there are several fuse boxes and plenty of red and white wires running out of each of them.

    Alternatively, I think I could just tap the dome light's wires, since that's the right voltage as well, but I have even less of an idea where those wires run.

    Is this project doable for a total newb? Could anyone give me some general directions on where I might find these wires? I've poked around on various web sites and Google, but thus far nothing has proved detailed enough for me. Thanks for any advice,

    #2
    Doable .... absolutely!

    needed:
    1. extra wire
    2. relay
    3. connectors or solder/solder iron
    4. testlight or multimeter
    5. minimal tools

    You can tap into the red/white wire at the fusebox (main fusebox in the driver kick panel) to test the wire to sure you have the right one is easy. With a testlight or multimeter probe a suspected red/white wire with the black probe and then the red probe goes to a constant 12v power source. (you can just run a temporary wire to the battery + post for total ease) If using a testlight, the light pick probes the red/white wire and the gator clip side goes to 12v constant power.

    the door trigger is negative, so when that red/white wire gets ground it turns on the domelight. With your finger push the doorjamb mounted pin switch in and out, if you see the testlight light up or meter show voltage (12v) when the switch is OUT (door open) you found the right wire. Push the pin switch in and out again to double check. If the testlight/meter does not show voltage when the pin switch is pushed in/out, wrong wire.

    Once you have the correct wire, connect your extra wire to it, run it to the relay (can be ziptied under the dash to mount it, or screwed into the sheet metal in the driver kick panel near the fusebox.

    Now, to wire the relay (standard 12v automotive bosch relay) refer to my Alarm FAQ (link in my sig) and the relay diagram for a REVERSE POLARITY negative to positive is how you'll want to wire it. There is also a specific neon lighting relay setup just below the reverse polarity diagram, it's a bit more advanced, but may give you some extra ideas.

    pin 86 - wire from red/white door trigger
    pin 85 & pin 87 - 12v constant power (you can use the same wire to connect to both pins ofthe relay and then connect the single wire to your 12v constant source) This can be found in the main ignition loom coming from the ignition switch, they are large gauge wires. That wire color is black

    BE SURE TO ADD A 10amp FUSE inline near the connection to the large gauge 12v wire.

    pin 87a - NOT USED
    pin 30 - extra wire that gets connected to the + POS of your neon light (the - NEG of the neon light then gets grounded to the chassis)

    Now each time the door is opened, the red/white wire sends a NEG trigger to the relay, the relay switches that NEG to a POS and sends it to the neon light and blammo, you have a cool neon glow!

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      #3
      Great, thanks! I'm going to give this a try tomorrow or later tonight and see how it goes, first gotta go grab a relay.

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        #4
        One question, out of curiosity: Why wouldn't it be simpler to just add the lights in to the dome light circuit? I have no idea where that wiring is, but assuming it's accessible and on a 10 amp fuse, the dome light won't draw more than about an amp and so there should be plenty of power left for something like this. Is it just better practice to keep the circuits isolated?

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          #5
          the door trigger is used to trigger the dome circuit...same same, but at a different point, the wire may change color

          the dome uses the ROOM fuse and is already a multi circuit fuse.

          You may chose to wire in, say, a 6 bay aftermarket fuseblock (or custom built) and you have a good amount of expansion left. This is really the way to go, what's easier than connecting to an easily acessible wire (cause you mounted that fusblock just so) and adding the proper amperage fuse...

          for medium duty loads, 8-10 gauge can feed the fuseblock. For light loads, 10-12 gauge and for heavy duty stuff, 0-4 gauge.

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            #6
            OK I've got my relay and I understand the wiring and I'm all set to go, but for one thing: I can't find the constant 12v line. The only black wire I can find isn't that heavy of a gauge, and isn't a positive 12 volts anyway. Where is the main ignition loom (sorry if that's obvious, I'm a bit oblivious here)

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              #7
              the main loom comes from directly behind the ignition switch (where you stick the key in) it runs down the collom and IIRC, it has a large white plug inline. Give or take 6-8 large gauge wires. You may need to cut away the factory tape, but it's right there. As soon as the under dash panel is pulled off, it should be appearent. If i had a pic, i'd post it, sorry.

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