Wiring head scratcher.

[Boddney]

Hi Gang,
I was puting some footwell lights into the 2 yesterday and found that the door switches seem to work independantly of each other. In that I mean on previous cars I've had, when you wire in, say an alarm to a door switch that when you open any door the alarm is activated therefore the whole light circuit has been energised.
This does'nt seem to be the case with the 2 as the drivers side foot light didn't come on when the passenger door was opened and vise versa.
I then tested my alarm that I fitted last winter, only to find that that also only works on the drivers door and it should work on the passenger door and the engine lid.
So, as per title I put put it away last night and went in scratching my head.
Any ideas???
Cheers, Bod.

[kherseth]

From what I read in the wiring diagram, that description sounds pretty right.
The two door switches is electrically separated by two diodes, which in turn are connected together.

You could connect to the interior light instead of directly on the door switch.

Or, if you could find those diodes, you could connect to that on the opposite side of the door switch which is electrically the same as the connection in the interior light.

Hope that helps

[Boddney]

Thanks for that matey.
I thought that could be the only solution really.
I think I'll just leave it as is. I did think about linking the two switches together so that they worked as one i.e both earthed from one door for the foot lights and the alarm but I did'nt know what damage that might do to the diodes and circuits.

[jimi]

From what I read in the wiring diagram, that description sounds pretty right.
The two door switches is electrically separated by two diodes, which in turn are connected together.

You could connect to the interior light instead of directly on the door switch.

Or, if you could find those diodes, you could connect to that on the opposite side of the door switch which is electrically the same as the connection in the interior light.

Hope that helps

There's no diodes on the interior light circuit on a MK1, you either have the wrong diagrams or your misinterpreting them.

Boddney
I'd guess you haven't wired them in correctly. The door switches are wired in parallel, they have to be otherwise how could they both operate the same interior light independantly ?
How do you have the footwell lights connected ?

[kherseth]

This is the diagram i am following:
http://www.shinny.co.uk/88aw11.pdf

Page 1059 clearly shows one diode in series with each door switch.

[jimi]

My apologies I should have said on a UK spec MK1.
Those diagrams your looking at are for either a US spec MK1 or a SC (with AFM not MAP), I think you'll find that UK spec MK1's don't have diodes, mine certainly doesn't , I have extra interior lighting fitted which is triggered from the door switches, works fine

[kherseth]

No need to apologize mate, it`s kind of my fault not checking the specs. And with the symptoms matching the schematics, its easy to jump to the early conclusions

[Boddney]

Hi Jimi,
I wired the o/s light with the earth soldered in the wire that comes off the door switch and the live from a permanent live that powers my amp.
The n/s is the same except that live is on to a permanent live that I found coming through the bulkhead grommet behind the passenger seat.

Today I also joined the wire that goes to the o/s door switch for the alarm in to the n/s door switch. Now both foot lights come on which ever door you open.
I've never come across this before when i have fitted many alarms in the past. As you say, when you connect to one switch it should energise the whole system so the alarm/interior lights all come on. This is why I had a head scratching moment.

[trunks_mk1]

I was going to try and add some extra lighting but I can't get those damn switches off - the blimey nut heads have rounded!

was going to try and wire up from the little light on the dash...would that work?

[Boddney]

That would work but thats quite a job when you just have to remove the panel next to the seat and there you will find the interior light switch and wire that you can splice in to. Thats what I did and then ran the along the sill panel to the foot well. You can find your +feed in the fuse box in the drivers kick panel.
Here is the result of my labours,

[trunks_mk1]

nice!

[trunks_mk1]

just went for normal warm white colour (stock looking) - the coloured led's will be fitted later with a internal switch

[Boddney]

Looks good mate. I looked at doing white but I didnt want people seeing any dirt I had left there. The blue seems to cover up the dirt. Lucky me eh?

[trunks_mk1]

this is probably a better pic, in the REAL dark night...





the lights are not indepdent as they are wired to the small mini light on the dash but thats fine.

[Boddney]

Its a good mod. I could'nt decide weather to do mine independantly or not.
I got so caught up in the "why don't they work together" thing that I just went all out to find a way to MAKE them work together. So thats what happened. I'm still not sure which way I prefer it.