FlyingPete
Well-Known Member
- Posts
- 1,305
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- Coventry
My 1988 90 has the early switch arrangement for the interior light, where the switch also control the dashboard lighting. It doesn't come on when you open the doors, and switching the light on also turns the dashboard lights off. I'd like to be able to turn the light on from the back of the landy, for example getting something out of the back when it's dark. There are door switches as part of the alarm system, but they are earth switched while the current interior light is positive switched (with an earth wire going to a terminal in the roof.) I can see two options:
1. Fit a switch to the rear door, taking power from the spare purple wire behind the rear lights, and running a connection along the roof to the interior light. That gives a separate manual switch at the rear.
2. Rewire the existing setup to be switched earth. This would mean supplying a constant 12V to the light, and using the existing switch to control the earth. This could be down=on, middle=off, up=on when door open. This means the dashboard lights would be on whenever the side lights were on (including when parked up)
What's the setup on the later models? I know some cars have a relay that means the dash lights are only on when the ignition is on.
1. Fit a switch to the rear door, taking power from the spare purple wire behind the rear lights, and running a connection along the roof to the interior light. That gives a separate manual switch at the rear.
2. Rewire the existing setup to be switched earth. This would mean supplying a constant 12V to the light, and using the existing switch to control the earth. This could be down=on, middle=off, up=on when door open. This means the dashboard lights would be on whenever the side lights were on (including when parked up)
What's the setup on the later models? I know some cars have a relay that means the dash lights are only on when the ignition is on.
I went for the option of a separate manual switch, which I installed into the mudstuff door trim. A separate wire now runs up the door frame and along the roof to the light (behind the headlining). Power comes from the spare purple wire in the right rear light cluster, which is on the same fuse as the existing interior light switch so no potential issues with current going where it shouldn't. The switch I used has a LED which lights up when on, so another wire takes an earth connection to the rear door. A simple enough job and now much more convenient for seeing what I'm doing.
