Showing posts with label parking lights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parking lights. Show all posts

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Parking and Headlights Lower Console Auxiliary Switch Wiring

I have been collaborating with Lambros Vassiliou on Face Book on a wiring diagram for hooking up an auxiliary switch to activate the Parking and Headlights using one of the lower console's SPDT lighted white rocker switches. According to Lambros this diagram should work for wiring up the Headlights switch using this method on the 1982 Trans Am. I'm not sure about later models, I think it may depend on how the switch is wired so you will need to do some checking on that. Now I have not tested this wiring scheme yet. The Diodes that will be used are the 1N4007 Rectifier type (top right)
the Relays can be SPST or SPDT rated at 20 to 30 Amps, I have a couple of SPST 40 Amp relays so I'll be using those (right).

I think I have everything I need to give this a shot, I need to pick up some more solder and I'm not sure if I want to mount my Diodes onto a small piece of PCB board or just do them as "in-line" Diodes. But it looks like I should be pretty close to doing a video to show how this works. From what I can see of the wiring diagram it looks like it would be easy to even use one of the Upper Console DPDT lighted rockers for the Parking and Headlights too. ;)


Just to clarify, this is what the plug on my Parking/Headlights combo switch looks like. As you can see it has an Orange, Yellow, Brown, White and what looks to be a fat 14 AWG Red wire on it. Now in the diagram above there is nothing happening with the White wire so I'm still trying to get a straight answer on what if anything happens with that wire??

NOTE: 

OK after some Multimeter testing on the stock OEM switch I had kicking around from the parts car it would appear that in the "OFF" position that there is a continuity between the White and Orange wire. Based on those findings I am going to try this diagram suggested by Mark Rolfe out as it seems to make the most sense with the white wire included into the scenario.
Since the white wire obviously has an internal connection on the stock switch in "OFF" position, the first SPDT Relay makes sense as in off position the white wire would be connected to the Red wire (You could use either Orange or Red as both are 12V). I'll be able to test this out when I have a SPDT Relay, right now I just have 2 SPST Relays and I need the one with the extra 87A pin for the White wire.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Headlights Switch Relocation

 I relocated my Headlights and Parking Lights switch onto that piece of Dash Trim that fit along the lower part of the stock OEM dash just below where the Gauge Cluster used to be. I had to do some cotton and modifying of the plastic part to make it fit into the space with my wire looms but got it to eventually fit in there nicely again. The next step was to make an aluminum bezel to fit over the Headlights switch. I cut out a piece of aluminum and cut out a hole the same size and shape of the hole that was in the stock OEM bezel that held both the Headlights and Dash illumination dimmer switches. I sanded it down (top left) and then marked where I would need to bend it (top right). If you have a "Metal Break" bending the aluminum is easy if not you can do what I did and use a Vice and a hammer.

I then cut out a hole in the plastic dash trim (left) big enough for the Headlights Switch and then fit the switch into place (right). I put the plug back on the end and test fit the whole thing back into the dash. I had to use my Dremel to do a little cutting in the stock OEM dash to make the plug fit into the space better because it's a big fat beast of a plug but with a little cutting work it can be made to fit nicely to the hole. I fed the wires from the plug in through the hole and down in through the underside of the dash, that way I can solder them the the other wires I have going into the wires that came out of the area of the stock OEM dash that the original plug was attached too. Basically all I am doing is extending the wires and relocating the switch to somewhere more convenient.

After bending the aluminum bezel into the right shape I fit it into place over the Headlights switch (left) and drilled in four holes to screw it onto the dash trim with. Next I sanded down the aluminum bezel one last time before giving it a good cleaning before painting it (right).

Once the paint was dry after baking in the hot sun for a few hours (left) I then attached the bezel to the plastic trim with four small black screws (right). With that job finally done the last thing to do was to attach the whole assembly onto the stock OEM dash and give the Headlights a test, something I was pretty sure I had never done since the car arrived almost two years ago. WOW! two years ago!! It's sometimes so surreal thinking about that, the time has gone by so fast and so much has been done on my K.I.T.T. Project.

Here is the final assembly in place, it's not screwed in yet as I have a lot more mucking about to do with wiring and such but it's in place and has been tested out, check out the two videos in my previous postings to see how that turned out. ;)