Iv been tossing up this idea for a couple of weeks now where the parkers come on when you open the door/when central locking is activated. I saw it on an audi and thought it would be a nice feature to have on the ghia.
Would anyone here have an idea on how id do this? I was thinking connecting the dome light to the parker switch and have an LDR (light sensor?) in the middle so it would only come on at night. But then whenever id want to switch the dome light on with the dimmer thing, the headlights would come on too, which is weird. So im guessing a relay might need to be involved as well.

Any help would be great!

cheers

I'd start off by refining what it is you want to do exactly...

Do you want then to come one when the door is unlocked...

Or when you open it?

You need to pick up a pulse out of either a door actuator or a door switch...

I would leave out the LDR... Only parkers... Leave them work all the time...

Then when would you want them to turn off? After x amount of time? When you start the car? When the door is closed?

When you're talking a process like this you need to very specific on the details because when you're wiring, there are many possibilities that can be achieved by simply moving one wire from one line to another... Depending how tricky you want to go, you're starting to look at a programmable circuit (amount of wiring becomes huge and IC's are required for certain features)... Makes it slightly harder then...

Most modern cars have parkers/headlights that turn on when you unlock them... Seen everything from Commodores to Fiestas do it...

Cheers,
Tim

Sorry mate. I'm not really good at this explaining thing am I.
I was thinking both because it seems the easiest and most logical option, hence connecting to the dome light. They come on when central locking is activated AND when the doors are opened. Then they would as you said, switch off after X seconds, which in this case is 20 seconds.

Is there a reason for no LDR? or is it just simply too complicated.

Let me know if you need more info...

Ahhhh...

My bad then...

I didn't realise the interior light was smarter on an EL than and ED...

My lamp comes on when the door is opened and off when the door is closed... Only variation in my car is the barrel light which comes on when the door is opened and off when the car is started or a timer elapses...

In you case this is easy as

If the interior light operates the way you say it does... Then all you need to do is find the wire which runs from the BCM to the interior light... See if the BCM switches power onto the light, or if the light has volts all the time and it the BCM grounds the lamp...

I'd put my money on the park light relay having power all the time and then headlight switch grounding the parker relay... So all you need to do is the join the above mentioned wire to the switch ground on park lamp relay through a Diode... So that when you turn on the parkers your interior light doesn't come on but when your interior light comes on your parkers do... No relay... You're using the transistor in the BCM to switch the park light relay (not the actual park light load), so I can't see there being an issue... You may want to install a protection diode too incase the relay damages the BCM... (A relay has a coil in it, so when you turn it off it works the same as your ignition coil, causes a "spark" or higher than normal voltage)...

I'd scrap the LDR... If they work all the time, it really isn't going to make any difference to anything... Cars that fire the headlights when you unlock them, I'm sure I've seen those work at day... Wont hurt anything... Just save complication and your parkers being on for what, 1 minute? Before you start the car wont make it go flat...

You're set... When I pondered the idea it is a bit harder for me because my timed barrel light doesn't come on til you open the door... So the wiring out weighed the usefulness for me...

One day I'm looking at going to a EF/EL BCM to gain factory variable int wipers... So if this works on the blue BCM too and I get the feature then I may run with it...

Cheers,
Tim

volvos have always had parkers come on as soon as the car starts and cant be switched off as far as i know , only low beam and high beam can be turned on and off which i though would be a cool thing to do as so many people drive in the rain without any lights on and when its quite dark it annoys me because you cant really see them, sometimes i have a habit of driving for a while in bad weather without turning them on, but for what im talking about it wouldnt be too hard it would just need to be wired up to the accessories so once the car is on they are on

i think the idea was more to be able to see your way around the car at night... So when you hit unlock it illuminates as opposed to having them turn on with the barrel... If you did then off the unlock without a timer than you'd flatten the battery if you went somewhere without locking the car... Which i do here in the country from time to time...

All good man!
Yea that seems to make sense.

So the basic rundown is:
Look for which wire controls the dome lighting from the BCM and see if its running 12v constant or 0v until a switch is activated.
Then look for the parker relay ground wire then connect the two wires together with a diode in the middle? Then add a diode somewhere else to protect everything.
Is that all right??

Got some other questions now
Where abouts is the parker relay located, and can i just use a wire from the main switch in the cabbin?
Also what diodes do I use and where do I put the protection one?

Thanks for all that

Yeah cool...

Parker relay is in your dash beside your fuses in the fuse box... Pretty sure it is labelled... All wiring is above the drivers feet you'll need to see...

Rectifier diode for the power flow... a 1N4004 should suffice... You are grounding the park relay coil... So your are adding a wire from the switched side of interior light (the earth side most likely) to the park relay switch side (the earthed side most likely)... In this case the band on the rectifier diode will be on the interior light side of your bridge... If you get it backwards no biggie... Just you park lamp switch will turn on your interior light and your door switch wont turn on your parkers... Wont damage anything, but no practical... So band towards the int light wire, not the park lamp relay...

The protection diode is a signal diode... so a 1N4148... It goes backwards across the coil on the relay... So the band must be hooked to the positive wire to the coil and non banded side to the negative side of the relay coil...

Seen here (courtesy of a googled website):



The field collapses in the relay coil a backwards voltage is generated and then backward voltage sees the diode which as a short circuit... Instantly eliminating the "spark" and protecting electronics...

Both would be available in a 4 or 5 packs from Jaycar (4 for the rectifier and 5 for the signal) for next to nothing each...

Just gotta find the wire on the BCM now and you'd be set... Piece of wire a whole foot or two long and enjoy...

Cheers,
Tim

Thanks for all that, greatly appreciated.
I think I have enough info to go ahead with this little mod now.

Just a few more q'z just to be safe:
So would you be able to tell which terminals on the relay/wires are for the parkers or would you need a multimeter?
Also, because the car has this feature where it starts beep at you if you switch the car off while the lights are still on, what would happen if i switched off the car with the door open?
Another question is what would happen if I wanted to turn my interior lights on with the switch? Would the parkers come on, kind of like what you were saying before when putting the diode the wrong way?

I found a wiring diagram for the BEM and it said:
"A17 Door Open Switches 0V Door Open, 5V Doors closed"
Didn't you say it was supposed to be 0v when closed? or have I miss-read

Once again, thanks

Hey,

You pull the relay and it has a picture on it... Is shows two pins for the contacts and two for the coil... It has numbers for the coil (85 and 86 maybe?) (contacts may be 30 and 87?) You look at the bottom of the relay and pins are numbered... You work out which two pins in the base are the coil wires and test them both... One should be powered all the time... No matter what the key is doing or anything... The other coil wire should join to ground when you turn the headlamp switch to park... That is the wire you want... Many ways of determining it (test lamp, multimeter, ohm meter, continuity tester)... How you do it is up to you...

On the ED... If I have the lights on and turn off the key it beeps (NL cluster)... If I turn the lights on with the key already off it doesn't beep... Is this the case for you too? if open the door then turn the car off, there is a slight delay between "off" and interior light coming on"... If so I can't see it chiming... If you do it and it chimes... It can be fixed... You can disconnect it for one (IIRC)... Or I'd have to sit down with wiring diagrams and it may need a relay to stop it for the doors but enable it for the headlamp switch...

Ah... Any time your interior light comes on it'd bring the parkers on... So yes... Gets a tad complicated then to cancel that... Another diode and because it may be a spliced wire in a loom somewhere... It would be simpler to run another length of wire (If it is wired the way I am thinking about it)... If that switch triggers the BCM... Than no... harder... involves adding a relay...

You be testing out the mind now... Good points... Not really sure on them... Anything is possible... Would involve some study though... You can only try it and see what you think and report back to me... If we fail miserably you pull the wire out and no harm done...

I think you have the wrong BCM wire... you have the one from the BCM to the doors... Not the one from the BCM to the lamp... That is right... The wire you have will have 0V when the doors are open because it shorts that wire to earth when you open the doors... 5V door close could be right because you have power running through a circuit in the BCM then to the doors so the BCM cause voltage drop before it gets to the door switch... Hence any possible voltage from 1 to 12V depending on the BCM's internal resistance for that circuit... See if you can find the interior light wire...

Cheers,
Tim

i have done something simular to my car, but not with the parkers as i have removed them. i have an led strip insted and to have it on all the time i have connected it to the accesory power (i attatched it to the positive end of the lighter socket and grouded on the chassie). i havent yet found out a way to make it come on when the doors unlock as i want it to be seperate from the interior lights. perhaps there is a circut you could use that activates/deactivates when the key pad is used. having the leds hooked up the acc power it is completely seperate from interior light and headlight circuts, but is only on when the key has been turned.

hope this helps.

zach

Ah ok, should be able to find it. I'd need to think about it for a second though.

Yes, that is the same as what the EL's cluster does. But I most likely need a relay because there is no delay when i turn off the car while the lights are on. What I was trying to say is, say I just parked the car. Its still running and I have passengers who get out before I turn off the engine. The doors are still open meaning the dome/parker circut is live. I then turn off the engine, and because the car thinks the parkers are still on even though the headlamp switch is off, Id end up with the beep noise which i can't control.

Thought that was the case. This is actually getting harder and harder as we speak. But yea I might give it a go and hope for the best.

You were right about having the wrong BEM wire, I think this should be the correct one now:
"B12 Interior Courtesy Lamps 0V On, 12V Off"

Cheers

That seems like an interesting way to wire em up. My cornering lamps are wired up similar, being activated by the cig lighter lamp and having a switch in the middle to control them.
Hopefully we can find a way so that we can both benefit from it

Your wire looks better... 0V on is what you want... that is the grounding wire...

Ahhh... Your lights will come on with the door open still? See they behave funny and vary slightly between cars... You are right though... IT'll loose it's s**t... easiest thing to do is disconnect the reminder... Next thing to do is put a relay in your circuit with open circuits your wire when you turn the car to accy... So that when you turn the car off the relay closes the wire and then brings on the lamps after you turn the car off... Then while the car is on your doors will not operate the parkers... Only while the car is off... That is another option for you... not too hard... Just run your wire through the relay contacts (30and 87?) and hook ground to one side of your coil and accy power to the other (would be lots of accy wires there somewhere...

Does your wiring diagram include the blue XR BCM? does it have the same interior light wire? Actually can you email and BCM info you have? Would help if I ever convert to an EF/EL BCM...

Cheers,
Tim

That's alright then.

Yea. Well, thats what I think it will do.
Hmm, it might be getting out of my capabilities now, but I think its still possible if I take my time and have a clear head.

The Diagram I have is just the one from the tecky docs. I don't even know if its right, it just seemed to fit the part.
Anyway, it looks like it covers all BEM modules being that they all use the same sockets
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