Anyone know how to bypass the lights when the doors are open? My '96 Grand caravan has it built into the dimmer switch. I want to install a switch that will allow me to turn off the lights when I open the doors or rear hatch so that I won't wake the kids and so that I won't drain the battery when I just want to keep the hatch open at the drive-in, camp site etc. I don't know the best way to approach this. Any suggestions?

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 27-Jan-02 AT 10:08 PM (EST)]When my truck was in the shop a couple a weeks ago I had to drive around in one of them girly '02 Explorers. I noticed that the light switch appeared to an exact match to the Excursion and had the capability to turn off the interior lights when the doors are opened.

So, two questions...

Those of you that have 2002 Excursions, can you turn off your interior lights when the doors are open?

And second, anybody got a wrecked '02 explorer that I can get the light switch out of? The dealer price is $70+! Ouch. I guess I can just wait around for someone to crash one up around here...with the way these crazy New Englanders drive, it shouldn't take too long.

Oh, BTW, a guy over at Ford-diesel.com has outlined some instructions to wire two switches to deactivate the lights, one for the interior and one for the running board lights (if you got 'em). Seemed pretty intensive...

 

A POST from Ford-Diesel on the same subject From WRA

(Warning! this may get long)

Here's the scoop. I'm leaving out a lot of the detours I took. You don't really want to know...

My first step was to capture the PDF files for the wiring of the interior courtesy lights, thanks to ExcursionPSD (see my earlier reply). 89-001, 89-002 and 89-003 were all I really needed, though I checked out quite a few others. I had my laptop handy in the truck and kept checking them.

From this, you see two Black/Light Blue (BK/LB is the color code) wires at the Central Junction Box.

The central junction box (aka fuse panel) is a jungle. Very dense harnesses going in and out from two sides at least I tried extracting this box but it just didn't fit through the fuse panel access with all the connectors attached.There are three connectors at the top, to the driver's side, but none had enough pin outs to be the connector I
wanted. A mirror led me to the two large connectors bolted to the upper rear. (You can thank the Nikon Coolpix's neat swivel head for the pictures I got! -- picture link is below).

I chased the bundles out of the back of the box and determined the outboard (driver's side) connector was the one I wanted. A 10mm socket is needed. By pulling out the bolt, the connector also comes apart. Very tidy engineering in the wiring department, by the way! Go Ford!

A black plastic cover holds the bolt and hides and routes the wires to the front of the truck. Take off the cover by lifting the four tabs, one at each corner.You can see this from the pictures, but here are the two black/light blue wires, one in pin 20 (feeding the running
boards) and pin 33 (feeding the interior courtesy lights). Check out Picture #6b in full size. Some of the pinouts are numbered in the connector if you look hard enough (not visible in the pictures).

I ripped some electrical tape from the harness to give me some working room, spliced in some 16ga wire for each circuit, and took the wires to a pair of Radio Shack backlit switches, 12vdc 30a rating. I didn't note the part numbers (sorry). These switches need a ground, and they have Power and Load connections, so I used colored wires to be sure to get the current correct, bringing Power from the connector, and taking Load back to the lighting circuits.

Can one switch do? Sure, if you find a DPST (double pole, single throw) switch with adequate rating. I didn't really look very hard. Maybe Grainger has something but I didn't see any DC switches on their web site. I believe YOU MUST KEEP THE CIRCUITS SEPARATE!

I put the two switches next to the Tekonsha Envoy. Gee, working behind that panel is not fun.

Some pictures are at:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=59285&a=12072199

NOTES:
* The switches light when the interior lights or running board lights are ON. These switches would be good for fog lamps, etc. this way.

* If the switch(es) are turned OFF, the circuit(s) are not lit by turning on the interior light control on the dash.

* The individual courtesy light overhead switches can still turn on the interior lights regardless of the position of the dash switch.

I think that's all. Took me about four hours, including the discovery detours. You can probably do it in one to two hours knowing all this, if you pick an easier place to mount the switches.

Happy wire cutting!
Jon

 

Yes, thanks for posting it here. This is what I had read and referred to in my previous post. I will pursue this option if others fail. I'd like to be able to find some switches that intergrate well with the interior if I choose this route.

Upon ponderin' this a bit more I'm not sure if the switch will work mainly because I'm not sure if there is a wire in the connector to the light switch. So even if the Exploror switch fits, it may not work. I should've tried it prior to returning the rental. Luckily a friend of mine is the MGR. at Enterprise. Maybe he'll give me 10 minutes alone with it.

 

Since I have the shematics for both the Ex and Explorer. I verify the switch layout and feed lines to and from the switches. I'l get back with the info later.

eric