How to kill my headlights when the ignition is off?

[sugarloafer]

Hi, I am the lucky new owner of a used '03 Vibe. I am really psyched about these wheels, but I'd like to eliminate some of its annoying quirks. Top of the list is I want my headlights to turn off when the ignition is off. I've read the How To forum and see that there's a How To for installing a switch to bypass the DRL (nice... I may do this). But I drive with my headlights on all the time anyway. I want to fix the switch so that when the car is off, the lights are off. Another peeve are all the warning chimes. The HowTo's for disengaging these are now on my to-do list. Thank you for to the forum members who have posted these and to the moderators for hosting. We've disconnected many chimes on previous cars (volvo & subaru) and have had a pleasant chime free life. We wear seat belts all the time, so I don't need the car to tell me to do what's obvious. And I like to play the radio with the car doors open. And if I can get the lights to turn off when the ignition is off, I won't be needing that annoying chime anymore either.Any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks

[ramenboy...]

hey welcome to the familyi think when the key is in the accessories position, the lights won't go on... i'll have to double check. anyways, a quick fix for the o3-o4 is to pull up the handbrake one click. that way you can turn the key to acc and listen to the radio, but the lights won't be on. one click won't affect the brake when driving. as far as chimes goes...

[gimmegimme]

What I did in my old car was to cut the ground wire for the headlight switch and hook it up to a relay with a wire that had 12V when the ignition was on. When the ignition was on, the two sides of the headlight switch ground wire were connected, allowing control of the lights. When the ignition was off, the ground wire was disconnected from the switch, thus disabling it. If you want, I can look up the wire in the service manual, but I don't know if this method will work in the Vibe.Here's a post from another forum doing what I described above:http://www.mazdas247.com/forum...70345Note that in the original post, they reference pin 87a, but it should really be pin 87.I haven't done this with my Vibe though because (1) I just use the auto-headlights and (2) the chime that lets me know my headlights are on. The chime didn't work in my old car because the remote starter made it so the car was still running when I got out.Ideally, I'd want a setup such that the lights could be turned on whenever you want, but would automatically turn off if the car is turned off. To turn them back on while the car is off, switch off the lights then back on.

[sugarloafer]

gimmegimme, thank you. I'll have to try this. Looks like I have some learning to do. I'm good at cutting wires. But adding relays, etc... will be a new level for me. But if it gets the job done, ace!ramenboy, thank you too for your reply. I don't want to have to mess around with ebrake clicks, key position, etc... I want to leave my lights in the "on" position. When I start the car, the lights go on. When I turn it off, the lights go off, no chimes, etc... In fact, in my preferred mode, the key lives in the ignition. This whole automatic lights, DRL, dome light delay off, chimes, etc... reminds me of toasters that think the 2nd piece of toast is toast before it's actually toast (still with me?). I guess I don't like uppity appliances.