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Tapping into illumination power

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:36 pm
by ColonelPanic
Hopefully someone with a service manual can help me out here... I'm simply looking for a wire to tap into for the dash lighting somewhere around the radio bezel. I figure the best bet will be to go from the rear defog's switch. Don't want to run the risk of zapping something connected to the turn signal or HVAC circuit, so the hazard switch and A/C switch are out of the question. Can someone give me the pinout for the rear defog switch? TIA!

Re: Tapping into illumination power (ColonelPanic)

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:59 pm
by ragingfish
You just need a signal wire for when headlights are on/off (interior illum would be on/off, respectively)?

Re: Tapping into illumination power (ragingfish)

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:02 pm
by ColonelPanic
I'm not really needing a simple on/off signal, instead I'm wanting to hook up to the variable voltage for the instrument panel lighting. I'm thinking about connecting more LED's, and would like to have them come on with the lights and dim along with the rest of the dash lights using the dimmer control; instead of wiring directly into +12v and having only one level of brightness.I've done something like this in the past and it worked fine, but that car had a separate fuse for the instrument panel illumination. I just had to tap into that fuse (a la home made add-a-circuit type thing. )... This car, I don't think has a separate fuse for the illumination, so that's probably out of the question.So I figure I'll just tap into the wire for the lighting on the rear defog switch instead, once the proper pin of the connector has been determined.

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:43 pm
by Jahntassa
You can possibly pull it at the radio too.. Er. If you have a voltage meter, just ground one side to the radio and go from wire to wire till you find one that changes with the dimmer..

Re: Tapping into illumination power (ColonelPanic)

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 11:20 pm
by joatmon
looks like it's the green wire

Attached files 020ti.pdf (45.4 KB) 

Re: (Jahntassa)

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 8:29 am
by mcgusto82
i agree with jahbtassa.go for the radio illumination wire. it can handle regular bulb lights, i'm sure it wil handle LED's.plus it's an easy access

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 8:54 am
by binary
I think it all runs off the same circuit anyway - it all goes through the dimmer wheel anyway, right?

Re: (mcgusto82)

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:27 am
by ColonelPanic
Quote, originally posted by mcgusto82 »plus it's an easy accessNot really, that will involve having to remove the radio... One of the other switches on the bezel (i.e. rear defog) will be much, much easier to deal with.Thanks for the PDF joatmon, that's exactly what I needed!