Lighting Mods

[korban]

Right there have been a lot of questions on this thread and PMs to me, so will try and clear this up a bit.

I bought a kit from Maplins (Here) which with a few extra cables and diodes I was able to create a Coming Home Lights Kit.

What this does is automatically switch on your side lights at night when you unlock the car, it also turns on the side lights at night when you exit the car and then turns them off either when you lock it or after about a minuet after you have closed all the doors.

So far two minor issues at night if you manually turn on the interior light at night the side lights will come on but if you are lucky enough to have reading lights these can be switch on without the side lights coming on. Also at night if the key is not in the ignition and you open the drivers door you will get an audible warning sound from the dash (does not happen with the passengers or rear doors).

Because some members do not have soldering skills or the tools to assemble the kit I decided to make a complete kit available for £26 for members to buy. This includes everything you need to do the job. Some members have asked if it is possible to control other lights eg Fogs. To do this I can provide a heavy duty relay all wired up and ready to fit for an extra £6

The Basic Module which controls the side lights looks like this

This is what you get for the £26.

As you can see every thing is included including scotch loc connectors to crimp the wires on.

A quick installation follows :-

Firstly a connector is attached to the interior light (which can be removed via two screw and just popped out)

The connector

This is connected to the rear of the interior light. The white wire to where the red circle is and the outer wire to where the black circle is.

These can be carefully threaded through the holes and twisted tight or preferably soldered if you have the tools.

The other part of the lead is feed from the Fuse box up the A pillar and under the headlining to the opening of the interior light.

The plug and socket are connected together and the interior light replaced.

The circuit can now be tested by switching on the interior light and covering up the light sensor and the led should now light up and you should also hear a click from the relay. If it does not then the sensitivity is incorrectly adjusted or you have wired the positive and negative the wrong way round.

Next the light sensor must be mounted at the front of the windscreen.

Light sensor

Mounted at the front of screen.

This is done by just pushing the wire down between the top of the dash and the A pillar.

The next step is the most time consuming as it involves removing the Light Switch and Lower panel under the steering wheel (unfortunately did not take any pictures at the time)

How to do this can be found in the Haynes Manuel or with a bit of luck TriggerFish might do a Pictorial/Video of how to do this.

Once the Plug at the rear of the light switch is accessible then the following connections can be made

Wires which must be connected to the rear of the Light Switch

The Red wire must be connected to the red at the rear of the light switch and the 3 black wires must be individually connected to Grey/Black, Grey/Blue and Grey/Red on the rear of the light switch all using the scotch loc connectors provided.

All thats left is to mount the module above the fuse box

I did this by putting some BluTac under the PCB pushing into position and then Hotmelting it into place, also the red plastic knob on the pot needs to be trimmed so that the fuse box cover fits back in place.

There are two extra chocolate block connectors, one on the module which can be connected to the ignition if you want the module to turn your lights on at night (untested by me but should work) and also an extra one on the lead that goes to the rear of the light switch, which can be used to power a relay if you want to add one yourself rather than purchase one off me.

Also before I send any kits out they are powered on over night just to give them a 'burn in test ' to make sure they are OK.

Hope this answers most of you questions and with a bit of luck I will get some more pictures showing the connection to the rear of the light switch and showing you how to remove the lower panel.

Karl

[softscoop]

First of all I'd like to say a massive thanks to Korban for his help on this one.

This is how I did it.

Firstly I removed the interior light. Remember this unscrews and doesn't just pull out

Solder on the little phono connector according to the diagram below:

I'm aware it's not the best soldering the world has ever seen, but it was done outside on top of my toolbox...and it's solid enough. Once this was soldered, I covered them up with electrical tape to stop it ever shorting out.

Next I wanted to route through the main cable to connect to the one I have just soldered in.

To start with, I removed the fuse box cover, and then the A-pillar trim. Be careful with the a pillar trim. It pops off, but the clips are the metal type that slide in, and you can quite easily break the holder rather than the clip. If you do this, you'll either have to bodge it back together, or possibly get a new piece of trim.

If the metal clips stay in place in the pillar, pull them out with a pair of pliers.

Now you have both removed, you should be able to route the cable through the gap at the top of the fuse box, up the pillar, then into the headlining.

I pulled the lining away from the window just enough to be able to get my hand in. Then just before where the clip is for the sunvisor, pushed it up into the roof of the car. At this point I could put my other hand in the hole for the interior light, feel for the connector and pull it through.

You should also pull through the light sensor, and leave it at the bottom of the a-pillar.

At this point you should have something similar to the below pictures.

Once this is in place, you can then go ahead and test the unit. Plug the phono connector together, turn on the interior light, and you should hear the relay click. Cover up the sensor with your thumb, and the red LED on the circuit board should light up.

Now we can go ahead and splice into the loom for the lights.

To remove the headlight switch: As you turn the sidelights on, push the headlight switch in, and the switch should now be in, rather than just on. Sort of the opposite of when the fog lights are on.

The switch should now just pull out. Gentle persuasion with a screwdriver may be required.

To give yourself a bit more room to work with, we'll have to cut off some of the tape that's tying it all together. Carefully cut this with scissors so that you have a couple of inches of free cable to play with.

You can now feed the red and black cables from the circuit, though the space behind the fusebox and through into the headlight loom.

At this point I discovered I had a problem. Korban's original guide said to connect the red to the red, and the red/black leads to the grey/blue, grey/black and grey/red.

I have two grey and blue leads on mine. After a quick call to Korban and him consulting the Haynes manual, it appears that the wire colours have changed throughout the life of the car. Mine being an early 03, and his an 07 SE, it's hardly surprising.

To get it correct, simply connect to the correct pin numbers. They are 15 for the red cable. The black and red cables need to connect to pins 13, 14 and 16.

Push the cables into the lock-connectors, and crimp with a pair of pliers. To stop anything fouling the inside of the dash when I put it all back in, I taped everything up with some electrical tape.

Now you can mount the circuit board in the dash. Korban used hot-glue, where as I used some double sided foam tape. This meant that I could push it right back into the space at the top, meaning the fuse cover can go on without it fouling on the red potentiometer.

You should now test it at this point before putting everything back together,

Assuming everything works OK, push all of the spare cable into the dash, and you should have something that looks like this.

Put it all back together, and the only thing you should now notice different, is the sensor sticking out the top of the dash.

Job done.

Now get yourself a well earned cup of tea

[korban]

Great write up softscoop, glad to help out this morning. Looking at your pictures of the connector sticking through the hole of the light switch the wiring loom must be a good 3 inches longer than mine which is why I had to remove the lower panel under the steering column.

Very good job. One thing I would point out is for the light sensor to work better it should be pointing towards the front windscreen rather than into the car. Other than that perfect.

Karl

[Funky Fab]

Does it matter what order the black wires are connected to no.s 13,14 & 16?

[softscoop]

Does it matter what order the black wires are connected to no.s 13,14 & 16?

Nope, they're all connected to the same thing at the end anyway.

[wilsy7]

Hi korban,

Would it be possible for this kit to work without the light sensor? So just have the sidelights come on when the car is unlocked and locked? They do come on when the car is

Locked do they?

And what extra wirIng would be required for having the headlights come on aswel?

Thanks

Edited 22 January, 2012 by wilsy7

[korban]

Hi korban,

Would it be possible for this kit to work without the light sensor? So just have the sidelights come on when the car is unlocked and locked? They do come on when the car is

Locked do they?

And what extra wirIng would be required for having the headlights come on aswel?

Thanks

Yes wilsy7 by turning the potentiometer fully clockwise they will work during the day, but the whole point of the kit is to make it only work at night it, can be done by just using a relay but with different wiring, TriggerFish linked to a guide in this thread.

Karl

[wilsy7]

Yes wilsy7 by turning the potentiometer fully clockwise they will work during the day, but the whole point of the kit is to make it only work at night it, can be done by just using a relay but with different wiring, TriggerFish linked to a guide in this thread.

Karl

Thanks for your response, would the different wiring be easier or harder? Or would it be worthwhile just sticking to your kit and set up and turning the potentiometer down as you say? Would the light sensor still need to be visible?

Also what extra wiring etc would be involved for the headlights to come on also?

Jordan

Edited 22 January, 2012 by wilsy7

[TriggerFish]

Right, I tried mine today, after making up the PCB yesterday.

An epic fail was had by all. Hampered by lacking wire (fail!), several trips to the hospital to see my nan, and running out of daylight, I had little success.

I planned to connect everything up with tape/twisting to check it all worked, but as the PCB was sitting in the footwell and not on the dash the wires were too short so I had to extend them all. Then I got a bit muddled as to what was going were (it was dark (and cold) by this point. I connected the battery to test it - I had side lights working. Good start. Realised the lead had fallen off the dip beam relay, connected that and it worked briefly (think I knocked another connection as it was hanging off the wire) - still no number plate lights however. I shut the door, and the interior light went out, but the sidelights stayed on.

I'd had enough by then, and dinner was ready, so I gave up. I pulled the power off the PCB, and shut the door. At this point the dip beams fired up, and wouldn't turn off! Cue disconnection of the battery - although even this failed.

I thought: "I'll open the bonnet, and then lock the car, then it'll be locked when I remove the power." Removed the power, and the alarm sounded. "Fine, I'll lock it manually then - good job I didn't delock it!" Did this - tried the boot. Open. Tried to lock using the key - only to forget it doesn't fit. :| So I'm now left with constantly on xenons, and an unlockable boot!

It's been a baaaaaaad day. Will try again tomorrow after work when I'll mount the PCB so it can be wired up properly.

On a positive, I've mounted the LDR here instead:

Can't see if from the drivers seat, and I had the pillar trim off anyway. . .

Having it on the dash/visible would drive me mad after a mile or two!

One thing to check - the interior light has 3 pins. I used a test bulb to find the two that would light the bulb, and hooked into those. They are the right ones aren't they? It's not the negative and the signal wire rather than the positive?

Edited 22 January, 2012 by TriggerFish

[softscoop]

So I took a little video

[wilsy7]

So I took a little video

Very nice

[Funky Fab]

Cool. ^^^ Can't wait for mine to arrive!!

[korban]

Thanks for your response, would the different wiring be easier or harder? Or would it be worthwhile just sticking to your kit and set up and turning the potentiometer down as you say? Would the light sensor still need to be visible?

Also what extra wiring etc would be involved for the headlights to come on also?

Jordan

The wiring would be about the same Jordan, two wires from the interior light and four wires to the rear of the light switch possibly one extra earth for the relay if you used a standard sized car relay which are the ones I get from my local motor factors for £4.50. So 4.50 vs £7.00 for the light sensitive switch there is not much in it. Also you still need to split the three wires that power the side/number plate lights with diodes. At the end of the day using the kit and adjusting the pot clockwise and not using the light sensor (just hidden under the dash)you would at least have the option to use it at a later date if you wanted. As for having the headlamps coming on you could use only the one relay but it would be better to add an extra one.

Hope this makes sense

Karl

It's been a baaaaaaad day. Will try again tomorrow after work when I'll mount the PCB so it can be wired up properly.

On a positive, I've mounted the LDR here instead:

Can't see if from the drivers seat, and I had the pillar trim off anyway. . .

Having it on the dash/visible would drive me mad after a mile or two!

One thing to check - the interior light has 3 pins. I used a test bulb to find the two that would light the bulb, and hooked into those. They are the right ones aren't they? It's not the negative and the signal wire rather than the positive?

You haven't had a good day have you

I did think of mounting the LDR in the same place you have but I thought it easer mounting it at the base of the screen and to be honest with the current kit that I'm making I blacken the sides of the LDR to make them less noticeable and if they are mounted facing forward you will not really see it at all. I never notice mine and its still white round the sides.

As you have a VRS you should have reading lights so the best place to connect to is actually on to the PCB of the interior light (as shown very well by softscoop in this thread) by doing it this way you can switch on the reading lights without activating you side lights, something you won't be able to do if you tap into the loom.

Hope you get it working tomorrow TriggerFish

Karl

So I took a little video

Looking good there softscoop, glad we got it sorted

Karl

[wilsy7]

Thanks Karl,

So if I was to go for your kit you would wire in the extra relay for the headlamps (additional cost of course ) so the wiring would be the same as the above shown by yourself and soft scoop for the exception of having to solder a few extra wires to the headlamp pins? Am I correct? So basically exactly the same? Then just adjust the pot fully clockwise then leave it sitting in the fuse box for it to work all the time?

Thanks

Jordan

[TriggerFish]

You haven't had a good day have you

Good year so far in fairness! But I shan't go into that!

Ah, could be mine is more visible on the dash due to the different design? You sit quite high in relation in the dash in the Polo compared to the Fabia

The PCB on my interior light in all enclosed - I can get to nothing on it. (I'm doing it on my Polo.) Besides, it's completely different anyway as it just has one big light unit, rather than 3 small ones.

I was thinking about it while driving the Golf, which is still in one piece. I used a constant live from the interior light, which of course means they circuit will never shut down as the light will have power even when the ignition is off. I'll swap the connection over to the other wire - which is used to tell the interior light to come on/go off, then that should be that aspect solved, then just a case of make the connections good and off I go!

Well, that's the theory. With my luck this year I'll just burn the car to the ground or something!

Jordan - pretty much. I'm doing the headlights too. I've had to take an extra wire from the headlamp port on the light switch, into a relay (so headlights, r/l sidelights and number plate). Power into the relay from the back of the light switch (my relay needed 2 prongs powering), and then take an extra output from the light module to the trigger prong on the relay. Simples.

Edited 22 January, 2012 by TriggerFish

[wilsy7]

Good year so far in fairness! But I shan't go into that!

Ah, could be mine is more visible on the dash due to the different design? You sit quite high in relation in the dash in the Polo compared to the Fabia

The PCB on my interior light in all enclosed - I can get to nothing on it. (I'm doing it on my Polo.) Besides, it's completely different anyway as it just has one big light unit, rather than 3 small ones.

I was thinking about it while driving the Golf, which is still in one piece. I used a constant live from the interior light, which of course means they circuit will never shut down as the light will have power even when the ignition is off. I'll swap the connection over to the other wire - which is used to tell the interior light to come on/go off, then that should be that aspect solved, then just a case of make the connections good and off I go!

Well, that's the theory. With my luck this year I'll just burn the car to the ground or something!

Jordan - pretty much. I'm doing the headlights too. I've had to take an extra wire from the headlamp port on the light switch, into a relay (so headlights, r/l sidelights and number plate). Power into the relay from the back of the light switch (my relay needed 2 prongs powering), and then take an extra output from the light module to the trigger prong on the relay. Simples.

Ok and Is this using Karl's kit?

Jordan

Edited 22 January, 2012 by wilsy7

[TriggerFish]

I did it myself, but it's the same thing from Maplins yeah. I don't know what relay he'll provide, so it might be slightly different in that respect, but I'd guess it will need at least: power x1 (maybe more), input from module x1, output to headlights x1.

[del-gti]

Back off Hols so a quick reply to most of your questions

Thanks for the comments

Easy enough to do, in fact the illumination for the buttons was green already and the two LEDs for the ambient light's were orange so had to change the whole lot just swapped for blue 3mm LEDs

Hi mate, at the start of this thread I asked you about the W8 light. You said that the button illumination was already green, can you actually buy a W8 light like that? If so, do you have a part number? Is it available from the dealers?

I'm interested in your kit and quite fancy having it bring on the foglights too. I'd wanna do the W8 light at the same time.

Cheers

Del

[korban]

Sorry Triggerfish brain dead this evening, It shouldn't matter if its a positive or negative switch interior light because the unit needs both the pos & neg for it to power up. So if its a constant live unit and you unlock the car the negative will complete the circuit.

Jordan the basic kit plus an extra relay (£26 + £6) will do the job and the wiring will be the same as softscoops instructions plus two extra wires at the light switch. As you say pot to max and sensor in fuse box and job done.

Hi Del, I bought my W8 light second hand off ebay so I don't know what model it came off ! There are a number of them on there at the moment but I think they are all red. As for the coming home lights a kit plus extra relay is all you need @ £32. PM me if you want it.

Karl

[Funky Fab]

Karl, what have you started? Lol

I bet your brain is fried with us all.

[korban]

Karl, what have you started? Lol

I bet your brain is fried with us all.

I was I Swansea today and I thought I'd save my self some pennys by buying some kits at Maplins in stead of on-line. Managed to get 3 kits (which was all they had) so spending tonight soldering !!!

Hopefully I'll clear the current orders I got by the end of this week.

Starting to wonder if this was a good idea LOL

Karl

[JLneonhug]

Thanks for the details write up!

Quite like the idea of wiring in the fogs as they never get used anyway. Do you know which pin is for the fog lights? Would the fogs switch on without sidelights on? :S

[korban]

No probs JLneonhug,

Pin number 8 White/Yellow and if connected by itself should only light up the front Fogs, but you would need a relay to handle the power.

Karl

[Ant-Vrs]

O yeah got my kit on, with headlights!!! A big thank you to Karl for his hard work in the kit and info

Regards Ant

[korban]

Great talking to you today Ant, glad we got it sorted out, just goes to show never trust a Haynes manual completely always check for yourself.

Karl