I am installing some switches soon and would like to have the indicator portion wired to dash illumination. So as I brighten/dim dash lights they adjust accordingly. The power draw of all the switches will be minimal, less than 2 amps for the six switches. Does anyone know a source wire that may work for this? I was thinking the radio head unit but I dont have any wiring charts.

 

 

I am installing a separate fuse/relay box for these switches in the engine bay, so besides illumination I dont wish to tap into the existing boxes. And I would really like illumination to work. I generally drive with them bright but I do night photography and when I get the in vehicle to warm up I dim stuff down. So its nice to have everything dimmed down as best I can. Maybe I can poke around threads involving head unit swaps. I have to guess there is an illumination wire in the factory harness. Most after-market radios tap that to either fade dim or switches between two brightnesses.

That is a nifty fuse tap setup though.

 

 

Sent.

Many thanks! I will have to take a ton of pics for this install. I think when its all said and done it will be pretty nice.

 

section 413 page 64 in the wire diagram

The Headlight switch (S100) Pin 9 or C0041-9 feeds all of the Instrument cluster and panel illumination AFTER the dimmer.
It runs to Junction 117 (where ever THAT is) and then branches off to all of the lights in the console, dash etc.

Jeff

 

^ That does help. Answers another question I had which is if the system is some sorta canbus control like on my BMW. Based on that description, I would say it is not. On my BMW there is no central illumination control per say, instead its all computer signals indicating to each module how much its illumination should be set at instead.

 

I was just thinking about this again. As I was installing the switch plate I got from Abran, it occurred to me that if I get a switch that is illuminated, I would need a separate power source. As I am using spade connectors plugged into the wire harness for the two 12 volt power outlets in a effort not to cut wires, I noticed a third single wire connector. It seems this feeds a green plastic trim ring around the cigarette lighter, so you may be able to put a spade connector into that without needing to cut into the wire harness and get a dimmable power source near the bottom of the console.

Just a thought.

Jeff

 

 

I will have to take a look! I dont think mine illuminates, but then I assume something is not hooked up right. With that said I can certainly use that port, which will be gone, as my source for ground. I will be using the switches with relays and instead of using positive power as the switched interrupt, I am using the ground. Less wires, safer setup and much easier project that way. So I can ground all the switches to that same point.