beginnings of a mod: parkers go on when you unlock doors

[rowan194]

I did a very simple mod tonight which links the parkers to the courtesy lights (but NOT vice versa!). It's basically a diode connected between the park lamp pin at the back of the headlamp switch, and the -ve side of the driver's footwell courtesy lamp. The catch for this simple mod? Well, firstly the parkers will come on any time the courtesy lights do... when you open your door, when you turn off your ignition, when you manually turn on your interior lights, and of course when you unlock your doors remotely - the last situation is all we really want.

Another side effect, you also need to switch the "headlights delay" option on (not sure if low series models have this feature) otherwise you get a headlights on audible warning every time your courtesy lamps are on with the ignition off. A diode spliced into a suitable point of the parker relay line would probably solve this problem.

I'm considering a more sophisticated circuit but for now I'll see if I can put up with its quirks. Another thing that may be useful is an auto lights on feature - switches on the parkers or headlamps a few seconds after you start the engine. My new AUcquisition (ha ha I made a funny) is black so I'm looking at ways of being more visible to other cars.

[b2tf]

I like the idea of this - one thing I would love to be able to do is have the headlights come on when i unlock the car. Mainly because at my gf's place the driveway is too crap to drive all the way up to the house (its a farm), so i have to walk back to the car, and at night its bloody hard to see.

[xr8 007]

GOOD idea DUDE!! very handy when its dark and u dont wanna trip over the tools, and kids bikes and so on. ehehhehehehehe.....ouchhhhhhhh

any diagrams??

[rowan194]

xr, the mod I've done so far is not much more than a bit of wire between two points (plus an inline diode ;) ), but as I said above it does have side effects. Another one I've discovered is that when the courtesy lights fade the parker relay does a horrible buzz for a second or two as the car's electronics pulse width modulate the globes to gradually reduce their brightness. The parkers actually fade out just like the interior lights, lol! Nice effect but it's probably not too good for the relay in the long run.

I've been thinking about a more sophisticated circuit and I've pretty much settled on using a microcontroller rather than 'discrete' building blocks. If I discover some new situation where something shouldn't happen, or want to add a feature, I can just reprogram the uC rather than having to redesign or modify the circuit. The catch is that it will be more complex for the DIY'er and will take a bit longer to develop.

Basically it will be like a mini supplementary body electrics module that has inputs for courtesy, doors, headlight switch, ignition, tacho (to sense when the engine is actually running) and outputs for courtesy, parkers, low beams etc. I'll probably find a few other useful inputs and outputs that can also be wired for future expansion.

If it wasn't for (a) the interior lamps coming on after you switch ignition off and (b) the smartshield light flashing when the key is removed (rather than when the doors are locked) then the parkers coming on when you unlock the doors would be an EXTREMELY simple mod... a couple of diodes, a transistor and a relay... but life isn't that simple!