Interior Dome and Courtesy Lights

[jdmaffeo]

Here is the situation. I have door pin switches that are not attached to anything and I have a light under the center of the dash that turns on when turning the light switch all the way to the left and I had wires coming out of the back of my headliner for the dome light. I installed the dome light that I had at the hole in the back of the headliner. Now I am trying to figure out how to hook it all up so that the lights will turn on when the doors open or when the light switch is turned to the left. I made this schmatic. Do you guys think this will work? I am not a wiring guru, but I am trying to think it through before attempting the rest of the wiring. I am also doing an dual electric fan project which I will post a schematic of when I know it works!

[Zoomad75]

jd-

While you could wire it up that way, thats not the way it was done originally. Basically, the dome/courtesy lights have power at all times. The door pin switches or the instrument panel dimmer switch provides the ground source. No relays are used.

I've dealing with a similar little project on my K5. Since the K5 top only has a dome light on the side above the driver seat, I added a rear view mirror with map/courtesy lights from a 91-93 s10 blazer. Made one error in my wiring. I did hook the power for the lights to the same as the dome light, but did I hook up the ground to the dimmer and door pins. so they don't work with the door pins. Now I've got to dig around in the kick panel area to tie into the door pin for ground to make it work with the doors.

[piecesparts]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

jd-

While you could wire it up that way, thats not the way it was done originally. Basically, the dome/courtesy lights have power at all times. The door pin switches or the instrument panel dimmer switch provides the ground source. No relays are used.

I've dealing with a similar little project on my K5. Since the K5 top only has a dome light on the side above the driver seat, I added a rear view mirror with map/courtesy lights from a 91-93 s10 blazer. Made one error in my wiring. I did hook the power for the lights to the same as the dome light, but did I hook up the ground to the dimmer and door pins. so they don't work with the door pins. Now I've got to dig around in the kick panel area to tie into the door pin for ground to make it work with the doors.

I agree, just use the door pin switches as the ground circuit for the dome lights and the courtesy lights. Just run the 12 volt power to the bulbs and switch the ground circuit. It will save you many hours of time and pain.

[jdmaffeo]

Thanks for the imput! I would have eventually have figured that out. NOT....lol.... The previous owner had all the wires cut off. I will have to figure out which wire that I will need to tap into coming off of the dimmer switch. Any ideas which color? I guess that I will have to trace it from the light under the dash. Wish me luck. If I figure it out I'll let everyone know.

[ElGracho]

Look here:
http://www.gmtrucks.org/component/op..._light_circuit

[piecesparts]

Look at the wiring circuit and find the wire that comes from the light switch that comes on when you turn the headlight switch to the "DOMELIGHT" position. That is the one that you want. Most dome light cicuits are orange and white wires. This should be easy to figure out.

[Srubydo1986]

looks good i need to get mind to work as well but i keep blowing fuses when i put a bulb in the rear out side light. Let un now if it work i might have to try that