"Dome Light" add a switch - Page 2

woodbee · 05-11-2013, 06:10 PM

It must be the way SMB or Ford wires these up now. Believe me I tried every which way to make them go off when I am parked and I open the doors.
Lens and Dave, thanks for the complement.

Woody

BrianW · 05-11-2013, 06:19 PM

Yes, I should have said that the install looks very nice and OEM. Nice job!

One suggestion if others do it: it looks like Woodbee spliced into the black (ground) wire for the switch. That's a good way to do it, but I would suggest staying with the same color wire for the run to the switch instead of using red wire. Red wire is pretty much universally "hot" so a future owner or mechanic might not realize it's the ground wire.

woodbee · 05-11-2013, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianW

Yes, I should have said that the install looks very nice and OEM. Nice job!

One suggestion if others do it: it looks like Woodbee spliced into the black (ground) wire for the switch. That's a good way to do it, but I would suggest staying with the same color wire for the run to the switch instead of using red wire. Red wire is pretty much universally "hot" so a future owner or mechanic might not realize it's the ground wire.

There are two black (hot) wires and one green (ground) wire coming out of the ceiling. One black was changed into white wires and the other black wire changes into two small black wires. That is the one I spliced in the red wires and the switch. The green wire changes into two two small black wires. The only wire I worked with was the one of the black wires.
Following the wires in the photo can be confusing.

Thanks for the replies,
Woody

jage · 05-17-2013, 10:48 AM

Did you miss the fact there are two switches which do the same thing, leaving essentially an extra switch?

I re-purposed one of my switches to override and the other to kill. Both off is normal (door open) operation. No new holes and both lights come on, or don't, at once in any case- which IMHO is better anyway.

woodbee · 05-17-2013, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jage

Did you miss the fact there are two switches which do the same thing, leaving essentially an extra switch?

Jage,

Not sure what two switches you are talking about.
The switch I put in only turns off the lights when a door is open, but the individual reading lights still work, in case I need a light up front.

Woody

**daveb** · 05-17-2013, 01:01 PM

I'm guessing he now has one switch that turns off/on both lights rather than one or the other and used the other switch to override the door function.

jage · 05-17-2013, 01:16 PM

I used one of the individual reading light switches to power both lights, and the other to turn off the lights when the doors are open.

woodbee · 05-17-2013, 01:25 PM

I understand now.

Thanks for the input.

Woody

Viva · 09-10-2015, 10:20 AM

I know this is an old thread, but I'm wondering if either of you (who modded/added switches) has the "illuminated entry" feature. I'm working on a different E-350 camper than my SMB right now, but it has that same fixture for the dome light (oval with two lights and two push-button switches).

The behaviors they have (may not all be related?) are as follows:

1) If a person outside the van lifts (or even practically just touches) the door handle(s), the dome lights come on and stay on for around a minute (ugh!).

2) When the door is opened and you get in, the dome lights come on (no choice in the matter) and stay on until the key is put in the ignition and turned. Double ugh. The headlight switch being turned all the way doesn't have any effect on it as it traditionally has. Neither do the buttons on the dome light. Those buttons DO work when you are in the rig later on, after the "let's have them come on when you get in!" feature has run its course.

A disadvantage to this "feature" is that if you have the doors open - say at a campsite or etc., the dome lights are on, discharging the start battery. They don't go off after a minute like they do in #1 situation.

3) As a side bonus, there is a lighted (plus temp and compass) rear-view mirror. The lights come on with the dome light during the uncontrollable time, and are controlled separately with their own switches (on the mirror) at other times.

I just want to be able to get in and out of my vehicle on a dark night without blaring lights that I can't control. I HATE that! The only functions I really care about retaining are the ability to turn on the dome light when I want to (generally once I'm in the vehicle only), and the temperature display on the mirror. I don't mind if the mirror lights have to just be disabled permanently - the way they illuminate the center top of the dashboard is never really useful anyway.

So... can I just do the switch thing with one of the buttons, like Jage did? Or does the "illuminated" entry somehow preclude it? I don't mind if the illuminated entry is "broken" (would prefer it actually) as long as that doesn't make for some sort of error type thing in the Ford system's "mind."

Thanks for any help. I know this isn't exactly like SMB (at least, not like my '97 SMB). It's a '98 E-350 non-SMB, btw.

Viva · 09-10-2015, 08:09 PM

Okay, so I somewhat took matters into my own hands. I decided to just eliminate the mirror lights, by removing the bulbs (from the mirror). They were not very useful anyway.

So, that leaves me with the dome light, which looks a lot like Woodbees. However, I would prefer to wire mine like Jage did, which is to use the two dome light buttons and re-purpose them. So one button over-rides the lights-with-a-mind-of their-own, and the other one turns both lights on/off.

However, because the switches each have three wires going them, I'm slightly confused. It does look like Woodbees, if that helps.

Jage, can you comment as to how you arranged the wires?

Thanks,
Viva