A switch that turns off all lights

chrisr400cc · 07-07-2005, 03:53 AM

My battery has been dying a lot and one of the reasons might be me always going out to my truck getting items. I have an LE King cab and I counted 8 lights that turn on (that can't be manually turned off) when the truck is opened.
-2 door/puddle lights
-2 floor lights
-2 bed lights
-2 tailgate light

Has anyone installed a switch that turned all these lights off? Especially when i'm camping and its daytime and i'm going in and out of the truck. I don't need all those lights turning on everytime I open the door. When I get more time i'll check the fuse box to see if theirs and easy spot to make and switch but I thought I would check and see if anyone has done it before I look.

carteach0 · 07-07-2005, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisr400cc

My battery has been dying a lot and one of the reasons might be me always going out to my truck getting items. I have an LE King cab and I counted 8 lights that turn on (that can't be manually turned off) when the truck is opened.
-2 door/puddle lights
-2 floor lights
-2 bed lights
-2 tailgate light

All those lights will shut off right away if you use the remote lock button to lock the truck after the doors are shut again.

That said...... you can run those lights on that timer 100 times a day and not trouble a healthy battery. Do you by any chance also run the sound system for several hours at a time without the truck running? Do you run power items from the cig lighter power outlets, especially the one on he left that is powered at all times?

If your battery is just going dead without a likely cause then you need to get the truck looked at.

travism · 07-07-2005, 05:42 AM

Agreed. I think you are looking at the wrong things when you worry about the lights. All the lights would not drain a healthy battery. I'd first get the battery tested. Most car parts stores will do it for free.

DryHeat · 07-07-2005, 10:12 AM

You wouldn't by any chance have anything, like a charger, plugged into the power outlet on the driver's side would yeah? That port always has power and it wired directly to the battery. The passenger outlet will only work when the key is in ACC. All the lights in the truck will turn off after 30mins to prevent the battery from draining.

ptgarcia · 07-07-2005, 10:42 AM

I have forgot and left the 2 front map lights on all night without ill effects. It sounds like you may have something else draining your battery.

**HudsonValleyTitan** · 07-07-2005, 11:52 AM

Nobodys mentioned that there IS a switch that'll keep all those lights off! Just switch it from door to "OFF". It's located between the two front map lights. Then, the only lights that'll go on, besides the bed lights, are the lights on the door bottoms. However I don't think that's your problem.

pciley · 07-07-2005, 08:09 PM

Yeah, something else is going on. Agreed, get it tested / deep cycled.

I only drive my truck about once a week and it always fires up as strong as the day I bought it. I also go out alot to get things out of my truck and have NEVER had problems.

I leave a charger plugged into the "hot" outlet, but it is not charging anything when I'm not in it. Just has a little LED on the charger handle that's always lit.

I am real bad about leaving the outside CARGO light on and haven't killed the battery yet.

Austin · 07-07-2005, 08:44 PM

I'll add a 26th vote for "It's not the lights, so check your battery."

fdiesel · 07-07-2005, 10:01 PM

yea u have a switch on top above rear view mirror just put it on off and all lights go off exept the door ones.but your problem is not your lights.you have something draining ur battery or battery it self is bad and dont recharge.TAKE IT TO THE DEALER

PrerunnerGreg · 07-08-2005, 02:45 AM

The truck will automatically turn off all the lights, even if you intentionally leave them on after about 10 minutes. And you could probably charge 500 cell phones off one car battery before it would even start to show a drain.

travism · 07-08-2005, 06:07 AM

I don't think he thinks the problem is the lights staying on unintentionally, but all the on/off cycles from opening/closing the doors.

bestatchess · 07-08-2005, 06:57 AM

I'm not sure about the courtesy light circuit, but other electrical circuits in the truck are actuated by the Body Control Module ("BCM") detecting a control input (e.g. from a switch), and then producing a signal pursuant to firmware in the BCM operative to trigger a relay, which then sends power to a particular light or device.

Depending on how the lights are wired and taking into account such things as the battery, relays, BCM, and fuse bus, it might be possible to insert a switch and relay into the circuit (or switch the trigger lead of an existing relay)somewhere such that power would only be supplied to the trigger lead on the relay when the switch was closed, such that the relay would in turn only provide power to the courtesy light circuit when the switch was closed.

The service manual includes the wiring diagrams that you could peruse if you were sufficiently interested in pursuing the project.

**HudsonValleyTitan** · 07-08-2005, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrerunnerGreg

The truck will automatically turn off all the lights, even if you intentionally leave them on after about 10 minutes. And you could probably charge 500 cell phones off one car battery before it would even start to show a drain.

You mean he has to disconnect that last 501 cell phone?

Titank · 07-08-2005, 01:36 PM

Most alarms system cuts off the power to the starter... in a sense, you can set it up to cut the power off the main ECU/BCM/etc. The alarm system doesn't know better to tell the difference between them.

That said... back to his problem, I think he's looking for the wrong solution to his issue. There is no way that the lights can be draining a healthy battery. I once had a drain on my battery in my 240SX becuase of a wrong ground on my highlights.

I say... check over your work, if any has been done recently... or take it in for the dealer to check out. A ground wire may have worked loose somewhere

~Titank

chrisr400cc · 07-13-2005, 12:36 AM

That said... back to his problem, I think he's looking for the wrong solution to his issue. There is no way that the lights can be draining a healthy battery. I once had a drain on my battery in my 240SX becuase of a wrong ground on my highlights.

I say... check over your work, if any has been done recently... or take it in for the dealer to check out. A ground wire may have worked loose somewhere [quote]

How did you ground your highlights wrong? I did install 2 amps and a head unit a couple of months ago. I suppose I could have screwed up somewhere. I know everything turns off when the keys are out so that leads me to believe maybe a ground is bad. My battery has died twice this week so I really need to fix this problem. I haven't taken it in to the dealer because i'm sure they'll just say " its your stereo"

I usually drive my titan 10 miles to work and 10 miles back 5 days a week. The rpms only get up to 2000 -2500 max ( the truck has lots of power so I keep the rpms low ). Do you think it might also be possible the battery never gets adequate charging since I drive short distances and keep the rpms low?