Hey, Dino's site is down, and the other link to the service manual only has the wiring schematics to the door locks and power windows, and my Chiltons is 70 miles away, so...


Does anyone have a quick breakdown of the wiring to the tails for the marker lights, brake lights, and signal lights? Are the brake lights and signal light wires shared - I'm sure they are. I'm trying to find out how to tell a circuit board that

a) "break is on"
or
b) marker light is on
or
c) "blinker is on"
and
d) some combination of the above

Thanks to all who could help out.

May I ask what the project is? I'm sure azdave will respond to this any moment and give you an answer because his little project is amazing. But if he doesnt reply you can always go in there with a voltmeter and try prodding at the socket and have someone hit your break.. Then just find that hot wire.

Sorry for the delayed response.

It took me a few moments notice the "Bat Light" shining on the cloud base tonight calling me to action!

I got here as fast as I could...

At the white 3-wire plug mounted to the back of either tail light housing;

Right side
Black is ground
Green/white stripe is marker lights
Green/red stripe is right turn/brake (This wire is solid green after the plug)

Left side
Black is ground
Green/white stripe is marker lights
Green/blue stripe is left turn/brake (This wire is solid green after the plug)


If you want true "brake" only and not right or left turn combined with brake you'll need to take off the plastic cover below the rear window on the driver side. That's where you'll find a small white plug with a green wire that goes up into the 3rd brake light (at least on 2Gs with the LED 3rd brake lights in the spoiler that is).

I don't know what you are up to but remember, when the hazard lights are on, the 3rd brake light DOES NOT flash.

And Dave Comes To The Rescue! :bowdown

Yes indeed, Dave to the rescue! Thanks for your help - I suspected the turn/brake lights were going to use the same wire for signals. and I thought about using the 3rd brake light for a "brake signal". And for the turn signals, I can see I will need a series of if/then statements to tell the controller what is going on with the brakes/turn signals/hazards.

eclipsetenzoR, my project was inspired by the one-and-only Azdaves' (you know which one). I've been wanting to do that for years, but it wasn't until I saw the movies of his project that the methodology solidified in my small brain. I'm going about things quite a bit differently, but I used his awesome write-ups on HIDPlanet as the basic platform. I'm also trying to do it on a serious budget.

One by one I'm learning the things I'm going to need here and there. Right now it's figuring out which transistor to buy that can support ~.48 Amps and turn on with a ~20mA-40mA signal, and support PMW (wondering if a full on/full off transistor, which doesn't over heat normally, will heat up when turned on and off rapidly as with PMW)

Also, it's learning how to turn a tail light signal into the correct Volts and Amps that a PICAXE chip can read as input. time for more research...

ez, what the heck are you trying to do? sounds interesting, and your posts are only teasing me.

Originally posted by 96rs-t
ez, what the heck are you trying to do? sounds interesting, and your posts are only teasing me.

You'll see! It's either going to be REALLY REALLY cool, or light my car on fire.

It all depends on if I can figure out how to power this project. If there was a automotive 13-14V to 5V regulator with voltage/surge protection (protection diodes, "zenor" and "transorb" crap - LOL WTF it's all techno-gibberish to me), that can support <1A, and a 13-14V to 12V voltage regulator (with all that protection stuff too) that can support up to 10A, then the project will take off.

Otherwise, I won't go foward with it unless I know how to protect my circuits and the car itself. All I know at this point is to FUSE EVERYTHING

Sounds like you need power for the logic circuits and power for the actual lights? I have some ideas if so. You may have to privately reveal a little more to me so I understand where you are going but I think I already know heh-heh.

dave@rcaz.com