When I bought my car, it had already been fitted with a starter button at the top of the heater control panel on the dash. I wasn’t too keen on the design of the button, so I had it replaced with the one fitted to federal spec Elise/Exiges. This one looks really nice and as a bonus it’s illuminated when the lights are on. It looks cool when lit up, but it reflects badly in the rear view mirror.
This set me thinking… it would make more sense for it to only light up when it wants pressing; when the ignition is on, but the engine is not running.
I’ve already replaced my mirror with a smaller one. It’s far from useless.
You starter looks good there, but I’m happy with the location of mine, and if I moved it I’d have a hole in the dash
The main reason for wanting to do this mod is simply that I just like the idea of it lighting up when it wants to be pressed I know, I’m just a GJOB tart
Brendon ive got the lotus (dt) button mounted in my centre console as the usa hazard. Im having the same thoughts. In theory you could wire it in series with the alternator lamp on the dash (as long as it has separate connections on the back). If not then it would need to be connected into the alternator wiring, which despite being an electrical engineer i always have to think about!
Another option is wire it off the interior light on a timer so when you open the door it lights up and stays on for a while after.
There are other more complicated options, i will try and look on the wiring digram tonight.
Gav
See the end of the first thread I linked to above. BUT!!! Important warning here: I ‘helpfully’ tried to show JohnO how to remove his mirror, and I can’t believe how easily it just pulled off with a bit of pressure from my finger tips… along with a large chunk of his windscreen (Sorry again, John )
Gav, sounds like you’re onto something. I had similar thoughts, but I’m no electrical engineer so I’m a bit wary of trying anything without some input from someone who know what he’s talking about. Let me know how you get on.
The only lights that are on when the ignition is primed which then go out after starting are some on the stack. So, could you not link into one of the wires for one of these (say the battery light)?
As you can tell I know nothing about electrical stuff
Yes, that’s what me and Gav were talking about. Only thing is, without a wiring diagram I don’t know for sure that there’s a separate connection for each lamp, or whether the display unit is doing something clever internally to work out which lamps to illuminate.
Plus if the connection is direct from the ECU, I don’t know whether the extra bulb would draw too much current and possibly damage the ECU.
As you can tell, I don’t know much, just enough to be slighly dangerous
Its best to use a relay ( not an AA van BTW ) - just run the circuit that is on ( I thought about the seat belt warning in an S1 …) to the coil side of the relay ( minimum current draw ) and then run the switch’s bulb through the switch part of the relay - the two circuits are isolated then … so the current drawn by the bulb has zero effect on the used circuit.
I did this using the oil pressure circuit on my Mini sprint car once to stop the fuel pump running until you got oil pressure was up …
I hope you get the idea …
Actually you could use the oil pressure light circuit … maybe …
Edit - the oil pressure switch usually is earthed out to the block so the wiring is live all the time so you have to splice the relay coil into the circuit not use the wiring and earth out the coil … otherwise its on all the time
Right, havnt had a chance to look at home (s2 diagrams) but have my old s1 stuff here at work. On these the alternator light is on its own terminals on the instrument cluster A3-A10, personally i wouldnt bother about the loadings, afaik leds have no load as you always need a resistor with them. I will have to check the resistance readings on my start button (but car is at the dealer at the mo) but i personally wouldnt bother with a relay on somthing with such little loadings.
Gav
![http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j149/chaseldine/starterbutton.jpg[/image]](http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j149/chaseldine/starterbutton.jpg%5B/image%5D){kind=link}