Hey all, just made a few additions to my TE altera. You know how with the later mdels the interior light comes on when you enter the vehicle, then stays on till the engine starts? I wanted that. SO off to Jaycar, $18.95 - Interior courtesy light fader kit. Soldered it up, then wired it in to teh car. The kit wires in to the door switches and the tail lights. Why the tail lights? They figure you want the light to turn off after switching on the headlights - tail lights come on at the same time. So figuring this I wired the kit in to the boot switch (same circuit as the door switch), moutned the unit in the boot and wired in tot he tail lights. The cabin light is now set to dim after 7 seconds. (see first pic of mounting location).

I spotteed L.E.D festoon lighting kkits and thought it was about time to add some rice - these kits cost around $8 and only come with the PCB - you must purchase the LEDs, diodes and resisistors seperately. Anyway you take your existing festoon bulbs, twist the end terminals off and clean them out. Use these on the PCB as per instructions. one resistor, two LEDs and one diode per board. Total of 10 solders (including tails for the terminals). I now have blue interior lights - looks like those blue toilet lights so people can't shoot up in my car :) Not that I had a problem with that.

So now I have fading interior light and blue interior light.

Now whilst cleaning dust (it was caked thick) from my boot I removed the carpeting and found a wiring harness with what looks like a fuse. There's a pic below. Anyone know what it is? This harness sits over the left rear wheel arch, just behind the carpet. It's not connected to anything.

Cheers all.

Power and signal for an electric aerial? :D Or do you already have one of them? :redface:

Nope I don't have a power aerial. Wishful thinking. Can anyone confirm this? Me running my own wiring for a power aerial is all that is preventing me.

Nah that definatly aint for power ariel
they have 2 wires, one red n one yellow one for power and one for the radio remote

id say its a connector for if you got a tow pack (trailer plug)

??

just an idea.. then agian, i dont have one, but my trailer plug has been cut off under the car, so maybe i have this plug but its connected to something that leads under the car.

At first i thought it may be the trailer wiring, but i thought it might be thicker then that shown in the photo?


I've got the same interior dimming kit on my car as well, and i've hooked the central locking output from the alarm to the cut-off input on the kit, so the light turns off when i lock the doors :)

At first i thought it may be the trailer wiring, but i thought it might be thicker then that shown in the photo?


I've got the same interior dimming kit on my car as well, and i've hooked the central locking output from the alarm to the cut-off input on the kit, so the light turns off when i lock the doors :)
Hey TecoDaN - how did you hook the central locking in - I would like to do this as (you would have found out) the car thinks the doors are still open until the lights have fully dimmed.

Depending on your alarm system, I've got a 2nd gen Exec so I installed an aftermarket alarm system, which obviously came with wiring diagrams. The alarm had a positive 12v low current trigger connection dedicated to be used to control central door locking systems. It becomes active when the alarm is set. I get 12v output for about 500ms. So this works perfectly with the input trigger on the kit, which you've currently connected the tail lights to it.

Nope I don't have a power aerial. Wishful thinking. Can anyone confirm this? Me running my own wiring for a power aerial is all that is preventing me.
TE Altera should be power aerial

It could be a "fuel flap open" light wire. Pam's festiva has one of these. I might check if i have one as well one day.

High mount Brake light?

Just a thought. :D

Could you make me a couple of those LED lights?? Id do it myself, i spent 2 years learning electronics, but i dont have a freakin soldering iron, or time.

Obviously id pay ya, if you can be bothered that is man. They do look sweet.


Oh yea, good work on doing all that. How long did it take ya to do all that? Well worth it but.

The LED light kits are $8 (from memory) plus an additional $5 for the parts (each) that are not supplied in kit (gotta buy the festoon lights just to break them ... I used the existing ones ... plus a resister 15 cents, diode 7 cents and 2 LEDs 20cents each). I could make them up for you - took around 15 minutes per light. Couldn't do it straight up - give me a couple of weeks. It aint exactly cheap! I'd be happy to do it though, contact me in a week or two if you'r keen. My soldering ain't pretty but :) Just had to bend the mounting terminals a bit to make it fit. You'd be looking around $30 -35 all up. I think Jaycar offer a service to build kits. Proably a damned sight cheaper than me doing it!

The LED light kits are $8 (from memory) plus an additional $5 for the parts (each) that are not supplied in kit (gotta buy the festoon lights just to break them ... I used the existing ones ... plus a resister 15 cents, diode 7 cents and 2 LEDs 20cents each). I could make them up for you - took around 15 minutes per light. Couldn't do it straight up - give me a couple of weeks. It aint exactly cheap! I'd be happy to do it though, contact me in a week or two if you'r keen. My soldering ain't pretty but :) Just had to bend the mounting terminals a bit to make it fit. You'd be looking around $30 -35 all up. I think Jaycar offer a service to build kits. Proably a damned sight cheaper than me doing it!


hahaha for real, i might invest in a soldering iron then man

thanks anyway! :D

take it easy