Boot light!

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:37 pm

my boot light has never worked properly and has baffled me for the following reaons!!!
according to the multi meter is 11v between the two connecters yet it doesnt light a bulb up (technically i know you need 12v but you can normally get a bulb to light up on less than 12v!!) but if you were to put a bulb in place the boot pin for the alarm activates meaning you need to unarm the alarm to start the car again! (although i have misplaced the boot light unit and the connecters are attatched to allow for this!!)
anyone shed any light on it??? (pardon the pun!!!)

(not 100% bothered as havent had it working since i have had the car loL!)

Post by **Vanny** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:57 am

Timmo wrote:if you where to put a bulb in place the boot pin for the alarm activates meaning you need to unarm the alarm to start the car again!

presumably that just happens the once (the need to unarm) and not every time you open the boot?

Sounds mad that it should set the alarm off when you put the bulb in which makes me think some numpty has got the wiring seriosly messed up! What alarm is it?

I suspect that who ever installed the alarm has connected the ground wire to the source of the light, bulb in means it has a path to ground and knows the boot is open. Do you just have the one switch for the open bonnet?

I guess the installer has tried to be clever and reuse the existing switch, rather than put another one in, and put his connections on the wrong way round. It shouldn't be too hard to sort the alarm issue, but theres no guarantee the light wiring hasn't been really messed up!

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:06 am

Vanny, it doesnt set the alarm off matey! what it does is that if you un arm the system and open either the boot or bonnet without the ignition on then it activates the immobiliser so that you have to re unarm the system to be able to start the car! (passive arming or something!) also the alarm relocks the car 90 seconds after any unarm if the ignition hasnt been turned on or boot or bonnet opened!
it needs a circuit in the boot to show that the boot is open hence why it does it when the bulb is in place! (prolly the same with the boot open indicater on the car!!!)
the alarm is a Cat 1 Toad ai606! it was Properly installed in 2001! it isnt an alarm issue as it didnt work prior to the alarm being installed!

Post by **Toddman** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:39 am

So the only problem is that the boot light bulb doesn't illuminate?

You have a permanent live feed to the bulb and the switch just completes the circuit to earth?
Have you tested the bulb and it works?

If yes to all the above attach the feed to the bulb then attach a wire to earth and if th ebulb lights then most likely the earthing point or the contacts in the switch are badly corroded

Cheers
Luke

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 2:42 pm

poked my head out quickly before the wife knicked the car for the afternoon (inner cogbox seal gone on the fiat!:() and it will not light up a headlamp bulb which when tested before hand on a 7.v R/C battery pack nigh on blinded me loL! so thinks there is an issue with the wiring in there somehow! will strip it down and investigate when i have some time!!! it being french i am bound to need plenty of that loL!

Post by **Vanny** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:14 pm

Timmo wrote:Vanny, it doesnt set the alarm off matey! what it does is that if you un arm the system and open either the boot or bonnet without the ignition on then it activates the immobiliser so that you have to re unarm the system to be able to start the car! (passive arming or something!) also the alarm relocks the car 90 seconds after any unarm if the ignition hasnt been turned on or boot or bonnet opened!
it needs a circuit in the boot to show that the boot is open hence why it does it when the bulb is in place! (prolly the same with the boot open indicater on the car!!!)
the alarm is a Cat 1 Toad ai606! it was Properly installed in 2001! it isnt an alarm issue as it didnt work prior to the alarm being installed!

Sounds rather like a wiring/instalation fault to me! The AI606 should passive arm after 90 seconds only if a door or boot isnt opened or the ignition turned on, it should se tthe alarm off if the bonnet is opened.
The AI606 has a second switch unit that needs to be installed and is a break to earth switch for the boot (trunk) activation. The light is positively triggered (that is opening the boot completes the circuit to +ve and not to -ve) so if you hook it upto the normal ligth switch circuit with the bulb in, although you connect to ground, your also sticking +ve on the alarm trigger which is probably whats causing the alarm to imobolise it's self!

If i remember correctly then the switch has two sides meaning its a push-to-break switch. What you need to do really is rewire the switch so the light comes before the switch and the boot open trigger comes between the bulb and the switch!

Correct instalation of the Toad Alarm requires wiring the boot open warning through the 'doors open panel' which has the light arranged as described above and saves like 4metre of cabling. It also then works from the lock and NOT the boot switch which is easily fooled by a thief who knows what they're doing!

Who wired in your alarm? I wonder if they might take a look at it!

Timmo · Post by **Timmo** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:07 pm

the alarm was wired by Westcom services in Plymouth, proffesional installation outfit for all things toad orientated! they are the top guys for the area! chap came out and spend 5 or so hours fitting the kit! the instalation isnt the issue as the light didnt work prior to the alarm instalation!
the alarm will rearm if no doors have been opened, or if the doors have been opened but the ignition not activated, but if the boot or bonnet are opened it activates the immobiliser circuitry menaing you need to press the un arm button before starting the car! (green led turns to red!) if the alarm has rearmed and the bonnet was to be on the catch and you opened it then it would set the alarm off!
as i said though the alarm is not the issue!!

Post by **Toddman** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:34 pm

Even if the boot light has a switched feed rathe rthan a switched earth I still think you will be looking at a corroded switch or earth point.

Take the live wire from the switch and attach it to a bulb then run an earth to the bulb to see if that lights if it does then it is the switch or earth wiring.

Cheers
Luke

Post by **Vanny** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:08 pm

Timmo wrote:the alarm will rearm if no doors have been opened, or if the doors have been opened but the ignition not activated

Going by the Toad manual that doesn't sound like the correct operation! Opening a door or the boot should deactivate the passive arming (obviously, you open the car to get out of the rain, sit there for 90 seconds and the alarm goes off, not very clever!).

However if opening the boot is meant to trigger the imoboliser, and putting the bulb back in triggers it, then the feed for the alarm is deffinatley coming from the lighting circuit. Have you tried with the button depressed, measure the voltage on both sides of the bulb holder to ground and the same with the button released? Might help diagnose the problem?

As for professional instalation of alarms, i've not found many alarm systems correctly installed! I spent £150 on instalation alone with a big local alarms company (PTC, who do all the big companies locally) and the quality of instalation was shocking, so bad that i ended up ripping the whole lot out and getting a new alarm in myself! Mine works faultlessly and you'll have a hard job figuring the difference between the alarm wiring loom and car wiring loom, proper job! (dash out and lots of green wire

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