How to force parking lights go off with ignition off?
Hi, All,
I'm new on the site here. My wife drives Martix 2008. Since day one we noticed that when light switch is left in mid or full on position, then parking lights are left on when you leave and lock the car. It's quite annoying to switch it off before leaving and turn it on when get into the car. I own another japan car and all electric stuff goes off when I pull ignition key off the steering wheel and we get used to it. With Matrix we always forget something, either turn it on when driving or off when parking.
I did search here and mods I have found were to play with day-lights switches etc. I guess I'm looking for something different.
new echo owner , I appreciate your usefull reply. I'll try that option of hitting lock button twice tonight.
Nice, funny people around here, BTW. I know some idiom that sounds like "laziness is a catalyst of humankind". That's why most of us drive automatic instead of stick, call pizza delivery seating in sofabed, use elevators instead of stairs, you name it.
new echo owner , I appreciate your usefull reply. I'll try that option of hitting lock button twice tonight.
Nice, funny people around here, BTW. I know some idiom that sounds like "laziness is a catalyst of humankind". That's why most of us drive automatic instead of stick, call pizza delivery seating in sofabed, use elevators instead of stairs, you name it.
Well, helpful hints and suggestions with a lighthearted touch. Of course, we have to unleash our dark side ones in a while.
Let us know how it goes.
N.E.O.
Last edited by new echo owner; 11-05-2008 at 09:38 AM.
Have tried that suggested keyless entry trick and it didn't work. Checked manual too, it just says don't leave lights on, or battery dies, meaning like it's keeping them on for some unknown purpose.
I guess my next step will be searching electrical diagram and see what could be simply cut or shorted to do what I want.
FYI, the lights on the Matrix work like the lights on all cars. I drive hundreds of cars a year, for over 30 years, and I've never seen one where the lights come on automatically with the ignition other than the DRL's (daytime running lights).
It's not quite true or I didn't explain it properly. Maybe on other markets they wire the Matrix differently, I don't know, but I own Subaru Forester and when my front light switch is left in on position (either fully "on" or DRL only, doesn't matter) then only thing I have to do when I leave the car is to turn ignition off. All lights, and electrical devices/sockets, including CD unit, power sockets etc goes off with it. So I'm sure car's battery is not getting discharged when car is left on airport parking lot or anywhere else. Also, when I come back to my car, I just put ignintion on and all lights go to the settings I had before, so I won't be driving at night with tail lights off for example because I left light switch in DRL position.
That's my point. I'd like to see some set up that is fool prove. If I were car engeneer I would rather made the set up the Matrix has as optional. It means, if I want to leave parking lights on, I'll do it with help of special switch or something, but by default it should conserve the battery. There are people with hearing problems and this tiny buzzer isn't simply heard and during the day you may easily don't notice that lights left on.
I found some wiring diagram for Matrix 2003 (which is older then mine), does any body know if Matrix changed a lot between 2003 and 2008?
TRXR4KDS, he's asking the opposite of what you said. He wants the feature where you can leave the light switch on when he kills the ignition and just walk away. The car will then shut its lights off after a minute or so.
A lot of domestics have this feature as well. There's been many times in mall parking lots where I catch myself flagging down people on foot to tell them that they've left their headlights on only to tell me not to worry cuz it'll automatically shut itself off.
amolin, there's been a few Matrix lighting hacks people have done over the years but I've never seen anyone do this. And between 03-08, there hasn't been major changes electrically and regarding the headlights/parking lights/brake lights there are probably no changes at all.
It seems like the tail lights for the Canadian model and the US model are wired differently. The US models have a tail light relay, while the Canadian model doesn't, and how the light are powered are completely different too.
That may also be why the remote trick doesn't work.
N.E.O.
Last edited by new echo owner; 11-08-2008 at 11:00 AM.
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