Just wanted to say hi.

[flcruising]

Bought the wife an '08 Mz5 Touring a couple months ago. Got it shipped from Michigan - site unseen - with 12k miles. It's now got 14k, and all is well.

She's got one complaint that I'm trying to come up with a solution to. Why couldn't Mazda have put in a remote switch at the driver for the dome light!!? When you have little ones who can't reach the switch, it's annoying to not be able to turn the thing on from the front seat!

 

[Robotazky]

^^ You're preaching to the choir.

 

[Heat]

Amen brother!

 

[DKaz]

Testify!!!

 

[coolmazda5]

Whaat? J/k, welcome to the forums, and the pain, I don't recall have seen a fix for that

 

[thaxman]

flcruising, if you just happen to get ambitious and decide to run map lights to the 2nd and 3rd rows, and you just happen to route extra wiring to the dashboard with toggle switches for driver control, please don't forget to do a writeup about it and post it here

 

[Robotazky]

Yeah, there are plenty of dummy switch locations to put a light switch. Does anyone know of a switch from Mazda that would fit in there that can be used? Where the four slots are to the left of the wheel?

 

[flcruising]

I've been trying to work with the guys over at the12volt.com at a solution, but think I've confused them.

I've determined that I want to quickly turn the driver's map light on/off to activate a delay-off timer which would turn on the dome light. Then turn on the map light for 1-2 seconds to turn it back off. If the map light switch is held ON for more than that same 1-2 seconds (like when you want to use it), the timer relay (and therefore dome light) won't be initiated at all. What you think? This method wouldn't require running any additional wires or finding some stock switches for the blanks in the dash.

There are lots of 555 timer kits that will work well for this.

Here's a diagram to show you a possible solution I came up with using an ELK-960 timer for a home security system...

 

[Heat]

For what it's worth, I can reach back and turn it on/off while driving, but I do agree that it is too far back and there should be a switch near the driver.

 

[BradW]

Hope you get your issue resolved. Welcome to the forum!!

 

[thaxman]

For what it's worth, I can reach back and turn it on/off while driving, but I do agree that it is too far back and there should be a switch near the driver.

Is your superhero name Plasticman, Mr. Fantastic or Inspector Gadget?

 

[coolmazda5]

For what it's worth, I can reach back and turn it on/off while driving,

 

[flcruising]

^No picture^

Ordered an Altronix 6062 today. Will let you know when I get the annoyance resolved.

 

[KBrian]

Welcome to our (and now your) humble home, flcruising. I see that you are another adventurous modder who will/can do things I have no stomach to tackle. You will leave me and my 5 in the dust with our rear-step bumper plate, vent visors and hood deflector.

Perhaps some window tint in year 2?

 

[flcruising]

Welcome to our (and now your) humble home, flcruising. I see that you are another adventurous modder who will/can do things I have no stomach to tackle. You will leave me and my 5 in the dust with our rear-step bumper plate, vent visors and hood deflector.

Perhaps some window tint in year 2?

Haha, that's funny. I had the widows tinted the very first week before I even turned the vehicle over to my wife. And the rear step bumper plate was maybe a week later.

Thanks all for the welcome!