How are the door pin switches supposed to control the dome lights?

[AuH2O]

Could someone tell me how the door pin switches are supposed to control the dome lights in the 80's K5's? I only know things are not like they should be now (i.e. they don't work at all), and haven't been since I got this truck.

Should the dome lights always come on when the doors are opened, regardless? Or only when the parking or running lights are on? Or some other setup yet? And if they're supposed to always come on, how do you keep them from doing so, should you want to? As it is, turning the headlight switch all the way counter-clockwise turns the dome lights on permanently from within the cab. That's how it should be, right? And in that mode, door switches should have no effect? Anywhere else on the dial, they should come on? Except maybe when turned all the way clockwise..? I'm just guessing, but it seems reasonable that way.

I've ordered new OEM door pins, and it might just be as easy as swapping the old ones out and cleaning the connectors, but if it's not, I'd wanna get an idea of how things should be before going to work...

 

[GM4wheeling]

the door pins are simply a switch.. and on all the chevys i've owned (besides my 03 avalanche) the pins turned on the dome light regaurdless of where you have it dialed. And yes, turning the dial all the way counterclockwise is supposed to also turn them on, basically it overrides the door pins. I'm sure putting your new pins in will fix the problem.. they rust up and loose they're connections often.

 

[AuH2O]

So, when all's working properly, no option to prevent lights from coming on at all when opening a door, then (short of pulling a fuse)? Not that it's necessary. I mean, that's how I have it all the time now and what I want to get away from!

Yeah, hopefully new pins will get it back to how it should be.

 

[angelglo]

as mentioned, door pins are infamous for rusting hence loosing is connectivity effect. when pushed in when door is closed, the connection is broken and will not illuminate the interior lights. when you open the door, contact is made to the ground lights turn on. sometimes if you twist the door pin, it will loosen up some of the rust and again make contact.

 

[imiceman44]

So, when all's working properly, no option to prevent lights from coming on at all when opening a door, then (short of pulling a fuse)? Not that it's necessary. I mean, that's how I have it all the time now and what I want to get away from!

Yeah, hopefully new pins will get it back to how it should be.

Unfortunately they didn't have that provision for disabling them if you wanted, the newer ones now do, but back then they didn't think about it.
I still lub my cheby

 

[AuH2O]

Hey, that's fine with me! Like I said, rather all the time than none of the time! And I still love mine more than any new truck too.

 

[4X4HIGH]

You could always wire in an over ride switch to keep them from coming on when you open the door. It would be easy to do.

 

[AuH2O]

Yeah, could do that. The stock setup is what I wanted to know about, and it's fine with me. But maybe sometime in the future. I'm always looking for more ways to tweak her.

 

[4X4HIGH]

If you're wanting to know how the dome lights work i can explain. There is always +12 volts going to one side of the light and the other side is going to the "ground" which happens to be the switch. When the door is closed the switch does not allow contact to ground, now open the door and the ground contact is made and the light comes on.

To install an over ride switch simply remove the door switch and disconnect the wire and hook that to a toggle switch and then from the toggle switch back to the door switch. Now if you have the toggle switch turned off you won't get any dome light when the door is opened but the headlight switch should still allow to you turn the dome light on by turning the switch counter clockwise.

 

[AuH2O]

Yeah, thanks! I'll put it on my to-do list, somewhere after installing new switches to begin with.

 

[cabledawg]

If you're wanting to know how the dome lights work i can explain. There is always +12 volts going to one side of the light and the other side is going to the "ground" which happens to be the switch. When the door is closed the switch does not allow contact to ground, now open the door and the ground contact is made and the light comes on.

To install an over ride switch simply remove the door switch and disconnect the wire and hook that to a toggle switch and then from the toggle switch back to the door switch. Now if you have the toggle switch turned off you won't get any dome light when the door is opened but the headlight switch should still allow to you turn the dome light on by turning the switch counter clockwise.

I'm going to step in here. The problem with putting the switch on the ground side is all door switches would have to be switched, otherwise only one door would be disabled (as would be by putting said switch inline before the door). The power wire for the lights is orange and runs up the left side of the dash (by the fuse panel) and can be easily tapped for an overide feature. This way all doors are affected by one switch. Sorry 4X4, not trying to step on toes, just a more effective way of doing things.

 

[4X4HIGH]

I'm going to step in here. The problem with putting the switch on the ground side is all door switches would have to be switched, otherwise only one door would be disabled (as would be by putting said switch inline before the door). The power wire for the lights is orange and runs up the left side of the dash (by the fuse panel) and can be easily tapped for an overide feature. This way all doors are affected by one switch. Sorry 4X4, not trying to step on toes, just a more effective way of doing things.

The problem with doing it "your way" is that you must flip the switch on now in order to have the dome lights be controlled with the headlight switch. If he just followed both ground leads as close as possible to one another and splice them together he could use one switch and still have independent control by either means.

 

[cabledawg]

The common point would be where the light is mounted. Just make sure you dont splice in the ground wire going to the headlight switch.