Door Popper.....ARGH!!

[MSHardeman]

I just spent all weekend (and much skin from my knuckles) installing the rear door popper on the VX and the goofy thing doesn't want to work. I hooked it up to a stock "Door Release" switch in the dash and I can't quite figure out what I might have done wrong.

I wired the pin switch per Tone's instructions, so the interior light comes on just fine when the rear door is opened, so I'm not worried about that part. I wired the stock swith per Moncha's diagram (at least I'm pretty sure that I did) and it all seems to work fine. It lights up with the rest of the switches and dims with them too. The little red led even lights up when you press the button, but the solenoid doesn't fire.

I'm going to try and do some temporary wiring to the button that came with the kit to see if something is wrong with the switch, solenoid, or my "real" wiring in the next day, or so, but if anyone has any suggestions in the mean time let me hear them. I'm not very up to speed on car electronics, but I couldn't have done too bad of a job because the car hasn't caught fire yet.

If I can't figure it out before Moab, does anyone feel like crawling around a VX during that week to help me out?

[VehiGAZ]

See if you can draw out a diagram of how you hooked up the wires to the solenoid. t any one of a dozen little things...

Good luck!

[Tone]

Try applying 12v to the wire from the popper that is going to the switch to make sure everything at the back is working. Pin switch connection does not have anything to do with the popper working or not.

[MSHardeman]

Thanks for the advice so far.

Tone, I was actually going to try your suggestion out in the next couple of days. I'll run a wire from a 12v source (door lock circuit) to the solenoid to see if it will work that way. If the solenoid works then the next link will be the switch itself. I got it new from Merlin but there's always the possibility of a bad one in the batch.

[MSHardeman]

Here's the diagram as I hooked it up. I'm no electrician, so the diagram is probably a little crude.

[Moncha]

Mark, everything is correct but, according to your drawing you left out the relay between the switch and the solenoid.. The switch is not designed to take that much current directly and you may have burned out the switch..

On my diagram, the second pin states to go to a relay...
Also, check your ground and make sure paint or anything else is not isulating it.

On the other side, do all the lights work on the switch since I cornfused the hell outta ya?

[MSHardeman]

Mocha,

Thanks for the response. As I've said before, I'm no electrician so I probably just glazed over the relay part of your diagram. What size relay should I get, and does it need to be wired to anything else, or does it just sit in-line between the dash switch and the solenoid? I'll also have to scape some paint off behind the solenoid mounting bolt to make sure that the ground is making good contact with the metal of the door.

As for the switch itself, it works like a charm. It lights up and dims with the other switches, and the red light on it even comes on when you press it. Now all I need is a second pin switch to activate the light when the rear door is ajar.

[Moncha]

Sounds cool..

Just a simple 3 prong horn relay (usually 30amp) would work. On the included diagram, instead of a horn just pretend it's the solenoid.

[MSHardeman]

Monch,

The relay's are usually about a 1"x1"x1" cube right? Where is the best place to mount them (I say them because I'll need one for the fog light switch too)? It's a little crowded under the dash and it seems strange to mount them in the engine compartment. Where are the stock ones mounted? Maybe the new ones could go near there?

Thanks for all of the help so far.

Mark

[Moncha]

You can get those, they'll be fine. I mounted mine in the driver's side footwell, behind the cover. There's just enough room.. And you'll find the OEM ones there too. As far as the relay for the fog lights I mounted mine under the hood as the relay and fuse came with the harness, I just modified it to fit the "Accessory box" idea.

[MSHardeman]

Moncha,

Thanks so much for all of the help. I thought that this would be a quick install, but I guess I was mistaken. It's now taken me a few solid days of crawling around the VX and taking the thing half apart. Granted, I was being very careful, and very particular about running the wires so you wouldn't be able to see anything.

I thought that I saw the stock relays behind the driver side kick panel, and that's where I was going to try and put the new ones.

When I do my fog light install I plan on doing your accessory box idea, and I already have most of the parts. Now I just need some time that the VX can be laid up and not driven as I'm sure the lights will take me longer than the door popper. I have your instructions for installing the Mico DE's, but I got some lights with "Angel Eyes" and I'm sure the mounting will be a little different. Can't wait to jump into it.

Thanks again.

[scarpezio]

If that really is the way you hooked it up, be aware that the cigarette lighter is a switched source, i.e., it is live only when the ignition is ON.

[MSHardeman]

That can't be right....can it? I think I leave my cell phone charger hooked up to the cigarette lighter when the car is off, and it still charges the phone. Guess I'll have to double check that.

[Moncha]

True the cig lighter is a switched circuit...