S40 (New) Electrics : Wiring A Lights Left On Alarm And A Dashcam

[Bungo]

Originally Posted by XcOM

if you use a different method I am sure others would like to know as I am sure others want this feature.

Got me thinking, you are right lots would be interested, but why ?
It's a safety feature, doesn't affect running costs, in fact makes insurance cheaper, so.
Maybe it's an British thing that we don't want to draw attention by going round with lights on in the day time and that "you've left your lights on mate" look off other drivers.
Having said that all cars should have this for driving on the motorway, especially in the rain, that shouldn't be a choice for wally's.

[froggyted]

Originally Posted by Bungo

Found this
http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/12v-un...zer-72-db.html
It's pretty much what's there already but if you scroll through the pics there's an interesting diagram.
carpoint says 1 wire to earth other to courtesy light, which seems odd.
Would be great to see a carpoint diagram, although I believe you need a magnifying glass to read them.
Insurance side has been mentioned on here before and it's been said that volvo won't even do it any more without insurance company permission.

Yeah, that's interesting. I've never visited that site before, it looks good so have bookmarked. That lights left on module is a more elaborate version than the item i bought, which was less than £2 plus p&p. The text and circuit diagram perhaps shed some light to support XcOM's claim that this wouldn't work on our cars, because the circuit diagram shows lights that are switched separately from the ignition. There was no circuit diagram on the instruction sheet that came with my Carpoint component.

It's also interesting what you say about Volvo UK's change of policy re disarming the DRL, although i have to say that when i enquired about the cost at the Bristol dealership about a month ago they made no mention of this. The new V40s seem to use the front fogs as their DRL anyway, so i don't see that there should be a problem if you run the front fogs with the existing marker lights on ours. This would also imo make the car look more stylish. The biggest problem here is that the front fogs go off with the ignition and you then have to remember to manually reset, which is a poor design fault compounded by the fact that it's impossible to see the led in the switch from the driving position and there is no indicator in the control panel, unlike for the rear fog. This imo is the only criticism i could make of what is generally a very well thought out dash layout.

[froggyted]

Originally Posted by Bungo

Found this
http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/12v-un...zer-72-db.html
It's pretty much what's there already but if you scroll through the pics there's an interesting diagram.
carpoint says 1 wire to earth other to courtesy light, which seems odd.
Would be great to see a carpoint diagram, although I believe you need a magnifying glass to read them.
Insurance side has been mentioned on here before and it's been said that volvo won't even do it any more without insurance company permission.

If, as i suspect, you have got this information re the earth connection from the Q&A on the Amazon site, don't hold too much store on it because i think the guy is wrong. When i get hold of the instruction sheet again i will quote you the exact wording.

[XcOM]

It depends how you get the power from your lights, I have just red through my manual and checked the fuse's, I can't believe there isn't one for the parking lights?

looks like you will have to scotchlock it, shouldn't need to worry about ingress if you do it inside the headlight itself, this way it's sealed away from the environment.

[tt82]

Sorry to interupt fellas, but I just wanted to ask a quick question.

I bough an add-a-fuse for installing my dashcam. I was lead to believe that the fuse cover would fit back in place when it was fitted, but it doesn't. Has anybody else come across this? Should I just leave the cover off or am I ok to tape/cable tie it back in place. (I was told there needs to be a gap between the fuses and the cover.)

[Bungo]

Originally Posted by XcOM

, I have just red through my manual and checked the fuse's, I can't believe there isn't one for the parking lights?
.

Therein lies the rub.

[froggyted]

Originally Posted by tt82

Sorry to interupt fellas, but I just wanted to ask a quick question.

I bough an add-a-fuse for installing my dashcam. I was lead to believe that the fuse cover would fit back in place when it was fitted, but it doesn't. Has anybody else come across this? Should I just leave the cover off or am I ok to tape/cable tie it back in place. (I was told there needs to be a gap between the fuses and the cover.)

That doesn't bode well. Have just got a couple of these but haven't tried fitting them yet. I'll be trying at the weekend and will feed back on this but looking at them now i'm not too confident the ones i have will fit either.

Just out of interest, was it someone on here that told you there needs to be a gap? If so, i'd appreciate a link to the thread.

[tt82]

IIRC, it was a neighbour who works for GMP, kitting out the patrol cars etc. He says they use them quite a lot now and they should fit under the cover with room to spare, again IIRC in case of heat issue.

[froggyted]

Originally Posted by tt82

IIRC, it was a neighbour who works for GMP, kitting out the patrol cars etc. He says they use them quite a lot now and they should fit under the cover with room to spare, again IIRC in case of heat issue.

It looks like you own a V70 though, so i'm not sure this thread will be of much use to you. I've just checked, and in the S40 you can insert one of these piggyback connectors (as in the link provided by XcOM) into the fuse box in the engine bay and still close the cover; however, in certain positions the mouldings on the inside of the cover will cut into the piggyback insulation, so no guarantee of clearance. With regard to the passenger compartment though, which is where i will be mounting mine, having slept on this i remember that there isn't a fuse box cover anyway. The whole fuse tray simply slides down from its mounting bracket after removing a small felt trim cover and twisting a couple of mounting connectors. Therefore, I don't anticipate a problem with these connectors in the S40 passenger compartment box, but will confirm at the weekend. However, the V70 is a completely different vehicle, and I can't comment, other than that the piggyback connectors from different suppliers may vary slightly, so perhaps you need to find out who the GMP supplier is.

[tt82]

I'm well aware of the fuse 'tray' on your car, having removed one on a C30 to do a Pollen Filter change. Now that you mention it, yes mine is massively different so this thread, whilst still being interesting and usefull in the general sense, will not help me with my specific issue.

GMP no longer use Volvo's, having moved to BMW and Audi. I think it may be that Volvo's fuse boxes are slimmer.