How to: "Auto" Switch LED change - And Power Window Re-wire

Our cars have that disable switch in the driver's side power window control panel.
This switch disables all the windows, except for the driver's side.
This is great for kids (and co-workers), but is an annoyance to my wife, as her window is also locked out.
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This guide shows how to change wiring of the window disable switch, so that only the back windows are disabled by the switch, and the passenger window remains on.

I also show how to change the LED color for the "Auto" text on the drivers side switch.



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Index:
-Removing the window control panel:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showpost.php?p=907436&postcount=2

-Disassembling the control panel:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showpost.php?p=907437&postcount=3

-Rewiring the passenger-side switch:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showpost.php?p=907439&postcount=4

-Changing the "Auto" LED Color:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showpost.php?p=907440&postcount=5

Removing the window control panel

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There are two ways to remove the window control panel:

• Pop it out of the door with a tape-wrapped screw driver
• Remove the door panel, and remove it safely

I choose to remove the door panel, as the plastic around the control panel is very soft.

If you decide to try and pop it out, you can skip to the middle of the guide.

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First remove the mirror panel.

This just pops off when pulled.

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Then remove the screw from the door handle.

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Pull the handle slightly, then slide towards the front of the car to remove it.

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Remove the two screws under this handle.

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Then un-cap the screw at the front of the door, and remove the screw.

Be gentle as the door plastic is very soft, use a cloth under the screwdriver to protect the door.

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Remove the screw inside the door handle.

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There is a clip holding the door handle to the pull-rod.

This clip twists off the rod, then the handle pulls up off of it.

If you can't get the handle off, it can pass though the hole, and stay there (I had to do this at first)

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The last thing to remove on the door, is a pop-bolt at the back.

You pry the center up about 1/4" then remove the entire pop-bolt.

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Gently pull on the door all the way from the front, around the bottom, then to the back.

The door panel then lifts up, and off the door.

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The door will have several wire connectors attached.

Press the tab on each connector to free the door.

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You can now remove the window controls from behind the door panel.

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Disassembling the control panel

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Once you have the panel removed you can take it inside to modify it.

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This is the hardest step, and has the most potential for breaking something.

You need to remove the black caps on all the switches, but the "Auto" switch.

Do this very gently by pressing in the white spot on the side of the switch, the pulling up gently on the black cap.

I ended up breaking the white part on one switch,
you can carefully super-glue it back together if you break one.
(Make sure the glue is dry before re-assembly)

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Once all the caps are removed you can un-screw the controls from the black top-panel.
(I removed the auto-cap, but found out it didn't need to be removed)

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You should now have the electronics separated from most of the plastic.

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Rewiring the passenger-side switch

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What we need to do is disconnect the passenger's switch from the Disable switch.

This involves cutting a single trace on the Printed Circuit Board (PCB).

This trace is located between the black relay and the two rear-window switches.

It is the second trace in from the edge of the board

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Using an exacto-knife make two cuts into the trace, and remove the copper between the two cuts.
This may take some time, as the trace is rather thick.

(You can see a repair at the left, this is from me tracing the wrong wire)

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Now that the switch's connection is cut, we need to re-wire it to ground.

The easiest place to do this is on the back of the PCB.

The beige plastic on the back is pretty securely mounted, due to the plug-in connection.

So I bent the plastic up, to expose the PCB.

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There are two pins on the switch that are connected together. (Visibly)

These are the ground-connection for the switch, these need to be re-connected to ground to make the switch work again.

I have high-lighted these two pins in red above.

The ground trace is located at the edge of the board, it will have four solder-points in a row.
This is the easiest place to solder a wire to.

Use a 22awg or thicker wire, and plenty of solder to make sure the wire can handle the current draw of the window motor.

Once soldered the switch will work independent of the Disable switch.

Make sure and take the control panel out to the car and test the switches on both the control panel, and the actual doors.

(Again ignore my repair job at the left)

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Changing the "Auto" LED color

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Now to get rid of the plain green LED that backlights the driver's side switch.

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First find a 3mm superbright LED of the color you want.

(I choose a superbright Red LED from www.lsdiodes.com)

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Rather then de-solder the old LED, I choose to simply cut the wires running to it.

I cut them just a little after they curved, then bent the curve up a little.

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At this point, take the control panel and your new LED out to the car, and connect the control panel.

(Make sure the power windows are on)

Then touch the wires on the new LED, to where the old LED was connected, if it doesn't light, reverse the LED.

Make a note as to which way the LED goes.

I noted that the + side of the LED was towards the switches.

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Then all that is left is to solder your new LED in place.

Make sure that is doesn't protrude up higher then the old LED.

Take the control panel back to the car, and test that the LED lights up.



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Carefully put everything back together.

Make sure that the driver's side switch catches the little white pin on the PCB.

Terrific!

any chance you can figure out how to make more windows auto up/down? in my wife's 4runner the driver can auto up/down both front windows, and the pass can up/down the pass window on auto. i like that s***, though sometimes if im trying to put the window down slightly it takes about 50 tries to get it where i want it without it going all the way down or up lol!

Matthew said:

any chance you can figure out how to make more windows auto up/down? in my wife's 4runner the driver can auto up/down both front windows, and the pass can up/down the pass window on auto. i like that s***, though sometimes if im trying to put the window down slightly it takes about 50 tries to get it where i want it without it going all the way down or up lol!

Click to expand...

The auto up/down function is part of the driver's side switch.
It has four positions: Up, Off, Down, Auto
The rest of the switches in the car are just: Up, Off, Down

A circuit could be built, or adapted from my circuits here:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60449