Interior Light Disable

[Rawkkrawler]

Good afternoon

I've researched this a few times, and was unable to find an answer/solution that fits my needs.

When any door is open, the interior lights obviously come on. And depending on what door/liftgate is open, a different selection of lights comes on. I have a 2007 Limited with running boards, so all 4 come on when the front two doors open. The rears don't activate the running boards, I don't think.The 4 Runner has tons of lights! I work out of my truck, and as many know, the opening and closing of any door resets the 20 minute timer. I often find myself leaving all the doors open just to avoid the timer reseting. So battery drain is where I'm going with all of this. I've already swapped to LED's, which helped quite a bit. But sometimes it'd be nice just to disable the entire circuit on demand.

The 4Runner uses a relay uder the hood to control the interior lights, can be pulled, but not super convenient. Reducing the 20 minute timer would help. Maybe 5 minutes would be fine. But believe this is a dealer trip.

Any tricks that would help?

Thanks!

 

[dalandshark]

Pull the dome light fuse and see if it turns them all off. If it does you can put a switch in to interrupt the circuit... could wire a switch into something like this even... https://www.amazon.com/Holder-Connector-Extension-Adapter-gauge/dp/B07CTRNYR1.

Not sure exactly what’s on that circuit but I think the alarm remote receiver is on it. It won’t reset anything but your remote won’t work without the power.

 

[Seymore Butts]

The dome lights over the rear seat and the cargo area have three position switches. On, On with Door Open, and Off. The front seat map lights don't come on when the door opens.

What's the twenty minute timer?

 

[AuSeeker]

The dome lights over the rear seat and the cargo area have three position switches. On, On with Door Open, and Off. The front seat map lights don't come on when the door opens.

What's the twenty minute timer?

I was wondering the same on the timer...but even though I haven't tried it I think if you leave the door/s opened for an extended time the interior lights will turn off after 20 minutes to keep the battery from dying.

 

[Rawkkrawler]

The dome lights over the rear seat and the cargo area have three position switches. On, On with Door Open, and Off. The front seat map lights don't come on when the door opens.

What's the twenty minute timer?

The 4 Runner Limited has 13 lights that come on when the front doors are open (4 on the running boards alone), 4 less come on with the rear doors open. I have the mod the turns on the front map lights that come on with the doors.

The 20 minute timer turns off all of the interior lights when a door is left open in order to preserve the battery. The LED swap helps with power consumption, but working out of my truck triggers the timer to reset each time a door is opened or closed.

 

[Charlievee]

Carista maybe?

 

[Rawkkrawler]

I was wondering the same on the timer...but even though I haven't tried it I think if you leave the door/s opened for an extended time the interior lights will turn off after 20 minutes to keep the battery from dying.

This is correct, and works perfect as designed. But I work out of the truck and periodically go back to access a side door or some other combination, resets the timer.

Some also mentioned camping, same thing applies. I had an Expedition that I'd just simply pull the fuse and it would disable just the interior lights.

I tried to locate an interior light specific fuse, couldn't find one. There is however a small relay under the hood, and that disables the lights. As mentioned in an earlier post, a fuse could easily be adapted to add a switch, not as simple with a relay. Could be done, but I'm more surprised that someone doesn't have a simple hack.

 

[riverwolf]

1) Put a switch on the output of the underhood relay then flip the switch as needed? Slightly more convenient than pulling the relay.

2) Come up with a mechanism to hold the door triggers in the closed position as needed. I don't know if a velcro strap with the ends glued down would be strong enough to hold the plunger closed.

3) Open all 4 doors at the start of whatever you're doing and just don't close them until done? ;-)

4) If it's a specific door that you find yourself opening/closing most of the time that resets the timer, maybe disable that specific door's trigger?

 

[Rawkkrawler]

1) Put a switch on the output of the underhood relay then flip the switch as needed? Slightly more convenient than pulling the relay.

2) Come up with a mechanism to hold the door triggers in the closed position as needed. I don't know if a velcro strap with the ends glued down would be strong enough to hold the plunger closed.

3) Open all 4 doors at the start of whatever you're doing and just don't close them until done? ;-)

4) If it's a specific door that you find yourself opening/closing most of the time that resets the timer, maybe disable that specific door's trigger?

All great ideas. Switching the relay seems like a nice option as it's a one stop shop operation. Seems like I'm in and out of every door. As a contractor, some areas are an option to keep them all open, some not so much.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[riverwolf]

All great ideas. Switching the relay seems like a nice option as it's a one stop shop operation. Seems like I'm in and out of every door. As a contractor, some areas are an option to keep them all open, some not so much.

Thanks for the suggestions!

With a little effort, you could probably route the cutout circuit to one of the blank switch locations on the dash, assuming you haven't already filled them. Grab a factory looking switch and no need to even raise the hood to disable that relay.