Interior Courtesy Light...from one to two

[silvrbreez]

Truck: 1983 C10 SWB Stepside

I'm building a custom console for my truck and I'd like to upgrade from the single courtesy light under the dash to two mounted aside the console up under the dash.

My question is related to splicing into the existing wiring to add the second light and still make it such that they come up when the doors open and with the headlight switch.

The stock courtesy light had 4 wires going into the back of it: 1 orange (ground?), 1 white (power?), and 2 more whites off to the side in a separate connector.  The wiring diagrams in my Haynes manual show that the orange and white singles go to power the light and the other 2 whites are for the door and headlight switches.

What I've done so far is...
Cut all 4 wires behind the stock courtesy light, add length to the orange and split it with an inline quick connector, splice the two switch whites into the one light power white with inline quick connectors, add more length to the light power white and split it with an inline quick connector.

Thought all that would work fine since the white switch wires would still be connected to the white power white, but I'm having some issues.
1. One of my black grounds from the split off the extra length I added to the orange doesn't seem to be working.  I've tried adding a different female connector to the end that I'm using to plug into the light, but still nothing.  I know electrical stuff can be finicky, so I'm hoping it has something to do with the full circuit not being completed or something like that.  This issue is making it such that I can only connect one of the new lights and not both of them.
2. One of the lights power up fine, but not in all scenarios.  The one light I'm able to hookup only gets lit when I turn the headlight switch counterclockwise (like it should), but nothing when either of the doors are opened.  I'm thinking this could be something wrong with the way I used the inline splice connector on the two white switch wires into the white light lead, but again I'm not sure.

I know all that description might be hard to follow, but please let me know if any of that makes sense and if you have any idea what I might need to do to get these lights working properly.  I've confirmed that both lights do work, just can't hook them both up right now at the same time with these problems.

Any help is much appreciated.

[HAULIN IT]

Would like to help, but unfortunately I'm having trouble understanding what you got going on. Did the light work correctly before you started cutting/splicing wires?

Truck: 1983 C10 SWB Stepside



What I've done so far is...
Splice the two switch whites into the one light power white with inline quick connectors, add more length to the light power white and split it with an inline quick connector.

Thought all that would work fine since the white switch wires would still be connected to the white power white, but I'm having some issues.
1. One of my black grounds from the split off the extra length I added to the orange doesn't seem to be working. 

 Without looking at it or the diagram, I'm not sure, but hooking the White's all together (is what I've made of what you did) doesn't sound correct. The bulb needs a ground path from one of Three sources...The Left door switch, the Right door switch & the headlamp switch. I'm thinking you have the bulb's ground path hooked up to the headlamp switch & have "by-passed" the door's ground path. This seems like it really should be a simple hook-up. "Piggy backing" the wires in the plug is really the way you should do it.
 Where did the Black wire come into play, where is it going to & from? Lorne

[silvrbreez]

Sorry bro.  I know it's hard to follow.  I've tried my best to describe it with words, unfortunately last night I had baby duty and had to run before I could get a wiring diagram sketched.  Still on baby duty but I managed to get a sketch thrown together of the stock wiring at the courtesy light and the way I've globbed it all together so far on this project.  It's a scan of a hand sketch and might not be the best quality.  I can go through the trouble of doing something in CAD or paint if it's necessary, but hopefully this scan will do the trick.



and here is a link to what those "quick connects" I'm talking about look like...
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w126/silvrbreez/83%20C10/smlwired.jpg

Since I last posted, I got one of my problems straightened out...
#1: I had a bad connection in the quick connect leading from the black to one of the lights.  I've got that squared away and both lights can be made to come on now, but still only by turning the headlight switch counterclockwise, nothing when the door is opened.

HAULINIT: I think you are on to something with the way I've connected the door switch wires.  That was my first hunch, but I have no idea what sort of connector or wiring I need to do from those two white door switch wires to my new wiring to make them work.  I'm going to browse the web to see if I can find some sort of "three in & one out" or "one in & two out" connector that would more mimic the way the wires went into the stock courtesy light.

Hopefully all that cleared things up a bit more.  Again, any help is appreciated.

EDIT: I wonder if something like this would work to connect the white headlight lead, 2 white door switch leads, and new white wire heading to my new lamps?

[Marc]

IIRC the white wires can all be tied together.  They are all connected to normally open switches (like you said - one per door and the one in the headlight switch.  When you open the door or turn the headlamp switch it grounds the wire, completes the circuit, and the lights should come on.  The orange lead should be tied into the fusebox and fused and will have power all the time.  The door switches aren't the best design and wouldn't suprise me if they were bad  They aren't sealed and do corrode..  You could pull them out and touch the wire to ground and your lamps should come on.

[silvrbreez]

Marc: Are you saying that the way I have it now should be working?

Should have mentioned that the single courtesy lamp worked just fine before.  I'm just trying to add another lamp so I can have one per side of the console?

[silvrbreez]

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

It was definitely an issue with the way I was connecting the door switch wires.  Instead of using those inline quick connects for the left and right door switch wires, I need to join all three (left door, right door, and headlight switch wires) into a single splice with one new feed coming out the other side.  This ensured that no single switch wire terminated before any of the others.  Both of the new lights come on now when any of the three switches are triggered.

Now to just finish the console.

[HAULIN IT]

Good Deal!

[Cowman85]

i thought of adding a second courtesy light but i just went with a power mirror with 2 map lights on it from a 98 malibu fully loaded, works even better since i need my light more up on the seat than on the floor.

[ccz145a]

Slvrbreez,
Please update your circuit diagrams and post, might help someone in the future.

[silvrbreez]

Sure thing.  Hopefully this revised diagram clears things up.  Wiring things up this way ensures that BOTH courtesy lights will come on whenever either door is opened or the headlight switched is turned counterclockwise.