[Chazzy J]

Ok all. Without getting into details, simple poll here: Does it bug you that your Power window switches and lock/unlock button don't light up at night? I've found myself fiddling around down there many times.

EDIT: I started the Transplant from a Mazda6 panel and I'm transplanting the translucent switches to the Mazda3 panel. Proceed to Page 2, post 17 to see the excitement.

 

[da_jokker]

It does bug me, not because of the convenience factor, but because it reminds me how Mazda is always trying to cheap out like with their paint, interior lighting, 4 window auto roll, rear seat vents, etc.

Seriously.. I don't think anybody would not be willing to pay a couple hundred bucks more for a car to include the little extras.

 

[Chazzy J]

I don't disagree with you. Every company has their reasons for the cuts here and there. I guess so long as it help Mazda remain stable and profitable, I'll take the good with the bad.

Look at what the Mazda6 owners are faced with. Can you imagine buying that car in the daylight and then at night only one switch lights up? I can imagine how many people took that back to the dealership saying it was broke...yikes!

 

[minsanity]

It does bug me, not because of the convenience factor, but because it reminds me how Mazda is always trying to cheap out like with their paint, interior lighting, 4 window auto roll, rear seat vents, etc.

Not to derail this thread, but here's why Mazda opted to go AquaTech Paint System....

MAZDA: Mazda's unique paint technologies | Other Technologies

 

[Valor_X]

Yes I brought this up a few months ago because I thought my car had a problem and it turned out that they aren't supposed to be lit up.

HOWEVER, the unlock/lock buttons themselves have the clear white plastic designed to light up with a light underneath.
Someone in that thread posted pictures of their own DIY mod and added led's in the switches

here's the thread
http://mazda3revolution.com/forums/2014-2016-mazda-3-skyactiv-audio-electronics/173658-door-lock-button-lights.html

 

[Chazzy J]

Yes I brought this up a few months ago because I thought my car had a problem and it turned out that they aren't supposed to be lit up.

HOWEVER, the unlock/lock buttons themselves have the clear white plastic designed to light up with a light underneath.
Someone in that thread posted pictures of their own DIY mod and added led's in the switches

here's the thread
http://mazda3revolution.com/forums/2014-2016-mazda-3-skyactiv-audio-electronics/173658-door-lock-button-lights.html

Yes, I did see that thread. The soldering was a turn-off, as well and having to cut holes in the existing switches -- but kudos to him for doing that work -- the guy is a champ. I learned so much just from looking at his pictures. Coupled with another thread I found, I think I can successfully design a DIY job that everyone can do with minimal tools and pretty much no car knowledge needed. If it works, it will look completely OEM and only take about less than $100 (ebay donor parts) and some weekend time.

Stay tuned, but I'm still interested to know how many people this bugs...

 

[johnykalbo]

It bugs the hell out of me.

 

[Road Trip]

Since I do not yet have my Mazda 3, can not say it bugs me, but one of my other cars has all lit switches, all of the windows express up and down, and the car lock/unlock switch is lit too. So nice at night. My other car only has the "night time Braille" method, and I find hitting the wrong switches a pain.

@Chazzy J, I am looking forward to what you are coming up with!

 

[Chazzy J]

Donor panels arrived today, LEDs arrive tomorrow. With any luck, I'll have an OEM solution for this by the end of this weekend that anyone will be able to do.

 

[Studum]

Was it a relatively inexpensive cost cutting measure by Mazda? Heck yes. Would it be nice to have it all illuminated? Absolutely, even better would be auto up/down on all, or at least the front 2 windows.

Was it a deal breaker for me? Nope

Will I add it if there's a decently easy solution? Probably, when the mod bug starts to itch.

 

[Chazzy J]

@Studum.

You mention the auto-down feature. I actually think this might be possible as well, but would be much more expensive and still no guarantee. The Mazda6 has all of the proper circuitry in the electrical board to make it work. You'd need to swap out window motors and circuit boards on the rest of the doors and probably run some additional wires. It'd definitely be an intense job, but I do think it's completely doable -- the only real hurdle is hoping and ensuring the Mazda6 motors mount over to the Mazda3.

Even then, there's many ways this could be tested. I don't foresee myself taking on this part of the project any time soon. I will probably run out of the "OEM" projects on this car sometime in 2017. So who knows, maybe I'll get bored and see if this is possible later next year.

 

[Studum]

@Studum.

You mention the auto-down feature. I actually think this might be possible as well, but would be much more expensive and still no guarantee. The Mazda6 has all of the proper circuitry in the electrical board to make it work. You'd need to swap out window motors and circuit boards on the rest of the doors and probably run some additional wires. It'd definitely be an intense job, but I do think it's completely doable -- the only real hurdle is hoping and ensuring the Mazda6 motors mount over to the Mazda3.

Even then, there's many ways this could be tested. I don't foresee myself taking on this part of the project any time soon. I will probably run out of the "OEM" projects on this car sometime in 2017. So who knows, maybe I'll get bored and see if this is possible later next year.

Anything is possible with enough time and $$$ :wink2:

I only mentioned it because I didn't know how awesome of a feature that was until we were spoiled with it in my wife's car.

It's another thing that would be nice to have for me but wasn't a deal breaker. I get that Mazda still wants to keep some premium features for the 6 to make sure that the 6 stays upmarket. The auto windows, gauge cluster and memory seat wasn't enough to make me want to make the jump from the 3 to the 6 when I was shopping, however if the 6 wagon was over here that would've been a whole different ball game.

I would be willing to tinker to illuminate my switches if an equipment list and schematics were available, but if auto windows involves anything more than modifying the switch in the driver's door my car will unfortunately never see that improvement made.

 

[Chazzy J]

@Studum

Well more to come on that equipment list and schematics. This weekend will be the tell-all as to whether I can do this and still maintain everything with an OEM look and feel.

 

[m6modder]

These are the little irritations that you do not notice during a test drive until you get the vehicle home. So sad that Mazda goes cheap on this.

 

[Studum]

@Chazzy J

Looking forward to it and I will be paying attention. It sounds like you follow the same mod philosophy as I do. OEM subtlety, OEM fit and finish. Ones where most people won't know the difference but you will. You may be the one to push me over the edge for my first mod LOL

 

[stevenvillatoro]

Does it bug you that your Power window switches and lock/unlock button don't light up at night?

No, it doesn't bug me about the power window/lock buttons, because I know where my hand will land on them.

But it does bug me that the review mirror doesn't have lights to help find the Homelink and cancel-autodimming buttons in the dark.

I'm going to add some self-sticking clear plastic cabinet door bumpers to distinguish those buttons at night.

 

[Chazzy J]

Alright Guys. This is not going to be easy -- but I guess if it were gonna be easy, someone would've done it already.

Here's what the circuit boards look like. M3 on the bottom, M6 on the top. I haven't tried it, but you can see that there's much more complicated circuitry on the M6 board. There's only one LED integrated into both boards.

You'll see the M6 board has all 4 silver contact slabs for the autodown feature. the M3 board only has one contact slab, the other 3 are true switches. So w/o even wasting my time, I highly doubt the M6 board will work because of the more complicated circuitry and what I'm sure is, the need for a different wiring harness

 

[Chazzy J]

So step two was to pry the actual toggle switches off. It was quite easy, but I didn't find what I was hoping to find. The M6 has all four window switches with the long stem toggle switch (on the top in the pic), and the M3 has 3 short stem toggle switches to make use of the actual switches in the circuit board. And the M3 has 1 long stem toggle switch to take advantage of the auto down feature.

The long stem toggle switch for the M3 is identical to the ones for the M6.

The long stem switch has the translucent "light window" integrated in all switches. It's baked in during the manufacturing process -- it ain't coming out.

So time for mission impossible: create 1/4" guide holes on both switches, dremel off the stems, prep the surface and feed a 1/2" #6 machine screw through to mount the short stem to the switch with the translucent "light window"? Crazy right? I know...

But for you nay sayers, I've already done one switch and it works perfect. but it ain't for the faint of heart. This takes time, patience, and the proper balance between gentle and forceful as to not break anything. The M6 switch also requires some grinding on the corners to allow for the same kind of travel that the M3 switches have.

Stay tuned...more to come... for now, I'm gonna go play with my daughter.

 

[Chazzy J]

And by guide holes, I mean drilling through the back of the toggle switch. The bottom right is complete. You'll see what I mean (pics below, sideways, again...) The head of the screw is covered up by the trim in the car. You'll never even know it's there. Bottom left stock switch is my "comparison" switch so I can make sure the modified switch as the same, feel, feedback, travel, etc -- which it does. You'd never know it was modified.

 

[minsanity]

opcorn: opcorn:
This is Oscar-worthy..& we're not even halfway thru yet.....