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Does it bug you that your power windows and door lock/unlock button don't light up

  • Yes, it bugs me

    Votes: 152 71.0%

  • Meh, I could take it or leave it

    Votes: 41 19.2%

  • No, doesn't really bug me

    Votes: 21 9.8%
  • Total voters
    214

Non-Lit Power Window/Door Lock Switches

35199 Views 118 Replies 31 Participants Last post by  thelordrhyan, 
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.
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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.
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Studum
Chazzy J said:
@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.
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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.
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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 :)
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Studum
The boards look to be the same physical size and shape for both cars.

Do you have pin-outs for the switch assembly for both cars? Or could someone assist with finding them?

I'm just wondering if we can take a look and confirm if the "auto" feature is built into the control panel that you're looking at or if there's more to it in the car with additional modules / wiring / etc. Just thinking it may be worth looking at and confirming before you go too far now that you have both available to you at the same time.

If the pin outs are the same I would assume that the control boards (and switches) are interchangeable from one car to another and could potentially mean that the auto feature is built into the control panel.
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Studum
@Chazzy J

OK, same physical size and same connector are a really good start. But I personally wouldn't go just plugging the M6 switch into your car just yet - I really don't want you to fry anything in the exciting possibility that this may work as we hope it might.

What we should look at before you plug into the car are the pin-out schematics for the connectors in both cars to make sure the wiring I/O's pair up correctly between the cars, and that nothing is missing. I'm imaging the connectors should be the same pin-out based on what we've seen so far (as long as nothing is missing from any of the pins) but I'd still like to be sure. I can help read these diagrams if we can find them.


Why I'm wondering if the controller is built into the circuit board is because I believe (though I can't confirm) that they work by basically holding the switch until they sense the added load in the system of the motors being at the end of their travel. This is why you have to re-program the switch for the auto up and down features after disconnecting it.

What I'm not 100% sure of is if this "sensing" is done in that switch circuit board (hopefully it is!) or in a body control module elsewhere in the vehicle (which would suck for us!).

Regardless before you plug in the M6 control board I would like to make sure that all of the wires in the harness are in the right spots so nothing gets fried by mistake when you try to operate the switches.


With that all said - solid work so far. The switches that you've modded look perfect. And if the M6 control board is plug and play I know what my first mod will be :)

This thread has the potential to become 2 great things:
- Illuminating the OEM switches = DONE (Nice work!)
- Converting to auto down, and making illuminating the switches easier??? (Fingers crossed here!)
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Studum
3
I agree, I believe we're dead in the water. Thanks for the link to the service manual as I now have it - I took some time to dig in because it's all I could think about LOL. If you haven't already ordered a second switch I wouldn't bother. If you have I would try to cancel it.

The good news is that from the diagram it DOES appear as though the power window control module is built into the switch. The bad news is that even if the connectors are the same it does confirm that there are additional sensors in the window regulator that's used in the auto up/down applications that are not in the standard window motors. At least if they are, they are not shown in the diagrams. The wiring connectors at each motor appear to be the same but I highly doubt they would've put the more complex motors and the additional wires in the other doors and just left the control module out. I would think that would negate any real cost savings.

What I'm not sure of is if the M6 board would still work as standard switches for the other 3 doors without the auto motors in those doors. Of course the danger there would be if auto mode tries to work but doesn't have the safety stop and you burn out a motor...

Oh well, it was worth a good look at.

Attached are some clips I grabbed from the manual for the 3 to show what I mean.

EDIT: I didn't see your pics the first time I read your post. We picked out pretty much the exact some things.

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Studum
And mine is a 2017 face lifted model in Canada. Dang LOL.

Ahh well, you win some you lose some.
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Studum
Whoah, at this point based on that post I believe something - at least minor - is different between the board in your 16 and my 17.

I believe my lock / unlock button is already illuminated. I have to double check to be absolutely sure but I think I remember noticing that when I pulled in the garage last night. I'll report back when I have a chance to take a look and confirm.
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Studum
Chazzy J said:
@Studum @minsanity

Hey guys. On the wiring schematics, do I want to use the 1K or 1L pinslot to draw power for the LEDs? I'm just using a simple T-Tap connector. It looks like 1K is the IG1 relay (ignition relay I presume) which is what this needs to be wired to. But with my limited electrical knowledge, I see the 1L pin is the fuse relay -- do I want to tap that instead? Guidance por favor! Thank you gents!
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Both of those look like they're used for the circuits to drive the power window windows. What you want to look for is the wire that controls the illumination - the wire that shows voltage when the headlights are turned on.

I haven't seen the full schematic for the plug and don't have time to look right now but my guess is that you'll want to be looking in the body illumination section somewhere (or whatever similar name the sections is called).
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Studum
That'll for sure work. It just means that the LEDs will always be on as long as the car is on. Unless that's how it is OEM and we just can't tell due to the color of the switch printing and ambient light...

The pin 1F on this diagram makes me wonder what it is - as it doesn't show it connected to anything and it's only on the driver's side switch diagram (the only one with a light in your car) and not the other 3 switches. I'm wondering if that's an illumination control wire from the RBCM to the control panel.

I haven't been able to find where pin 3D is on the RBCM or what it does though in the little time I've had to take a look.

First I'd check if the LED is on all the time, even if the headlights are off. If it is carry on as you planned.

If the LED turns on and off with interior illumination I would test pin 1F at the window switch for voltage when the lights are turned on and off to see if that's the control wire.

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Studum
Scratch that... I just found the complete pin out for the switch harness.

Pages 6143 to 6146 of 10229 of the service manual.

I do not see an illumination circuit at all. Pin 1F is a door monitoring circuit so scratch that.

It looks like the LED is either on all the time or the illumination is controlled through some more advanced electronic witchcraft that I won't be able to figure out.

1K is IGN+ 12V
1L is BAT+ 12V

Don't use 1L LOL
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Studum
Chazzy J said:
Thank you my friend. That is very informative. I can confirm the light is on all the time. As you mentioned, it's lightly lit, so difficult to tell in the day time

Also, can you post a link of the manual you're looking at? The link I'm using has blank pages on it when I refer to 6143
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I was looking at the manual you sent me the link to. I downloaded it and was using adobe reader off of my PC. If you are looking at it through the plugin on your browser I would try downloading it and see if that helps.

FYI I can also confirm that the power lock switch is illuminated in my 17, but only that and the driver's window.
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Studum
Hopefully you can get it to where you're happy with it. Looks good though.
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