Can I turn off the auto lights?

rolandsvoy

Original poster
Member
Jan 16, 2012
7
Hello again, this is something that has been bugging me. For my own reasons, I don't like when all the lights come on automatically. I like having the daytime running lights for safety, but I'd rather have it so that the only way that all the lights come on is if I turn the switch myself. I was reading on the other site that you can put a resistor in the wiring to the light sensor on the dash which will make it think that its always daylight so that the auto lights dont come on but the directions weren't very clear so I figured I'd ask the real pros here! Thanks for any help!
 

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
I know Sam (Bo Tie SS) did this mod, hopefully he can chime in and tell you what size resistor he used. :yes:
 

RayVoy

Member
Nov 20, 2011
939
The sensor is nothing more than a light sensitive resistor, called a LDR (light dependent resistor). The resistance is high when the sensor is dark, as the light intensity increases, the resistance decreases.

These things can range from 10m ohms when dark to as little as 10 ohms when in direct bright light.

I do not know the range of the LDR used by GM, but any high resistance resistor should work for you (you can probably measure the resistance using a meter, keeping the sensor in the dark.

You have a SLE, so it should be equipped with the manual HVAC, and your light sensor will be a 2 wire device (the auto HVAC requires a sensor with 3 leads), unplugging the sensor and installing the resistor across the connector will probably work.

You might even try disconnecting the sensor and leaving it disconnected (an open is high resistance).

I searched a number of other GM vehicle forums, the suggested size ranges from 600 ohm to 1500 (1.5k) ohm.
 

Boricua SS

Member
Nov 20, 2011
3,080
Ohio
Blckshdw said:
I know Sam (Bo Tie SS) did this mod, hopefully he can chime in and tell you what size resistor he used. :yes:

:iagree:

we were at my brothers house when he thought of this and did a little testing... paging BO TIE SS!! :crackup:
 

DJones

Member
Jan 21, 2012
701
St. Petersburg, Florida
RayVoy said:
I searched a number of other GM vehicle forums, the suggested size ranges from 600Ω to 1.5kΩ.

Put a pot in there and have them all, with an adjustable sensitivity level.
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
DJones said:
Put a pot in there and have them all, with an adjustable sensitivity level.
I predict you will be asked for an exact Radio Shack part number, a circuit diagram (when people discover a pot is a three terminal device and there's only two wires to connect it to), an illustrated installation flowchart, and recommended places to hide the pot. :rotfl: If you had all that tested out, you could be a hero. :thumbsup:

Plus how large the fuse should be to protect the circuit. :biggrin:
 

MAY03LT

Member
Nov 18, 2011
3,412
Delmarva
Well I had done this mod but didn't know what resistor Sam (BO TIE SS) gave me.:redface:

A resistor between 100 and 1200 ohms will work. This applies to the 2 wire sensor only.
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
MAY03LT said:
This applies to the 2 wire sensor only.
Both the 2-wire and the 4-wire sensor use the black and white wires for the ambient light sensor. (For the technically curious, the 4-wire sensor in the automatic/digital HVAC systems - RPO code CJ2 - has three photodiode sensors. One for ambient light used for the headlights, and two for left/right sunlight sensing to help the HVAC control module predict which side of the vehicle - or neither - is going to be hotter due to sunlight hitting that side. A passenger being kept at a temperature not to her liking is an unhappy passenger. :lipsrsealed: )
 

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