3G Protegé: How to make the electric windows work with the ignition off
May-23rd-2007 | 02:25 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 18
3G Protegé: How to make the electric windows work with the ignition off
I originally posted this somewhere else back in 2002, but there should be a copy on this how-to board.
*************
Am I the only one that gets p*$$ed off when I shut off the engine and then realize that I still need to open or close a window? Windows
that are only operable when the ignition is on perturb me. If I'm
the only one, the rest of you can delete this message without reading any further.
Here is a step-by-step procedure for making the windows work whenever you push a button, regardless whether the ignition is on or not. It is reversible, so you can try it and then switch it back if you don't like it:
1) Disconnect the battery if you're that kinda guy. I'm not, didn't
disconnect it, dunno why bother with a job this simple.
2) Remove the plastic sill cover from the driver's door opening. This involves grabbing it and yanking straight up.
3) Peel the door jam seal up for about six inches near the fuse
access door.
4) Way back at the outboard corner of the footwell, remove one of
those buttons that are removed by carefully prying the center dot up.
5) Remove the cover surrounding the fuses. After steps 2, 3, and 4, this involves a yank.
6) I'd call the thing holding the fuses a "fuse box" but Mazda calls
it a "Joint Box" -- perhaps to distinguish it from the "Fuse Block"
which is in the engine compartment. Anyhow, there are several
connectors plugged into the back of the Joint Box; you need to unplug the one at the bottom, a connector designed for eight terminals in two rows of four but with only six terminals in it. You may choose to unbolt the Joint Box from the car (one Phillips screw and one 10mm bolt) to make this easier; I did.
7) By looking into the two unused slots in the plug, note how a
plastic tang inside retains each terminal. Then using a jeweller's
screwdriver or a toothpick or something similarly pointy, pop the R/W terminal out of its slot, move it over to the unused slot next to it, and snap it back in there. You might want to cut away some of the black tape around the wires to make this easier. Before you started, that row of four slots was
B/W - R/W - empty - empty
but after you're done it should be
B/W - empty - R/W - empty
8) Plug the connector back into the Joint Box.
9) At the bottom right of the array of fuses in this Joint Box,
there is a large pink box-shaped 30A fuse for the power windows.
Just above it, there's an empty fuse slot for the same type fuse.
Pull this fuse, move it up to that empty slot, and plug it back in.
At this point, you can test your windows (if you didn't disconnect
the battery).
10) Slap it all back together.
11) On the back side of the fuse access door, use some white-out to indicate the moved fuse.
You're done. It took a LOT less time to do it than to write this up!
FYI, all the electricity in this car goes through three fuses. First
there is a 100A fuse in the fuse block under the hood that protects everything. Then there are several 40A and 60A fuses in that same fuse block that each protect some group of circuits. Then there are many smaller fuses in the Joint Box that protect individual circuits.
As should be apparent, the 30A fuse that protected the individual
power window circuit will continue to protect it, although from a
different slot. On the groups of circuits, the power window load has been taken off a 60A fuse in the fuse block labelled "IG KEY" and has been added to a 40A fuse labelled "BTN". This doesn't seem to pose a problem; in fact, there's ANOTHER fuse labelled as being for power windows that actually does nothing, and that fuse was powered through the BTN 40A fuse. That may represent some earlier incarnation of power window wiring.
As an alternative idea, one could splice in another terminal on that
R/W wire and make it connect to both slots in that plug. With that
arrangement, you could decide whether you wanted the windows to work with or without ignition by simply moving that fuse back and forth between the two slots. However, you'd need to remember not to plug fuses into BOTH slots at the same time, because that would allow power to backfeed from one to the other and you couldn't shut anything off.
Having the windows work without the ignition on isn't a security
issue, since you have to be INSIDE the car to push a button. I made this same mod to another car more than a decade ago, and my wife and I have found no downsides at all, it's just far more convenient.
BTW, the switch in the driver's armrest that disables the power
windows will still work because it breaks the ground circuit to the
windows.
***************
Sorry, no pix to offer. I don't have a camera worth a flip.
The little button on the window control panel that says "Auto" will be forever illuminated with this mod. It's an LED, uses so little power that your battery will die of boredom before it dies due to this power drain. But if having that little nightlight glowing in the garage bugs you, forget this mod.
*************
Am I the only one that gets p*$$ed off when I shut off the engine and then realize that I still need to open or close a window? Windows
that are only operable when the ignition is on perturb me. If I'm
the only one, the rest of you can delete this message without reading any further.
Here is a step-by-step procedure for making the windows work whenever you push a button, regardless whether the ignition is on or not. It is reversible, so you can try it and then switch it back if you don't like it:
1) Disconnect the battery if you're that kinda guy. I'm not, didn't
disconnect it, dunno why bother with a job this simple.
2) Remove the plastic sill cover from the driver's door opening. This involves grabbing it and yanking straight up.
3) Peel the door jam seal up for about six inches near the fuse
access door.
4) Way back at the outboard corner of the footwell, remove one of
those buttons that are removed by carefully prying the center dot up.
5) Remove the cover surrounding the fuses. After steps 2, 3, and 4, this involves a yank.
6) I'd call the thing holding the fuses a "fuse box" but Mazda calls
it a "Joint Box" -- perhaps to distinguish it from the "Fuse Block"
which is in the engine compartment. Anyhow, there are several
connectors plugged into the back of the Joint Box; you need to unplug the one at the bottom, a connector designed for eight terminals in two rows of four but with only six terminals in it. You may choose to unbolt the Joint Box from the car (one Phillips screw and one 10mm bolt) to make this easier; I did.
7) By looking into the two unused slots in the plug, note how a
plastic tang inside retains each terminal. Then using a jeweller's
screwdriver or a toothpick or something similarly pointy, pop the R/W terminal out of its slot, move it over to the unused slot next to it, and snap it back in there. You might want to cut away some of the black tape around the wires to make this easier. Before you started, that row of four slots was
B/W - R/W - empty - empty
but after you're done it should be
B/W - empty - R/W - empty
8) Plug the connector back into the Joint Box.
9) At the bottom right of the array of fuses in this Joint Box,
there is a large pink box-shaped 30A fuse for the power windows.
Just above it, there's an empty fuse slot for the same type fuse.
Pull this fuse, move it up to that empty slot, and plug it back in.
At this point, you can test your windows (if you didn't disconnect
the battery).
10) Slap it all back together.
11) On the back side of the fuse access door, use some white-out to indicate the moved fuse.
You're done. It took a LOT less time to do it than to write this up!
FYI, all the electricity in this car goes through three fuses. First
there is a 100A fuse in the fuse block under the hood that protects everything. Then there are several 40A and 60A fuses in that same fuse block that each protect some group of circuits. Then there are many smaller fuses in the Joint Box that protect individual circuits.
As should be apparent, the 30A fuse that protected the individual
power window circuit will continue to protect it, although from a
different slot. On the groups of circuits, the power window load has been taken off a 60A fuse in the fuse block labelled "IG KEY" and has been added to a 40A fuse labelled "BTN". This doesn't seem to pose a problem; in fact, there's ANOTHER fuse labelled as being for power windows that actually does nothing, and that fuse was powered through the BTN 40A fuse. That may represent some earlier incarnation of power window wiring.
As an alternative idea, one could splice in another terminal on that
R/W wire and make it connect to both slots in that plug. With that
arrangement, you could decide whether you wanted the windows to work with or without ignition by simply moving that fuse back and forth between the two slots. However, you'd need to remember not to plug fuses into BOTH slots at the same time, because that would allow power to backfeed from one to the other and you couldn't shut anything off.
Having the windows work without the ignition on isn't a security
issue, since you have to be INSIDE the car to push a button. I made this same mod to another car more than a decade ago, and my wife and I have found no downsides at all, it's just far more convenient.
BTW, the switch in the driver's armrest that disables the power
windows will still work because it breaks the ground circuit to the
windows.
***************
Sorry, no pix to offer. I don't have a camera worth a flip.
The little button on the window control panel that says "Auto" will be forever illuminated with this mod. It's an LED, uses so little power that your battery will die of boredom before it dies due to this power drain. But if having that little nightlight glowing in the garage bugs you, forget this mod.
May-23rd-2007 | 05:26 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 18
Love that kitty sig, by the way. Saved it to disk so I can watch it all the time.
August-7th-2007 | 11:48 PM
#5
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 866
From: DC metro area
what tool do you use to pull that R/W wire out? i tried a toothpick, pliers, and some sharp objects from a multi-tool and i think ive done more damage than good. thanks.
-meGrimlock
----- edit ------
a friend lent me their jeweler toolset thing. its really a micro screwdriver set but it did the job. what a different that made. i had been using the pointy tools on my multitool and a couple other things i could find around the house to no avail. thanks for the excellent write up and an ever useful mod.
-meGrimlock
----- edit ------
a friend lent me their jeweler toolset thing. its really a micro screwdriver set but it did the job. what a different that made. i had been using the pointy tools on my multitool and a couple other things i could find around the house to no avail. thanks for the excellent write up and an ever useful mod.
Last edited by meGrimlock; August-11th-2007 at 10:58 AM.
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