2006 honda ridgeline 545t nite lite issue

I installed a dei 545t module to control my headlights when it gets dark. The module works ok and turns the headlights and parking lights on when the photocell doesn't see enough light. I clipped the red wire to disable the daytime running lights. I also hooked the aux wire up to my viper 5902 to have the option to turn on my headlights with aux 1 on my remote. Aux 1 is set to validity on the viper and it is not linked to anything. I also connected the orange wire from the 545t to the orange wire on the viper (ground when armed output)as the instructions said. Here is my issue. When I hit the aux 1 button on my remote, the parking lights just flash till the 545t module times out. The headlights never come on. Any idea what I did wrong?

Nick

After messing around for a bit I think I found the problem. I don't know how to fix it though. When I unplug the headlight switch everything works as designed, headlights come on and parking lights flash. Is there another place to grab the wire or can I isolate it somehow. Wire measures about 5v when off and is a negative trigger.

I found a wiring diagram for the 2006 Ridgeline. The headlights in the Ridgeline are CAN Buss. I've never worked with a Ridgeline, but I spent an hour just now teaching myself the lighting circuit. Use the following with caution (TEST!), I may not be correct.

There are 4 wires at the headlight switch.
brn (ground at all times, this is the 'input' to the switch)
red (grounded in OFF)
blue (grounded for park/tail lights)
blu/red (grounded for headlights and park/tail lights).

The first thing I would do is test that a light switch input wakes up the CAN Bus. It probably does. Unplug the light switch. With doors closed, key off, RAP shut down, etc. Jumper brn to blu/red. If head and tail lights come on, you're good to continue. (There may not be headlights with Ignition off. If not, none of this will work as written).

Next thing is you will have to add wires to both relay terminal #87a in the 545T satellite. If this isn't possible, you will have to obtain 2 cube relays, and wire them instead of the satellite.

Wire the 545T satellite relays as follows: (If you need help with the other connections for cube relays, ask, but I suspect you can figure it out).

545T PARK / TAIL Relay:
Cut the red wire in two.
30 = red wire towards switch (545T blue)
87a = red wire towards module
87 = to #30 on Head Light relay (545T brown)

545T HEAD Light Relay:
30 = Park/Tail Relay #87 (545T green)
87a = tap to blue wire at light switch
87 = tap to blu/red wire at light switch (545T violet)

One attribute of this arrangement is that if the light switch is turned from OFF, the lights function normally, and the 545T is disabled. ( The relays loose the ground at pin 30 of the PARK relay unless light switch is OFF). So the switch overrides the 545T. Kind of neat, because that's the way I think it should be.

Test. Then test again. But this should work. I'd appreciate feedback as to whether it did or didn't. I've got about 2 hours in researching and writing this.
DP

Wow! Thanks Dave. I will do this this afternoon and let you know how things turned out.

Good Morning.

I had a thought about this. There may an unanticipated result.

The Ridgeline light switch grounds only one output at a time. The red wire for OFF. The blue wire for tail-only, or the blu/red for tail and headlight. Never more than one wire at the same time. My circuit takes this into account. I only ground tail or tail/head at the 545T headlight relay.

IF the 545T attempts to "flash" the park lights, but hold the headlights "on", my circuit will flash both at the same time. And if the 545T calls for headlights-only (no tail lights) then nothing will come on, because the 545T tail light relay is in "off" position. This may not be exactly what you expect, but explains why this is what you will get. :grin:. I wish I knew more about the 545T's strategies, so I could better predict the behavior.

DP

Bummer. I was just going out to wire it up and thought I'd check this post again. Can u explain why everything works perfectly when I unplug the switch? The headlights stay on for about 30 seconds after I exit the vehicle when it's dark out and the parking lights flash as they are supposed to? Plug in the headlight switch and the headlights don't come on but the parking lights flash.

Where / how did you connect the satellite relay wires to the ridgeline?

Knowing that, I'll go back to the diagrams and see if I can figure out how to "fix" it.

ffyter wrote:

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Can u explain why everything works perfectly when I unplug the switch?

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My guess is that the red OFF wire needs to be interrupted, and that's what happens when you unplug the switch. Otherwise the Ridgeline sees the "OFF" request at the switch, and the headlights stay off.

My inclination is to try cutting the switch's red wire in two, and see if you get the same results as you get with the switch unplugged. If so, we'll wire a third relay into the red wire that interrupts the OFF signal to the control module.

Ridgeline light switch, interrupt OFF, for use with 545T:

Cut red wire at light switch in two.
87 = Not Connected
87a = red wire towards module
30 = red wire towards switch.
86 = red control wire of 545T relays. comes out of 545T module. B+ at all times.
85 = green control wire of 545T relays. From 545T module. (-) trigger for headlight relay. Note 1:

Note 1: I'm taking an educated guess that the green control wire is the headlight relay. Because the relay output for headlight is green. The install manual doesn't specify. You want the Off Interrupt Relay #86 on the same trigger that goes (-) for headlights on.

545 wires are as follows. I will try cutting the red wire and see what happens. Thanks for your persistence on this! I was going to give up.

Relay wires

Brown. Ground
Violet.    Ground
Blue.   Headlight switch plug blue wire
Green. Headlight switch wire blue/red

Other wires from 545

Red. White at ignition
Orange. Orange from viper 5902
Black. Ground
Blue/white. Aux1 from viper WHITE/ violet
Yellow. BLACK / YELLOW at ignition
Green. GREEN / WHITE at wiper switch

Ridgeline light switch, interrupt OFF, for use with 545T:

Cut red wire at light switch in two.
87 = Not Connected
87a = red wire towards module
30 = red wire towards switch.
86 = red control wire of 545T relays. comes out of 545T module. B+ at all times.
85 = green control wire of 545T relays. From 545T module. (-) trigger for headlight relay. Note 1:

Note 1: I'm taking an educated guess that the green control wire is the headlight relay. Because the relay output for headlight is green. The install manual doesn't specify. You want the Off Interrupt Relay #86 on the same trigger that goes (-) for headlights on.[/QUOTE]

For 85 and 86 I assume I am piggy backing onto these wires and leaving their current connections intact from the module to the satelite relay?

ffyter wrote:

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For 85 and 86 I assume I am piggy backing onto these wires and leaving their current connections intact from the module to the satelite relay?

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Yes. If the headlights come on with red wire cut, with the current connections you outline above, this will work. You want both the satellite headlight relay and the 'red wire interrupt relay' to turn on at the same time.

I will give this a test tomorrow afternoon and get back to u on the results.

It worked!! The headlights come on as they are supposed to after wiring the relay in. Parking lights come on and stay on constantly. Relay clicks as they are supposed to flash the parking lights while the headlights are off when I turn the vehicle off but that doesn't bother me. Thanks a ton Dave !