2004 f350 domelight issue

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or not.  I've got an older DEI Hornet 574 Remote Start alarm system in my truck and since putting in I've had random "non-function" of the domelight.  I'll disarm the truck and open a door (doesn't matter which one, sometimes even multiple doors open) and the domelight will not come on.  Since I've got the "door trigger" on the BK/LB domelight wire, the alarm doesn't know a door has been opened and it will rearm (auto arming enabled) unless I notice the domelight issue and manually turn it on from the headlight switch.  This doesn't happen all the time, not even most of the time, but often enough to be very annoying.  It also makes me wonder if it's possible that a crook could open a door without triggering the alarm.  Here are some alarm facts in addition to the problem description above, I just don't know what to make of this truck or where to go next to make sure it always works like it should.

1. "Door Trigger" is on the BK/LB wire exiting the instrument cluster.  This is the main relay output for the domelight according to my wiring diagrams book for this truck.  When the domelight does come on, the alarm does detect it correctly.  Several online wiring references for alarms in this truck say to use the same wire color but pick it up in the kick panel.  Is there any good reason why my location is a problem?

2. I armed my alarm and waited almost 10 minutes...the inside door lock button will still unlock the truck.  This would seem to indicate that I don't need a GEM WAKE-UP for this truck.  Just to be save, I installed one today but I can't tell yet if the problem has gone away.  According to the GWA diagram, doing this will cause the domelight to activate when unlocking the truck...it does not???  I access all 3 of the necessary wires for the GWA right at the plug on the vehicle security module rather than at the door boot...not sure why it would matter but wanted to make that clear.

3. Lock and Unlock functions work perfectly.  Until today I didn't know that I should use DOUBLE PULSE UNLOCK, so up until now it's always been single pulse.  I did change it today so maybe that will help the situation?

4. The GWA diagrams got me thinking.  It says that the door triggers REST AT GROUND, PULSE TO 12V+ AND RETURN TO GROUND WHEN OPENED.  If that's the case, why are we breaking ground on that wire to wake the GEM instead of pulsing a 12v+.  It would be really easy to do, swap the latch side (blue wire in diagram) to the 87a post, the GEM side (red wire in diagram) to the 30 post and jumper the 12v+ constant from 86 to 87.  Whenever the keyless module pulses ground on 85, a 12v+ pulse will hit the door ajar wire of the GEM...wouldn't that work better and be more like opening the door or is there a good reason not to do that?

The dash is still torn apart in this truck, I'm hoping to get some good input before I put everything back together.  I'm NOT an expert in this stuff by any means, but I'm smart enough to understand how things work and that's why I'm so annoyed that the stupid domelight acts this way.

Thank You very much for your time!!!!!!!!

Dome light supervision is ORANGE / lt.green behind the light switch. This does NOT detect the doors.

If you are going to use the (POS)+ door trigger via the dome light, (the black and blue) make sure your dimmer switch stays ON, or

your doors will not be detected.

What do you mean "make sure your dimmer switch stays on"???  The dimmer switch is always at full brightness, but not clicked to ON (otherwise the domelight would be on all the time).  Am I missing something here?

I was thinking about this after I replied earlier...are you suggesting that I use the domelight supervision to manually enable the domelight when I disarm the alarm to prevent the problem of the light not coming on when I open the door?  That still doesn't answer the problem of "what if the domelight doesn't come on when someone opens the door and the alarm is ARMED"???

Also, does anyone know if the delay in turning off the domelight after exiting the vehicle in the Ford trucks defeatable?  I hate that the domelight stays on for 25 seconds, I've heard of several instances recently where crooks wait for people to get just far enough away and then they pop the door before the light goes out so they can rob it without setting off the alarm.  As far as I'm concerned, when I exit and push "arm", the stupid light should go out.

Use a dome supervision  output from your alarm on the ORANGE / lt.green this will be a negative output that comes on when the vehicle is unlocked.

Your door protection will be done thru a different connection. The BLACK/ blue that you talked about. This is a posative trigger. The problem with using this is if you shut the doome light OFF.

Remember the light has 3 positions..... ON, OFF, and door. if it's shut OFF...... noo door trigger. If the dome light cannot come on (because the switch is OFF)

Are you suggesting this as the fix for my domelight not working properly?  Having the alarm trigger the domelight upon disarm would solve the problem of the light not coming on and the alarm trying to automatically rearm when I'm entering the vehicle...BUT...it still doesn't solve the problem of WHAT IF SOMEONE JIMMYS THE DOOR HANDLE AND OPENS THE DOOR AND THE DOMELIGHT DOESN'T COME ON AND THE ALARM DOESN'T TRIGGER?

I'm trying to find out if anyone else has ever had a Super Duty (or other Ford car/truck) that had random domelight problems like this.  Just to be clear, even with the GEM WAKE-UP wired in, this IS still a problem...did it to me just this morning.  I disarmed the alarm (I heard both unlock pulses), opened the door and the domelight did not come on and the alarm LED was flashing quickly because it was going to auto rearm if I didn't manually turn the domelight on.

OK, now I see where you are going.  This truck DOES NOT HAVE the switch to turn the light off like that.  There is NO control at all for whether the domelight comes on with the doors or not.  The ONLY control of the domelight is the rotary dimmer switch on the headlight switch assembly, which is how you manually turn the domelight on.  The domelight should work every time the doors are opened (but of course it isn't, which is why I'm in here trying to get answers).  I believe that the domelight in this truck is totally controlled by the VEHICLE SECURITY MODULE (what some are calling the GEM).  All of the door ajar wires feed that box and I believe that the VSM is what triggers the domelight relay that is built into the instrument cluster.  Per the GEM WAKE-UP instructions, I've cut the drivers front door-ajar wire (yw/bk) and run it though a relay so that when the alarm is disarmed that connection is broken (goes from ground to open) 2x.  This gets back to my original question about the GWA above, why are we showing the VSM an "open" 2x to wake it up when opening the door pulses 12v (according to the GWA diagram)...shouldn't we pulse 12v to wake the GEM?

One other thing...just to be sure I didn't miss something...I don't see any reference to using the FACTORY ALARM ARM and FACTORY ALARM DISARM outputs from the DEI alarm to control the Ford Keyless Entry.  I am not using these, should I be?  If so, what wires on the VSM do I need to tie into (didn't see it on any of the Ford Super Duty wiring diagrams I've downloaded).

Thank you very much for your time.  I hope that my clarification helps in diagnosing this problem. 

Ok, so i've never done the particular vehicle in question, but here goes, the wire you are currently using for the door trigger is not the "proper" wire to use for this, why it is said to pick uo this signal at the driver's kick panel is because this connection would be before the relay and it would always be instant instead of delayed like the dome light wire, doing this would solve your problem of someone opening the door and the alarm not triggering. That's one part, now as you said your door triggers are positive, so you are correct when you say to perform a gem wake up you would have to pulse the door wire with a twelve volts and not ground, you can also use the door trigger signal at the kick panel to wake the gem up. Why would you pulse a wire resting at ground with a ground? 

Why your light isn't coming on as it should, i really can't say, but for the most part the above would take care of at least part of you problem.

If you disagree, read my signature.

I will need to look at the diagram again, but if I'm not mistaken the domelight wire I'm using is the relay controlled output to the light itself.  This relay is triggered by the GEM, which is triggered by the door ajar wire (one for each door).  I believe that the wire of the same color in either kick panel is AFTER where I have my connection and would result in the same behavior.  I will need to verify this in my wiring diagram book again...but that's what I'm remembering.

The door ajar wiring at each door RESTS AT GROUND and PULSES 12V+ AND RETURNS TO GROUND when the door is opened (assuming that the comment on the GEM Wake-Up diagram is correct).  The GWA setup and diagramed doesn't pulse ground, it pulses an OPEN (breaks the ground and then returns it).  If the GEM monitors the grounds for each door trigger, this would work to wake it up.  If the GEM is only looking for what opening the door actually does, then it would take a pulse to 12V+ to wake it up.

I suppose I could use the door ajar wire for each door to trigger the alarm...but then I would need to make 4 connections (and I'm assuming I would need to diode isolate them all though I'm not sure why) when using the single domelight connection should be the simplest way to go.

The most frustrating thing is that this is the simplest of functions...trigger the alarm when a door opens.  The auto-start works, the glow plug timer deal works, everything works exepet for this odd glitch in the basic alarm function and the strange domelight behavior.

Thanks again for your help...I'm open to any and all ideas.  I may try switching the GWA to throw a 12v+ pulse and see if that does anything...hopefully it won't damage something!