nissan single wire lock to dual gnd out

I have a door lock actuator from a 1994 Nissan Maxima that i'm using in the door of my 1990 Nissan 240SX (180SX in Japan, 200SX in Europe).

It works wonderfully for locking and unlocking the door using my alarm and screws into the factory position perfectly. It replaced a switch in the driver's door. The passenger door already had a door lock actuator from factory.

The problem i'm having is that the door lock has a single wire output.
It is Ground when unlocked, NC (Open) when locked.

But the car uses two wires which need to be momentarily grounded.
Unlock: ORANGE / Blue
Lock: ORANGE / Black

How do I convert the Ground/Open signal from the door lock into two momentary grounds?

Ground -> Momentary Ground ORANGE / Blue
NC (Open) -> Momentary Ground ORANGE / Black

I've spent hours looking through the relay diagrams but whatever I come up with is horribly complicated.

You need to tap into the door lock motor wires not the switch wire. The switch wire works as you described. The motor wires will have 2 wires on it. let me see if I can find info on the door lock motor wires..

sounds like you might have Type F locks. If you search the downloads section, search 1041, it shows you the setup for Type F.


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Ok the door lock motor wires are a Light Green wire and a light green and black stripe according to the service manual. They can be found at the "door lock timer" located in the passengers kick panel behind the ECM. If you can find the wiring harness going into the passenger door, I'm sure they will be in there too. You can test these wires for a Positive signal. One will show 12 volts when lock is pressed the other will show 12 volts when unlock is pressed. You will just tap into these wires and run them to the new actuator. when you hook them up to the new actuator you have a 50/50 chance of getting it correct. You will not hurt anything if you get it wrong the first time. You will know its incorrect because if you press lock on the door the actuator will do the opposite action of unlocking, and vice-versa. If that happens just reverse the 2 wires and check again.

Disregard my posts, I thought you were trying to integrate the 94 maxima's actuator in a spot that never had an actuator before. You are actually trying to integrate the switch. My posts have to do with the actuator, not the switch...

Thanks flobee4, I just realized I misread his setup.

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The car is Type B, but the lock I put into the driver's door is type F.

So I want to convert the type F signal into a Type B signal.


This is so that I can move the lock on the driver's door to lock and unlock the passenger door, like how it used to be when I had the switch in the driver's door instead of the passenger door.

Yeah, sorry I should have explained it better. Hopefully my post makes it clearer.

You are talking about the lock position switch located on the 94 maximas actuator itself?? If so then you are actually going from 2 seperate negative signals on the maxima's actuator to a "f" type one wire system in the car... right?

His car uses the Type F system and he's installing an actuator from a Type B car.

I'm trying to draw up a relay diagram but can't find one yet without having to keep a relay energized at all times.

Hey mikk999, do you know if when the single wire goes to the open ciruit for lock, does that wire show 12v at all?

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The car has the two wire system. The actuator has one wire.

Your original post states your car is a 1990 240sx which generally uses the Type F system with a 94 Maxima actuator which is usually 2-wire.

Is that correct?

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1992+ 240SX uses the Type F system.

Before 1992 the 240SX uses the Type B system.

Mine is 1990 Type B. It needs a momentary Ground to trigger lock or unlock. If I give it a constant ground it continuously powers the actuator and makes it stuck in one place.


The actuator I have gives a constant signal of either Ground or Open. I took it from a 1994 Maxima rear passenger door.

Going the other way round would be much easier but I can't get my head around making it work nicely with the parts I have.

Something here I don't understand. All actuators except deadlocking types have two (motor) wires.
If your vehicle right now is a type "B", just go to the control unit or find the existing motor wires parallel them onto the new one.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

howie ll wrote:

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Something here I don't understand. All actuators except deadlocking types have two (motor) wires.
If your vehicle right now is a type "B", just go to the control unit or find the existing motor wires parallel them onto the new one.

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Yes, I already did this. Also I already have the alarm system hooked up and locking and unlocking the doors.

But I want the factory function of the driver's door lock controlling the passenger door lock like how it did when there was just a switch in the driver's door instead of an actuator. So I want to convert the lock and unlock signal of the Type F lock to the lock and unlock signal of the Type B system.

I bowed out to this one, but Howie, he's not talking about the motor wires. He's talking about the micro-switch built into the actuator. Kinda like on a 5-wire aftermarket actuator that has the black, white, and brown wires for the internal micro-switches. His actuator only has one wire coming off his internal micro-switch. That wire reads ground in one position and N.O. in the other. He wants to integrate that into a standard Neg. pulse existing locking system in his car. This way when he moves the door switch on the drivers door, the passenger door lock will follow(central locking system)

Bloody well easier to buy an SPAL or MES 5 wire aftermarket and incorporate that into a type B system!
Or change the internal micro switch (good luck).
Or change the driver's door switch (but where in heaven's name will you find one that close to ground one way and open circuits the other?).
I bowed out on your 04 Maxima, pulled the wires from the mirror switch?
If he installs the existing actuator in the passenger door and retains his driver side, as long as he doesn't use the single "trigger" wire it will work. To control it from a passenger door switch, just use a normal SPCO momentary back to the lock control unit.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Thanks Flobee4, your explanation is exactly what I meant.

howie ll wrote:

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Bloody well easier to buy an SPAL or MES 5 wire aftermarket and incorporate that into a type B system!
Or change the internal micro switch (good luck).
Or change the driver's door switch (but where in heaven's name will you find one that close to ground one way and open circuits the other?).
I bowed out on your 04 Maxima, pulled the wires from the mirror switch?
If he installs the existing actuator in the passenger door and retains his driver side, as long as he doesn't use the single "trigger" wire it will work. To control it from a passenger door switch, just use a normal SPCO momentary back to the lock control unit.

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I had a SPAL type actuator, it worked, but the movement didn't suit the car and placement was exteremly hard. It locked me out a few times because internally the way I had to place it, it would move enough to trigger the lock signal with enough vibration from closing the door.
There's a possible way to change the internal microswitch but it would be very delicate and not suitable for inside a car door.
I already have a switch in the driver's door as part of the 94 Maxima actuator that is close to ground one way and open circuit the other.
For someone Flobee4's 04 Maxima right?
I've thought of a way to do it, which is to attach the original switch back to back with the actuator i've put in there. That makes the lock quite heavy though. I can see a way to do this electonically but it involves holding relays continuously most fo the time which I'm not sure is a good idea or not.

That last idea is a real no-no. Unless you use latching relays, with ordinary batteries you'll have a flat battery every time.

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.

Understanding how the F type locks work, my question is what voltage and polarity is used so the actuator knows when to lock or unlock.

You apply a ground to unlock and break the connection to lock on the same wire.

The actuator wire has to be tied to something for it to know these changes are happening? 12v constant? Lower voltage? I know usually it would go to a control unit first. That's what is making it hard to answer or figure out a solution.

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Frank, that's what I don't get all motors are the same, 2 motor wires*.
The only differences are the master motors, usually only driver or driver and passenger, these will also have a microswitch to trigger a separate relay, actually a timer relay as in the blue SPAL AND MES units.
*3 When they are also a deadlock, not germane to this thread.
Chuck one of those relays in, I guarantee you will then have NEG switching and your switch if you have a momentary SPCO will then work as you like, heck you can even parallel that switch for the passenger side.
Also, OP made a comment earlier about difficulties with an aftermarket motor.
Really? You were doing something wrong. The only difficult Japanese vehicles I ever encountered were the original MX5 (Miata) and early RX7s (finicky).

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Amateurs assume, don't test and have problems; pros test first. I am not a free install service.
Read the installation manual, do a search here or online for your vehicle wiring before posting.