As the title so vaguely explains, today I wanted to go into how I created my own power window/lock assembly for my Dad's 1995 Nissan 240sx. This seems to be a problem talked about pretty widely in the 240sx community, and being that these units are discontinued, and used window switches are hundreds of dollars and destined to fail because they are all nearing 30 years old, I originally decided I wanted to go for a new switch assembly from another vehicle.
Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in finding another switch assembly that I could retrofit into the factory switch bezel in the door, and was also unsuccessful at repairing his broken window switch with a few other switch assemblies. Ultimately we decided we would delete the ashtray in the center dash and build a switch panel in its place for the power windows and locks.
So lets talk strategy.
Step 1. Remove all of the components in the drivers kick panel area of the interior that interfere with your easy access to the door harness junction connector. Being that the Main Power Window Switch for the Driver is a Master switch, we can steal both power windows and the door locks circuit from this junction connector.
Step 2. Locate all of the wires we will be terminating in the Drivers Door Junction Connector and reterminate them to a new junction connector. Selecting a connector with the appropriate amperage requirements is essential to the vehicles safety as power windows and door locks are pretty power hungry devices. I utilized Deutsch DT and DTP Connectors for these circuits, as DT are 13 amp rated and DTP are 26 amp rated. These connectors I commonly purchase from ProwireUSA, Wirecare, and Waytek.
Step 3. Choose your switches and decide where and how to mount. Selecting switches that have the appropriate amperage rating is also essential to your vehicles safety and the prolonged life of the switch. I decided I would go with 3 of the same 15A rated bi directional toggles commonly used for power windows. Not all power window switches are high amperage and not just any switch will work for our application. To avoid utilizing 6 relays so we can run small wires at lower amperage, we opted for the low complexity, quicker and easier option of just utilizing larger 12ga and 14ga leads. This is still safe as all of the circuits are OE fused.
Step 4. Build Junction Connector to Switch Harness. I will add thorough details here once I find my notes on this ***!!!
Step 5. Install and Test New Switches - Please do this before you reassemble. Nothing quite like getting to the end of a project and realizing what you just did doesn't work. Lol.
Step 6. Reassembly and Enjoyment at a Better Cost!
I have provided some pictures of everything fully assembled and finished out, as well as the links to the components I used to complete this project.
Links:
www.
Cheers everyone and Happy Creating!
-The WireDaddy- Nate :)
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