The vanity mirror lights on my wifes Accord wagon have recently stopped working. I figured the bulbs were burnt out. I ordered new ones from Honda, but that didn't fix the problem. Now I am trying to figure out why.


As you can see from the attached image, removed as not to **** Honda off, the power wire comes through the visor metal bracket itself. There's a little switch that opens and closes the circuit as the mirror cover is opened and closed. I checked the switch and it works, but it appears I am not getting any voltage at the positive terminal.

Should I see 12 volts at the positive terminal all the time or only when the key is turned on? I checked for voltage but got none either time. I had my multi-meter on V dc and read across the positive terminal and a ground, I guess thats correct. If the wire is messed up some how, can I run new wire and tap it into a ignition switched 12V source? If so where is a good one to tap into?

I know this is long and probably painful to read, but any help will greatly appreciated. If I am way off here, flame away. I just want to get this working

Mike


Modified by slowexcoupe at 4:05 PM 5/5/2006

 

i'm sure your testing this with the headlights on right?

 

Should I be? I'm being serious.

I guess I probably should.

See, I told you I suck with electrical stuff. I can change and axle in 30 minutes on an alternator in 20, but I have no clue with the electrical side of things.

Mike

 

yes im serious too. the lights don't work till the parking/ headlights are on

 

Awesome.

I will try it again tonight

Mike

 

MooGoCow3, You're my hero.

When I turned on the parking lights, the passenger side worked, kind of. There is a short or a bad connection in there somewhere because it works some of the time. You have to put it at just the right angle, or touch it in the right place.

The driver side wouldn't work at all. I traced it to a bad wire that runs from the connection in the ceiling to the switch in the visor. I cut that wire out and ran a new one, soldered the conections and put it back in and it worked. Now, I just need to get some of the good wire that came out to replace the 18 ga wire that I put in temporarily. I don't want to set the car on fire.

Thanks for pointing out what should have been terribly obvious.

Mike

 

I'm glad you got it fixed. It sounds like your not as bad at electrical as you claim to be. Good job there.
Come back again when you have another question or problem
Also you may want to edit your first post and remove the picture. Honda kinda frowns on reposting their material.