Ambient lights flickering

[Vins213]

1 hour ago, flash22 said:

because the cert ecu gets its ground through the same point

thanks 🙂

1 hour ago, flash22 said:

do your interior lights come on ? with the door open

yes, with every door open (also trunk), when I unlock the car with the key and when I shut down the car for about 7 seconds

1 hour ago, flash22 said:

do you have smart entry and start?

I have this OEM key: 

 

I have to unlock the car with the keyfob, enter and push the power button to start it

[flash22]

why unlock the car with the key ? do the buttons on the fob not work? does the driver's door handle have 3 raised dots on it?

do you have anything plugged into the OBD port

[Vins213]

3 minutes ago, flash22 said:

why unlock the car with the key ? do the buttons on the fob not work? does the driver's door handle have 3 raised dots on it?

I have to push the unlock button on the fob to unlock the car, it's not automatic and I don't have proximity sensor or 3 raised dots on the door handle

[flash22]

have you tried disconnecting the black wire from the switch connector

[Vins213]

Just now, flash22 said:

have you tried disconnecting the black wire from the switch connector

do you mean the black wire from the white connector of the power button?

nope...how can I get the little pin out from the connector? 

[flash22]

to release the wire you have to lift up the locking tab, then from the front of the connector flick the tab/hook down while pulling the wire

[Vins213]

2 minutes ago, flash22 said:

to release the wire you have to lift up the locking tab, then from the front of the connector flick the tab/hook down while pulling the wire

I'll try later and reply, thanks flash

[flash22]

dont touch that black wire it is used it for the button press

[Vins213]

Just now, flash22 said:

dont touch that black wire it is used it for the button press

ok, just pull out the black wire from the white connector, right? 

[flash22]

No dont touch it without the black wire the car will not start, my mistake i was looking at the wrong information

[Vins213]

1 minute ago, flash22 said:

No dont touch it without the black wire the car will not start, my mistake i was looking at the wrong information

oh, ok 😄 got it 

[Vins213]

Is there a chance that I caused a short circuit when I was removing the wires from the old lighting kit?
 

Let me explain: I removed the 12v from the big white cable under the hood, and with the drive door open (LHD), I removed the negative wire of the kit that may have touched something metallic while the positive one was still connected 

iirc, when I reconnected the white cable 12v, the dashboard doesn't loose memory like time or consumption 

[Vins213]

can I test anything else? for example put the old kit back to see what the button lighting does

can I reassemble the power button and leave all night long?

[Vins213]

16 hours ago, Vins213 said:

can I reassemble the power button and leave all night long?

well I think yes, the power button says 5V 100mA, it is low consumption 

[Vins213]

I think there is no solution

[MikeSh]

3 hours ago, Vins213 said:

I think there is no solution

There's always a solution ... just that it may be difficult and/or horribly expensive. 

Have you actually tracked down where the fault is? As it is (apparently) a ground switched light it can only be a physical connection to ground (or possibly another circuit) along the route from the light to the controller, or the controller is bust.

The latter should be testable by taking off the connection for the light and connecting the -ve of an LED to that port with 12V supplied to its + . (I know the physical doing of that is likely to be real pig, but it's probably the only way to get a definite answer.) If the controller is bust then it's a repair or replace job. If it's OK then there must be a fault on the wire.

[Vins213]

34 minutes ago, MikeSh said:

There's always a solution ... just that it may be difficult and/or horribly expensive. 

Have you actually tracked down where the fault is? As it is (apparently) a ground switched light it can only be a physical connection to ground (or possibly another circuit) along the route from the light to the controller, or the controller is bust.

The latter should be testable by taking off the connection for the light and connecting the -ve of an LED to that port with 12V supplied to its + . (I know the physical doing of that is likely to be real pig, but it's probably the only way to get a definite answer.) If the controller is bust then it's a repair or replace job. If it's OK then there must be a fault on the wire.

do you remember this topic? 

https://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/218291-test-energy-absorption/#comments

 

I have tested like the message:

'This is with the 20A scale, 10mins from the two readings

0.15A without the HU
0.16A with the HU in sleep mode ON'

and the readings are the same with this button issue

I think the button is OK because I did the voltage test directly from the cables and there is always 12v with car locked:

black - and red +: 12.46v

black - and purple +: 11.91v

red - and purple +: 0

purple - and red +: 0

red - and green +: 0

green - and red +: 0

skyblue - and green +: 11.88v

white - and green +: 11.88v

brown - and green +: 11.24v

brown - and red +: 11.77v

brown - and purple +: 11.22v

skyblue - and red+: 12.40v

skyblue - and purple +: 11.86v

 

ONE thing: 

On 8/20/2024 at 7:34 PM, Vins213 said:

Is there a chance that I caused a short circuit when I was removing the wires from the old lighting kit?
 

Let me explain: I removed the 12v from the big white cable under the hood, and with the drive door open (LHD), I removed the negative wire of the kit that may have touched something metallic while the positive one was still connected 

iirc, when I reconnected the white cable 12v, the dashboard doesn't loose memory like time or consumption 

this is the procedure I did before the issue

never a problem before the old kit installed, during the old kit installation or during use (the old kit has + on red and - on black on the button wiring)

interior lights work well (with doors opened or car unlocked or if I switch manually), the dash illumination works well

 

the only awake is the power button...I found two topics on the web on lexus that had the same problem (not solved), one with a third part alarm installed on the power button and the other after a front crash

I try to express myself as best I can

[MikeSh]

1 hour ago, Vins213 said:

I think the button is OK

Multimeters are tricksy to interpret on these kind of circuits. I wouldn't even try without a circuit diagram.

I too think the button is OK, although without a diagram of it I wouldn't bet on that. Your problem AIUI is that the illumination within it is permanently on, which means its -ve switch line is permanently grounded (again assuming I have correctly understood that it's a ground controlled circuit).

So the problem is either a ground fault on the wire between the light and the controller or the controller is permanently 'on' (because 'on' makes the connection to gnd).

If you can remove that wire (only) from the controller then if the light stays on there must be a gnd somewhere along the wire. If it goes out, and comes back on when the wire is reconnected, that would suggest a controller fault.

[Vins213]

29 minutes ago, MikeSh said:

If you can remove that wire (only) from the controller then if the light stays on there must be a gnd somewhere along the wire. If it goes out, and comes back on when the wire is reconnected, that would suggest a controller fault.

but:

On 8/20/2024 at 4:49 PM, flash22 said:

dont touch that black wire it is used it for the button press

I think if I remove the black wire, the LED button will turn off, but also the power button will no longer work

 

34 minutes ago, MikeSh said:

So the problem is either a ground fault on the wire between the light and the controller or the controller is permanently 'on' (because 'on' makes the connection to gnd).

yes, I think so

[flash22]

the button is a symptom of the issue, the issue is with the certification ECU is staying active and not going to sleep - further investigation the illumination is controlled on the live side in 2017 onwards cars (red wire) and it has a permanent ground Agnd - this is my mistake reading the drawings between models/years

removing the red wire will kill the illumination the switch should still function

the only way to see what the certification ECU is doing is with techstream

[Vins213]

3 minutes ago, flash22 said:

removing the red wire will kill the illumination the switch should still function

ok, that's a low power LED inside but is still draining from 12v

5 minutes ago, flash22 said:

the only way to see what the certification ECU is doing is with techstream

uhm, I've already a wifi OBD reader but I think it's not enough...do I need a PC with a wire OBD connector and techstream? otherwise I can go to my mechanic friend

[flash22]

laptop and mini VCI with Techstream you can then do function tests and reset things, some systems and ecus are only accessible with Techstream

[Vins213]

1 minute ago, flash22 said:

laptop and mini VCI with Techstream you can then do function tests and reset things, some systems and ecus are only accessible with Techstream

well thanks! I'll update you with the future info 🙂 

[Vins213]

9 minutes ago, flash22 said:

laptop and mini VCI with Techstream you can then do function tests and reset things, some systems and ecus are only accessible with Techstream

wait, do I need a subscription or not?

[flash22]

officially yes, eBay is your friend for a China clone that has been "patched"