Install an overhead light switch: 3 good reasons!

[sad-lumina-owner]

I did install a switch on the ceiling light.

I suddenly realised that GM left the switch out entirely (the one on the dash doesn't allow you to shut off the light and have a door open! - an incredibly inconvenient bit of cheapness on their part.

The cover for the light actually has special room for a switch that was never put in. Wow. They saved 3 cents and caused me boatloads of aggro.

Now I took a slider switch off my kid's talk-toy and wired it in overhead.

You can now switch the light off so you can leave your doors open to unload, listen to the radio, or cool the car without draining your battery.

Amazing how a such a trivial little switch can create such huge inconveniences.

Now the car also has a 'stealth' mode so I can open a car door at night without alerting people a 1/4 mile away that someone is getting into their car (as if its their business.)

I like this 40 cent mod more than any other single mod I've done to this thing so far.

[sad-lumina-owner]

UPDATE:

Incredible! I never noticed it before, but there is a second set of two lights built into the rearview mirror, and although they have "on" switches, they don't have OFF switches (when the door is ajar...)!

What were these idiots thinking when they did the wiring for this system?

No way to turn a light off?

I am going to rewire the switches so that they are in SERIES, not in PARALLEL with the power coming from the door switch. That way I can turn the buggers off.

Maybe a 3-way switch would have done what they wanted without losing any basic useful features, like an OFF position...