Electrical experts - would this door lock modification work? Relay to disable locking

[DMage]

Was talking with Adam at the DCF tech day and discussing the idea of disabling the door lock system when the doors are up. Every once in a while I'll bump my remote in my pocket triggering the door locks, which of course could result in the possibility of bending and damaging the door linkage. Why couldn't a simple SPDT relay be wired up that disables power to the door lock module when the doors are up? Attached the two colored wiring diagrams below for reference along with the SPDT diagram.

My thought was to hook up a SPDT relay as follows:

Pin 30 & 87a into wire N on the Door Lock diagram between the circuit breaker and the door lock module.

Pin 85 & 86 into wire P on the Door Int diagram after it splits for the door lights but before it splits off to the individual doors.

Pin 87 capped.

This would allow the door lock module to receive power when the door lights are off, and when the door lights are on it would trip the relay which would disable power from flowing to the lock module. Thoughts?

[Chris4099]

I thought about something like this myself. However, after once talking to Elvis, he told me about a better idea he had done. Basically, you put a 1K resistor and 1N4148 (or equivalent) diode between the lock trigger wire and the non-black wire going to the white delay module. Basically what this does is slowly discharge the capacitor when the door is open so it can no longer trigger the lock relay. Unlike your method, it uses almost no power while the doors are open (good for me since I store the car with the doors up). It's not perfect though and occasionally will still let the locks operate if you try to lock the doors shortly after opening them (takes a few seconds to discharge the capacitor). But most of the time it does the job. Only costing a few bucks in parts was nice too. I'll try to get a diagram posted tonight after I get home.

If you have the new modern delay module by Dave, it still works too. Just connect the resistor/diode to the alarm PIN instead.

[WelmoedJ]

Was talking with Adam at the DCF tech day and discussing the idea of disabling the door lock system when the doors are up. Every once in a while I'll bump my remote in my pocket triggering the door locks, which of course could result in the possibility of bending and damaging the door linkage. Why couldn't a simple SPDT relay be wired up that disables power to the door lock module when the doors are up? Attached the two colored wiring diagrams below for reference along with the SPDT diagram.

My thought was to hook up a SPDT relay as follows:

Pin 30 & 87a into wire N on the Door Lock diagram between the circuit breaker and the door lock module.

Pin 85 & 86 into wire P on the Door Int diagram after it splits for the door lights but before it splits off to the individual doors.

Pin 87 capped.

This would allow the door lock module to receive power when the door lights are off, and when the door lights are on it would trip the relay which would disable power from flowing to the lock module. Thoughts?

Your way may still have the locks engaged if you have a switch that turns off the door lights (for shows etc).
This turning off switch would cause power to be on the door lock mechanism.
You would still be able to lock the open doors with your remote.

[DMage]

I thought about something like this myself. However, after once talking to Elvis, he told me about a better idea he had done. Basically, you put a 1K resistor and 1N4148 (or equivalent) diode between the lock trigger wire and the non-black wire going to the white delay module. Basically what this does is slowly discharge the capacitor when the door is open so it can no longer trigger the lock relay. Unlike your method, it uses almost no power while the doors are open (good for me since I store the car with the doors up). It's not perfect though and occasionally will still let the locks operate if you try to lock the doors shortly after opening them (takes a few seconds to discharge the capacitor). But most of the time it does the job. Only costing a few bucks in parts was nice too. I'll try to get a diagram posted tonight after I get home.

If you have the new modern delay module by Dave, it still works too. Just connect the resistor/diode to the alarm PIN instead.

Thanks, thats great. I do have the newer door lock module.


Your way may still have the locks engaged if you have a switch that turns off the door lights (for shows etc).
This turning off switch would cause power to be on the door lock mechanism.
You would still be able to lock the open doors with your remote.

Door lights are LEDs and would be on, I've never disabled the door lights nor do I have a switch in place to do so.

[WelmoedJ]

Thanks, thats great. I do have the newer door lock module.
Door lights are LEDs and would be on, I've never disabled the door lights nor do I have a switch in place to do so.

I do switch the door lights (also LED in my car) off because I leave the doors open while the car is in the garage.
That's why I make the remark.

Regarding the remote: I've never had the remote trigger the locks without using my finger for that purpose.
Not to say your remote is lightly on the switches, however it shouldn't happen that way.

[Chris4099]

Thanks, thats great. I do have the newer door lock module.

Oh, in that case, never mind. :) I showed Toby (the original designer of the digital module) my setup and he liked the idea of a disable feature, but unfortunately didn't think of it at the time.

Also, I'm not sure how the digital module will react to having the solenoids disabled when trying to lock them. I do know it has some monitoring to insure the doors actually lock, so it may not like seeing no change in the state of the doors. Disconnect the circuit breaker and see what happens when you try to remotely lock the doors. Hopefully it doesn't go into some sort of fail safe mode and stop working. If it does, then you may need to consider adding a relay inline with the wire that powers the lock module instead (so it's completely powered down during the lock attempt).

[Chris4099]

Regarding the remote: I've never had the remote trigger the locks without using my finger for that purpose.
Not to say your remote is lightly on the switches, however it shouldn't happen that way.

Happens to me all the time. With it in my pocket, I'll bend down for something and one of the buttons get pressed against a key and activate. I've accidentally launched my doors open all the time when detailing the D (as I'm constantly standing/squatting with the remote in my pocket). When working on my D in the lift, I have to make sure I leave the keys out of my pocket so I don't accidentally launch the doors and have them go up and into the ceiling!

[AdmiralSenn]

Count me in with the 'pocket press' problem - that was why I originally brought it up.

It's not perfect, but really how often do you need to turn the lights off manually? My actuators haven't ruined my linkage yet but I am now at the point where I either disconnect the battery or close the door latches manually when I leave the doors open for any length of time.