Cruise control switch wiring

[RF600]

I have a 95 pathfinder. I grabbed a cruise control switch out of a 91 pathfinder. The wiring colors are the same except one wire. They are also in different locations compared to the 95. I’m guessing they should go to the same places?

 

So what I’m trying to do is rig up a switch that will control my power antenna. The head unit I have only has one power lead for the antenna or amp. So I’m using it for the amp. 
 

I want to wire up a separate switch for the power antenna. My hope is I can use the cruise switch to operate the same way it does for the cruise control turn on. 
 

So I would like the switch to not be powered up unless I push the button, and not keep power if I turn off the ignition. Then when I turn on the ignition again, the antenna won’t power up unless I push the button. 
 

I hope this makes sense. 

[Slartibartfast]

The switch itself doesn't do what you need, but if you've got a relay and some wire, I think you can make it work.

 

The square-dash cruise control switch is like an ignition switch. The brown wire (pin 1 in the manual) is your common, that'll get wired to power. The black wire with the white stripe (pin 2 in the manual) is your run position. And white with black (pin 3) is your start position. Pink/blue and pink/black (4 and 5) go to the dash lighting circuit. 

 

EL-81 of the '90 manual shows the pin numbering and the wire colors. Note that the pins are not in numerical order, because that would be too easy. If you don't have the '90 manual, you should be able to buzz out what's what with a multimeter. 

 

Run a wire from ignition-switched + (or your amp control wire) to pin 1 on the switch. Then wire pin 2 to one of the relay contacts (30 or 87). Then wire pin 3 to the other relay contact, and to one side of the relay coil (85 or 86), and also to your power antenna wire. Then ground the other side of the coil to the dash support. If you're using a five-pin relay, you'll have an empty pin (87a), and that's fine. 

 

Pin 1 gets power when you turn on the ignition, or the radio if you wired it to the amp. If the switch is off, nothing happens. If the switch is on, pin 2 gets power, but still, nothing happens. There are two sets of contacts that can connect pin 2 to the antenna amp, but they're both open. When you turn the switch to start, pin 3 gets power. That triggers the antenna amp and the relay. The relay closes the other set of contacts, so when you release the switch to the run position, the relay holds itself closed, keeping the circuit live and the antenna up. When power is lost (switch off or key/radio off), the antenna goes down, and the relay contacts open, resetting the circuit back to where it was at the start of this paragraph.

If you decide to try this, draw the circuit out first and make sure it makes sense. It makes sense in my head. So have a lot of other things.

 

Might be a good idea to add a snubber diode across the relay coil so it's not feeding the antenna amp EMF each time it loses power. There's probably a cleaner way of building this circuit using transistors, which wouldn't have that problem. 

I went a much simpler route on mine. I wired the amp turn-on through a toggle switch. It's a bit clunky, but the switch fills a hole in the dash, and I only listen to the radio a few times a year anyway. 

[RF600]

I’m no electrical guru. Your idea makes sense. 
 

What I did do, I ordered a switch that I could customize. I can put what I want on it, as long as they have it listed. They have a lot of available pictures to chose from. You can chose your text, and where you want it to be on the switch cover. 
 

It was relatively cheap considering. It was less than $30. The switch is a bit larger than the cruise switch. The symbol and writing are back lit. When the antenna is powered on, the light at the bottom will illuminate. 
 

I have no affiliation with this site. I happened to find it when I was looking at rocker switches. 
 

www.rockerswitchpros.com

[Slartibartfast]

That's a good idea! I've seen switches like that on Amazon/eBay with all kinds of stuff written on them, nice to know you can custom-order too.

[RF600]

I had it within 1 week. They are out of SC. I’m in California. So that’s pretty quick. 
 

You can buy different covers if you want. Pop the old one off, put the new one on. 

[RF600]

I have tried to upload a pic but it says it’s too big. I have cropped the pic, but it’s still too big. I wanted to show it next to the cruise switch to give people an idea of what it looked like. 
 

It’s physically larger than the cruise switch. It’s not too bad. I like the fact I didn’t have to put in just a plain old rocker switch that would look out of place. 
 

Wiring was easy.