What's the spare dash switch for on an S1? Anyone know?

[Bill K 111]

A sparky mate of mine performed a very useful mod on my S1 yesterday. We put a manual switch on the cooling fan so that you can activate it yourself in traffic queues/pitlane etc BEFORE the temp gets so high it activates itself. (It will still kick in as normal if you forget/when the MOT tester leaves the car running etc)...anyhoo, we used the spare blank switch on the dash and when we pulled it off it already had a wiring block behind it with wires heading away from it. We couldn't find what they were for or where they head off to. Just curious really. Anyone know?

[Gad-Westy]

I beleive they terminate somewhere in the engine bay but the switch is essentially redundant.

There is a nice guide here of how to utilise it as a satnav 12v outlet.

http://www.fourwheels.org/elise/power-outlet/

[Bill K 111]

Ah ha! Thanks for the guide...that would have saved mucho head scratching yesterday!

[Ganglandboss]

Somebody on here used it to activate his electric boot release. He said the cable terminates out back somewhere.

[ADM 135S]

I use mine as a "Knight Rider" turbo boost button, when 10year old nephew is in the car.
Felt a fool the first time, as he didnt know who Kitt was. Soon rectified with some sky plus
recordings!

[tpp_uk]

Mine always did nothing until about 5 days ago whereupon a new windscreen was needed due to large stone chip / crack, but now thanks to a new heated screen (no more opening the vents and getting a dash full of dust / dirt) it turned out to be quite handy!! Not sure if the original wiring was used though?

[Grinnders]

Ganglandboss said:

Somebody on here used it to activate his electric boot release. He said the cable terminates out back somewhere.

Me.

Admittedly my boot release is fallible to the excess play in the hinges and doesn't consistently release but I can point anyone that's interested at the wire which eminates from that switch in the engine bay. I've gone back to the manual release.. but I may re-configure it for an alternate purpose

FYI to replace the blanking stub you'll need a switch from a peugeot... usually a couple of quid at a breakers yard

Edited by Grinnders on Wednesday 3rd September 23:54

[Stampede]

tpp_uk said:

Mine always did nothing until about 5 days ago whereupon a new windscreen was needed due to large stone chip / crack, but now thanks to a new heated screen (no more opening the vents and getting a dash full of dust / dirt) it turned out to be quite handy!! Not sure if the original wiring was used though?

Who did you get to replace the screen and did they install the heater wiring at the same time? I only ask as I have similar issue with stone chip / crack and need to do something about it.

S690

[James...]

If I remember correctly the switch and wiring to the back is there to give the option of rewiring the middle brake light as a rain light for the original Motorsport cars..