Reverse Switch

[predator]

I've finished up my car, and finished the manual conversion and it's all working pretty nicely. On the gearbox, there is a green w/ orange stripe and black wire at the back of the box (neutral switch?).. and at the front of the box is a green w/ white stripe and green wire. I've xtended these wires up to the fusebox area.

The only thing is I'm having a lot of difficulty with the reverse switch! Yes I have read the manual conversion tutorial and all the associated threads on the wiring, but mine seems different for some strange reason?

I have ran the loom from the gearbox up to near the fuse box... and I have found the reverse wires (red 12v) and green w/ stripe (reverse). Now if I connect these to the reverse switch, basically i get the exact opposite of what I should be getting! In reverse, reverse is "off" (i.e. no reverse lights), but in anything other than reverse it's "on".

So basically from I can see reverse is "open circuit" and non-reverse is "closed circuit", when it needs to be changed to the opposite some how.

Does anybody who is familiar with wiring know how I can change this behaviour to the opposite (diode or something?). My electronics theory is pretty basic, so I'm just unsure how I can do this. If I can, I think it all should work fine. There must be some simple way to fix it I am sure.

[R33S2]

Have you put an ohms test on the switch to see when it gives current?

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/relay.htm

[predator]

Yeah, i've got a multi-meter.. I can check the resistance. I was thinking a relay could be used somehow.

thanks for the tip terry.. investigating this tangent now ..

[predator]

Ended up solving via N/C 12v relay (normally closed) from Jaycar for $6 as above.

Wiring was as follows.. red from plug (12v) to pin 30 of relay. Pin 30 also to gearbox sensor.. From gearbox sensor 'output' (maybe its not an output but like the 2nd wire from the reverse sensor at gearbox end) to pin 85 of relay

White/green stripey from plug side to relay 87a

Relay pin 86 grounded to chasis or other suitable ground point.

Basically now works as - reverse switch is 'closed' on all other gears, this gives 12v to pin 85, which is grounded to pin 86 to 'trigger' pin 30 and 87a to be 'open' (no connection - i.e. no reverse lights, etc). So its usually open. On selecting reverse, reverse switch goes open, this removes 12v connection to pin 85. This sends the plug side to be 'closed' (connecting red and white/green stripey at pins 30 and 87a respectively) and therefore reverse lights, etc

I even get the nifty reverse light on my dash to light up, beat that on a factory manual

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?I...eMax=&SUBCATID=