'11 Nissan Quest PTS Evo T-Har. Stand Alone works BUT autolights stay on (despite door pin conn.) if EVO shuts car down

Question

I am not a professional installer but am quite handy with wiring and installations of this sort.  I installed the EVO-ALL with the T-Harness into my 2011 Nissan Quest (with Sliding Doors).  I hooked up the 12V by splicing the wire behind the start button as instructed, as well as the parking lights and the door pin (which involved removing the entire dash and the instrument cluster.

Here's the problem:

When the car is started manually, with the lights in automatic mode (so they come on in the dark), they come on and everything behaves normally.  When I go to shut the car off manually, it turns the auto headlights off after 30 seconds as it always has.  All is good.

However, if I start the car with the EVO, it turns the lights on (when in auto mode) as it it should (when it's dark or the sensor is covered), but if I turn the car OFF with the EVO, the lights stay on forever after the engine stops.  They never turn off and would drain the battery overnight.  Interestingly, if I turn the car off manually, it reverts to working properly, turning the headlights off after 30 seconds (a time I can set through a nissan feature).

I tried to run this test in reverse - starting the car manually and shutting it off with the EVO, but the EVO does nothing to the car in this state.  It must be programmed only to turn a car off that it has turned on.  Is this correct?  

Anyhow, I'm trying to find a way to use my automatic lights and shut the car down with the EVO without worrying about a dead battery.

Thanks,
Jeff

Answer 1

Test your doorpin wire. This wire should give ground when driver door is open.

Comments

I figured you'd say that but I know it is connected fine because of the behavior.  If I start the car with the EVO, but stop it manually, the auto lights do go out - presumably when I open the door to get out and the EVO receives the ground signal from the door pin wire.  I may be missing something but if the car is running and I've already gotten out, then I stop it from running with the EVO, how will it ever receive a ground from the door pin?  I'm already out of the car.  The door is not going to be opened in this circumstance.  This is equally true if I start it and just want to shut it off for whatever reason by remote.  If auto lights are on there will never be a door pin signal, and the lights never go out.  I'm not sure why the cars original lighting program is not followed in all instances.

---

The EVO does not need to see a doorpin signal to turn off the autolight, the vehicle needs to see the door open to start the 30 seconds countdown to turn off the autolight.

When stopping the vehicle with the OEM remote, the EVO will send a ground pulse to the doorpin wire to shut off the autolights.