Left your parking lights on one time too many?
First gen DSMs can be deceiving. If you leave the headlights on and shut off the ignition, the headlights will turn off, BUT the parking lights will stay on. If it is a overcast day, or you just had them on during the day, and you don't notice the parking lights still on, you may be in for trouble when returning to your car.
"I just recently installed a headlamp warning buzzer. The buzzer is connected between the ignition node and the parking lights. Both of these are very accessible near your fuse box. There is a built-in diode inside the buzzer so that it will make noise ONLY when the ignition is off and the lights are on (otherwise it would go off when the lights are off and the ignition on, too!)."
"My approach is a bit different. I wanted the buzzer to go off only when the parking lights were on, the ignition off, and the door open."
(Credit for this idea goes to an unknown author of litewarn.txt, which is in the Club DSM FTP archives. HOWEVER, the wiring seemed inconsistent, so I have corrected it for our ground-trigger cars.)
To do this, you need to add 2 relays:
Relay 1:Then connect the positive wire of the buzzer to acc (constant 12V).
What this does is make sure the buzzer ONLY gets grounded and turned on if the ignition is off, the door is open, and the parking lights are on - exactly what we want. IF our cars were positive trigger, it would be a LOT easier, but no such luck.