HOW TO: Make the VSP (noisemaker) button default to off

Got it. It works a treat! I'll post details later tonight after I get everything back together.

I gather that the car has a button which turns off the noisemaker, and you guys are talking about ways to make it default to OFF rather than ON. Is that correct? (I don't have my Leaf yet.) It sounds like a nice mod, but I probably would not do it if I had to take stuff apart to install it. I did install the Coastal Tech EV switch on my Prius, but that was to gain a feature the car would not otherwise give me. And I had a very hard time with it and very nearly screwed up. I'd pay someone to install this, since I HATE noise, but I'd probably press the button every time rather than trying to install it myself. (I mention this since I think I probably speak for a lot of people who'd like the feature, but are scared to disassemble their brand new car.)

Oh, and I love it that folks are figuring out how to improve the car and posting what they learn.

I know it's a PITA, but pretty much I solder everything. That's not to say it's the only way, I've just personally seen those connectors fail too many times.

If I'm tapping into the middle of a wire and not ready to solder it, I'll sometimes cut 3mm of the insulation of the wire I want to tap into to expose the wire, poke a meter lead or other sharp object through the strands so the strand go around the hole evenly (don't just have one strand go around one way and the rest on the other way), and first pass the new wire through the hole, then twist it around. It makes for a very solid connection without solder. Just my personal preference.

daniel said:

I gather that the car has a button which turns off the noisemaker, and you guys are talking about ways to make it default to OFF rather than ON. Is that correct?

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You are correct. As for the difficulty, if you have any mechanical inclinations at all it's not too hard. If you've got a friend who does car stereo work, or something similar, maybe you can rope him into it. You might even be able to get a shop to do it (dunno). Everything needed to make this work is in this thread already, but I'll write it up more concisely later tonight...

Geek, did the 9 volt suffice for programming?

Actually, I chickened out and picked up a little 12v battery while I was at Radio Shack in case that didn't work - and wound up just using it. But actually, now that I know how it works and verifying that the TP-7 works as expected with my multimeter, I recommend just doing it in-place during the installation. I'm getting ready to post what I did shortly.

Alright everyone, I've updated my OP with a synopsis of installation instructions. Thanks a ton to turbo2ltr for his original work in figuring this out, and nater for his suggestion of the TR-7 module. Total cost for this mod will probably run you about $30 or less. Enjoy!

GeekEV said:

daniel said:

I gather that the car has a button which turns off the noisemaker, and you guys are talking about ways to make it default to OFF rather than ON. Is that correct?

Click to expand...

You are correct. As for the difficulty, if you have any mechanical inclinations at all it's not too hard. If you've got a friend who does car stereo work, or something similar, maybe you can rope him into it. You might even be able to get a shop to do it (dunno). Everything needed to make this work is in this thread already, but I'll write it up more concisely later tonight...

Click to expand...

Thanks for this, and for the details now posted in your OP. I may ask my dealer if he'll do this for me, but otherwise I won't try. I'm actually pretty comfortable with a soldering iron (I assembled a few Heathkits back in the day, including an HW8 that worked beautifully) but I'm a complete klutz with the mechanical stuff. Considering that the alternative is just pressing a button every time I start the car...

My Zap Xebra has a back-up beeper that I hate, but which is useful when backing out of blind parking slots in busy parking lots. I have a switch so I can turn it on and off and it's not that big a deal. I had a mechanic connect the switch, using one of the existing unused dashboard switches in the car. With the Leaf, I may want to enable the noisemaker under the same situations: Backing out of a slot in a busy parking lot where pedestrians might otherwise not be aware of me, and I cannot see them approaching around the back of the ubiquitous stinking SUV.

This rocks. A friend of mine has some "better" tap in connectors (taps into existing wire, but uses a crimped wire for the one you are adding in). I know, it's still not soldering, but I'm not sure I trust myself in trying to strip an in-harness wire.

He's asking me if I need 14-16 gauge, or 18-22 gauge. Since I don't have the car or the module yet, can someone here let me know which set I need?

Thanks,
Jason T.

I'm not sure of the actual wire gauge, but the connectors I used are rated for 14 - 18 gauge. I think it's 18, they're pretty tiny wires.

Kudos to GeekEV and his supporting players on bringing this mod to the community. I plan on implementing this mod as soon as the LEAF comes-a-calling (hopefully soon, got the 7-day email on Tuesday).

...until we can modify the sound of course

I noticed something curious this morning. I had disconnected the VPS module while doing this mod (not necessary) and the startup chime (which I had turned off) revered back to the default. I tried turning it off again, but it didn't work. I then changed it to a different sound, which worked, and changed it back to off. That cleared it out and once again turned my sounds off.

GeekEV said:

I noticed something curious this morning. I had disconnected the VPS module while doing this mod (not necessary) and the startup chime (which I had turned off) revered back to the default. I tried turning it off again, but it didn't work. I then changed it to a different sound, which worked, and changed it back to off. That cleared it out and once again turned my sounds off.

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I have had that bug since day 1 only it keeps resetting back to the default sound every 1-3 days (random)... I have discussed it with my local dealer and Nissan engineering... they are sending out a new module to swap out to see if that corrects the problem. If yours starts defaulting back every few days please send me a PM to let me know; another data point for engineering on this annoyance.

Can you turn off the VPS without modyfing hardware (even temporarily)?

mgoleta said:

Can you turn off the VPS without modyfing hardware (even temporarily)?

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Yes. Once the car is started, you simply push the button to disable it, and it'll stay that way until you manually reactivate it or repeat the off/on cycle in the car.

mwalsh said:

mgoleta said:

Can you turn off the VPS without modyfing hardware (even temporarily)?

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Yes. Once the car is started, you simply push the button to disable it, and it'll stay that way until you manually reactivate it or repeat the off/on cycle in the car.

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Thanks. I completely missed that. I just didn't expect to have a button dedicated to it. I was expecting it to be in one of the setup menus. I will have to be more attentive reading the owner's manual.

Wanted to resurrect this thread for a couple of reasons.

First, I want to thank the people that contributed to this - especially turbo2ltr for actually doing it, and GeekEV for putting all the instructions in one place.

Second, I want to thank the people that contributed to this. Seriously, ever since I HEARD about the VSP I have been annoyed by it, and I've been punching that button every time I start the car. The ability to have it off by default makes me very very happy. I think everyone should at least be aware of this mod.

Third, my experience was a little different with the TR7 module. GeekEV's instructions say that if you mess up you can turn it off and on again. I messed up, and when I tried this it just didn't work for me. I looked at the TR7 manual and it said to leave it on, but to disconnect/reconnect the power. So I unplugged the red wire and plugged it back in and I was then able to fix my mistake.

Last, I'm doing this from memory, but since I had the TR7 (and not the TR-1) I was able to use feature 17 for the two second delay. Here are the steps (anyone else please correct me if I'm wrong)

• Tap wire 17 times
• Get a 17 flash response
• Tap wire once
• Get a single flash (I might have gotten a "blinking flash" and then a solid flash, not sure)
• Wait 3 seconds
• Get two flashes
• wait 3 seconds
• get three flashes
• Tap wire twice (for two seconds - tap as few or as much as you want for 1-9 seconds)
• get three flashes
• get four flashes
• You are now done, slide switch to off

I did end up using the dreaded T-Taps. I used some on my Miata 11 years ago and they worked fine. Obviously worst case if they fail I take everything apart and do something better. I just did not trust myself to strip and solder on a harness without botching it.

I know that nobody will want to hear this, but the lawyer in me can't help myself. Nissan developed the pedestrian awareness sound as a result of studies showing that pedestrians respond more to audible signals than to visual cues to protect themselves from cars. If you should be unfortunate enough to hit a pedestrian, and if the plaintiff's lawyer determined that you had tampered with a safety device, your liability would be practically assured, and you could conceivably be found to have committed gross negligence. Just sayin'

oakwcj said:

... If you should be unfortunate enough to hit a pedestrian, and if the plaintiff's lawyer determined that you had tampered with a safety device, your liability would be practically assured, and you could conceivably be found to have committed gross negligence. Just sayin'

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And then there is the unfortunate pedestrian.

And because the feds said they had to. In England Nissan was forced to remove it by noise laws...

oakwcj said:

Nissan developed the pedestrian awareness sound as a result of studies showing that pedestrians respond more to audible signals than to visual cues to protect themselves from cars.

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