Don’t do this at home… (charging circuit not charging)

Oh dear…. So. I’ve been working at putting a kill switch in to disable the starter circuit. Traced the wires from ignition to a spot under the passenger seat. Located the cranking wire, put a switch in, awesome, it works. Also, to confuse matters have been working on the interior lights and replacing with leds and resistors. One area I’m wondering about is, the console with the rear view mirror - it has map and door light buttons. I removed this, had capacitors in between the door and map lights, I couldn’t for the hell of me work out the right way to wire the switch so I cut out the capacitors and and the door switch and wired each map light to the two wires that both had power (made the assumption that it’s earthed via the housing and that each of the two wires that have a 12.5v reading were ok to wire the two sets of 3 leds with 30ohm resistors) Wondering if I created some electrical open by doing this?? I’m a newbie with potted knowledge and enthusiasm….

But!!!! Must have messed up something else as (and this started a week after)
Symptoms appear to be the alternator is not charging the battery. I drove to the shop, got back in after 10 mins, one little crank then no, no power. Rescued with a jump start. Got home, parked, tried to start, a couple of cranks then no. Charged the battery, started her up (nice string cranking), a few mins later the radiator, oil level, and a coupe other lights on the dash came on, first when I put in reverse, then stayed on. I kept it running to see what happened, drove about a bit, dash lights started to die, gears stick would let me move from park to drive without pressing the red gear button, then no power. Charged the battery, same thing happened, and then when I tried to turn back on lots of click click click sounded terrible, no power.

Alternator is around 2 years old rebuilt. Battery around 3 years, around 12.5v.
Diesel 1kzte motor, automatic.
In trying to locate the starter circuit I’ve tugged at quite a few things. Can anyone help me out with suggestions please?

Yeah from memory the interior overhead lights/map lights don’t simply receive power and earth via the switches. Toyota do some trickery and 2, 3, 4 way switchibg with their controls and switches.
I remember doing the same thing with interior LED conversion and after opening that switch/light assembly and having a look I put it back together. I don’t remember the exact look of it but + and - get switched & reversed & connected depending on all the various triggers such as doors (each and all 4 doors) the overhead panel “door” button and the map lights themselves.  Pretty certain what you’ve done is introduce or redirect a 12V + to circuits expecting ground. And that may only occur depending on the state of other switches in the whole “matrix”.
I’d def try reversing what you did as a first step to diagnosing those other problems. Both the things you did (kill switch and interior light) could also potentially be affecting the alternator signal wire.

I would agree Pete_nz... unfix the things you did and then see where you stand... otherwise you will soon be rewiring the whole van "your way"!

I replaced all standard light bulbs inside with LED lights I bought in automotive supply store. Everything is working fine and no modifications were required. LED lights sold in automotive store are plug and play i.e. direct replacements without any modifications. The central dome light inside saloon I also took a part and same as Pete_nz I also neatly put back together... there were to many wires for my taste and I chose not to fix something which is not broken there.

imants wrote:

 The central dome light inside saloon I also took a part and same as Pete_nz I also neatly put back together...

It may not appear so when you open it, but that central dome light is actually way simpler than the front map & interior lights. You can basically gut that whole circuit-board with the transformer and flourescent bulb holder so all you’re left with is the switch contacts on the board, to which you can directly wire an LED array or strips or whatever 12V leds you like to fill the whole dome. You could even use that point to add full wrap-around strip lights to the rear cabin. It can support the current.

I think all the leds I used to change all the door bulbs and add arrays to the central dome and in the rear door light cost about $15 on Ali Express.

I had trouble with Aliexpress LED lights which were supposed to replace rear brake/drive lights. When I installed them in Toyota sockets they did not work. If I connected them to 12v battery directly they worked. To this day I do not know what the problem is...

LED lights I bought in local car parts store worked fine...

Just to be sure, are you aware that unlike incandescent bulbs, led diodes are polarity sensitive? However, circuitry that accounts for this can be built-in and give polarity-non-sensitive bulbs which is what your auto-parts store sells. Ali-Express is a very large marketplace and you can buy both types of bulbs. Unfortunately, price isn’t the simple determinant on Ali-Express you have to read what is being sold.

Hey mate did u end up finding out what was wrong with ur charging/altenator