Adding interior footwell lighting

[VX4EJR]

Question for anyone out there who knows or had experience with the cabin light, etc wiring in the VX...

I am trying to wire power and ground for adding interior footwell lighting that will go on when doors are opened and can also be switched on independently even with doors closed. In other words, just like the dome light has a door switch and can also be turned on with door closed. Can wire leads from the dome light be used then? If so, where in the dash are they? I know they run down the passenger pillar but there are three wires, which is what? Beyond the pillar I can't trace them. Is there another way? Help

[tom4bren]

EJR,

I used the search function on the home page with the search criteria being: dome light dim. I used that search because I remembered etlsport having trouble with driving LEDs with his dome light. There's some good reading there for you in about 5 or 6 threads.

Personally, I'd simplify your design goal slightly. Don't tap into the dome light. Get your source from the lights for your guage cluster so that your floor lights come on with the running lights. Of course you'll lose the 'come on when the door opens' feature but it's easy enough to turn on your running lights so I don't think it'd be a problem. You can also add a switch in line with the power lead so that if the floor lights bother you whilst driving at night, you can turn them off without effecting the lights in the guage cluster.

BTW, LEDs don't typically like to be dimmed unless they are designed for that. The guage cluster has that dimmer switch by your left knee (may be the easiest place to tap for power). The point is, when you dim your guage cluster, one of two things will probably happen: LEDs will buzz when the dimmer is set to a low setting; or more probably when the dimmer is lowered the LEDs will stay at constant brightness until it gets to a very low setting and then they'll just shut off.

[VX4EJR]

I did search around here but didn't find an answer... I think what I am looking to do is not possible, or at least easily possible. The lights I am adding will just be wired to switched power..probably marker lights or something I can find in the dash, just not sure what wire and where to tap into aside from piggy backing on the dash fuse panel.
The door switch ground wire that triggers the dome light would turn these additional lights on but I would not be able to turn them on outside of that, without opening the door. Oh well.

[evillecutter]

http://www.geekalerts.com/u/Bright-F...p-Slippers.jpg

you could just use these

[VX4EJR]

Nice, there ya go! I knew I'd find an answer putting a post up!!

http://www.geekalerts.com/u/Bright-F...p-Slippers.jpg

you could just use these

[evillecutter]

wiring is frustrating just trying to lighten the mood since i have no real useful advice

[tom4bren]

I did search around here but didn't find an answer... I think what I am looking to do is not possible, or at least easily possible. The lights I am adding will just be wired to switched power..probably marker lights or something I can find in the dash, just not sure what wire and where to tap into aside from piggy backing on the dash fuse panel.
The door switch ground wire that triggers the dome light would turn these additional lights on but I would not be able to turn them on outside of that, without opening the door. Oh well.

It's entirely doable ... & not really all that difficult.

Your preferred solution (comes on when you open the doors & switchable):

Don't try to tap into wiring down behind the kick panel ... even though that may seem easiest now. Snake a wire pair (speaker wire or lamp cord) from the dome light all the way to under the dash. Connect the wires to the two terminals for the bulb in the dome light. Either solder the wires to the bulb connectors or get some alligator clips from Radio Shack to make the connection. The other end of the wires connect to your new floor board LEDs. LEDs come on when the doors open and also turn on manually when you tap the dome light. The only really pain in the butt part will be snaking the wire under the headliner. You'll need to make your connection at the dome light bulb in order for the tap on feature to work since the circuit for that is up in the fixture.

My preferred solution (operates with guage cluster lights):

Use your LEDs that you plan on installing as a test light. Ground the negative lead from the lights and touch the positive lead to one of the pins on the back of the dimmer switch for the guage cluster. There should be 3 pins on the back. Repeat till you find the right pin to make the connection to (don't worry, you won't damage your light by touching the wrong pin). Remember to have the running lights turned on as you are doing this & have the dimmer at max brightness. Next, dim that sucker & see what happens. If all is Hunky Dorey, then make your connections permanent and mount the light. Yer done.

http://www.geekalerts.com/u/Bright-F...p-Slippers.jpg

you could just use these

I like the way your mind works.

[etlsport]

Stop by sometime. I have lights in my foot well run off the dome light. Be glad to show you how i did mine and what works, what doesn't and what's annoying

[tom4bren]

... show you how i did mine and what works, what doesn't and what's annoying

Now there's the best advice in the entire thread (to save you a bunch o' this )

[ipd]

Subbed. I'm going to try this with some budget LED strips I got for $10. I'm thinking that hooking them to the dimmer probably makes more sense, as I want to use colored strips, and a white dome light will somewhat counteract that.

[WormGod]

These came stock in my '15 STi. I hate them. Eerie blue glow coming from my toe fungus....

[ipd]

I remember a Mercury Milan I rented in 2010, and thinking how cool it was to have the interior lighting (footwells, etc) all change colors at the push of a button. It's one feature I probably wish I had more than any other--when it comes to older vehicles.

I've also been debating on wiring these to the map lights & running strips of them down either side of the cabin headliner. Since I'm probably going to end up running a backup monitor/mirror, I likely won't be able to use the map lights anyways. Thoughts?

P.S.
You work for Bethesda? Please for the love of god, make them product-test Fallout 4. Those games are so unbelievably buggy on PC.